The Disappearance and Death of Dave Walker:
A History
Page 12. The Investigation Part
9
Enter Bradley Gordon
INSIDE THE INVESTIGATION WEEK THREE Part 9:
On Thursday, February 27, I had issued a press release expressing the family's frustration with Cambodian Police foot-dragging, deliberately worded in a way intended to embarrass the Cambodians. [See previous Page 11]. The wording was carefully selected on the advice of colleagues who were familiar with both Cambodia and the Cambodian Police. Tammy Madon and I discussed the press release, its intention, she reviewed it, and approved it in writing the day before it was finalized and issued the next day.
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From: Tammy Madon |
"YOU ARE NOT TH STORY. YOU ARE NOT PRIVY TO WHAT ARE VERY IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS NOW TAKING PLACE. YOU HAVE HARMED THIS INVESTIGATION. YOU MAY DEAL A FATAL BLOW DIRECTLY AS A RESULT OF YOUR ACTIONS"
On the third Friday since Dave's disappearance, I also received the first of many e-mail I would get from Nate Thayer, ALL WRITTEN IN BIG SHOUTY BLOCK LETTERS. Thayer's crazed e-mails would now become the left hand of Richard Ehrlich's incoherent rants.
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From: Nate Thayer
Sent: Friday, February 28, 2014 12:32 PM To: Peter Vronsky Subject: Regarding releasing confidential information that will directl fuck up current investigation Peter: THIS EMAIL IS CONFIDENTIAL AND PROHIBITED BY LAW FROM BEING DISTRIBUTED OR ITS CONTENTS DISSEMINATED IN ANY WAY IN WHOLE OR IN PART TO ANYONE I have been forwarded your message to Richard THAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO RELEASE PUBLICLY CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION YOU OBTAINED ON THE BASIS OF KEEPING IT CONFIDENTIAL. LET ME BE DIRECT. YOU WILL DIRECTLY HARM EXTREMELY SENSITIVE INVESTIGATIONS THAT ARE AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE REGARDING DAVE'S CASE IF YOU DO SO. YOU HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF EFFORTS LONG UNDERWAY THAT HAVE PROVEN CRITICALLY EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESSFUL. YOU HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF CAMBODIA. AND YOU HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE INVESTIGATION ONGOING IN CAMBODIA. THEREFORE YOU ARE ENTIRELY UNQUALIFIED TO SPEAK ON MATTERS REGARDING THE ABOVE. yOU HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED BY TAMMY TO MAKE NO PUBLIC COMMENTS AT ALL. yOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE INVESTIGATIONS FOR MANY DAYS ON THE GROUND HAVE INVOLVED NOR THE PROGRESS MADE. YOUR COMMENTS AND PUBLIC STATEMENTS PUBLISHED TODAY HAVE DIRECTLY AND SUBSTANTIVELY CAUSED GREAT DAMAGE TO THE EFFORTS TO RESOLVE THE INVESTIGATION OF DAVE'S DISAPPEARANCE. IF YOU RELEASE ANY INFORMATION OR MAKE ANY PUBLIC COMMENTS USING CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION YOU OBTAINED OR MAKE ANY COMMENTS CLAIMING TO BE ACTING ON BEHALF OF DAVE'S FAMILY, WE WILL ENSURE THAT THEY ARE WIDELY REVEALED FOR WHAT THEY ARE--INACCURATE, DAMAGING AND MISREPRESENTING YOURSELF. yOU ARE NOT TH STORY. YOU ARE NOT PRIVY TO WHAT ARE VERY IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS NOW TAKING PLACE. YOU HAVE HARMED THIS INVESTIGATION. YOU MAY DEAL A FATAL BLOW DIRECTLY AS A RESULT OF YOUR ACTIONS IF YOU MAKE ANY MORE PUBLIC STATEMENTS, MANY OF THEM DEMONSTRABLY PROVABLE AS SIMPLY FALSE, THAT HAVE ANTAGONIZED AND SET BACK THE INVESTIGATION, AND THAT HAVE DAMAGED THE INTERESTS OF DAVE AND THOSE WORKING HARD TO SOLVE THIS ISSUE. