UANI Issues Statement Regarding Greek Ship Owner Victor Restis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2013 
Contact: Nathan Carleton, [email protected] 
Phone: (212) 554-3296

UANI Issues Statement Regarding Greek Ship Owner Victor Restis
UANI Calls for U.S. Investigation and for Restis to be Barred from U.S. Business

New York, NY - On Monday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, made the following statement regarding Greek ship owner Victor Restis:

UANI first contacted Victor Restis in May regarding our serious concerns related to documents and statements that purport to show business dealings by and between Mr. Restis and related companies with the sanction-designated Greek businessman Dimitris Cambis and Iran. Mr. Restis has responded to that contact in May with baseless, bizarre, and defamatory accusations against UANI. The wild and groundless statements Mr. Restis made about UANI call Mr. Restis' credibility into question.    

Nonetheless, over the past three months UANI has written to Mr. Restis in an attempt to provide Mr. Restis with every reasonable opportunity to collaboratively and transparently resolve this matter. In letters dated May 13, May 17, May 20, and June 24, UANI has repeatedly offered to work collaboratively with Mr. Restis and his counsel to clarify the numerous documents and statements that describe dealings between Mr. Restis, Mr. Cambis and Iran. In an effort to enable Mr. Restis to clarify this matter, UANI has:

1. Asked Mr. Restis to sign a sworn statement refuting involvement in Iran-related dealings;


2. Asked Mr. Restis to permit a transparent survey of his relevant business;


3. Offered to show Mr. Restis and his counsel extensive additional documents that implicate Mr. Restis in activity related to   Iran and Mr. Cambis;


4. Offered to propose prominent and credible lawyers to conduct an independent external review of Mr. Restis' business dealings.

Mr. Restis has failed to respond to each and every one of these reasonable proposals and letters.

Instead, Mr. Restis has resorted to the bullying tactics[1] of a billionaire's hubris - defaming and threatening a not-for-profit entity whose sole agenda is to ensure that Iran does not achieve its goal of possessing a nuclear weapon. His tactics amount to a threat to use his vast financial resources to bankrupt UANI and its leadership unless UANI reveals its (highly credible) confidential sources, recants its public concerns regarding Mr. Restis, and makes a groundless apology.

We respectfully refuse to be intimidated by Mr. Restis. UANI relies on valid research, credible documents, distinguished relationships, and preeminent sourcing for its work - and we have done so in this matter.

UANI firmly believes that Mr. Restis should have the full and fair opportunity to explain these matters. To date his explanation has been limited and made in either the press or in carefully crafted legal statements. Even so UANI believes that Mr. Restis should be heard.  

An unsigned letter from Mr. Restis' counsel states that Mr. Restis "has publicly denied the truth of [UANI's] accusations." Mr. Restis' counsel has further stated that he is "not engaged in illegal business schemes with Iran" [emphasis added] without reference to any timeframe. That letter is quite lengthy, and UANI remains concerned that its length masks a lack of substantive explanation and its length is mostly a repetition of UANI letters.  

UANI will explicitly note such statements on our database and website.    

Mr. Restis has also sought to impugn the credibility of certain documents in UANI's possession. Mr. Restis has not sought to explain his past interactions related to these matters. So that Mr. Restis cannot assert that we have somehow misrepresented him or his counsel, we disclose all such written communications by and between UANI and Mr. Restis and his counsel.

UANI's mission is to reveal a person's or entity's illicit and/or inappropriate business relationships in Iran, and to ensure that all such persons and entities forego additional work in Iran. Accordingly, UANI works with a variety of companies and persons, in most cases collaboratively and positively, to end their business in Iran. UANI is typically the first to applaud any party that takes complete and transparent action to reveal the nature and extent of its Iran related dealings and/or business and exits Iran.     

UANI cannot take such action related to Mr. Restis because of the dark cloud surrounding his previous dealings related to these matters.

While we accept Mr. Restis' U.S. counsel's statement that he is not currently engaged in business dealings with Iran, Mr. Restis has refused to work collaboratively on this matter, and there has been no serious independent investigation of Mr. Restis' past Iran-related dealings. Mr. Restis' unsupported representations are not good enough.   

Because Mr. Restis has refused to adequately clarify these matters, UANI will turn over all materials in its possession related to Mr. Restis to relevant law enforcement authorities, and U.S. lawmakers.

Given Mr. Restis' failure to adequately describe his activities related to Mr. Cambis and the transactions referred to in the documents that involve Mr. Restis, UANI calls on U.S. law enforcement authorities and regulators and U.S. lawmakers to fully investigate Mr. Restis and his related businesses. Until Mr. Restis fully explains and transparently reveals his involvement in these matters, we call on the United States Federal Government, states and relevant port authorities to refuse further business with Mr. Restis and his related businesses and deny him relevant licenses and authority to engage in U.S.-based business. The danger of a nuclear Iran requires the highest vigilance and investigation of those that work in Iran.

We urge Mr. Restis to pursue a path of collaboration and transparency. We sincerely hope that Mr. Restis will continue to honor the representations of his counsel that he is "not engaged in illegal business schemes in Iran." We further hope that he will now provide a complete, verifiable, and transparent clarification of this matter.

Click here to view UANI's May 13 letter to Mr. Restis.
Click here to view Mr. Restis' counsel's May 16 unsigned letter to UANI.
Click here to view UANI's May 17 letter to Mr. Restis.
Click here to view UANI's May 20 letter to Mr. Restis' counsel.
Click here to view UANI's June 24 letter to Mr. Restis' counsel.
Click here to view Mr. Restis' counsel's July 3 6:58 p.m. email and attached letter to UANI.
Click here to view the email exchange between Mr. Restis' counsel and Ambassador Wallace over the July 4 weekend.

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