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Corporate espionage honey pot operation

by Jonn Lilyea••64

Loving Riedel

Bobo and Mick send us links to the story of Navy Captain Jeff Riedel who was lured into a “honey pot” operation conducted by an Austral USA executive, President Joe Rella, in order to influence Riedel’s decisions upon his inspection of the shipbuilding company in regards to the littoral combat ship the USS Coronado. The plot was right out of an 80’s spy novel and it involved Reidel being seduced by an Austral USA administrative assistant, Elizabeth Loving, according to the Virginian-Pilot;

Loving said her orders were clear: She needed risque photographs with Riedel so the company president could use them as leverage over the officer who oversaw acquisition for the troubled littoral combat ship program, which Austal had been awarded a $3.5 billion contract to build in 2010.

[…]

“In my mind, after the fact, looking back at this … I know I made a huge mistake,” Riedel told a Navy investigator. “It was – it’s quite obvious to me that she was trying to lead me on, to take it to another level.”

The report from the Naval Sea Systems Command inspector general says Loving was able to learn Riedel thought poorly of Austal’s executives, but it says there’s no indication the captain used his position to influence contract decisions during their brief relationship. Riedel retired from the Navy in 2013.

The Navy report also notes there was no evidence – no emails or other documentation – to back up Loving’s accusations.

Riedel claims that nothing happened between the two, but that didn’t stop him from losing his job. I’m sure that sailors are more confident in their vessels after reading this story.

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64 thoughts on “Corporate espionage honey pot operation”

    2. Lmoa, that writes itself doesnt it?
      I dont mean to be cruel, actualy yes I do, but $3.5 Billion on the line and that broad is the best they can do? If it were me they had best be hauling in Jennifer Anniston type ass as a bribe

  2. If Psaul was willing to go to this much effort to protect Phil, he may have had a chance to succeed. It would’ve berna 0% chance of succeeding, but it would be funny to see Psaul all dolled up.

  3. Really, Liz Loving?

    Even the name sounds like something out of a pulp fiction story…her plan was to Ride Reidell?

    Fuck fotos for blackmail? How unimaginative…especially in lieu of today’s internet porn…amateur photos are everywhere.

    Just continues to prove that too many idiots let their dick guide their actions.

    I love pussy as much as the next guy but risking your freedom, your retirement and other financial risk for a little get some?

    What a dumbass.

    2. “amateur photos are everywhere.”

      You are not the first person I have heard this from.

      1. It ain’t pretty for the most part, but if one seeks such things one will find them. Everything from “revenge” releases to numbnuts sharing their wives and girlfriend photos…

        At least that’s what I heard from an independent third party source, and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

        1. I once got dumped in a particularly cruel and vicious way by a girl who’d made the mistake of furnishing me with pictures of herself in various stages of undress. So I did the gentlemanly thing and shared said images with everyone who had an internet connection.

            1. Yeah, well, “She looks GOOD naked!” was pretty much the only positive thing I’ve had to say about her since she hit me with the unprovoked “I wanna go hook up with this other guy now” revelation. Fucking cunt…

              But then I met my bride a couple years later, and she looks BETTER naked. She’s also honest, devoted, caring, loyal, a genuine pleasure to be around, and puts up with my shit. I definitely got the better end of that deal!

              1. I hear you. The soon to be MRS D is just like that, to include the powder aroma… only drawback (if you can really call it a drawback) is that I had to get her a 1911 of her own so I could get mine back.

  4. ‘In my mind…I know I made a mistake’. Okay, if you add ‘I realize I was thinking with my nads instead of my brains’ or ‘I realize that my brains were in my pants’, then it becomes clear how this entire event played out.

    I’ll quit laughing now.

    $3.5 billion? Not exactly a small piece of the pie, either.

    2. OR – A man has two heads, but only enough blood to use one at a time.

  5. Not to be rude, but…If that’s her picture… Well, he risked his career and retirement for pretty low stakes.

    1. heh…that’s was my first reaction, too. If I’m going to risk everything, that woman had better be drop dead gorgeous.

  6. Before I read the text, I thought this was a before and after transgender story.

  7. Damn, I thought beehive hairdos went out in the 60’s.

    And yeah, $4 billion for that POS? That’s 2 Virginia boats, which apparently have problems with doctored welds on the primary systems, and will extend Minnesota’s post commissioning availability by two YEARS.

    Good job, guys.

      1. I vote we ditch the LCS in favor of a BBG.

        Nothing says, “Fuck you!” like a 16-inch broadside salvo.

          1. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:

            Take the Montana-class design, remove the old 20s and 40s, half the 5-inch mounts, and one of the aft 16-inch mounts. Replace those with the metric fuckload of VLS tubes that would fit in the freed-up space. 4-8 CIWS mounts, an appropriate number of Bushmaster mounts, plus some of those RAM close-range missiles for air defense. Modern sensors and guidance for all weapons, plus old school mechanical (and nuke/EMP-proof) fire control computer with old-school optical directors as backup for the big guns. Multiple layers of spaced armor.

            Build five or six of those, make each one the centerpiece of a surface action group with a couple of CGs and DDGs, operating independently or in conjunction with carrier groups. Then ask Comrade Vlad and his Red Chinese buddies if they still want to come out and play. And ask the Iranians if they want to actually live in the 7th Century and not just act like it.

            1. Oh My God… that’s serious armament pr0n right there! I may need a moment…

              Question on measurements though, how does a metric fuckload compare to a metric shit-ton?

              1. 9 16-inch guns (3 triple mounts).

