Letters threaten Goldman Sachs

PEORIA - The Journal Star has been added to the list of newspapers mailed threatening handwritten letters this week targeting a major New York-based investment firm.

"Goldman Sachs. Hundreds will die. We are inside. You cannot stop us," the letter reads.

It was signed "A.Q.U.S.A."

"We take any threat to the safety of our people very seriously," Goldman Sachs spokesman Michael DuVally said Friday. "We are working closely with the law enforcement authorities, who tell us they don't believe the threat to be very credible."

A federal law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that the FBI "does not assign high credibility to the threat" because of the circumstances surrounding the letters, including their brevity and the nonspecific nature of the threat. The investigator spoke on condition of anonymity.

Goldman Sachs, one of the world's top investment firms, has offices in 46 cities around the globe, including London, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Hong Kong, and employs about 28,000 people worldwide. The firm did not receive any of the threatening letters.

"We have a broad range of security measures in place to counter all likely threats and we're monitoring the situation clearly," DuVally said.

The letter, opened at the Journal Star on Friday morning, was written in red ink on loose-leaf paper. It was mailed in a plain white envelope postmarked June 27 from Queens, New York.

Addressed to the News Department, the letter was immediately turned over to the FBI.

"The Peoria Journal Star is cooperating completely with the FBI and anyone else involved in the investigation," said Journal Star publisher Ken Mauser.

The Journal Star is one of at least 20 newspapers across the country that received such letters, which appear identical. Those publications are located in Indiana, Texas, New Jersey, Idaho, Ohio, Vermont, North Dakota and Tennessee.

"There seems to be no pattern regarding which newspapers are being selected to receive the letters," said Marshall Stone, FBI spokesman for the Springfield division. "We're aware of several newspapers receiving letters containing non-specific threats, and we're working with other agencies, including the U.S. postal inspectors, to determine who is sending the letters."

The Journal Star hired investment bankers from Goldman Sachs in 1996 to broker a sale with The Copley Press Inc. when the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) faced financial trouble. It's unknown if that is the reason the newspaper was mailed the letter.

No threats have been made against the Journal Star or the other publications involved, according to the FBI.

"From the local standpoint, I have not heard of any other threats of this nature in central Illinois," Stone said.

Leslie Fark can be reached at 686-3188 or lfark@pjstar.com.

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