Richard K Halligen - LinkedIn

Richard K Halligen - LinkedIn


Chairman/Founder at Oakley International Group
Washington D.C. Metro Area

Current Chairman/Founder at Albion Consultants
Past Founder at Oakley International Group
Industry International Affairs
Richard K Halligen’s Summary

My group is internationally-focused and located Firm with over 30 years of experience on all major continents. We assist foreign governments and commercial clients that possess a variety of problems with innovative solutions, including venture capital, private equity, risk management and crisis solutions.

Richard K Halligen’s Experience

Chairman/Founder
Albion Consultants
(International Affairs industry)
January 2009 — Present (11 months)

Founder
Oakley International Group
(International Affairs industry)
2006 — December 2008 (2 years )

WebCite Archive of this page

Kevin Halligen, 'conman' accused of defrauding McCanns, arrested at hotel in Oxford

The Times
November 25, 2009
Kevin Halligen, 'conman' accused of defrauding McCanns, arrested at hotel in Oxford
Mary Bowers

A 48-year-old man wanted by the FBI who allegedly defrauded people across the world, including the Madeleine McCann fund, was arrested last night at a hotel in Oxford.

Kevin Halligen, from Surrey, was hired by the Find Madeleine fund as a security consultant. His Washington-based company, Oakley International, was awarded a six-month £500,000 contract by the fund, but Mr Halligen allegedly disappeared with £300,000.

He had allegedly boasted that his contacts in the US capital could provide high-tech satellite imagery to help the search.

He is also said to have made £1 million from links with Trafigura, the controversial Dutch company accused of causing mass illness after waste was dumped on the Ivory Coast.

According to The Sun, Mr Halligen booked into the Old Bank Hotel in Oxford with an old girlfriend under the alias Richard Stratton. A source told the newspaper that the couple were preparing to leave in a taxi when police arrived and arrested him.

Thames Valley Police last night confirmed that a 48-year-old man was arrested at the Old Bank Hotel on suspicion of fraud after a discrepancy in his hotel bill. He was being held last night in the city and it is reported that a court hearing related to his extradition will take place later today.

Two weeks ago, he was indicted in the US on charges of wire fraud and money laundering over a false contract with lawyers acting on behalf of Trafigura.

A report from the FBI said that he was wanted for conning the law firm of $2.1 million (£1.26 million) between November 2006 and January 2007. He had supposedly promised to use the funds to secure the release of two of the company’s executives, but allegedly fled and used the money to buy a mansion.

Having left a string of creditors in his wake, Dublin-born Mr Halligen’s debts are estimated to amount to £3 million. Though he is known as Halligen, the name on his birth certificate is said to be spelt with an “a”.

He allegedly fooled individuals at the highest echelons of the security business and tricked friends by claiming that he had worked for a string of intelligence organisations in Britain and the US. He is also said to have claimed that he briefed the Pentagon on Iraq.

A spokesman for the McCann family said: “Our association with Halligen and Oakley International ended well over a year ago. Given that an arrest has been made it would be inappropriate for us to comment.”

According to the FBI indictment, Mr Halligen told a law firm that he needed funds “to pay expenses incurred in the United States to help secure the release of two executives of a client of the law firm who were arrested in the country of Ivory Coast” but instead spent the cash on a mansion in Great Falls, Virginia.

Diario de Noticias, 23 Nov 2009. Page 24

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Diario de Noticias
23 Nov 2009

Department of Justice Press Release re: Halligen

Department of Justice Press Release
For Immediate Release
November 12, 2009 United States Attorney's Office
District of Columbia
Contact:

United Kingdom Man Indicted for Fraud

Washington, D.C.—Kevin R. Halligen, 48, of Surrey, United Kingdom, was indicted today on charges of wire fraud and money laundering by a grand jury sitting in the District of Columbia, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The indictment alleges that from November 2006 to January 2007, Halligen engaged in a scheme to defraud a London-based law firm of $2,100,000. The indictment alleges that Halligen falsely represented to the law firm that these funds would be used to pay expenses incurred in the United States to help secure the release of two executives of a client of the law firm who were arrested in the country of Ivory Coast.

Contrary to these representations, Halligen, the indictment alleges, used the funds for his own benefit including purchasing a mansion located in Great Falls, Virginia.

In announcing the indictment, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini praised the work of the FBI Special Agent who investigated this case. They also commended Paralegal Specialist Mary Treanor, Legal Assistants Jamasee Lucas, Sabrina Brown, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Vasu Muthyala, who is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

FBI hunts for investigator paid £500,000 by McCanns

23 November 2009
FBI hunts for investigator paid £500,000 by McCanns
Briton implicated in string of frauds thought to have changed his identity
The Independent
Jerome Taylor

A private investigator whose company was paid more than £500,000 by the McCann family to look for their missing daughter has gone on the run after being implicated in a string of high-profile frauds.

Kevin Halligen, 48, is thought to have pocketed at least £300,000 from public donations that were given in the wake of Madeline McCann's disappearance before he went on the run from his mansion near Washington DC over a separate investigation into an allegation that he defrauded an international oil company out of more than £1m.

The FBI has issued a warrant for his arrest and US officials believe he is living with a girlfriend in Britain under an assumed identity. Halligen is also being pursued by a number of fellow private investigators and former secret-service officers who say they have also been defrauded by him. Halligen, who regularly claimed he had worked for Britain's security services but in fact had a background in consultancy work, was indicted by the US Department of Justice last week over an allegation that he used £1.2m which had been given to him by the international oil company, Trafigura, to fraudulently buy a mansion.

The money was meant to have been used to help secure the release of two high-level employees of the Dutch company accused of dumping toxic waste in West Africa.

In September 2006 Claude Dauphin, the president of the company, and another executive were seized in the Ivory Coast following the dumping of toxic chemicals on the outskirts of Abidjan. Halligen's private detective agency, Oakley International, was hired by the company to help to identify the key power brokers in the Ivory Coast and secure the executives' release. But instead he allegedly used the money to buy himself a mansion in Great Falls, Virginia.

The following year Halligen's firm was hired by the Madeleine Fund to help in the search for the three-year-old, who went missing from her parent's holiday home in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007. But he was dropped from the investigation after just six months.

Private detectives who were brought in by Halligen's firm to look for the missing girl have since come forward to claim that they were not paid for their services. They are now looking for Halligen themselves.

