Israelis hold placards depicting Jonathan Pollard during a protest calling for his release from a U.S. prison, outside U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's hotel in Jerusalem January 2, 2014. AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS
Newsweek: Does Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard Have $1 Million Waiting in a Swiss Bank Account?
If past reports are true, convicted spy Jonathan Pollard could have about $1 million waiting for him in a Swiss bank account when he is released from federal prison on parole in November. Pollard, whose release was announced on Tuesday, has served nearly 30 years for supplying the Israeli government with classified U.S. intelligence documents.
Pollard's new problem: how to get to the cash, and when. According to multiple past reports based on the statements of United States investigators, Israeli intelligence paid Pollard $50,000 by the time he was arrested in 1985, on top of lavish gifts, and promised to deposit $30,000 a year for him in a secret Swiss bank account. The original 10-year deal could have amounted to as much as $540,000, officials said when he went to jail. But if the Israelis continued the payments to their captured spy—a common practice of major espionage agencies the world over—then Pollard could be in line for a $1 million payday, or more.
News of Pollard claiming such a reward, however, could touch off a firestorm in the already rocky relations between the U.S. and Israel.
WNU Editor: The Pollard legal team is denying these reports .... but I suspect that we will not know the real answer until he leaves the U.S. which I expect him to do when the conditions of his parole permit him to.
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