Lester Coleman Lester Knox Coleman II is an American who was the co - author of the 1993 book " Trail of the Octopus , The Untold Story of Pan Am 103 " , in which he claimed that a secret drug sting enabled terrorists to evade airport security in the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan American World Airways Flight 103 . Coleman claimed he was at one point employed by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration ( DEA ) . Coleman further alleged that a compromised American covert drug - operation allowed Iranian - backed terrorists – the PFLP - GC , led by Ahmed Jibril – to slip a Semtex bomb aboard the plane . On September 11 , 1997 , Coleman stated to a New York Federal court that " . . . he lied when he claimed that a secret drug sting enabled terrorists to evade airport security in the bombing . . . " In a plea agreement , Coleman was sentenced to " time served " , which was five months , and six months ' home confinement under electronic monitoring . Conspiracy theories alleging that the federal convictions of Lester Coleman were an effort to silence him and to hide the truth about Pan Am Flight 103 circulated around the internet . Background . Coleman ' s hometown was Panama City , Florida . Coleman , who lived in Alabama , once served as a news director for WSGN radio in Birmingham , and White House Correspondent for RKO Network , before joining CBS News in Beirut in 1984 . In the 1970s and early 1980s Coleman worked in several local newspaper and television departments . In 1985 he worked as a correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network in the Middle East . CBN later closed its Beirut bureau , and Coleman was no longer employed by CBN . He also worked as a public relations employee of the Boy Scouts of America in Chicago . According to " Atlanta Journal - Constitution " journalist Ron Martz , in the 1980s , Lester Coleman frequently traveled through Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East and worked as a journalist , primarily in television . Coleman had a Lebanese wife . According to Martz , Coleman frequently used the pseudonym " Collin Knox " while publishing some works . Tom Silewski , the managing editor of " Soldier of Fortune " magazine , said that Coleman used the alias " Colin Knox " when writing two stories for the magazine . Michael Hurley , the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration ' s ( DEA ) operations in Nicosia , Cyprus , said that Coleman worked as an overseas informant for the DEA . Joe Boohaker , a Birmingham , Alabama man who served as Coleman ' s defense attorney , said that Coleman worked for Defense Intelligence Agency and checked on the DEA ' s operations . Pan American 103 statements . Although the " Time magazine " magazine article on the crash of Pan Am Flight 103 , " Pan Am 103 Why Did They Die ? , " states that Coleman was a Defense Intelligence Agency ( DIA ) agent , a later article in the " American Journalism Review " disputes that he ever worked for that agency . Coleman has said that he ran a DIA covert operation backing a Christian militia in Lebanon , known as the Lebanese Forces ( Samir Ghea Ghea ) , during the Lebanese Civil War . Coleman said he left the U . S . Embassy in Cyprus in 1988 and claims in his book that he was not engaged by the DIA again until 1990 . According to him , he was told to apply for a passport using a former false identity used primarily for work with the DIA . That identity was to be a man named Thomas Leavy . In May 1990 , as he prepared for his unknown job , Coleman was arrested by the FBI and charged with applying for a false passport . In 1990 Coleman was a resident of Mobile , Alabama . During that year a Chicago , Illinois grand jury indicted Coleman on passport fraud charges . The government accused Coleman of gaining a passport under the name of a newborn baby who died years prior to the application . According to Redding Pitt , a federal government attorney from Montgomery , Alabama , Coleman missed the bail hearing and appeared in Europe . While away from the United States , Coleman lived in a village in Sweden . Coleman accused the federal government of prosecuting him to try to silence Coleman ' s knowledge of the crash of Pan Am Flight 103 . ABC and NBC programs and TIME article . In October 1990 , ABC News and NBC News broadcast programs that used Coleman ' s version of the Pan Am incident ; the stories did not name specific sources . 