To Be Transferred to San Diego : Scot Charged With Embargo Violation

A federal magistrate in New Orleans on Friday ordered a Scotish businessman held without bond on charges that he violated a U.S. trade embargo by helping to supply Libya with crucial oil field equipment.

Francis George Christie of Aberdeen, Scotland, will be transferred in 10 days to San Diego, where he will be among the first to stand trial for breaking the embargo imposed by President Reagan in February. Also charged with Christie were George and Cheryl Smith of Gretna, La., operators of Oil Patch Production Services Inc.

The trio were arrested Thursday, culminating a six-month undercover operation that had a U.S. Customs agent posing as an oil equipment salesman for Solar Turbines Inc. of San Diego.

During the investigation, the Smiths used their company to purchase $250,000 worth of oil equipment for Christie, owner of Christie Noble Services Inc. The equipment was shipped to Libya through England, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Phillip L. B. Halpern.

Eventually, the undercover agent was able to lure Christie to the United States--and his eventual arrest--by promising the sale of between $5 million and $7 million worth of equipment.

The undercover agent, Daniel Supnick, testified at Christie’s detention hearing in Louisiana that the Scotish businessman bragged during meetings that he could obtain $2 million to $10 million “at a moment’s notice.”

Supnick also said that Christie considered himself a “banker” who had established a money-laundering system to facilitate the illegal shipments to Libya.

The laundering scheme included paying off oil equipment suppliers from American bank accounts so the money could not be traced to overseas, Supnick testified.

The customs agent also said that Christie and the Smiths offered to pay him a “commission” for the oil equipment amounting to 1% of the purchase price--a considerable sum because the trio were interested in placing multimillion dollar orders.

Christie’s access to large sums of money made him a flight risk, Halpern said at Friday’s detention hearing. But that claim was disputed by Christie’s attorney, who said his client was a respected businessman with an annual salary of $60,000.

U.S. Magistrate Arnold A. Fonseca ordered the businessman held without bond.

Bond had already been set Thursday for the Smiths--$100,000 for George Smith and $5,000 for Cheryl Smith.

In addition to violating the embargo, the three have been charged with conspiracy to violate the embargo and filing false statements on shipping records. Charges were contained in a federal complaint and prosecutors said an indictment will be forthcoming.