'It's the gang that can't shoot straight': Ringleader of Venezuela coup who failed to join his troops after his boat broke down 'plagiarized passages from Department of Homeland Security, Tony Robbins and Masterclass on his security firm website'
The former Green Beret behind a failed military incursion in Venezuela failed to join the plot to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro because his boat broke down and coronavirus travel restrictions left him trapped in Florida.
Jordan Goudreau, 43, was rescued by naval authorities from Curacao on March 28 when the 41-foot fiberglass boat owned by his company Silvercorp USA broke down at sea. He was forced to return to Florida, where he is living, and prevented from rejoining his troops.
The unfortunate event is just one of many missteps made in the lead-up to the failed coup by Goudreau and Silvercorp, who a former U.S. Army paratrooper has now dubbed 'the gang that can't shoot straight'.
Goudreau has found himself under federal investigation for weapons smuggling after identifying himself Sunday as the ringleader of the mission and can now also add plagiarism to his list of infractions.
Large passages copied straight from the Department of Homeland Security, inspirational speaker Tony Robbins, and online educational website MasterClass were found on the Silvercorp website, according to an Associated Press report.
Jordan Goudreau, 43, who identified himself as the ringleader in a failed coup in Venezuela did not take part in the foiled plan as it went into action as his boat broke down at sea on March 28 and he was forced to return and remain in the United States because of coronavirus travel restrictions. His company has been branded 'the gang that can't shoot straight'
An Associated Press investigation found that last year Goudreau helped train a team of Venezuelan military deserters in Colombia to carry out a raid and traveled back to the training camps or to pick up new recruits on several occasions over the past few months.
In December, Silvercorp bought a 41-foot fiberglass boat, Florida vessel registration records show, and proceeded in February to obtain a license to install maritime navigation equipment.
On his application to the Federal Communications Commission, Goudreau said the boat would travel to foreign ports.
The boat next appeared in Jamaica, where Goudreau had gathered with a few of his special forces buddies looking to participate in the raid, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke with AP.
But as they were readying their assault, the boat broke down at sea on March 28 and an emergency position-indicating radio beacon was activated, alerting naval authorities on the island of Curacao.
Goudreau was rescued but returned to the United States unable to get back Colombia to carry out his own plot.
Sean McFate, a former U.S. Army paratrooper who worked as a private military contractor, said Goudreau's behavior should raise serious concerns about the lack of enforcement of U.S. laws requiring Americans who conduct private military training abroad to obtain U.S. government licensing.
'Charlatans and amateurs have always haunted the mercenary business,' said McFate, who is the author of The New Rules of War on the foreign policy implications of privatized warfare.
'But Goudreau finds the new bottom. Silvercorp is literally "the gang that can´t shoot straight".'
Eight men were arrested Monday - including two U.S. citizens - as Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro cut off a plot to overthrow him. The coup plan seemed doomed from the outset and was hit by setbacks such as the absence of its leader Jordan Goudreau, who was trapped in Florida because of coronavirus travel restrictions. Thirteen were arrested in total
The former Green Beret is currently under federal investigation for arms trafficking after members of the U.S. Congress asked the State Department about its knowledge of Goudreau's plans and raised concerns that he possibly violated arms trafficking rules.
Any U.S. company supplying weapons or military equipment, as well as military training and advice, to foreign persons to seek State Department approval.
And plagiarism has been added to his list of crimes.
The website for Goudreau's Silvercorp USA appears to have lifted entire passages from the website of the Department of Homeland Security and as well as one run by a crisis management firm.
There are also pages found on the website, without active hyperlinks, with wording nearly identical to online texts from Tony Robbins, a more-established competitor in the private security industry, and the fine print of online educational website MasterClass.
'When a crisis arises, the first thing people often look for is a leader: the person who knows how to solve the problem and will take the necessary steps to do so,' reads the homepage of SilvercorpUSA.com, which features images of Goudreau firing machine guns in battle, running shirtless up a pyramid and flying on a private jet.
