JOHN FRIEDRICH: Catch Me if You Can...

If you owe a bank...

2009-07-07 08:55:25

If you owe a bank two hundred thousand dollars, it's your problem. If you owe a bank two hundred million dollars, it's the bank's problem...

A blogger

I had a lot of respect for him ..

2009-04-20 15:57:31

I had a lot of respect for him because he actually did an Advanced Free Fall, when you actually jump out of plane without anyone attached to you or a static line the very first jump. He jumped with a couple of instructors who talk to you on the way down and try to grab you arms to make sure you do the right thing. He would do whatever the boys would do.

Before the NSCA moved to Sale, I was trained up as a crewman. There was a boy, 3 years old I think, who had drowned in the river and I said, "We will have to go and get the body" and he said, "Are you happy with that" "I don't like the idea but someone has got to get him." Just before the helicopter left, he came up and he said, "Don't bother going, I'll go "Ok" and he did that. Yeah, he was that sort of guy, I mean there were some things about him that I was quite impressed with.

Former NSCA (VIC)

Somebody like John comes along

2007-08-16 17:21:09

Somebody like John comes along. He is articulate, he is educated, he is smart in the sense that he is smart about people, people's emotions and who they are... One of the best ways to tell a lie is to tell three quarters of the truth and tell a lie somewhere in the truth. It is a great way to tell a lie, to cover it with a whole lot of truth. And John would do that.

Lawyer

He was very clever

2009-04-20 15:51:44

He was very clever. Probably if you talk to the State Bank - they don't exist anymore - they would be probably be very cross with the whole thing. But, like I say, I don't have a lot of sympathy for banks because they rip us off all the time. They were 'pushing' money at him, you know, and I think Freddo was very clever in that if he needed a million dollars he would ask for ten. And they were more inclined to 'push' ten million dollars at you than one. It is just the way banks were back then because it was very easy to get money.

Former NSCA (VIC)

Is it goverment related?

2009-04-20 15:49:20

A number of departments used the NSCA; the Department of Environment and Sustainability, the Lands Department, Defence, the Victoria Police used them for search-and-rescue, the Fire Department, the CFA. But people didn't understand that it was a private company, and it was the sign of the times, the eighties, you kind of knew whom you were dealing with and that was enough. Not everybody understood how the NSCA was structured, exactly what was the legal entity. Most people thought it was somehow related to the government...

Former Police

John Friedrich went beyond the normal fraud

2009-04-20 15:50:50

John Friedrich went beyond the normal fraud because he created so many layers. In a way he broke the ultimate covenants of what makes us live together and work together, the sense that you don't have to spend every minute of your life double-checking everything that somebody says. Their words are not enough, the papers are not enough, the document you see is not enough, ringing up who they want you to ring may not be enough... So you need to independently check around the back door, without this person knowing, every step of the way if you are going to do business. That would stop business and that is the point: how would we operate in a fluid business environment if you spent your life always cross checking on every person you saw? And in his case of course, he created a whole lot of work and money for people where he lived.

Former Lawyer

He was a visionary, not a madman

2009-04-20 15:47:13

He was a visionary, not a madman. He lived it, breathed it and he was the mastermind behind a lot of the ideas. He wasn't shy to new ideas also and listened to all different people. Someone said to me once, "You would never get a more complete experienced, skilled body of people in one area ever again as what they had then".

They had expertise from all different walks of life and the think-tanks that they put together to get ideas, look at future projects, you would not get them today and one of the reason is cost. We had the best equipment.

Former NSCA (VIC)

The con was nothing...

2009-04-12 17:02:59

The con was nothing. All John did was to beat the banks at their own game. The banks are the biggest con artists around. Look at them; they rip off the public every day blatantly and we can't do a thing about it. All he did was beat them at their own game but he did use some shonky methods, I agree with that, I saw what happened. I didn't know at the time what was going on but I saw what happened.

Former NSCA (VIC)

I look at it the other way

2009-04-20 15:49:40

I look at it the other way. I am a banker and I am taken to a warehouse, and I walk through and I see 50 giant containers and John says, "Oh helicopter parts, this is a contract with China and this and that…" and he walks them through, gives them a lovely lunch, jumps them in one of those helicopters or planes, up they go. Says "Watch this", and gives them a little exhibition of blokes, you know, 50 guys there and there are blokes climbing ropes, and the Bank official goes "Pretty impressive operation!" walks back and says, "I am giving this bloke the $10 million bucks, that is the most impressive thing I have ever seen!" The man hasn't got a contract, hasn't got a job, these guys are getting wages when the bank lends them the money, right, that is an amazing thing. And you think about it, the poor banker. John knew, and it was a chance but it was a calculated chance, it was highly unlikely that anyone would see him for what he was.

Lawyer

Don't forget

2009-05-04 14:16:08

Don't forget to visit the Network site at (your contributions are welcome):

http://catchmenetwork.ning.com/

SMP

Latest from the network site...

