Paul Helliwell

Paul Lional Edward Helliwell (1915 – December 24, 1976) was an American lawyer, banker, Office of Strategic Services (OSS) official, and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer whose career spanned World War II and the Cold War, marked by his pioneering role in establishing CIA proprietary companies and covert financial networks. His work, often intertwined with organized crime and covert operations, had a lasting impact on U.S. intelligence practices, particularly in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Early Life and Education

Born in 1915 in Brooklyn, New York, to L.H. Helliwell and Nola C. Harless, Paul grew up in a middle-class family. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1937 and a Juris Doctor in 1939 from the University of Florida, where he developed an interest in law and international affairs. Admitted to the Florida Bar in 1939, he began practicing in Miami, laying the foundation for his dual career in law and intelligence. His early life was shaped by a drive for influence, reflected in his later roles as a secretive financier.

Military Service and OSS Career

Helliwell joined the United States Army during World War II but transferred to the OSS, the precursor to the CIA, where his intelligence career began. In 1943, promoted to colonel, he became head of the Secret Intelligence Branch of the OSS in Europe, overseeing espionage operations against Nazi Germany. He managed a network of agents, including future CIA officer E. Howard Hunt, and was succeeded by future CIA director William Casey in 1945. Helliwell then moved to the OSS China Command, leading the Secret Intelligence Branch under General Albert C. Wedemeyer. In China, he worked with operatives like Hunt, Ray S. Cline, Richard Helms, and Lucien Conein, coordinating anti-Japanese intelligence efforts.

Post-war, as the OSS dissolved, Helliwell served as chief of the Far East Division of the War Department’s Strategic Services Unit (1945–1947), an interim intelligence outfit. A controversial claim by historians Sterling and Peggy Seagrave, cited in *Gold Warriors* (2003), suggests that Helliwell, alongside Edward Lansdale and Robert Anderson, managed the transfer of looted Japanese “black gold” from the Philippines, creating 176 secret banking accounts in 42 countries to fund U.S. operations. Former CIA officer Ray Cline supported this account, but primary evidence remains limited, and the claim is debated among historians.

CIA Career and Proprietary Companies

In 1947, Helliwell joined the newly formed CIA, where he became a master of covert financing. In 1951, he established the **Sea Supply Corporation** in Bangkok, a CIA front that supplied arms to Thai police and Nationalist Chinese (Kuomintang, or KMT) forces in Burma fighting Mao Zedong’s communists. According to *Prelude to Terror* by Joseph J. Trento, Sea Supply’s planes, after delivering arms, transported opium from Burma to Taiwan, Bangkok, and Saigon, generating funds for KMT leader Chiang Kai Shek corrupt regime. Helliwell also played a key role in founding Civil Air Transport (CAT), a Taiwan-based airline, which evolved into Air America, both CIA proprietaries used for covert logistics and drug trafficking to finance operations, per *The Iran-Contra Connection* by Peter Dale Scott.

In the late 1950s, Helliwell helped modernize the drug trade for allies like General Vang Pao in Laos, whose 30,000-man army fought the Pathet Lao. William Corson, in *The Armies of Ignorance* (1977), notes that Helliwell’s introduction of portable heroin processing facilities, developed by the CIA’s Technical Services Division, boosted profits, some of which funded unofficial CIA operations. These activities, while denied by the CIA, are corroborated by declassified documents and former operatives, though specifics remain redacted.

Cuba and Castle Bank & Trust

In 1960, Helliwell shifted to Miami, providing business cover for CIA operations against Cuba. As paymaster for the Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961), he channeled funds to Cuban exiles, working with operatives like E. Howard Hunt and David Atlee Phillips, per *The Wall Street Journal* (1977). In January 1962, he founded Castle Bank & Trust in the Bahamas, a CIA proprietary that laundered money for covert actions against Cuba (1964–1975), including Operation Mongoose, a plot to destabilize Fidel Castro. According to *False Profits* by Peter Truell and Larry Gurwin, Castle Bank facilitated tax-avoidance schemes for mobsters like Meyer Lansky, Asian politicians, and the Pritzker family (Hyatt hotels), later linked to BCCI’s Ghaith Pharaon.

Helliwell’s Miami law firm, Helliwell, Melrose & DeWolf, served as legal counsel to a Panamanian holding company controlling a Lansky-connected Bahamian casino, per *Barry and the Boys* by Daniel Hopsicker. He reportedly ran Red Sunset Enterprises, a CIA front recruiting frogmen and explosives experts for Mongoose, though this is unconfirmed by primary sources. Helliwell’s role in the 1960s purchase of the Disney World site in Orlando, using Castle Bank to obscure transactions, is noted.

Connections to Related Topics

Helliwell’s work intersects with several covert networks, though direct ties vary:

Operation Condor: Castle Bank’s role in funding anti-Castro operations (1964–1975) parallels Condor’s anti-leftist campaigns. His Latin American operations, including support for anti-communist regimes, aligned with Condor’s context, per *The Pinochet File* by Peter Kornbluh.

- School of the Americas (SOA)** and Brazilian Advanced War College (ESG): Helliwell’s anti-communist operations supported regimes trained at SOA and ESG.

- Drug Trafficking: Helliwell’s Sea Supply and Air America operations pioneered CIA drug trafficking, as alleged in *American War Machine* by Peter Dale Scott, influencing later scandals like Iran-Contra, though his direct involvement ended by the 1970s.

Later Life and Death

Helliwell continued practicing law in Miami, serving as secretary and general counsel for **American Bankers Life Assurance Company of Florida** (1952–1976) and chairman of banks like **Bank of Perrine** (1962) and **Bank of Cutler Ridge** (1964). A heavy drinker with a flair for secrecy, he was decorated with the **Legion of Merit** (with oak leaf cluster), **Army Commendation Medal**, China’s **Order of the Cloud and Banner**, and Thailand’s **Order of the White Elephant**. In his later years, he suffered from emphysema and died of a collapsed lung at his Coral Gables, Florida, home on December 24, 1976, aged 61. He was survived by his wife, Marjorie, and daughter, Anne.

His death coincided with the collapse of Castle Bank & Trust (Bahamas and Cayman Islands) and two affiliated Mercantile Banks (Freeport and Cayman Islands), subsidiaries of George Olmsted’s **International Bank**, per *The Washington Star* (1977). The banks’ failure, linked to Helliwell’s tax-avoidance schemes, raised questions about CIA financial networks, though investigations were curtailed.

Conclusion

Paul Helliwell’s career, from OSS colonel to CIA financier, shaped U.S. covert operations through proprietary companies like Sea Supply, Civil Air Transport, and Castle Bank & Trust. His work funded anti-communist efforts in Asia and Latin America, often via drug trafficking and mob-linked banks, leaving a legacy of innovation and controversy.

Recommendation

Review declassified CIA cables (1970s), *Prelude to Terror* for drug trafficking context, and *False Profits* for Castle Bank details. Cross-reference with FBI’s Lansky files or University of Florida archives for Helliwell’s legal career, ensuring claims align with primary evidence.