June, 15 2010, 08:22am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Bea
Edwards, International Reform Director
Phone: 202.457.0034, ext.
155
Email: beae@whistleblower.org
or: Dylan Blaylock,
GAP Communications Director
Phone: 202.457.0034, ext.
137
Email: dylanb@whistleblower.org
GAP Scrutinizes Nominee for Deputy Attorney General
Inside Sources Prompt Questions about James Cole’s Record at AIG as Independent Monitor
WASHINGTON
The Government Accountability
Project (GAP), which has been critical of the nomination of James Cole
since he
was rumored to be on the short-list for Deputy Attorney General, has
posted
mock questions for members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to pose to
Cole at
his confirmation hearing later today.
Cole was nominated by the
Obama administration last
month to be second-in command at the Department of Justice. For years,
Cole has
served as the Independent Consultant (IC) stationed at insurance
behemoth AIG
as a result of two deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) between the
corporation, the SEC, and the Department of Justice in 2004 and 2006.
The DPAs
were put in place as part of a settlement when AIG previously faced
massive
fraud charges.
"The administration is
trying to deflect
attention from Cole's poor record of oversight at AIG in the years
leading up to the financial crisis by claiming he was not asked to
monitor the
troubled subsidiary," said Bea Edwards, GAP's International Program
Director. But in fact, it was Cole's own decision that exempted that
subsidiary from his scrutiny."
When rumors of Cole's
potential nomination began
to emerge in April, GAP began receiving frequent and disturbing calls
from AIG
alumni and current staff about serious problems with Cole's actions
during his tenure. Since then, Edwards has been steadily posting
blog entries about Cole based on the disclosures we have received.
In advance of this
hearing, Edwards has produced a
primer on Cole's role at AIG, followed by five questions GAP believes
should be asked at the hearing.
Click
here to read the primer!
The questions that GAP would like to pose to
Cole involve the following
topics (please click the first few words of each topic to go directly to
the
video question):
- Cole's
interaction with AIG-Financial Products (AIG-FP) CEO Joseph Cassano,
who was in a
position to oversee the AIG subsidiary that oversaw credit default
swaps.
According to our sources, this corporation, which primarily
generated and
traded these swaps, was
exempted from compliance obligations and oversight at the
corporate
level. - The
interactions between
Cole and three AIG officials - General Counsel Anastasia Kelly, Chief
Compliance Officer Kathleen Chagnon, and subsequent-Chief
Compliance
Officer Suzanne Folsom (of Paul
Wolfowitz-World Bank infamy) - regarding
their conduct,
credentials and hiring. - A
September 2008 purge (one month after the meltdown) of AIG senior
compliance attorneys, that was (according to sources) executed under the
authority of Kelly
and Folsom. - The
independence of Cole's reports to the Department of Justice, and the SEC, as
specified by the DPA. - Cole's
involvement (or lack thereof) of oversight of AIG-FP, and his
recommendation
to not subject AIG-FP to a higher level of scrutiny and oversight, despite
that
subsidiary's serious problems in the past (related to fraud).
That subsidiary, in charge of the CDSs, became heavily involved in
the
future 2008 problems.
"Cole was the Justice
Department's and the
SEC's eyes and ears at AIG as the corporation assumed unmanageable risk.
If, as the administration claims, he actually was completely unaware of
what
was happening at AIG-FP, that alone should raise serious questions about
his
suitability for the post of Deputy Attorney General," said Edwards.
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is a 30-year-old nonprofit public interest group that promotes government and corporate accountability by advancing occupational free speech, defending whistleblowers, and empowering citizen activists. We pursue this mission through our Nuclear Safety, International Reform, Corporate Accountability, Food & Drug Safety, and Federal Employee/National Security programs. GAP is the nation's leading whistleblower protection organization.
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Petro Demands Release of Colombian Activist Held as 'Political Prisoner' by ICE
Marco Rubio's State Department is trying to deport activist Beto Coral over his public opposition to a far-right presidential candidate supported by Trump in Colombia's upcoming election.
Jun 20, 2026
Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Saturday demanded that US President Donald Trump “tell the people of Colombia” where activist Beto Coral is after he was detained by immigration agents this week following his criticism of Trump’s preferred candidate in Colombia’s presidential election.
Coral, a progressive activist and Petro supporter, was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at his Phoenix home on Tuesday, immediately after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a memo claiming that Coral “has used his presence in the United States to conduct political activity in support of the Petro government.”