                12 5-inch guns (6 twin mounts).

                Bushmasters…call it 6 Bushmasters.

                Let’s say 6 CIWS.

                Figure as many VLS as 3 Ticonderoga-class CGs, maybe more.

                Who wants some?

                1. That’s gotta be one broad beamed boat, hate to see it roll over following a broadside!

            2. The problem with this concept is simple: These United States no longer have the capability to produce homogenous rolled armor plate, as was used in the BB’s.

              It’s gone, long gone and the expense of rebuilding, or building from scratch, the facility to create the armor plate would likely be more than the cost of the ships we would produce.

              One of the concepts that WAS considered, and is still bandied about, is to build a new class, based upon something like the Ticonderoga class hull, and add 3-4 turrets from US Army self-propelled artillery, with auto-loading magazines below decks.

              Along the sides of the vessel, you could have 2 (each side) MLRS launchers, with, again, auto-loading magazines like were used with the Terrier and Talos guided missile systems.

              These ships would be tasked with providing shore bombardment in support of amphibious landings, or in area denial situations, such as destroying port facilities, bridges, etc, where the air defenses might be too strong for air strikes.

              Simple, easy build system and you could have them up and operational in a rather short period of time if you really wanted them.

  8. Slightly off topic, but when writing about US Navy ships(or other country’s ships) you do not need the word “the” in front of the name.

    Just write “USS Coronado”instead of “the USS Coronado”. That’s what we were taught while I was serving with the navy, anyway.

    No big deal, just a small pet peeve.

    And yeah, that guy is a dick. One has to wonder what else might have gone on in his former commands as well.

    1. Never heard that but it makes sense. We don’t say, the Fort Campbell or the Camp Pendleton or the Andrews Air Force base. (Sorry, coasties. Do you have a home?) Of course, none of this helps with two other article issues. First, why is it THE Ohio State University and, second, in the land of the Brits, why is it not THE hospital?

      1. Ooh and you have struck a nerve, my monsters-in-law try to sound ever so sophisticated and better than me when they leave out the article. E.g. “I don’t need doctor, I’m fricking bleeding here, I need a doctor” and, for what it’s worth, I want to gag them with my fist when they say, “spot on”. In the English I speak, one never ends a sentence with a preposition.

        1. For you, D not c

          Jerry Lewis: Ain’t it quaint.”

          Voice: “That’s isn’t!”

          Jerry Lewis: “Oh. Is’t it quisn’t.”

      2. Look at it this way. Do you add a “the” before your city’s name? Do you add a “the” before a person’s name?

        You say “USS Iowa opened fire upon her target with her 16″ batteries” and not “The USS Iowa opened fire… etc”

        I know that it sounds prissy, and folks can/may write however they like. I’m just pointing out a pet peeve. Nothing Earth shattering, etc.

        Now back to some serious drinking and other proper late-night functions. 🙂

    2. Okay, so how do you refer to tugboats? The Gravel Gertie, or just Gravel Gertie?

      1. I don’t know about, but as to (see what I did there?) The Non-Honorary Chief Petty Officer, we refer to him as “That Asshole Bernath”.

  9. Well, I wouldn’t hit it–even if I wasn’t married to a gorgeous woman who enjoys sexual activity as much as I do. I understand that the lure of poontang causes men to do stupid shit, but…seriously, SHE was the best they could come up with?

    1. In all fairness, TOW, that may not be a good pic of her and we don’t know what she looks like naked.

      1. Laughing my ass off.

        We all know Jonn keeps the good stuff for himself.

    2. For the record, that kind of puffed-up layered cut went out 20 years ago. I don’t know anyone except actresses in retro stuff that do it like that, so it’s probably a wig.

      Second, I’m guessing that Captain Friedbrains was so desperate for a stable for his stallion, or for that matter, a connection for his overboard discharge pipe, that he would have beaten IDC SARC and tripped him to get some.

      That is all.

        1. Oh, dearie me! Well, I do hope that she earned her pay and got an incentive percentage as well.

      2. Everybody hatin’ on Liz. Come on now, she’s from Mizssippi y’all. That doo knocks the gentlemen out down there.

        1. And check out CAPT Creepy, he ain’t winning any prizes either. Nope, those two were probably made for each other. A relationship made in heaven, and assembled by the fine shipyard workers of Austral USA.

  11. One of the first things they taught us at the police academy (in the dark ages) was “the badge will get you pussy, but the pussy will get your badge”.

      1. Well if Phil DID do that, I hope he has another source of income. Doubt if Psaul could score in a truck stop restroom.

  13. Just one question for the ‘recent’ Navy peeps, because I’d be more surprised if this were the 1960s: As dumb as this dumbboat is, how in the blue-eyed world did he manage to make Captain?

    This Austral ASS, and that other contractor who got military contracts by bribery and lying — why am I even remotely surprised? Was this clowndog excuse for a senior officer so desperate for booty call that he just HAD to go there?

    If that’s the case, then the DoD needs to stop smacking people for its on sexual frustrations and start smacking itself upside the head. What’s next? Thai bargirls and the World of Suzy Wong?

  14. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. That’s what letting your pecker think for you!

  15. So… all those chicks wearing spike heels down on the corner are now called administrative assistants. When did that happen?

    😎

    1. I dunno about those “Ladies”, but the ones down at the Pilot certainly wouldn’t qualify as that kind of an assistant…
      They do assist at something, but, it really has nothing to do with administration…
      Of course there is a high level of qualification to be working at the Pilot.

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