Office of the Historian

109. Telegram 47730 From the Department of State to the Embassy in Costa Rica1

Washington, March 15, 1973, 1354Z.

47730. Subj: Publication of Vesco-Figueres Financial Dealings. For Ambassador.

[Page 350]

1. The SEC will go into court on Monday the 19th to seek a temporary injunction against Vesco. Among the several hundred documents they intend to introduce in evidence, and which will thereby become matters of public record, will be three showing deposits totalling 80 thousand dols to President Figueres’s account in the Bank of North America in New York City. These deposits came through a bank in the Bahamas with which Vesco is or was associated.

2. Department has discussed this matter with the SEC attorneys who consider that the documents are significant to the establishment of their case. The listing of the documents themselves will not name President Figueres although the documents, of course, will become matters of public record. Also, subsequent testimony will identify President Figueres as the recipient of the funds.

3. If you believe it useful you may give President Figueres advance notice of this development.

4. For your information the SEC feels that they have traced all of the funds attributable to the San Cristobal Farm transaction and that the funds involved here were not a part of that transaction.

Rogers

  1. Summary: The Department reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission planned to present evidence in court of financial links between financier Robert Vesco and Costa Rican President José Figueres.

    Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, [no film number]. Confidential; Limdis. Drafted and approved by Lazar. Vesco sought residency in Costa Rica after becoming the subject of an SEC investigation for fraud in connection with his management of the Investors Overseas Services mutual fund firm and his implication as the source of an illegal contribution to President Nixon’s 1972 reelection campaign. In telegram 939 from San José, March 17, the Embassy reported that Figueres told Vaky that he could account for the transactions involving Vesco and offered to facilitate an out-of-court settlement between Vesco and the SEC. (Ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Country Files, Box 779, Latin America, Costa Rica) Telegram 983 from San José, March 22, transmitted a letter in which Figueres elaborated on his offer to mediate. (Ibid.)

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