John Edward Banks (born 1945) is a British former soldier, mercenary recruiter, and the founder of the Security Advisory Services.
[15] Banks claimed Stirling hired him for the "Hilton Assignment",[16] a secret military operation aimed at overthrowing Colonel Gaddafi by inciting an uprising in the prison of Tripoli.
[29] During an IRA arms procurement trial in 1977, Banks gave testimony which revealed strong ties of his former company with ex-SAS servicemen[30] and with the British PMC Keenie Meenie Services as well.
[32] In 1980 Banks was convicted of extorting 250 thousand dollars from the Nicaragua embassy in London in exchange for the information about an attempt upon the life of the former president Somoza.
[33][34] Banks claimed at the Central Criminal Court that he was one of the six British and American mercenaries hired by the CIA to assassinate Somoza by order of the US President Carter.
[39] At the beginning of 1990s John Banks allegedly took part in an undercover operation staged by Customs and Excise officers to arrest a drug smuggler from Ghana.
[40] In his interview with Sean Stone in December 2014, Banks claimed that US intelligence services planned a bombing during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.