The trouble with star agent Abdullah Milton
DEFENCE IN TERROR TRIAL GAINS NEVER-HEARD-BEFORE DETAILS
If the big RCMP case against accused terrorism financier and star recruiter Awso Peshdary ever gets to trial, the credibility of the Mountie’s star witness — a paid agent — will be severely tested.
And it should come as no surprise to the RCMP. That’s because the Canadian Security Intelligence Service assessed Abdullah Milton, the prized agent, two years before he was paid at least $700,000 to infiltrate an Ottawa terrorism network linked to Peshdary.
The assessment concluded Milton was parasitic and psychopathic.
CSIS first approached Milton back in January, 2011, and he was later assessed for reliability in two interviews in 2012. Milton, now 39, was first interviewed on Oct. 30, 2012, for three hours, then again on Oct. 31, 2012, for five hours. Beyond the interviews, government agents also investigated his private life.
The Muslim convert, on welfare and teetering on bankruptcy at the time, went on to become a CSIS asset before working for the RCMP.
Three young Ottawa men — Vanier twins Ashton and Carlos Larmond along with Suliman Mohamed — are now serving prison sentences after entering surprise guilty pleas earlier this year to RCMP terrorism charges that were built on evidence provided by Milton.
Because of their guilty pleas, no trial was held and no one heard from the star witness.
But now, as Peshdary’s lawyers prepare his defence, recent court filings reveal never- heard- before details about Milton, i ncluding CSIS’s “Top Secret” assessment of him.
The court filings provide an unprecedented, public look into the government’s screening of a recruited antiterrorism agent. Here are some highlights of the CSIS assessment into the character, mind, and behaviour of Milton before he was hired.
Milton has a tendency to be parasitic with a psychopathic flavour. He will do whatever he needs to get what he wants. Milton was charged with assault and forcible confinement in September, 2001. He was also charged with spousal assault in 2010. The charges were withdrawn, and in one of the cases, the RCMP agent signed a peace bond to stay clear of his wife. He gave police a fake address when signing papers to win release on the spousal assault charges. He has been married at least seven times and has at least four children. He has significant mental health and personality disorders. These conditions are responsible for the instability and chaos in his day-to-day routine, relationships, career, finances, and religion. Milton is addicted to porn. He finds it morally wrong but can’t stop watching it. He has difficulty with the Islamic concept of “lowering his gaze.” He is immature, selfish, narcissistic and almost “child- like.” He appears to have little sympathy for his wife and children and instead treats them like objects. Milton’s interactions with his wife and children have a “parasitic quality.” He had a chaotic childhood. He was raised in an abusive home and got kicked out for violence. Instead of studying, he drank and did drugs and dropped out of school. He got one of his high school girlfriends pregnant, twice. He converted to Islam at 28. He has significant debt and an unstable work history. Milton has an inability to save money and spends it right away on things like suits and fedoras. He accepts little responsibility and has poor insight. He is impulsive and vulnerable to influence and manipulation of those around him. He bottles up his feelings, only to eventually explode. He felt there is discrimination against Muslims in Canada. Milton’s version of events were sometimes at odds with CSIS’s own investigation into his life.
Earlier this year, an Ontario Superior Court judge forced CSIS to reveal the assessment to Peshdary’s legal team. And now, the assessment of Milton is included in new court filings related to a defence motion for further third-party records from CSIS.
While the criminal charges against Peshdary stem from an RCMP investigation, Solomon Friedman, Peshdary’s prominent defence lawyer, fought for the secret records from CSIS because the paid agent previously worked for the spy agency from 2011 to 2013.
Milton had been recruited to spy on Peshdary back then. They worked together at Walmart and they prayed together. CSIS fought to keep its records secret but Justice Julianne Parfett forced them to hand over the files.
Friedman successfully argued that the records were vital, and without full disclosure of all CSIS documents, he would be fishing in the dark and “blindfolded” from meaningful cross- examination. How could he possibly launch a full defence to the charges without full disclosure? Friedman argued.