According to a Sunday newspaper, Halligen was hired by the Madeleine Fund through Henri Exton, a former national head of undercover operations for the police who was already working on the Madeleine's disappearance. Exton was reportedly assured by Halligen that his contacts in Washington would be able to provide the fund with high-tech satellite imagery from Portugal the night Madeleine was abducted. But according to one source quoted in The Sunday Times "all he came up with was a Google Earth image".

Halligen's contract with the Madeline Fund, which received more than £1m in public donations following her disappearance, came to an end in October 2008, but not before his firm had pocketed £500,000.

In October last year, Halligen left the United States saying he needed a holiday in Rome. He left his wife to fly first class to Italy with a new girlfriend where they reportedly settled into the five-star Cavalieri hotel. He was last seen staying at the five-star Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath under and assumed name and is thought to still be in Britain.

The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "Oakley International was contracted to help with the search for Madeleine. Due diligence was carried out at every stage and payment was only made for work properly carried out. It was only towards the end of the six-month contract that question marks were raised about delivery in some areas and the contract was terminated."

WebCite archive of this article

Noel O'Gara is an controversial Irish individual.

His website is : http://www.yorkshireripper.co.uk.

He believes he knows the identity of the Yorkshire Ripper, that the person who was convicted was actually a "copycat" killer and responsible for only a few of the many brutal murders.

O'Gara believes that the actual Yorkshire Ripper is an Irishman who was formerly employed by him and who is still at large. O'Gara has been campaigning for years about this, and believes that the reason his former employee was not convicted of the murders is that he was actually a supergrass employed by the British government.

It is his belief that Peter Sutcliffe who was convicted of ALL the murders, was set up by the British police to calm a terrified public and to stop public speculation from landing on the true murderer, who O'Gara is convinced was protected from prosecution due to his value as an informer.

O'Gara has a bit of a reputation online, as one can see by reading the Usenet postings about him. One could argue that anyone in his situation, who believes they have proof of a huge cover-up by the British government, a cover-up that would have to include many police officers and other government employees would quite easily be characterized a "kook" due to the difficulty of arguing their case, particularly when it involves something as earthshaking as allowing the false imprisonment of individuals chosen to take the "rap" for the crimes and the outright lies by government officials and the forensic scientists involved.

O'Gara's theories cross paths with my own in regard to an individual named Ronald Castree.

O'Gara provides some strong arguments regarding the Castree conviction in the Lesley Molseed case; arguing that Castree was convicted based on false DNA evidence.

I agree that this is extremely likely to be true, and that like Stephan Kiszko before him, Castree was set up to take the fall for an individual actually responsible for the Molseed murder, an individual who had been recruited as a supergrass and sent to Ireland to provide information to the British government regarding Irish terrorists.

Our paths take different directions from that point on.

O'Gara believes that Molseed was actually murdered by the same individual responsible for the Yorkshire Ripper murders.

I believe that Molseed was very likely murdered by Raymond Hewlett, the man who was the prime suspect in the case for decades, and who left for Ireland the day after the murders and managed to escape arrest throughout the many years he was sought in regard to the Molseed murder and another rape case.

Like O'Gara's theory of the Yorkshire Ripper case, I believe that it is very likely that Hewlett's freedom was won due to his position as an informer for the Brits, protected due to his value to them going undercover in Ireland to report on the IRA.

I'll attempt to lay out my argument at length and would welcome feedback and correction to anything I have misunderstood or omitted.

***

Facts:

Raymond Hewlett was the main suspect in the Molseed murders.

The murder occurred in Manchester, England on 5 October 1975.

( Note: Henri Exton headed the Greater Manchester Police undercover unit from (?) until 1993. He recruited supergrasses.)

Hewlett left for Ireland (Co. Donegal) the day after Lesley Molseed was killed.

An innocent man, Stefan Kiszko, spent decades in prison after being convicted for the murder.

Kiszko's mother never stopped trying to fight his wrongful conviction. Raymond Kiszko developed skitzophrenia in prison and died shortly after his eventual release. His mother died a few months after her son's death, to her grave believing that Raymond Hewlett was the true killer of Lesley Molseed.

The book "INNOCENTS" was written about the Molseed case by Jonathan Rose, Barrister, Steve Panter, MEN Reporter and Trevor Wilkinson, Detective Superintendent. Their conclusion was that Lesley Molseed's murderer was Raymond Hewlett.

During the Kiszko trial, evidence that could have proven his innocence was not presented at trial. Like CO'Gara and others, I believe this was done deliberately by the police and by the forensic experts involved in the case.

Like O'Gara I believe this was done in order to protect the true killer, who was protected due to his role as a supergrass. O'Gara and I do not agree about the identity of the supergrass, but the arguement as to WHY this was done is the same.

There was much public outcry after Stefan Kiszko's release from prison. His case was covered all over the world as one of the worst miscarriages of justice to have ever taken place in the United Kingdom.

The Molseed case was reopened, and Hewlett was again the prime suspect and allegedly the focus of a huge manhunt, including Scotland Yard, Interpol and the Irish Gardai.

News articles during that period provide one example after another of Hewlett disappearing either immediately before or immediately after a visit by police. He was known to have lived near Letterkenny, in County Donegal (allegedly in a "hippy" camp), in a number of cities in the South, and eventually for a number of years in Dundalk.

Recently Hewlett was back in the news in regard to the Madeleine McCann case. I will present my argument slowly, and will back it up with news articles to support my theory.

My theory is basically this:

Raymond Hewlett was offered a deal to claim responsibility for the "abduction" of Madeleine McCann in exchange for money paid to his family. Hewlett is dying of throat cancer. It should be noted that Henri Exton (see earlier posts) had investigators under cover in the gypsy communities "throughout Europe". I will present articles stating that Hewlett was associating with the gypsy community in Portugal. I believe he was contacted and offered a deal.

Further, Real IRA members are currently in court over charges related to their alleged use of proceeds from a restaurant in Alvor, Portugal, very near to Praia da Luz to support terrorism.

It would not be improbable that there were undercover operations going on in that region of the Algarve. It would not be improbable that Raymond Hewlett's presence there might have to do with some kind of surveillance.

Trafigura's Would-Be Saviour in Dock

Trafigura's Would-Be Saviour in Dock
1 October 2009
Intelligence Online


Hired to spring the chief executive of Trafigura from jail in Abidjan, the Oakley company now finds itself under attack by the trader’s lawyer.

