Snapped Shot

The "missing American" in Iran has been identified as former FBI agent Robert A. Levinson, who, as "John Doe" over at Jawa points out, seems to have been visiting Kish Island, a "free-trade" resort area off of the southwest coast of Iran.

What's interesting to note, as commenter Rodger Morrow (homepage) points out, is that Mr. Levinson appears to be a former expert on counterfeiting.

Counterfeiting?

As in North Korean supernotes? The kind which the UN can't seem to find?

This is very interesting. We speculated late last year about a cash nexus existing between Iran and Hezbullah, potentially being supported by counterfeit currency, and furthermore that the counterfeit bills may have come from North Korea, but this one incident seems to tie all of these players together rather succinctly. The prior speculation didn't pan out, of course, so please do take all of this with a grain of salt.

Is there more going on here than meets the eye? Hopefully, new developments will continue to shed light on these possible connections.

Update: The all-knowing Dr. Rusty "John Doe" Shackleford (okay, now I get it) suggests that Mr. Levinson was arrested detained for "Vacationing While American," which definitely makes sense. All I know is that a counterfeiting expert "disappeared" in Iran, a country which is definitely capable of it. Other than that, I'm sure it's entirely possible that Rusty's right. He usually is, anyway--That's why he's so all-knowing! I'll continue digging and see if anything shows up that's of interest, in the mean time.

Many thanks for the new details, Rusty!

Update again: Here's some additional info: Mr. Levinson has been missing since mid-March (2 or 3 weeks now), and was reported to be working on an independent film project over in the vicinity of Kish Island (pictured above). Consider that another check mark in Rusty's column. Dang!

Update: Does Mr. Levinson "like spy movies?" Even more check marks towards the good Dr. "John Doe." Nuts!

Rodger notes in the Comments section below that there may be even more to this than I've listed so far: He points to a potential link to a film producer named Neil Docherty, who is reported to be connected with Frontline NBC, on what I'd imagine would be the film that he was reported to be in the area working on. Rodger also mentions an Iranian Petroleum Bourse, which he suggests might be a money-laundering connection--one of Levinson's specialties. It'll be interesting to see if anything turns up on those angles, and maybe to discover what kind of film he was working on over there.

Thanks for the additional details, Rodger!