Grandfather defends suspended military contractor as legitimate weapons dealer

By Jennifer Kay
ASSOCIATED PRESS

3:07 p.m. March 28, 2008

MIAMI – The grandfather of a 22-year-old military contractor accused of illegally providing Chinese-made ammunition to the Afghanistan army defended him Friday as a dedicated businessman and legitimate weapons dealer.

Angelo Diveroli called the accusations “fabrications” by competitors jealous of his grandson's small profit margin. He did not name the competitors but said: “They want to destroy him with all kinds of lies because he works for the government.”

The Army told Efraim Diveroli in a letter Tuesday that his Miami Beach company, AEY Inc., was suspended from government contract work pending the outcome of a criminal investigation into his claims that the munitions were made in Hungary.

Providing Chinese-made ammunition would violate AEY's contract and U.S. law. There were also complaints from the U.S. military in Afghanistan that the ammunition arrived there poorly packaged, including loose cartridges in paper bags.

There have been no reports that the ammunition was unsafe or failed to work properly. A Pentagon spokesman said some of it may not have been used because of concerns about its packaging.

Diveroli did not respond to a note left Thursday at a Miami Beach apartment listed as his address. Messages left Friday for his attorney and at a phone listing for AEY Inc. were not returned.

Angelo Diveroli, who lives in North Miami Beach, said his grandson frequently accompanied him to gun shows when he was younger and became a weapons expert. The eldest of five children, he worked with his father on military contracts until he took over the business, his grandfather said.

“His passion is weapons, since he was a child,” said Angelo Diveroli. “I used to take him to gun shows. He knew every weapon.”

According to an Army Legal Services memo, AEY began contracting for the Defense and State departments in 2004. To date, the company has been awarded more than 150 contracts worth more than $200 million. Its key contract was awarded last year for various types of ammunition for the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. AEY also sold weapons, grenades, grenade launchers, rockets and clothing to the Pentagon and State Department.

Court documents in Miami-Dade County show that Diveroli has had several scrapes with the law.

In November 2005, a woman sought a protective order against him in domestic violence court claiming that he once shoved her to the ground and later was “harassing, threatening and displaying stalking like behavior.” But no protective order was issued in the case, which was dismissed after the woman failed to appear at a hearing.

One document is a letter written by Diveroli to the presiding judge requesting a continuance in which he describes his Pentagon contracting business.

“My business is currently of great importance to the country as I am a licensed Defense Contractor to the United States Government in the fight against terrorism in Iraq and I am doing my very best to provide our troops with all their equipment needs,” he wrote on Dec. 8, 2005.

Diveroli also was charged with battery involving a December 2006 altercation with a valet parking attendant and possession of a fictitious Florida driver's license that made him appear four years older. Those charges were dismissed after Diveroli completed a pretrial diversion program.

He still has a pending DUI case from this month after a Miami Beach police officer noticed Diveroli driving his 2007 Mercedes-Benz with its lights off in the early morning hours. A hearing in that case is set for April 11.

Ellie