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ASSISTING THE EFFORTS TO RESOLVE THIS MATTER, PLEASE SIMPLY SAY NOTHING. i WILL NOT BE DEVOTING ANY MORE EFFORTS TO BEING DISTRACTED BY YOUR COUNTERPRODUCTIVE AND DAMAGING COMMENTS--UNLESS YOU MAKE MORE OF THEM. THEN MESSAGES WILL BE SENT OUT BY MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE DIRECTLY COMPLAINED THAT YOUR UNINFORMED ACTIONS AND STATEMENTS SHOULD BE ENTIRELY DISCOUNTED AS UNRELIABLE AND HARMFUL AND YOU ARE ACTING ON YOUR OWN HARMING INVESTIGATIVE EFFORTS. aND TO PREMEPT A REPEAT OF YOUR PREVIOUS COMMENTS, THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYONE SPERSONAL INTERESTS BUT DAVE AND HIS FAMILY. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME. YOU HAVE NOTICED THAT I HAVE MADEEXACTLY NO PUBIC COMMENTS. I HAVE MADE EXACTLY NO SPECULATION OFN SOCIAL MEDIA. I HAVE NO INTEREST IN MY NAME BEING PUBLISHED OR BEING A SPOKESMAN ETC. I DO HAVE AN INTEREST IN ENSURING A QUICK RESOLUTION THROUGH AN EFFECTIVE INVESTIGATION. I SUGGEST YOU HEED THE ADVICE OF ME, RICHARD, TAMMY AND DOZENS OF OTHERS WHO HAVE COMPLAINED YOUR ACTIONS AND COMMENTS ARE DOING DIRECT AND IRREVERSIBLE HARM TO DAVE'S CASE. tHE BEST THING YOU CAN DO AT THE MOMENT TO HELP THE INVESSTIGATION IS SIMPLY DO AND SAY NOTHING. NATE THAYER |
Thayer was lying. There were no "very important developments" taking place and the tragic finale of this case attests to the depth of Thayer's lie. But Thayer was right about one thing. Tammy indeed asked me not to make any further public statements. She framed it in terms of "others" advising her not to make further statements. I did not second-guess Tammy, and again did not ask her out of respect who the "others" were. I did not feel sufficiently confident about my knowledge of events unfolding on the ground in Cambodia to challenge Tammy on the wisdom of now maintaining silence. Thayer's above e-mail, further made me unsure. At that early stage, I had no way of knowing just how Potemkin Village crazy Thayer's investigation was.
Thayer was essentially selling to me that the Salao Mao - Andy Long connection was a dead end. When Thayer shouted, that I have "NO IDEA WHAT THE INVESTIGATIONS FOR MANY DAYS ON THE GROUND HAVE INVOLVED NOR THE PROGRESS MADE", it was true, he was not telling me anything. For all I could know at that moment, Thayer could have located Dave in captivity and was negotiating a ransom. One wrong move from me and Dave could be dead.
Now that I know that Thayer was lying all that time, I have taken the trouble to lay out in detail every sick lie and twisted thing Thayer did to ensure that today we are completely in the dark as to what happened to Dave Walker. Back then I had no reason, like many, not to believe Thayer.
"We would be happy to help on a pro bono basis."
As all this was happening, a new player was pushing his way into the investigation. An American attorney based in Phnom Pehn, Bradley Gordon of Bradley Gordon Associates. He was the founding partner and managing director of Cambodia Emerald Limited Partnership, a $100 million equity investment fund (Cayman Islands Registry Tax identification number: 23603) that Gordon co-founded with Peter Brimble, who split from Leopard Cambodia Fund of Douglas Clayton, former director of Knight Asia Group, Heinrich Looser, former chief of banking at the Zurich based Bank Julius Baer and Jim Walker, former director of CLSA Securities. Brad Gordon's name appears with the Hun Sen in the "Peace Foundation" along with other heavy-hitters. Cambodia Emerald Limited never raised the target funding and subsequently closed their operations due to the financial crisis and cancelled fundraising. See: Internet Archive www.cambodiaemerald.com
In the masses of e-mails and Facebook messages, I at first missed his earlier messages. In hindsight I should have been more suspicious of how urgently he seemed to be pushing himself into the case. I should have asked myself why a corporate attorney was so eager and desperate to get involved in what was essentially a criminal case, and to do it "pro bono."
