Rich McCormick
The Verge
November 14, 2013
Three senior US Navy intelligence officials are under investigation for an alleged scheme to defraud the military for $1.6 million. The three civilian officials are suspected of contracting the purchase of rifle silencers for 200 times their manufacturing costs from a car mechanic in California, purportedly for use by the elite SEAL Team Six unit that killed Osama Bin Laden.
The Washington Post reports the silencers were designed for the “AK family of firearms,” and cost around $8,000 to build. They were marked as unmarked and untraceable, and ordered for use by SEAL Team Six. Officials with the unit claim to be unaware of such an order.
None of the three officials have yet been charged in the investigation, which is ongoing, but The Washington Post reports that federal investigators failed to correctly redact the names of two of the three people involved. It names Conspirator #2 as Lee Hall — a “longtime defense official” — and speculates, citing three sources, that Conspirator #3, referred to as “David,” is a senior director for Navy intelligence, David W. Landersman. Court records reportedly name the mechanic who provided the silencers as Mark Landersman: David W. Landersman’s brother. The same records describe Landersman as a “down-on-his-luck” mechanic who declared personal bankruptcy in July 2012.
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