Blackwater Runs Still, Runs Deep Part 3

...runs still, runs deep, but as The Nation's Jeremy Scahill reports, Blackwater founder Erik Prince is only concerned with the "run" part.

Sources close to Blackwater and its secretive owner Erik Prince claim that the embattled head of the world's most infamous mercenary firm is planning to move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Middle Eastern nation, a major hub for the US war industry, has no extradition treaty with the United States. In April, five of Prince's top deputies were hit with a fifteen-count indictment by a federal grand jury on conspiracy, weapons and obstruction of justice charges. Among those indicted were Prince's longtime number-two man, former Blackwater president Gary Jackson, former vice presidents William Matthews and Ana Bundy and Prince's former legal counsel Andrew Howell. 

The Blackwater/Erik Prince saga took yet another dramatic turn last week, when Prince abruptly announced that he was putting his company up for sale.

While Prince has not personally been charged with any crimes, federal investigators and several Congressional committees clearly have his company and inner circle in their sights. The Nation learned of Prince's alleged plans to move to the UAE from three separate sources. One Blackwater source told The Nation that Prince intends to sell his company quickly, saying the "sale is going to be a fast move within a couple of months."

Mark Corallo, a trusted Prince advisor and Blackwater spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny the allegation that Prince is planning to move to the United Arab Emirates. "I have a policy on not discussing my client’s personal lives—especially when that client is a private citizen," Corallo, who runs his own crisis management and PR firm, said in an e-mail to The Nation. "It is nobody’s business where Mr. Prince (or anyone else) chooses to live. So I’m afraid I will not be able to confirm any rumors."

I've talked about Scahill's reporting on Erik Prince before, and it's fascinating stuff.  Prince really does strut around like a James Bond villain with his own army, talking about how he makes and unmakes history.  Or he did anyway.  He's had to put Blackwater on the market, and now the other shoe is falling:  Prince is getting the hell out of dodge before justice catches up with him.

A mercenary businessman whose company possibly defrauded the government for billions, running a private army accountable to no one, now about to take flight away from the law.  Where's Sam Fisher when you need the guy, anyway?

In all seriousness, if Eric Holder's guys have anything on Prince, they're going to have to move before Prince does.