Mansoor Ijaz: The US Businessman Behind Pakistan's Memo-Gate Scandal

Mansoor Ijaz, a US businessman, played a significant role in the Pakistan's memo-gate scandal.

He is known for sending a memo to the then US Admiral Mike Mullen, which sparked the controversy.

Ijaz's actions led to a major diplomatic row between Pakistan and the US.

The memo, which was later revealed to be a forgery, allegedly contained sensitive information about Pakistan's nuclear program.

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Mansoor Ijaz began his career on Wall Street in 1986, joining Van Eck Associates Corporation as a technology analyst.

He left Van Eck in 1990 to start Crescent Investment Management LLC, where he developed a trading system to manage his first hedge fund.

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Mansoor Ijaz began his career on Wall Street in 1986, joining Van Eck Associates Corporation as a technology analyst.

He developed a trading system called Computer-Aided Regression Analysis Techniques to manage his first hedge fund at Crescent Investment Management LLC, which he started in 1990.

Klaus Buescher, his mentor at Van Eck, joined Crescent as president in 1991 and together they managed the company until Buescher's death in June 1997.

Mansoor Ijaz has remained active as Crescent's owner since then, operating it as a quantitative investment adviser and venture investing firm.

Crescent transitioned from a traditional hedge-fund management firm to a focus on venture investments in the early 2000s, initially in homeland security technologies after the September 11 attacks.

Mansoor Ijaz formed and listed Crescent Technology Ventures PLC on London's AIM Stock Exchange to raise venture capital for his projects, but it was de-listed a year later due to changes in AIM Rules for small-cap investment companies.

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Mansoor Ijaz's career is marked by a series of controversies, but one incident stands out as a turning point in his life.

He nearly brought down the government in Islamabad, Pakistan, with the scandal known as Memogate.

The investigation by the judicial commission will drag on till the end of March, but the sting is out of the scandal.

Mansoor Ijaz's involvement in Memogate was a result of his supposed influence within the US power circles, which he touted as a mediator, facilitator, and promoter of various issues.

He never had any stakes in Pakistan, and neither did he have much credibility to start with.

In fact, perhaps the only people who ever took him seriously were the Fox News Channel news managers, who occasionally featured him as an expert on Pakistan.

The scandal produced two casualties: Husain Haqqani, and the truth.

Mansoor Ijaz didn't really have much to lose, and he may have even benefited from the scandal in a way.

Mansoor Ijaz was at the center of Pakistan's Memogate controversy. He published an opinion piece on October 10, 2011, disclosing the existence of a memorandum he was asked to deliver to Admiral Mike Mullen.

The memorandum, allegedly drafted by Pakistani envoy Husain Haqqani, sought the Obama administration's help to avert a military takeover of Pakistan's civilian government after Osama bin Laden's death. It was delivered to Mullen by General James L. Jones at Ijaz's request.

Nawaz Sharif, the then-leader of the opposition, lodged a petition with the Supreme Court of Pakistan to investigate the memorandum's origins, credibility, and purpose. The court constituted a Judicial Commission to conduct a broad inquiry, which included Ijaz, Haqqani, and other key figures.

Ijaz had a friend who was developing oil fields in southern Sudan, and this friend challenged him to write an op-ed about Sudan's government.

This challenge sparked Ijaz's interest and he decided to take on the task. He used his connections to try and negotiate a deal between the Sudanese government and the US for the handover of intelligence data on Osama bin Laden's terror network.

The Sudanese government, led by military strongman, made an offer to Ijaz in April 1997, which was a significant development. Ijaz claims that this offer resulted in Secretary of State Madeleine Albright sending American diplomats back into Sudan in late September 1997.

However, the White House overturned this decision, which Ijaz describes as "one of the great foreign policy failures of our time."

Mansoor Ijaz was a key player in Pakistan's Memogate controversy, publishing an opinion piece in 2011 that disclosed the existence of a memorandum he was asked to deliver to Admiral Mike Mullen on behalf of Pakistani envoy Husain Haqqani.

The memorandum sought the Obama administration's help to avert a military takeover of Pakistan's civilian government after Osama bin Laden's death. It was delivered to Mullen by General James L. Jones at Ijaz's request.

Nawaz Sharif, then-leader of the opposition, lodged a petition with the Supreme Court of Pakistan to investigate the memorandum's origins, credibility, and purpose. The Supreme Court constituted a Judicial Commission to conduct a broad inquiry.

Ijaz was among the key witnesses deposed, as were Pakistan's intelligence chief Ahmad Shuja Pasha and Haqqani. The Judicial Commission reported its findings on June 12, 2012, finding the memorandum authentic and Haqqani its "originator and architect".

The commission's report also discovered a secret fund in Pakistan's Washington embassy that Haqqani allegedly had access to and utilized in "apparent violation of Article 84 of the Constitution of Pakistan". President Zardari was exonerated from any prior knowledge of the memorandum.

Haqqani continued to reject the commission's findings, maintaining his innocence, and remained in the United States as of July 2014.

Mansoor Ijaz was born in Tallahassee, Florida, and grew up on a farm in Montgomery County, Virginia.

He has two brothers, Atif and Mujeeb, and a sister, Neelam Ijaz-Ahmad. His brother Farouk passed away in 2012.

Mansoor's father, Mujaddid Ahmed Ijaz, was a Pakistani experimental physicist and professor of physics at Virginia Tech, known for his role in Pakistan's nuclear energy program and the discovery of numerous isotopes.

Mansoor Ijaz was born in Tallahassee, Florida. He grew up on a farm in Montgomery County, Virginia.

He has two brothers, Atif and Mujeeb, and a sister, Neelam Ijaz-Ahmad. His brother Farouk passed away in 2012.

Their father, Mujaddid Ahmed Ijaz, was a Pakistani experimental physicist and professor of physics at Virginia Tech. He played a role in Pakistan's nuclear energy program and discovered numerous isotopes at Oak Ridge National Laboratories.

His mother, Lubna Razia Ijaz, worked with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization to develop renewable energy programs in Pakistan.

Ijaz had a friend who was developing oil fields in southern Sudan, and this friend challenged him to write an op-ed about Sudan's government.

This friend's comment, "If you think Benazir tells lies wait till you see what your government does", stuck with Ijaz and inspired him to take action.

With the help of his connections, Ijaz was able to try and negotiate a deal between the Sudanese government and the US for the handover of intelligence data on Osama bin Laden's terror network.

Ijaz's efforts resulted in Secretary of State Madeleine Albright sending American diplomats back into Sudan in late September 1997, a decision that was later overturned by the White House.

Timothy Carney, a former US ambassador to Sudan, backed up Ijaz's claims in an op-ed written for the Washington Post, and Ijaz provided copies of letters from Sudan's senior political leader Hasan Turabi to President Clinton to support his assertions.

Mansoor Ijaz has a strong commitment to philanthropy, as evident in his involvement with various organizations. He served on the College Foundation Board of Trustees at the University of Virginia.

Ijaz also serves on the advisory board of the Rebuilding Afghanistan Foundation, which raises funds for building education infrastructure and programs in Afghanistan. The foundation has made significant progress, including the construction of Mayar Elementary School in Maidan Wardak Province.

In the mid-1990s, Ijaz supported Developments in Literacy, an initiative to build and operate elementary schools in rural Pakistan. This initiative aimed to provide an alternative to the religious schools where many Pakistani children were being radicalized.

Ijaz and his wife Valérie also serve as goodwill ambassadors for the British charity Children of Peace, which works to reconcile differences between Palestinian and Israeli youth.

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