Friedman also argued that the records should be disclosed because Milton isn’t a protected source, but rather a paid police agent who has waived his privacy privilege and has agreed to testify against Peshdary at trial. Friedman said he intends to question the agent’s motives, ranging from financial to whether he was a neutral observer or an active participant in the terror network.
With the release of some of the top-secret documents about the RCMP agent, Friedman has laid the foundation for what could be a blistering cross- examination of a vulnerable star witness.
And the l awyer is not done yet, as his recent motion is to gain access to more disclosure from CSIS. As it stands, some of Milton’s story is already known, revealed through previous court filings.
Milton says he fell into the spy business by accident. CSIS paid him a visit in January, 2011, after he posted photos he took of Parliament Hill. He photoshopped the Canadian flag atop the Peace Tower, and substituted it with the flag of a Muslim extremist group. Milton posted the photos — including one of the Saudi embassy — three months before CSIS came calling. That Milton was under investigation by CSIS will be a central issue if the case goes to trial because it goes to the heart of the agent’s credibility, Friedman argued in submissions earlier this year.
Milton went on to work for CSIS, and they kept it a secret — even from the Mounties.
When the Mounties were investigating Peshdary in 2013, they expanded their terrorism probe to include one of his associates — Milton — not knowing that he was actually a CSIS asset. CSIS informed the RCMP about their asset, then cut its ties with Milton and handed him over to the RCMP in 2014.
Overnight, Milton went from working part-time jobs as a janitor and paintball referee to a highly- paid RCMP agent. He loved spending money fast, and the Mounties gave him bags and bags of cash. (The Mounties videotaped some of the big-money transactions.)
Milton’s work is credited for convictions against Mohamed and the Larmond twins. None of them took their cases to trial and none of them had access to the secret documents about Milton. They pleaded guilty in August to plotting to leave the country to join ISIL.
Peshdary has pleaded not guilty to all charges and intends on fighting the case.
Milton first started keeping an eye on Peshdary for CSIS back in 2011, when they worked the graveyard shift together at Walmart.
Peshdary, 26, was charged in February, 2015, with recruiting, financing and facilitating terrorism.
The RCMP believe Peshdary’s star recruit was John Maguire, who left Canada in December, 2012, to join ISIL in Syria, where he was featured in a propaganda video declaring religious war on his home country. The Islamic State reported Maguire died fighting in 2015, though his death has never been confirmed.
New details about the case against Peshdary are included in the recent court filings, including Milton’s analysis Peshdary had mellowed. He said he “used to be more radical” but “was now a changed man and less radical.”
The RCMP’s case that f i nally yi el ded c harges against Peshdary was initially built on a foundation so shaky that investigators were twice turned down when they went to get search warrants related to the Maguire case.
Ontario Court Justice Peter Wright refused to sign off on the RCMP warrants in 2013, saying the Mounties had fallen “very far short of the requisite standards expected at law.”
The judge also said the RCMP had “failed to establish that its sources of this investigation are reliable or trustworthy as is required.”
It wasn’t until CSIS shared i ts i ntelligence that the Mounties were able to finally secure warrants for electronic and computer data.
According to a CSIS briefing to the RCMP, Peshdary accompanied Maguire to a Montreal airport, where Maguire boarded a plane for overseas. Peshdary kept in contact with Maguire while he was in Syria, with CSIS intercepting four conversations in the summer of 2013, according to court filings.
Milton’s role as a CSIS asset remains unclear. In one of his interviews with the RCMP, he said his work with CSIS had been a “learning experience” and he had made mistakes along the way. He also noted he has a weird memory and had to train himself to keep repeating key details in his mind to remember them.
Peshdary’s lawyer is also requesting a copy of the sworn affidavit for a CSIS Act warrant.
None of the terrorism charges has been proven against Peshdary, who remains in jail awaiting trial.
FAILED TO ESTABLISH SOURCES ARE RELIABLE AS IS REQUIRED.