Prince Albert's spymaster Robert Eringer worked closely with his deputy, Piers, to hone their first targets. These included the curious case of a retired U.S. military officer who introduced New Russians to Monaco in 1992, and whom they codenamed MING.
The Prince's mother, Hollywood starlet Grace Kelly, had, as Princess Grace of Monaco, gone out of her way to entertain U.S. servicemen who passed through the principality or were based nearby. MING was one such person, eventually invited to a Palace function. MING took a liking to Monaco and, when he retired from the military two decades later, he found his way back as coordinator of a Russian trade delegation that arrived in Monaco in 1992 for the purpose of opening business ties. An obscure Russian politician from St. Petersburg named Vladimir Putin was part of that delegation, whose visit marked the entry of New Russians into the principality.
Soon after, MING went into business with a member of one of Monaco's most prominent families, and created an entity whose function-Eringer discovered-was to launder Russian criminal money derived from illegal arms deals.
Through their dataveillant, Eringer and Piers identified MING's address. In fact, they discovered a number of residences in shi-shi neighborhoods-property wholly owned by MING and his girlfriend, conservatively valued at ten million dollars. Yet MING retired from the U.S. military earning sixty thousand dollars per year.
As Eringer's specialty is deep-cover penetrations, he endeavored to insert himself into MING's existence, and try to determine from him directly how he managed to enrich himself. (Piers uncovered MING's telephone numbers and pinpointed his precise whereabouts in September 2002: Malibu, California.)
Utilizing pretext as a business consultant with mutual contacts in Monaco, Eringer telephoned MING--a cold-call--and invited him to meet for drinks in Montecito, about sixty miles north of MING's oceanfront property.
Next day, September 29th, Eringer and MING faced each other near a large fireplace in the Four Seasons Biltmore lounge bar. To get somebody talking, it is important to establish common bonds and not address the target subject. As Walt Perry, a sting-undercover specialist, taught Eringer: Your target must look at you and think 1) this guy is genuine, 2) I trust this guy, and 3) I like this guy. You cannot establish rapport by asking questions, but by listening. The target will eventually get round to telling you what you want to know.
MING proudly boasted of being one of the first persons to introduce New Russians to Monaco. He told Eringer he'd served as an officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency and had been seconded to the White House as a Soviet Specialist when Ronald Reagan was president. In the late 1980s, said MING, he transferred to Germany and engaged in "the supervision of high-tech, super-secret reconnaissance of the Soviet Union." He added that he knew President Putin personally.
It is worth mentioning that MING was posted in Ramstein, Germany, during the timeframe (1986-90) Putin operated in Dresden, East Germany (two hundred miles away), as a KGB officer whose job it was to identity and recruit spies.
MING told Eringer he "retired broke." He said that his Monaco company was sold prior to Russia's financial collapse in 1998, and that the sale enabled him to earn a small fortune--explaining, perhaps, how his four million dollar Malibu house came to be furnished with extremely expensive Ming Dynasty antiques (hence his codename).
This was a lie. Eringer already knew from documents filed with Monaco's economic registry that MING's company was not sold, prior to 1998, but liquidated in June 2001.
Coming Next: A Briefing Fit For a Prince