Founder of the private security firm Red Defense International, Britain’s Kevin Halligen had until the first of September to respond to a suit filed by lawyer Mark Aspinall that called upon him to pay USD 1.3 million. He let the deadline pass and was thereby declared in default by the U.S. district court for the District of Colombia.

Intelligence Online reported in its 576th issue how Aspinall recruited Halligen, who took part indirectly in a MI5 operation in Northern Ireland, to help organize the release of his client, Claude Dauphin, founder of Trafigura, from the Maca prison in Abidjan. Dauphin had been arrested in Ivory Coast following the unloading of toxic waste by the vessel Probo Koala that had been chartered by Trafigura.

The rescue operation mounted by Red Defense, which involved using a Falcon corporate jet and South African mercenaries, was finally cancelled in February, 2007. Dauphin was released a few months later against payment of USD 198 million. Following that episode, Aspinall and Halligen remained in contact and, in September, 2007, the lawyer invested USD 500,000 in two firms founded by Halligen in the United States, Oakley International Group (OIG) and Oakley Strategic Services (OSS). Six months later, he lent USD 250,000 to Halligen to replenish the coffers of the two firms, whose managing director was the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcoitics, Andre Hollis. The latter is also a lawyer in the firm Van Scoyoc Associates.

Despite his investments, Aspinall never had access to the books of OIG or OSS, nor was his loan repaid. Under pressure from the lawyer to make good on his promise, Halligen instead left for Italy last December, and has yet to return. His two companies declared bankruptcy and Aspinall, the only stakeholder who remained creditworthy, had to pay off their debts.

To recover money he lost in the venture, Aspinall filed suit (1-09-cv-00655) against Halligen. But even if he wins his case, he probably won't get his money back.

Red Defence in Red Zone - Washington

Red Defence in Red Zone - Washington
9 October 2008
Intelligence Online


An affiliate of Red Defence International, a firm headed by Britain’s Kevin Halligen, the investigative concern Oakley International Group was hired in March, 2008 to help find Madeline McCann, the three-year-old British child who vanished in May, 2007 from a hotel on the Portuguese coast.

In late August, the Find Madeline Fund, which bankrolls the search for the child, suddenly cut all links with Oakley International, officially for “inadequate results.”

It wasn’t the first time that companies owned by Halligen, who took part in MI 5 operations in Northern Ireland, have encountered problems with their customers. In September, 2006, Red Defence was retained by the Trafigura trading group after two of its senior executives, Claude Dauphin and Jean-Pierre Valentini, were arrested and clapped behind bars in Ivory Coast. A month previously, the Probo Koala, a ship chartered by Trafigura, had discharged toxic waste in dumps in the port of Abidjan.

Red Defence, whose contact with Trafigura was lawyer Marc Aspinall, pulled out all the stops to secure the release of Dauphin and Valentini. Through the firm WatchWood, Red Defence leased a Falcon business jet from the South African group Aerotrade, headed by Fred Rutte, and kept it on stand-by for months, at great expense. Red Defence additionally approached a private British security concern Oceans Five run by John Nash to ask that it provide commandos to mount an operation to rescue Dauphin and Valentini from Maca prison in Abidjan. The operation, initially planned for mid-January, 2007, was put back on several occasions. Trafigura, which was negotiating simultaneously with the Ivory Coast authorities for the release of its executives, was worried about the constant postponements and the prohibitive cost of the operation.

It finally cut all ties with Red Defence in February, 2007. Shortly afterwards, Dauphin and Valentini were released after the payment of USD 198 million that was destined to cover the cost of a clean-up of waste from Probo Koala. Subsequently, Trafigura’s lawyer, Aspinall, demanded that sub-contractors hired by Red Defence reimburse some of the money paid to them , threatening legal proceedings. Following that setback, Halligen moved to the United States and founded Oakley Security Services, whose initials OSS evoked those of the Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA. He re-named the firm Oakley International Group and teamed up with the lobbying concern Patton Boggs run by Thomas Boggs.

FBI searches for detective who worked on Madeleine McCann case

22 November 2009
FBI searches for detective who worked on Madeleine McCann case
The Observer

A British security consultant who was paid £300,000 to assist efforts by Kate and Gerry McCann to find their daughter Madeleine is being sought by the FBI over an alleged £1.3m fraud. A £500,000 contract given to Kevin Halligen's private detective agency, Oakley International, to help with the search for the missing child was terminated last year after a major benefactor of the McCanns expressed concerns about the quality of the firm's work.

However, Halligen is now wanted by the FBI following an indictment issued by US authorities in connection with allegations that he defrauded a London law firm of money that was supposed to be used to lobby for the release of two executives from the Dutch company Trafigura, arrested in the Ivory Coast.

He is accused of using the money to buy a mansion in Great Falls, Virginia, that sources close to the McCanns believe may also have been funded by money intended to be spent on efforts to find Madeleine. Halligen, an Irishman living in the UK who presented himself in private security industry circles as a former intelligence operative, owes £100,000 to others who carried out work on the Madeleine case, the Sunday Times reported.

The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "Oakley International was contracted to help with the search for Madeleine. Due diligence was carried out at every stage and payment was only made for work properly carried out. It was only towards the end of the six-month contract that question marks were raised about delivery in some areas and the contract was terminated."

The McCanns did not contact the police about Halligen, who visited their home, but his behaviour aroused suspicions at an early stage among the couple and their advisers.

Oakley International secured the contract from the Find Madeleine Fund to monitor the phone hotline, sift through CCTV footage of possible sightings and carry out investigative work. However, it was terminated after the British double-glazing millionaire Brian Kennedy, who has underwritten the fund's work, raised concerns. Documents reportedly show that Halligen's company was withdrawing large amounts of money for personal use.

Kevin Halligen of Oakley International

Maria Dybczak and Kevin Halligen

Kevin Halligen: On the run from friends, the FBI and his fake wife too

November 22, 2009
Kevin Halligen: On the run from friends, the FBI and his fake wife too
The Sunday Times

The wedding guests arrived in black limousines to see a British secret agent marry his US government lawyer bride, surrounded by the strictest of security. From the grand 19th-century Evermay mansion, where the ceremony took place, the guests had commanding views of America’s power base, Washington, DC.

It is a city where former intelligence operatives and military men mix warily with politicians and power-brokers, looking for lucrative government security contracts. Among the guests at the wedding were a former CIA station chief and a security adviser to Barack Obama. The best man had once been special operations marine colonel. The guests were some of the best-informed people in the capital. Yet none knew that the wedding was a sham, the priest was an amateur actor and Richard Halligen, the groom, was an imposter.

