UANI Applauds Eaton Vance's Divestment from Lebanese Sovereign Debt

   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 16, 2012 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Applauds Eaton Vance's Divestment from Lebanese Sovereign Debt   New York, NY - On Monday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, applauded Boston-based Eaton Vance Investment Managers' recent divestment from Lebanese sovereign debt. Said Ambassador Wallace: Last week, Eaton Vance further contacted UANI regarding its divestment from Lebanese sovereign debt. Eaton Vance again confirmed to UANI that it has divested its holdings of Lebanese sovereign debt securities. Eaton Vance also stated that it took this action independent from receiving UANI's original letter detailing the influence of Iran and Hizballah in the Lebanese banking system and Lebanon's sovereign bond market. UANI initially contacted Eaton Vance on June 8 out of concern related to its Lebanese sovereign backed and related securities portfolio, and called on Eaton Vance to "divest from all Lebanese sovereign backed debt securities." According to recent Bloomberg data accessed by UANI, Eaton Vance held significant amounts of such securities as of March 30, 2012 reporting. We applaud Eaton Vance for divesting from Lebanese sovereign debt. All firms should follow Eaton Vance, Erste-Sparinvest, and others, by immediately divesting from Lebanon's fraudulent sovereign-backed securities. No legitimate firm should trade in Lebanese sovereign backed securities, given Hizballah and Iran's illicit control of the Lebanese banking system. This month, UANI announced the results of a three month-long investigation into the influence of Iran and Hizballah in the Lebanese banking system (LBS) and Lebanon's sovereign bond market, and announced a campaign to compel legitimate financial institutions into divesting from Lebanon's bond market. UANI also announced that the Austrian investment firm, Erste-Sparinvest, divested from Lebanese bonds in response to UANI's campaign. UANI research and analysis, made public for the first time, has revealed the existence of a state-sponsored Lebanese money laundering scheme involving Lebanon's Central Bank-Banque du Liban-and the LBS under the direction and influence of Iran and Hizballah. Lebanon has employed a state-sponsored money laundering scheme to "wash" Iranian and Hizballah illicit monies, in order to artificially and fraudulently support Lebanese debt securities. Click here to read UANI's June 8 letter to Eaton Vance. Click here to read the July 3 Wall Street Journal article, "Banks Get Pressed on Beirut." Click here to view UANI's research, "HIZBALLAH, LEBANON & IRAN: PARTNERS IN A SOVEREIGN MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME." Click here to call on the U.S. Government to Sanction the Lebanese Banking System and for Bond Holders and Credit Agencies to end Lebanon Business. ###                                                                          United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons. The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad; Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world; Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran; Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies; Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and; Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures. UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country.

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