Efraim Diveroli's father hoped his son would become a doctor or lawyer.
Efraim Diveroli, 22, is doing his "patriotic" duty as an arms dealer, his
grandfather says. What he got instead is a 22-year-old international arms
dealer who faces a
congressional inquiry for allegedly selling old Chinese ammunition to the
U.S. military to equip allies in Afghanistan. Diveroli is president of AEY
Inc., a South Florida company which, according to U.S. government
do***ents,
has done more than $10 million of business with the U.S. government since
2004. The papers also reveal the company struck it big in 2007 with
contracts totaling more than $200 million to supply ammunition, assault
rifles and other weapons to the Afghan National Army and police. The
company's contract said it would get the ammunition from Hungary. But Army
investigators found what the Afghan military got included corroded
ammunition made in China as long as 46 years ago. The New York Times
re****ted Thursday that AEY shopped stockpiles and ammo dumps in old Soviet
bloc allies, from Albania to Kazakhstan. Albania was a big customer for
Chinese armaments in the 1960s and '70s, the Times re****ted.
Angelo Diveroli, Efraim's grandfather, told CNN affiliate WPLG-TV that his
grandson is being targeted by "jealous competitors" in the international
arms market. Since he was a boy, the grandfather said, Efraim Diveroli has
known his way around weapons. "He's a genius about anything to do with
weapons," the 72-year-old says. "Ever since he was a little boy, I would
take him to gun shows and he could identify every model of guns. People
would ask: How can he do that so young? He has a gift, I would tell
them.''
Michael Diveroli, Efraim's father, told CNN affiliate WFOR-TV that he
wished
his son had turned his intellect elsewhere. He said Efraim was "a boy
genius" who is "hard to control." "I would prefer he became a nice Jewish
doctor or lawyer rather than an arms dealer," WFOR quoted Michael Diveroli
as saying. Watch how father says son runs his own show » But his son seem
to have a good idea of the circles he was runni ng in. "What goes on in
the
Albanian Defense Ministry," the New York Times quoted him as saying.
"Who's
clean? Who's dirty? Don't want to know about it." On a MySpace page Efraim
Diveroli last updated in 2005, he says "I probably grew up way to (sic)
fast." But in a hint of where the then-19-year-old's future was heading,
he
wrote, "I definately (sic) have the desire to be very successful in my
business and this does take up alot (sic) of my time." The MySpace page
also
hints of his need for thrills. "I'm one of those guys who needs to be
entertained and having lots of fun all the time so if your (sic) also an
undiagnosed case of ADD look me up," it says. He lists the weapon-heavy
films "Heat" and "Scarface" among his favorites. A CNN search of
Diveroli's
Florida criminal record shows arrests, but no convictions, on offenses
from
misdemeanor battery to felony possession of stolen property. He has yet to
appear in court on a March 3 arrest for driving under the influence. For
now, relatives say Efraim Diveroli is out of the country. CNN attempts to
contact him have not been successful. His grandfather told WPLG that
Diveroli is now in Turkey or Albania doing his "patriotic" duty. "He's all
over the world getting what the military needs," Angelo Diveroli says. But
in a MySpace message exchange with Radar magazine, a person thought to be
David Packouz, a 25-year-old who was AEY's vice president, refers to
Efraim
Diveroli as "my former s***bag partner" and says he is motivated by money.
"Efraim Diveroli has a serious psychological illness called 'extreme
greed,'
" Radar quotes him as writing in a re****t on its Web site
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