Halligen, 50, is better known as Kevin Halligen in Britain (or more precisely Halligan with an “a”, according to his birth certificate). The wedding was part of a illusion that has seen him take in some of the most senior figures in the intelligence world on both sides of the Atlantic with a mixture of charm and trickery.

On the way he has made considerable sums from the Madeleine McCann fund and more than £1m from a deal involving a company accused of dumping toxic waste. He has left a string of creditors behind. His debts are said to amount to more than £3m.

Halligen is now on the run after last being spotted with a girlfriend at the Royal Crescent hotel in Bath. His pursuers include the former head of undercover operations for the UK police, a City lawyer, a Washington lobbyist, his former bride and a former head of the SAS, who blames himself for helping to launch Halligen into the world of intelligence and security.

The United States justice department, on behalf of the FBI, has issued an indictment seeking his arrest for an alleged £1.2m fraud. The secretive nature of the security and intelligence community provided the perfect cloak for the talented Mr Halligen. It is a world where people do not talk openly about their past exploits, because they are frequently matters covered by the Official Secrets Act.

A Dubliner by birth, Halligen came to England in the late 1970s and held a series of consultancy jobs as an electronics specialist. His first spell as a director was for his girlfriend’s catering company in Surrey, from which he resigned in 2001. However, the stories he spun to colleagues and girlfriends about his history were much more colourful. They say he claimed variously to have worked for GCHQ, MI5, MI6 and the CIA, or at least implied as much.

In his résumé he claimed to have worked on government defence projects for more than 20 years. “Kevin,” he wrote of himself, “has operational experience in Northern Ireland and the Middle East and retains close links with special projects, special forces and the international government security community.” He also claimed to have contributed to a high-level report assessing Britain’s resilience to terrorist attacks. However, this, like his claims to have briefed the Pentagon on Iraq, was at best fanciful.

His first entry into the private security business was as technical director for the Inkerman Group, a company set up by Gerald Moor, an ex-army intelligence officer. The job ended abruptly in 2003 after Halligen drank Moor’s stocks of champagne and “irreplaceable” burgundy while house-sitting for a couple of weeks. At the same time, the company vetted Halligen and found worrying anomalies. “Nothing seemed to check out. He had two different birth mothers, according to the forms he had filled out,” said Moor.

Once in the security world, however, Halligen began forging business contacts and friendships. A key to this was his membership of the exclusive Special Forces Club in Knightsbridge, central London. Membership is usually open only to those who have served in the UK’s secret services or special forces, but his name was nonetheless put forward in 2002 by two of the club’s staunchest members: Major Donald Palmer, its then chairman, and Major-General John Holmes, a former commander of the SAS and former director of special forces.

Both men — who knew Halligen through business — now bitterly regret helping him. “We were all taken in,” said Holmes, who now devotes considerable amounts of his time to finding Halligen. “I feel partly responsible because I introduced him to people, my friends, some of whom are now owed money. I just want to see that he is brought to book.”

Using his contacts, Halligen set up his own companies. His initial venture Chimera (dictionary definition: “vain or idle fantasy”) was short-lived, and Halligen formed Red Defence International in 2004.

It was a crisis in Ivory Coast in September 2006 that was to transform Halligen and his company’s fortunes.

Claude Dauphin, the president of the Dutch company Trafigura, had been seized with another executive in the African state. They were accused of dumping toxic waste near the country’s largest city, Abidjan, which had poisoned thousands of people. Halligen’s company was paid £460,000 a month to identify the key power brokers in Ivory Coast and negotiate the executives’ safe return. This did not turn out to be enough, however. By now Halligen was operating from plush offices in Washington and, at some point, had acquired a defence department security pass. He used the cash from Trafigura to hire the services of some of the most powerful private security organisations in the city.

By January 2007, there was real concern. The Christmas deadline for the release of the two executives had passed and their families were becoming desperate. Halligen met the Trafigura’s British lawyer, Mark Aspinall, at a Washington hotel and asked for an extra £1.2m for a lobbying campaign to persuade the US government to intervene in the dispute. Aspinall’s London law firm was given the money by Trafigura and paid it into a personal bank account that had been set up by Halligen in Washington. The money went into his account on January 10 and the following day £1m went out to pay for Halligen’s palatial new home in Great Falls, Virginia.

The two Trafigura executives were freed the following month when the company paid £120m to the Ivory Coast government. The deal had little to do with Halligen; but the company was so relieved that it did not inquire how he had spent the money intended for lobbying.

Aspinall, meanwhile, had struck up a friendship with Halligen during the crisis. When Halligen asked him to invest in Oakley International, his new Washington company, Aspinall handed over £300,000 and later made a personal loan of another £150,000. He has not seen a penny of that money since.

Halligen is thought to have made £1m in profit from the Trafigura work on top of the money that he spent on his home. He spent thousands of pounds staying at the Willard hotel in Washington — where he met his “bride”, Maria Dybczak, a trade lawyer for the commerce department, when he accidentally stepped on her dress.

Dybczak has spoken to The Sunday Times but did not wish to be quoted in the article.

Halligen had told Dybczak that he had previously worked closely with MI5 and MI6. Sometimes he also claimed, for effect, that he had met her in Bosnia years earlier. He did not tell Dybczak that he already had a wife in Britain whom he had married in 1991 but never divorced. .

His £360,000 wedding to Dybczak, in spring 2007, was the perfect opportunity to confirm his entry into the Washington elite. Just 40 hours before the ceremony was due to take place in Washington’s most expensive home, Halligen dropped his bombshell. He told Dybczak that his spy masters in Britain would not allow his name to be made public on a marriage certificate. “He said he was in ops so black that he could not allow his name to be on anything,” said a source close to Halligen.

The couple persuaded the catering manager, who was the director of a local theatre group, to play the role of the priest. When Halligen slipped the £120,000 ring on his new “wife’s” finger, the scores of powerful guests had no idea. One of the guests was Andre Hollis, a lobbyist who became chief executive of Halligen’s Washington company. “It was like a global intelligence debutante ball,” he said. “And nobody knew it was fake.”

