(Hurriyet Newspaper, 1 April 2015)
Time on his hands now, thanks to ex-wife's revenge.
Metin Atilan (56), who holds both Turkish and USA citizenship, faces
65 years in prison for bribing an FBI agent in connection with tenders
for U.S. defense contracts in Iraq. The day before yesterday he faced a
judge in Dayton, Ohio.
Atilan's lawyers and prosecutors reached an agreement for Atilan to
serve 6 years and pay a $1 million fine. Judge Thomas Rose, who
is overseeing the case, declared that "it will take me some time to
reach a decision on the agreement reached and the prison sentence."
In response, Atilan, who is being held in Montgomery Prison and
who has admitted his guilt, told Judge Rose, "OK. I've got plenty
of time to wait."
Metin Atilan's story is the stuff that films are made of. For many
years he ran a restaurant at Incirlik Air Base in Adana. Subsequently,
he settled in Las Vegas and got involved in the Pentagon's Iraq
contracts, garnering $40 million in contracts between 2006-2008.
This got the FBI's attention and Atilan was placed under surveillance.
In 2008, Atilan was caught offering a $1 million bribe to FBI agent
Eric J. Miller, who was posing as a U.S. military officer, for a $10
million contract. Evidence in the case against Atilan includes an
email he sent to Miller: "I want the biggest contract in the world.
Big, big dollars."
While being tried Atilan was under house arrest in Las Vegas but
he cut his security ankle bracelet and fled, becoming one of the
"10 most wanted" fugitives. On the run, Atilan first went to
Mexico, then Brazil and later to the UAE.
Last year, while in Iraq on business, he was caught based on a tip
from his former wife (!) and returned to the USA. In 2011,
Atilan was captured at a restaurant in his hometown of Adana,
also thanks to a tip from his former wife (!!), but he managed
to get free and was at large until his capture last year in Iraq.
Arrested in Adana in 2011. He'd slip away again...
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