Silvercorp USA webpage (top) shows a complete paragraph at top left that is lifted from Tucker-Hall (bottom), a Florida-based PR firm that specializes in crisis management
Except for the substituted word Silvercorp, the five-sentence blurb is identical to a passage on the website of Tucker/Hall, a Jacksonville, Florida-based PR firm that specializes in crisis management.
A section of the website promoting his firm's expertise on 'Natural Disaster Mitigation' lifts three sentences verbatim from the Homeland Security website.
Goudreau's apparent intellectual property theft was first detected by an anonymous social media sleuth who published his findings under the handle @Z3dster on Twitter.
'That #SilvercorpUSA site is special,' the person wrote.
'If anyone was doing business with him, this should've raised some serious red flags,' @Z3dster said in an interview on what he said was a burner phone, after first being reached via a direct message on Twitter.
He declined to provide his real name or location but said he is a system administrator with a degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Z3dster achieved renown in 2017 for discovering former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort may have used the online password 'Bond007.'
Goudreau hung up when contacted by phone by AP on Thursday.
David Volk, whose Melbourne, Florida-based law firm represented Goudreau in his past dealings with Guaidó aides in Miami, declined to comment or even confirm whether he represents the special forces veteran with three Bronze Stars.
'Please stop contacting our office,' Volk said in a response to an AP e-mail.
An image from Silvercorp USA, the Florida-based company owned by former Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, which is at the center of the failed coup launched Sunday in Venezuela
Befitting Goudreau's own James Bond-like aura, he had a gmail account ending with '007' that Z3dster found. A friend of Goudreau confirmed that the account belongs to the ex-Green Beret.
A photo icon associated with that account matches one of a U.S. combat soldier peering through a long-lens camera in mountainous terrain that has appeared on Silvercorp's website, according to Z3dster.
The friend, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said he believes Goudreau designed the website himself. The domain was registered in February 2018 by a former business partner.
A copy of the site was downloaded by AP on April 12, indicating the plagiarized passages existed before Goudreau was at the center of a major U.S. foreign policy crisis.
In one sloppy mistake on the Silvercorp website, Goudreau appears to have even copied the small print of MasterClass, leaving a trail of 37 citations of the popular educational website in the privacy terms of his website. The link to the privacy terms was not active.
'Anyone embarking on a personal journey toward higher achievement and deeper fulfillment needs a strong core, a foundation on which to build their new life,' reads a sentence on the 'Ask Jordan' section of the Silvercorp website that is identical to an 'Ask Tony' on Robbins' website.
The section remains on the Silvercorp website but is no longer active.
Goudreau has been placed at the center of a plot hatched with a rebellious former Venezuelan Army General, Cliver Alcalá, to secretly train dozens of Venezuelan military deserters in secret camps in Colombia to carry out a swift operation against Maduro.
He has said he was hired last year by opposition leader Juan Guaidó, something the U.S.-backed Venezuelan lawmaker has denied.
The failed military incursion, which aimed to capture socialist leader Maduro, resulted in the detention in Venezuela of two of his former special forces colleagues: Airan Berry, 41, and Luke Denman, 34.
Eleven Venezuelans were also arrested as President Maduro revealed that they had knowledge of the raid plans after infiltrating the group in Colombia and were waiting to capture them.
The attack was foiled as the group attempted to enter Venezuela on fishing boats. Locals alerted authorities and they were arrested.
Venezuelan Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said on Tuesday the alleged plot was hindered by rivalries among the participants and logistical problems, including a shortage of fuel for their boats.
He presented more details of the plot that he said resembled a 'Hollywood script' fueled by the 'white supremacist' ideas of its alleged American organizers.
The Trump administration has denied any responsibility for the armed raid.
'They thought that because we're black, because we're Indians, that they were going to easily control us,' said Rodriguez, showing images of what he said were boats and training camps inside Colombia from where the insurrection was organized.
'It's the gang that can't shoot straight': Ringleader of Venezuela coup who failed to join his troops after his boat broke down 'plagiarized passages from Department of Homeland Security, Tony Robbins and Masterclass on his security firm website'
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