Not even the best man, Colonel John Garrett, a defence lobbyist for the blue-chip Washington law firm Patton Boggs, was let in on the secret. Nor was the most powerful guest in the room, Noel Koch, a security expert who has now become a deputy undersecretary in the defence department. He said: “We found out later that it was not a real wedding. The priest was an actor.”

Koch says Halligen was a curious character: “He used to be difficult to understand because many of the conversations were sotto voce. It was like we’re all spies together and the walls were listening.”

Also on the guest list from England were Palmer, Aspinall and Henri Exton, a former national head of undercover operations for the police. It was Exton’s expertise that was to be used in the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

Madeleine had been missing for a year when Brian Kennedy, the millionaire philanthropist who had invested heavily in a fund to find the little girl, contacted Halligen’s firm via Exton. At the initial meeting, Halligen seemed impressive. He offered the McCanns undercover surveillance and intelligence gathering in Portugal, as well as promising to provide satellite imagery and details of telephone traffic from the night Madeleine disappeared. The contract was agreed with Oakley International, and the money was paid into the company’s American account through a middle company called Housing Agent Holdings.

Former colleagues say Halligen was out of his depth and had no experience of such investigations. So the detective work on the ground was done by Exton and other contractors, who produced a series of reports pointing to new leads.

Halligen was supposed to provide the technical data such as the satellite imagery from his contacts in Washington. “As far as I am aware,” said one source, “all he came up with was a Google Earth image.”

The McCanns themselves were increasingly concerned about Halligen. “He had this sense of cloak and dagger, acting as if he were a James Bond style spy,” said a friend close to the family. “The McCanns found him hard to deal with, because he was forever in another country and using different phones. He promised the earth but it came to nothing.” The contract came to an end in October last year and was not renewed. Halligen’s company had received £500,000, but the contractors who did the work are owed more than £300,000. Cheques bounced despite Halligen’s promises.

Exton, who was more than £100,000 out of pocket, switched his investigation into Halligen himself. As a result of his initial inquiries, he approached Aspinall, who was also concerned about his investment. In October last year, as the pressure mounted, Halligen decided he needed a holiday in Rome. He told Dybczak that his “former employers” in London had leaked details of his undercover operations in Northern Ireland and he needed to go into “hiding”.

While texting Dybczak to say he loved her, he flew first-class to Rome with a new girlfriend and her dog, paid for by his company. They settled in the five-star Cavalieri hotel and enjoyed its Michelin three-star restaurant. The £12,700 bill was paid for on his company credit card.

Back in Washington, it was dawning on Hollis that nobody had been paid and the Madeleine money had gone. The £50,000 he invested in the company had also evaporated.Exton and Aspinall called in a forensic accountant to look at the books and the results were alarming. In just over a year Halligen had skimmed off £600,000 from the company for his personal benefit. More than £150,000 had been spent on improvements on his new house. Payments to labourers, electricians and plumbers were all itemised.

After the first tranches of the Madeleine fund money went into the account, Halligen withdrew more than £130,000 for his personal use. The payments were often disguised as transfers to Dybczak, but she has confirmed the money was for his benefit. Halligen is now believed to be back in Britain travelling with an old girlfriend. Dybczak has not seen him since he left Italy. He owes her £45,000, and her parents have not been paid back £170,000 they lent him. Patton Boggs, his lawyers, are also owed cash.

Having amassed a file of evidence, Exton called in the FBI, which is now seeking the “secret agent”.

Insight: Jonathan Calvert and Claire Newell

WebCite Archive of this article

Henri Exton

Henri Exton

• Exton is a shareholder in Oakley International - the private investigation company hired by the McCanns at a fee of £100,000 per month plus expenses
  
  
• Oakley International was set up by Kevin Halligen in 2007
  
  
• Exton met Halligan at the Special Forces Club in Knightsbridge
  
  
• • Exton took a 'back seat' in the investigation following publicity about the Oakley International contract with the McCanns
  
  
• Exton allegedly oversaw a five-man surveillance team operating for six weeks in Portugal
  
  
• • Operatives were paid "upfront" therefore Exton was paying out-of-pocket, as the recent articles below indicate.
  
  
• • Quote: "Exton, a former national head of undercover operations for the British police, is owed more than £100,000 by Halligen for work he did on the Madeleine case.
  
  
• • Exton allegedly investigated paedophile rings and went undercover among gypsies throughout Europe
  
  
• It is technically illegal in Portugal to run a "second investigation" during an open Portuguese investigation
  
  
• Exton headed Greater Manchester Police undercover unit before he retired in 1993
  
  
• • During the Seventies and Eighties Exton's work included uncovering organised crime rings and recruiting supergrasses
  
  
• Exton then worked for the Government (using his expertise)
  
  
• • Exton was allegedly involved in M15 operations
  
  
• • Exton received the Queen’s Police Medal and an OBE (1998)
  
  
• • "when he was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for outstanding skills and bravery, it was kept secret."
  
  
• Exton became a private detective after retirement
  
  
• Suppression of Henri Exton's name demanded
  Source: http://cryptome.org/0001/henri-exton.htm
  
  
• • London Solicitors Bindman and Partners, acting on Exton's behalf demanded that his name be erased from the September 25th Hollingsworth article below.
  
  
  

ARTICLES:

September 25, 2009
Mark Hollingsworth Investigates The McCann Files
by Mark Hollingsworth

Disillusioned with the Portuguese police, Gerry and Kate McCann turned to private detectives to find their missing daughter. Instead the efforts of the private eyes served only to scare off witnesses, waste funds and raise false hopes. Mark Hollingsworth investigates the investigators.

It was billed as a ‘significant development’ in the exhaustive search for Madeleine McCann. At a recent dramatic press conference in London, the lead private investigator David Edgar, a retired Cheshire detective inspector, brandished an E-FIT image of an Australian woman, described her as ‘a bit of a Victoria Beckham lookalike’, and appealed for help in tracing her. The woman was seen ‘looking agitated’ outside a restaurant in Barcelona three days after Madeleine’s disappearance. ‘It is a strong lead’, said Edgar, wearing a pin-stripe suit in front of a bank of cameras and microphones. ‘Madeleine could have been in Barcelona by that point. The fact the conversation took place near the marina could be significant.’

But within days reporters discovered that the private detectives had failed to make the most basic enquiries before announcing their potential breakthrough. Members of Edgar’s team who visited Barcelona had failed to speak to anyone working at the restaurant near where the agitated woman was seen that night, neglected to ask if the mystery woman had been filmed on CCTV cameras and knew nothing about the arrival of an Australian luxury yacht just after Madeleine vanished.