2009-05-27 18:25:40

I was working with ..............., CHC Helicopters (ex-Vietnam, Ex-CIA, Ex-Victorian Police Force, Ex-NSCA) in Cameroon Africa. He said he provided the weapon for John to kill himself. He also said he had to 'help him pull the trigger'.
He said he admitted supplying the gun to the Coronial inquiry.
Can anyone support this?

Former NSCA (Vic)

Government involvement...

2009-07-07 09:03:54

Was there government involvement in the demise of the NSCA... Absolutely?

At the time the NSCA had almost completed contractual arrangements to take over the Management of the Victorian Police air-wing. Verbal agreement had been given (the consultant to the Victorian Police when they purchased two Dorphine helicopters was no other than John Friedrich). It was interesting to note that the week after the NSCA demise, then minister for emergency services, Hon Steve Crabb stated on national TV that the NSCA was never needed and in most cases showed up uninvited and unannounced... all this given that he (John) was involved in the discussions re the Victorian Police air-wing.... And it goes on and on.

Where was the then foreign affairs minister when all this took place - Evans - why was he so involved at the council? How did Firedrichs have a hot line to his office... To say there was no political involvement is farcical in the least.

Former NSCA (VIC)

Intelligence...

2010-01-07 12:50:40

The NSCA obtained contracts from all the military services to take care of their search and rescue requirements and from the Bass Strait off shore oil rigs to attend to any emergency that may arise. Facilities were set up at Sale to provide specialised training to many public authorities and to train special service personnel employed by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and their backers, the CIA.
A blog by Klaus

To see the rest of the blog - NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL - VIC DIVISION - THE CONSPIRACY ANGLE - click on the NETWORK LINK on the right of this page

German Synopsis

2009-05-19 16:09:29

"CATCH ME IF YOU CAN... Das Leben des John Friedrich"

Ein Dokumentarfilm von SMP Productions

Am 20.Januar 1975 landet Johann Friedrich Hohenberger mit einem deutschen Pass Nr. B9378 672 aus Neuseeland kommend in Melbourne. Da er kein Visum hat, darf er sich nur 48 Stunden im Land aufhalten bevor er Australien nach Singapur verlasst. Laut Aufzeichnungen der australischen Einwande - rungsbehorde fliegt er am 22. Januar mit Quantas Air nach Singapur. Doch zuruck bleibt ein Mann namens John Friedrich. Uber seine Einreise nach Australien gibt es keine Aufzeichnungen...

14 Jahre spater wird John Friedrich, nun Geschaftsfuhrer der NSCA (National Safety Council of Autralia), vermisst. Fast 300 Mio. Dollar fehlen ebenfalls nachdem Banken 1988 Kredite fur Friedrichs Geschafte gaben.

Auf der Flucht quer durch Australien wird John Friedrich schlieBlich gefasst und soll vor Gericht gestellt werden. Nach einem langwierigen ProzeB bringt er sich vor der Urteilsverkundung Mitte des Jahres 1991 in seiner Zelle um ohne wirklich etwas zu erklaren.

Johann Friedrich lebte vermutlich mit falschem Pass in Australien. Er erfand Ausbildung und Karriere und erweckte so den Eindruck, vielseitig qualifiziert zu sein und fahig, ein groBes Unternehmen zu leiten.

Friedrich hatte die NCSA zu einem Multimillionen-Dollar Notrettungsdienst ausgebaut, dessen Fahigkeiten jene des Militars ubertrafen. Die jahrlichen Betriebskosten lagen bei mehr als 90 Mio.$ mit mehr als 400 Angestellten. Doch all dies beruhte auf einem Netz finanzieller Betrugereien, samtliche Operationen waren mit Bankkrediten finanziert, die Friedrich nie ha?tte bedienen konnen. Als Sicherheit stellte er hunderte Stahlcontainer, die angeblich teures Rettungsgerat enthalten sollten, tatsachlich jedoch leer waren.

Am Abend seines Selbstmords erscheint Friedrichs Geschichte in "The Age Newspaper". Darin behauptet er, als Ex-CIA Agent immer noch in verschiedene geheime Operationen involviert zu sein, so etwa den Schutz australischer CIA- Basen. Viele Fragen bleiben jedoch immer noch unbeantwortet: Wer war John Friedrich? War er wirklich der Deutsche Johann Friedrich Hohenberger? Wie konnte er so viele Menschen tauschen, einschlieBlich seiner Freunde und Familie? Wieso hinterfragte die Regierung, die sich seiner Dienste bediente, nicht die Finanzierung derselben (und zeichnete ihn statt dessen 1988 mit der "Order of Australia" Medaille aus)?

Der Film verwebt Interviews mit Regierungsmitgliedern, Gesprche mit Freunden und Kollegen behutsam mit der Inszenierung von Schlusselelementen sowie vielfaltigen Archivmaterialien. Darunter befindet sich auch ein TV-Interview, das John Friedrich kurz vor seinem Tod gab.

"John Friedrich: Catch Me If You Can..." versucht die Geschichte von John Friedrich zu entdecken, seine Motive und sein unglaubliches Netz des Betrugs.