His family says they now have no idea where he is.
Atención: El activista colombiano @Betocoralg me llamó hace unos minutos para decirme que agentes de inmigración de @ICE lo están arrestando en este momento en Arizona, aparentemente con la intención de deportarlo. Está con su hijo que es menor de edad pic.twitter.com/sjlaGQdc4Y
— Daniel Coronell (@DCoronell) June 17, 2026
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The younger Coral immigrated to the US in 2015 on a six-month tourist visa. He later applied for asylum in the US, saying he faced danger from drug cartels in Colombia.
Although the US Department of Homeland Security has also accused him of overstaying his visa for 10 years, the State Department memo pointed to his political activity.
“Allowing [Coral] to remain in the United States,” Rubio's memo said, “undermines US foreign policy interests in Colombia’s democratic processes and signals that foreign nationals may use US platforms to conduct politically motivated disinformation campaigns and litigation targeting foreign democratic actors without consequence.”
The memo reflects the State Department policy of seeking to deport foreign nationals explicitly over their expression of political viewpoints at odds with the Trump administration, particularly pro-Palestinian student activists such as Mahmoud Khalil of Columbia University and Rümeysa Öztürk of Tufts University.
Rubio’s memo also noted that Coral had opposed the right-wing presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, a former criminal defense lawyer supported by Trump, who has pledged to “disembowel the left” if he takes power in Colombia’s presidential runoff on Sunday.
Petro has accused De la Espriella of being a “defender of narcoparamilitaries,” citing his legal defense of armed right-wing groups tied to massacres, assassinations, forced displacement, and drug trafficking.
In a message from detention, Coral said that his arrest "is a sign of what can happen" if De la Espriella, whom he described as a "defender of mobsters and criminals," becomes president of Colombia.
According to The New York Times, Coral’s arrest is the first known instance in which Rubio has targeted an immigrant in the US over their advocacy in a foreign election.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, called it an example of "free speech under attack" by the Trump administration.
"Marco Rubio just had a man arrested and jailed, and is seeking to deport him, because he publicly criticized a presidential candidate in Colombia that Donald Trump would prefer to be elected," he said, adding that Coral "committed no crimes and had an asylum application pending."
Beto Coral fue nuevamente trasladado este día por las autoridades migratorias estadounidenses. Su familia asegura que desconoce su ubicación actual y advierte que su nombre ya no aparece en el sistema oficial ICE Locator, situación que ha incrementado la preocupación y la… pic.twitter.com/cNh4qYy0fI
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The 40-year-old Coral was arrested after returning to his Phoenix home with his 12-year-old son. Coral had recently been in Miami, where he said he'd filed a lawsuit against De la Espriella, whom he'd previously accused of illegally recording phone calls between the two.
Coral's former partner, Tatiana Camacho, told the Times that De la Espriella had contacted Coral multiple times "so he would retract his statements.”
US Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said Tuesday that Coral’s detention pointed to “coordination between American officials and Colombian political actors in this arrest—that would amount to our government aiding and abetting transnational repression.”
McGovern noted that he had helped lead legislation cosponsored by Rubio in 2023 to counter transnational political repression while Rubio was still a senator.
"Now he’s abetting it himself," McGovern said, "by weaponizing the law to punish free speech and help Trump’s right-wing buddies."
A Friday post from Coral’s X account stated that he had recently been transferred between facilities by immigration authorities, that his family does not know his current whereabouts, as his name no longer appears in the official ICE locator system.
Alberto Coral hijo del oficial de policía, capitán Humberto Coral Caballero, que fué asesinado en el operativo policial contra Pablo Escobar, es ahora, un preso político en EEUU.
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Baghaei said the… pic.twitter.com/kDDXLg2wZK
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Quoting a senior Trump adviser on Friday, Zeteo reported that behind the scenes, the president is "madder at the Israelis than the Iranians," believing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to drag him back into a war that has brought his popularity to new lows and sparked a global economic crisis.
Just as it has for months, Israel’s tried-and-true tactic of raining hell upon Lebanon every time a US-Iran ceasefire appears close seems to be working once again. The wave of attacks earlier this week led peace talks in Switzerland planned for Friday to be postponed.
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Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall joins live from Tehran. pic.twitter.com/bwyOo65QBX
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 20, 2026
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