The apparent flaws in this latest development were another salutary lesson for Kate and Gerry McCann, who have relied on private investigators after the Portuguese police spent more time falsely suspecting the parents than searching for their daughter. For their relations with private detectives have been frustrating, unhappy and controversial ever since their daughter’s disappearance in May 2007.

The search has been overseen by the millionaire business Brian Kennedy, 49, who set up Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned, which aimed ‘to procure that Madeleine’s abduction is thoroughly investigated’. A straight-talking, tough, burly self-made entrepreneur and rugby fanatic, he grew up in a council flat near Tynecastle in Scotland and was brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness. He started his working life as a window cleaner and by 2007 had acquired a £350 million fortune from double-glazing and home-improvement ventures. Kennedy was outraged by the police insinuations against the McCanns and, though a stranger, worked tirelessly on their behalf. ‘His motivation was sincere,’ said someone who worked closely with him. ‘He was appalled by the Portuguese police, but he also had visions of flying in by helicopter to rescue Madeleine.’

Kennedy commissioned private detectives to conduct an investigation parallel to the one run by the Portuguese police. But his choice showed how dangerous it is when powerful and wealthy businessmen try to play detective. In September 2007, he hired Metodo 3, an agency based in Barcelona, on a six-month contract and paid it an estimated £50,000 a month. Metodo 3 was hired because of Spain’s ‘language and cultural connection’ with Portugal. ‘If we’d had big-booted Brits or, heaven forbid, Americans, we would have had doors slammed in our faces’ said Clarence Mitchell, spokesperson for the McCann’s at the time. ‘And it’s quite likely that we could have been charged with hindering the investigation as technically it’s illegal in Portugal to undertake a secondary investigation.

The agency had 35 investigators working on the case in Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. A hotline was set up for the public to report sightings and suspicions, and the search focussed on Morocco. But the investigation was dogged by over-confidence and braggadocio. ‘We know who took Madeleine and hope she will be home by Christmas,’ boasted Metodo 3’s flamboyant boss Francisco Marco. But no Madeleine materialised and their contract was not renewed.

Until now, few details have emerged about the private investigation during those crucial early months, but an investigation by ES shows that key mistakes were made, which in turn made later enquiries far more challenging.

ES has spoken to several sources close to the private investigations that took place in the first year and discovered that:

* The involvement of Brian Kennedy and his son Patrick in the operation was counter-productive, notably when they were questioned by the local police for acting suspiciously while attempting a 24-hour ‘stake out’.

* The relationship between Metodo 3 and the Portuguese police had completely broken down.

* Key witnesses were questioned far too aggressively, so much so that some of them later refused to talk to the police.

* Many of the investigators had little experience of the required painstaking forensic detective work.

By April 2008, nearing the first anniversary of the disappearance, Kennedy and the McCanns were desperate. And so when Henri Exton, a former undercover police officer who worked on MI5 operations, and Kevin Halligen, a smooth-talking Irishman who claimed to have worked for covert British government intelligence agency GCHQ, walked through the door, their timing was perfect. Their sales pitch was classic James Bond spook-talk: everything had to be ‘top secret’ and ‘on a need to know basis’. The operation would involve 24-hour alert systems, undercover units, satellite imagery and round-the-clock surveillance teams that would fly in at short notice. This sounded very exciting but, as one source close to the investigation told ES, it was also very expensive and ultimately unsuccessful. ‘The real job at hand was old-fashioned, tedious, forensic police work rather than these boy’s own, glory boy antic,’ he said.

But Kennedy was impressed by the license-to-spy presentation and Exton and Halligen were hire for a fee of £100,000 per month plus expenses. Ostensibly, the contract was with Halligen’s UK security company, Red Defence International Ltd, and an office was set up in Jermyn Street, in St James’s. Only a tiny group of employees did the painstaking investigative work of dealing with thousands of emails and phone calls. Instead, resources were channelled into undercover operations in paedophile rings and among gypsies throughout Europe, encouraged by Kennedy. A five-man surveillance team was dispatched in Portugal, overseen by the experienced Exton, for six weeks.

Born in Belgium in 1951, Exton had been a highly effective undercover officer for the Manchester police. A maverick and dynamic figure, he successfully infiltrated gangs of football hooligans in the 1980’s. While not popular among his colleagues, in 1991 he was seconded to work on MI5 undercover operations against drug dealers, gangsters and terrorists, and was later awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for ‘outstanding bravery’. By all accounts, the charismatic Exton was a dedicated officer. But in November 2002, the stress appeared to have overcome his judgement when he was arrested for shoplifting.

While working on an MI5 surveillance, Exton was caught leaving a tax-free shopping area at Manchester airport with a bottle of perfume he had not paid for. The police were called and he was given the option of the offence being dealt with under caution or to face prosecution. He chose a police caution and so in effect admitted his guilt. Exton was sacked, but was furious about the way he had been treated and threatened to sue MI5. He later set up his own consulting company and moved to Bury in Lancashire.

While Exton, however flawed, was the genuine article as an investigator, Halligen was a very different character. Born in Dublin in 1961, he has been described as a ‘Walter Mitty figure’. He used false names to collect prospective clients at airports in order to preserve secrecy, and he called himself ‘Kevin’ or ‘Richard’ or ‘Patrick’ at different times to describe himself to business contacts. There appears to be no reason for all this subterfuge except that he thought this was what agents did. A conspiracy theorist and lover of the secret world, he is obsessed by surveillance gadgets and even installed a covert camera to spy on his own employees. He claimed to have worked for GCHQ, but in fact he was employed by the Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) as head of defence systems in the rather less glamorous field of new information technology, researching the use of ‘special batteries’. He told former colleagues and potential girlfriends that he used to work for MI5, MI6 and the CIA. He also claimed that he was nearly kidnapped by the IRA, was involved in the first Gulf War and had been a freefall parachutist.

Very little of this is true. What is true is that Halligen has a degree in electronics, worked on the fringes of the intelligence community while at AEA and does understand government communications. He could also be an astonishingly persuasive, engaging and charming individual. Strikingly self-confident and articulate, he could be generous and clubbable. ‘He was very good company but only when it suited him’ says one friend. He kept people in compartments.’