I would foolishly forward Brad Gordon's message to Tammy, suggesting that she think about accepting his offer.
 Brad
Gordon Facebook MessengerPeter, I have a law firm in Phnom Penh (Gordon & Associates - www.gordonassociates.asia). We may be able to assist on a discrete basis (with no publicity) given some past work we have done in the Siem Reap area. Can we skype? Best, Brad Peter, We would provide some assistance pro bono as we have several clients in the arts here. I can be reached on skype - brad_gordonassociates.asia Look forward to hearing from you. Peter, I wrote to you the other day and have sent a message to Tammy. I have a law practice in Phnom Penh (www.gordonassociates.asia). We would be happy to help on a pro bono basis. I do not know Dave personally, but am sure that we are only a few steps away in terms of friends of friends. Please feel free to skype/call me as needed. I was in Siem Reap last weekend and stayed about two streets away from the Green Village. I speak Khmer and asked two tuk tuk drivers about Dave's disappearance - neither of them were aware of his disappearance. Also, I asked the hotel manager (a westerner) where I was staying and he was totally unaware - this was about 4 days ago. I believe this means the news is not getting out enough to the local hotel owners/tuk tuk drivers. The best place to start may be the Golden Banana which is within a 5 minute walking distance of Green Village. They have a number of guides/tuk tuk drivers there who may have seen Dave on that day. Valentine's Day is a very popular day in Cambodia so the Khmers would remember that specific day well. I don't think they would recognize a head photo alone unless they had seen him many times before. Better to do a full body shot and ideally find out what color clothes Dave was wearing the day he disappeared (someone needs to ask the maid and the receptionist). They have amazing memory for objects (e.g. if he was carrying a bag or even if you can figure out the water bottle brand, they may remember the shape of the bottle). I would bet they might remember a single item of clothing. Photos of a face alone (of a westerner) will be difficult for them. The tuk tuk drivers nearby really must be interviewed - I would recommend a small team - 2 or 3 people. Whoever has been driving him around, may be able to recall exactly where he went the day before and in the morning. Dave is likely to have used the same 1-2 tuk tuk drivers. You need to raise awareness among the tuk tuk drivers - we can talk more via skype. Khmers watch tv - that's how they get their news - not newspapers, not signs, etc. If you want to get out the word about Dave locally, you need a local tv program to run a 30 second piece on him missing. I can put you in touch with a news broadcaster who might be willing to do a short piece on Dave. I am in Siem Reap every 1-2 weeks and will be there again next Monday. Please don't publish my name on your website. Given all of my friends in film/journalism, I wanted to offer some insights, which might be helpful. Best, Brad (Brad_GordonAssociates) / 855 16 503 727. Brad thanks so much. I just found this message tucked away on Facebook now. This is very valuable. Will be in touch. Ok. Talk soon. You can also call me on viber +855 78 777 417 |
Hindsight they say is always 20/20.
Tammy I am also thinking. Dave probably paid for his room by the month and February is ending. Perhaps you should call the Guest House and check. So they don't just throw his stuff out or something.
Tammy, I made brief contact with Sonny last night. I don't know if he is sincere or can be trusted, but I am going to ask him to send us all the phone numbers and calls made on Dave's phone and ask him if he would write out a statement for us, since he was complaining that the police have not questioned him.
Peter Vronsky
I know you are wiped. I am sending to
your e-mail a rough draft of a long term
operational plan. [see
Page 8] How we maybe can
mobilize for the next week, or month or
months to get this resolved. Its not
completely finished, but 90 percent.
Take a look before you go to bed. We can
talk maybe tomorrow or the weekend.
Unless something super urgent breaks.
Going into the e-mail now and I am going
to bed.
I don't sonny can be trusted. And I don't think we should release any more info to the media. There is too much coming at us. We should only discuss the case with investigators or Canadian officials. I spoke to Dave's lawyer and she is advising me what to do next
What I am sending you is not for the media but for us. You might want to take it by the lawyer, see what they say even.
And maybe Caitlin Fisher might have some inside news for us when she gets back from Ottawa this weekend. I'll hold off writing Parizeau about whether photos were taken of Dave's room and the other questions until you talk to your lawyer. Maybe she will want to add questions or talk directly with Parizeau. It does not have to be me. She is your lawyer.