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Role of Firms in CIA Rendition Detailed in Lawsuit

HeadlineSep 01, 2011

An ongoing billing dispute between contractors in a New York court has offered a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the CIA’s notorious extraordinary rendition program. Richmor Aviation, based near Hudson, New York, is suing Sportsflight, a one-man aircraft brokerage business on Long Island, for breach of contract. Court documents presented in the suit show that in and around 2003, Sportsflight organized dozens of flights at the behest of the CIA to locations including Romania, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Djibouti, Pakistan and Libya. More than 1,500 pages from the trial and appeals court detail calls to CIA headquarters; to the cell and home phones of a senior CIA official involved in the rendition program; and to the private contracting company DynCorp, employed by the CIA. Passengers on the flights included suspects targeted by the CIA’s so-called Rendition Group. The prisoners were shuttled between secret CIA prisons around the world. Richmor earned at least $6 million over three years. Publicly available records show the company accounted for only a small percentage of the CIA’s business, suggesting the agency paid tens of millions of dollars to use private planes to transport detainees and personnel in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

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