After leaving the AEA, Halligen set up Red Defence International Ltd as an international security and political risk company, advising clients on the risks involved in investing and doing business in unstable, war-torn and corrupt countries. He worked closely with political risk companies and was a persuasive advocate of IT security. In 2006, he struck gold when hired by Trafigura, the Dutch commodities trading company. Executives were imprisoned in the Ivory Coast after toxic waste was dumped in landfills near its biggest city Abidjan. Trafigura was blamed and hired Red Defence International at vast expense to help with the negotiations to release its executives. A Falcon business jet was rented for several months during the operation and it was Halligen’s first taste of the good life. The case only ended when Trafigura paid $197 million to the government of the Ivory Coast to secure the release of the prisoners.

Halligen made a fortune from Trafigura and was suddenly flying everywhere first-class, staying at the Lansborough and Stafford hotels in London and The Willard hotel in Washington DC for months at a time. In 2007 he set up Oakley International Group and registered at the offices of the prestigious law firm Patton Boggs, in Washington DC, as an international security company. He was now strutting the stage as a self-proclaimed international spy expert and joined the Special Forces Club in Knightsbridge, where he met Exton.

During the Madeleine investigation, Halligen spent vast amounts of time in the HeyJo bar in the basement of the Abracadabra Club near his Jermyn Street office. Armed with a clutch of unregistered mobile phones and a Blackberry, the bar was in effect his office. ‘He was there virtually the whole day,’ a former colleague told ES. ‘He had an amazing tolerance for alcohol and a prodigious memory and so occasionally he would have amazing bursts of intelligence, lucidity and insights. They were very rare but they did happen.’

When not imbibing in St James’s, Halligen was in the United States, trying to drum up investors for Oakley International. On 15 August 2008, at the height of the McCann investigation crisis, he persuaded Andre Hollis, a former US Drug enforcement agency official, to write out an $80,000 cheque to Oakley in return for a ten per cent share-holding. The money was then transferred into the private accounts of Halligen and his girlfriend Shirin Trachiotis to finance a holiday in Italy, according to Hollis. In a $6 million lawsuit filed in Fairfax County, Virginia, Hollis alleges that Halligen ‘received monies for Oakley’s services rendered and deposited the same into his personal accounts’ and ‘repeatedly and systematically depleted funds from Oakley’s bank accounts for inappropriate personal expenses’.

Hollis was not the only victim. Mark Aspinall, a respected lawyer who worked closely with Halligen, invested £500,000 in Oakley and lost the lot. Earlier this year he filed a lawsuit in Washington DC against Halligen claiming $1.4 million in damages. The finances of Oakley International are in chaos and numerous employees, specialist consultants and contractors have not been paid. Some of them now face financial ruin.

Meanwhile, Exton was running the surveillance teams in Portugal and often paying his operatives upfront, so would occasionally be out-of-pocket because Halligen had not transferred funds. Exton genuinely believed that progress was being made and substantial and credible reports on child trafficking were submitted. But by mid-August 2008, Kennedy and Gerry McCann were increasingly concerned by an absence of details of how the money was being spent. At one meeting, Halligen was asked how many men constituted a surveillance team and he produced a piece of paper on which he wrote ‘between one and ten’. But he then refused to say how many were working and how much they were being paid.

While Kennedy and Gerry McCann accepted that the mission was extremely difficult and some secrecy was necessary, Halligen was charging very high rates and expenses. And eyebrows were raised when all the money was paid to Oakley International, solely owned and managed by Halligen. One invoice, seen by ES, shows that for ‘accrued expenses to May 5, 2008’ (just one month into the contract), Oakley charged $74,155. The ‘point of contact’ was Halligen who provided a UK mobile telephone number.

While Kennedy was ready to accept Halligen at face value, Gerry McCann ­ sharp, focused and intelligent ­ was more sceptical. The contract with Oakley International and Halligen was terminated by the end of September 2008, after £500,000-plus expenses had been spent.

For the McCanns it was a bitter experience, Exton has returned to Cheshire and, like so many people, is owed money by Halligen. As for Halligen, he has gone into hiding, leaving a trail of debt and numerous former business associates and creditors looking for him. He was last seen in January of this year in Rome, drinking and spending prodigiously at the Hilton Cavalieri and Excelsior hotels. He is now believed by private investigators, who have been searching for him to serve papers on behalf of creditors, to be in the UK and watching his back. Meanwhile, in the eye of the storm, the McCanns continue the search for their lost daughter.



9 Sep. 2008
Wanted: Our ex-top cops to join hunt for Maddie
Manchester Evening News

TOP former detectives from Greater Manchester Police could be recruited to help find Madeleine McCann. Chief Supt Steve Heywood, head of the force's serious crime division, has been asked to provide a list of retired or about-to-retire officers.

Madeleine was snatched while on holiday in Portugal just a few days before her fourth birthday in May last year. The Find Madeleine Fund was set up with help from individual donations and is now being bankrolled by Brian Kennedy, boss of Sale Sharks rugby union club.

It is understood that he is considering the list provided by several police forces. Among the names is former Det Supt Andy Tattersall, who retired last year. The two men have already spoken about the case.

Another former Manchester police officer Henri Exton, 57, is involved in the hunt. He is understood to be a shareholder in private investigations firm Oakley International. It is understood that Mr Kennedy is happy with the work being done by Oakley but Mr Exton is taking a 'back seat' following publicity around the case.

Mr Tattersall co-wrote the A To Z Checklist of Murder Investigation which is used by police forces across the country. He worked on the investigation into the murder of special branch officer Stephen Oake and was involved in the Jill Dando murder case. Mr Tattersall insisted the conviction of Barry George was safe but it was quashed on appeal. A spokesman for GMP said: "We have given details of some eligible officers or former officers. As far as we are aware, no decision has been made by the fund."

Madeleine was abducted from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz on May 3 while her parents were dining 50 yards away. During the summer, Portuguese police shelved the case and lifted official suspect status on Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, from Leicestershire. Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: "Kate and Gerry McCann, the fund and its backers have always sought to employ or use the very best people and resources in the search for Madeleine. "If police expertise is potentially available anywhere, the fund and Gerry and Kate would naturally considering using it."



McCanns look to ex-cops
Wigan Observer
9 September 2008

Chief Supt Steve Heywood, head of Greater Manchester's serious crime division - which covers the Wigan area - has been asked to provide a list of retired or about-to-retire officers. Madeleine was snatched while on holiday in Portugal in May last year.

