(Edited from a Skepticfile article)
According to Wilson, his
bookkeeper-girlfriend, and a female companion of Clines, the profits were to be
shared by Secord, Clines, Shackley, Wilson, and another Pentagon official,
Erich von Marbod.
The deal that brought in $71
million in Defense Department fees was for delivering military equipment to Libya
via Egypt, with logistics by Cline’s company and overseeing by Secord at the
Pentagon.
Memos from Wilson's lawyer at the time -- first unearthed by Peter Maas for his book MANHUNT -- say the profits were to be shared among a corporation, apparently controlled by Wilson, and four U.S. citizens. But federal prosecutors decided the word of these witnesses might fail against the denials of senior Pentagon officials. Besides, the careers of Secord and von Marbod seemed -- at least until the Iran-contra affair -- to have been effectively derailed. Both had resigned from their posts.
Instead of indicting the
individuals, the prosecutors indicted only Cline’s company, without saying who,
besides Clines and an Egyptian partner, were thought to be the other
investors. (Secord, Shackley, and von
Marbod denied involvement in the company.) Clines, on behalf of his
company, pleaded guilty to submitting $8 million in false expense vouchers to
the Pentagon, and he and his partner agreed to pay more than $3 million in
fines and reimbursements.
That, however, did not dissuade Richard Secord from hiring Clines as his deputy in the Iran-contra operation that followed.
Only Wilson was convicted, on charges of supplying tons of plastic explosives, assassination gear,
high-tech weapons, and trained personnel to Libya. He commenced his 52-years sentence in 1983 in US federal prison.