The Find Madeleine Fund was set up with help from individual donations and is now being bankrolled by Brian Kennedy, boss of Sale Sharks rugby union club. It is understood that he is considering the list provided by several police forces.

Among the names is former Det Supt Andy Tattersall, who retired last year. The two men have already spoken about the case.

Another former GM police officer Henri Exton, 57, is involved in the hunt. He is understood to be a shareholder in private investigations firm Oakley International.

A spokesman for GMP said: "We have given details of some eligible officers or former officers.

"Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: "Kate and Gerry McCann, the fund and its backers have always sought to employ or use the very best people and resources in the search for Madeleine. If police expertise is available anywhere, the fund and Gerry and Kate would naturally considering using it."



Super Cops Join Search For Maddie
10 September 2008
Daily Star
John Mahoney

Ex-police help hunt

A CRACK team of retired supercops is being hired to help the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

Scotland Yard, Cambridgeshire and Greater Manchester (GMP) forces have been approached for lists of former detectives who could bring fresh leads. The elite squad of officers – all retired or close to collecting their pensions – will be recruited by the Find Madeleine Fund and told to re-examine previous evidence.

The fund is being bankrolled by leisure tycoon Brian Kennedy, 48, who owns Sale Sharks rugby union club and boasts an estimated £350 million fortune.

One experienced officer he has met is ex-Det Supt Andy Tattersall, who retired from GMP last year. His high profile probes included the 2003 murder of special branch officer Stephen Oake, 40, during an anti-terror raid and the 1999 shooting of Jill Dando, 37. Last month Barry George, 48, was cleared of Dando's murder after a retrial but Tattersall had insisted George's conviction was safe. He also co-wrote a crime manual called The A To Z Checklist of Murder Investigation.

Another ex-Manchester officer believed to figure in the new team is Henri Exton, 57, now a private eye.

Madeleine vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007. Her parents Kate and Gerry, both 40, are understood to approve of the new inquiry team. Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry, the fund and its backers have always sought to employ or use the very best people and resources."

Last night a GMP spokesman said: "We have given details of some eligible officers or former officers. As far as we are aware, no decision has been made by the fund."



A Gong For The Secret Detective
31 December 1998
Manchester Evening News
Steve Panter

A Top-Secret detective who risked his life time after time in the line of duty has been honoured for his courage.

The master of deep infiltration of major crime rings becomes an OBE today.

Henri Exton headed Greater Manchester Police undercover unit before he retired five years ago.

The former detective chief inspector has continued in his specialist field and is now with the Ministry of Defence.

His work while he was in Manchester varied from penetrating notorious soccer gangs to uncovering evidence which proved a convicted killer innocent.

Mr Exton was later "loaned out" by GMP to other forces and on one such mission was held hostage by a gang he inflitrated in the south of England - but retained his cover. His early successes in Greater Manchester in the 1970s and 80s involved uncovering organised crime rings and recruiting supergrasses.

He was heavily involved in the huge armed robbery inquiry Operation Belgium, so-called because of his Belgian family background.

He became a trusted "member" of notorious 1970s soccer gang the Young Guvnors who followed Manchester City and caused serious violence across the country. In fact he became a leader of the Guvnors and had to take part in some organised incidents to preserve his cover. He even had to endure a beating in a cell in Wales inflicted by police officers who were convinced he was a soccer thug.

In Italy, during the 1990 World Cup, he wore an Italian policeman's uniform then switched sides to pose as a football hooligan.

One triumph was pretending to be a drugs buyer. His role was so sensitive that, when he was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for outstanding skills and bravery, it was kept secret.

Two other officers have been awarded the Queen's Police Medal for their services in Greater Manchester. Chief Supt Andrew Glaister, who retired last March after 35 years as an officer in Manchester, was head of GMP's C division.

The other officer honoured today cannot be named.

Madeleine McCann detective facing £1m fraud charge

Madeleine McCann detective facing £1m fraud charge
By Daniel Boffey and Mark Hollingsworth
Mail Online
Last updated at 10:15 PM on 21st November 2009

Madeleine McCann
Missing: Madeleine McCann vanished in May 2007

A private detective whose company was paid up to £500,000 from publicly donated funds to find Madeleine McCann has been charged with fraud.

Kevin Halligen, 48, is wanted in America by the FBI for allegedly conning a law firm out of £1.3 million by claiming he could help free two men jailed in war-torn Africa. It is claimed he instead spent the money on a mansion.

However, he has not been arrested because US officials do not know where he is.

In another case, a US court has ordered Halligen to repay a loan of £2million to a business partner. And a British lawyer is claiming £1.3million after investing in Halligen’s company but receiving no return on the cash.

Halligen’s firm, Oakley International, was hired by the Madeleine Fund but was dropped after six months over claims he was making little progress and spending too much.

Halligen, who claims a wealth of contacts in the British security services and FBI, said he had infiltrated a paedophile ring in Belgium. He regularly visited Kate and Gerry McCann to give updates on the hunt for Madeleine, who was three when she vanished from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.

In the months after Halligen was ditched four investigators demanded another £200,000 from the fund claiming they had not been paid by him. Halligen’s indictment is likely to dismay thousands who gave money to the Madeleine Fund.

A document filed in the District Court of Columbia claims Halligen took money saying his firm could help secure the release of two executives from the Dutch company Trafigura imprisoned in the Ivory Coast in 2007. The men were arrested following the alleged unloading of toxic waste.

Halligen is said to have proposed a rescue operation by flying in South African mercenaries but it was later cancelled. The men were freed a few months later following a reported £120million payment.

Halligen was last seen in Italy and has allegedly left a trail of debts in America. The Madeleine Fund received more than £1million in donations after her disappearance but was hugely depleted by Halligen’s services. There are concerns the fund will be empty by the end of this year.

The McCanns had previously hired Barcelona-based detective agency Metodo 3 on a reported £50,000 a month. But the company lost credibility with the couple when its head of operations claimed he knew who had kidnapped Madeleine and hoped to have her home by Christmas.

After Halligen, the McCanns hired two former British detectives, David Edgar and Arthur Cowley. In August, Mr Edgar appealed for sightings of an Australian ‘Victoria Beckham lookalike’. But a Mail on Sunday investigation revealed the detectives had failed to make the most basic of inquiries in Barcelona where the woman was seen.

The McCanns’ spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, insisted the fund had not been duped. Two phone numbers previously used by Halligen were answered by a man who said he had no idea who Kevin Halligen was.

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