18 months later , on April 20 , 1992 , " Time magazine " published a story on Pan Am 103 , titled " Pan Am 103 Why Did They Die ? , " using Coleman ' s version of the events and directly naming Coleman as a source . After the publication of the article , Steven Emerson , an investigative reporter for CNN , wrote a story for the " Washington Journalism Review " criticizing the " Time " story . The " Time " article that used Coleman ' s thesis included a photograph of Michael Schafer , a 39 - year old man from Atlanta ; Coleman said that the photograph of Schafer represented a CIA double agent , David Lovejoy . Schafer had worked for Coleman in Beirut for six months in 1985 , and Schafer was the best man at Coleman ' s wedding . After Schafer was recognized , Coleman said that he was trying to expose Schafer as being the same person as Lovejoy . As a result of the publication of the photograph , a $ 26 million libel suit was filed against the magazine . Trail of the Octopus . Coleman and Donald Goddard co - wrote " Trail of the Octopus " , which received its United Kingdom publication in 1993 and its first United States publication in 2009 . Coleman wrote that terrorists had infiltrated a Drug Enforcement Administration ( DEA ) operation outside of the United States and , because of incompetence on part of the DEA , were able to smuggle a bomb on Pan Am 103 . Coleman said " No one knows what is really going on . If they ever did , it would make Watergate look like Alice in Wonderland . " In the book Coleman accused Hurley of being the primary figure of responsibility of a coverup of the actual causes of the crash ; Coleman also accused Martz and another " Atlanta Journal - Constitution " journalist , Lloyd M . Burchette , Jr . , of being involved in a coverup . In the book Coleman also claims he sought , and was granted , political sanctuary in Sweden and further claims in the book that after he was under Swedish protection he provided Pan American World Airways with a civil affidavit which cleared Pan Am of full responsibility for the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing . Bloomsbury published Coleman ' s book in the United Kingdom . Christopher Byron of " New Yorker " said that Coleman chose to have the book published in the UK because " negative publicity ruined the book market for him in the U . S . " Byron said that attempts by Bloomsbury to sell the book in the United States " seem to have failed . " A spokesperson for Bloomsbury stated that she had " complete confidence " in Coleman ' s statements . According to Byron , after a series of interviews with people mentioned in the book , he could not find any who had been contacted by Bloomsbury about their role in the book . Hurley sued Bloomsbury in a London court . The DEA head and the book ' s publisher agreed to settle . The settlement papers of the publishers stated that remaining copies of the book had been destroyed . In addition , " The Mobile Register " stated that the book publishers admitted that Coleman ' s statements against Hurley had no truth and paid Hurley ' s legal fees and an additional undisclosed sum . As of 2010 the book is published by " Kindle & Nook Publishing " . Pan Am civil suit . In 1991 , as part of a civil suit between Pan American World Airways and the families of Flight 103 victims , Lester Coleman made a sworn statement accusing the Drug Enforcement Administration of allowing PA103 to be bombed ; his allegations were reported internationally . The federal court imposed a gag order on the defendants and plaintiffs in the Pan Am case . Christopher Byron of " New York " magazine said that members of the defense " appear to have repeatedly " violated the court - imposed gag . Byron argued that the Pan Am " Time " magazine story was possibly a leak . The lawyers of the plaintiffs complained , saying that the " Time " story was leaked in violation of the gag order . Lee Kriendler , the lawyer for the plaintiffs accused the defense of using the " Time " story to influence the jury . On July 11 , 1992 , the federal jury ruled that Pan Am was guilty of misconduct , in favor of the plaintiffs . In court Pan Am did not specifically mention the Coleman drug theory during the court proceedings . Kriendler said this was because " [ t ] hey knew we would have taken them apart if they had . " Perjury charges , extradition , plea agreement . The U . S . government indicted Coleman on perjury charges , accusing him of making false statements in an affidavit supporting Pan Am ' s claims against the Federal Government of the United States in a Pan Am 103 civil suit . Joe Boohaker , Coleman ' s defense attorney , said that the filing of criminal charges based on the course of a civil suit was " the most unusual thing " he had ever encountered . Tam Dalyell , a Labour Party Member of Parliament from Linlithgow , asked the Lord Advocate , Lord Rodger of Earlsferry , to grant diplomatic immunity to Lester Coleman so he could give evidence in the Lockerbie bombing trial in Scotland . Allan Stewart , a former Office Minister of Scotland and a Conservative Party MP for Eastwood , also said that Coleman should be granted immunity so he could testify in Scotland . The Lord Advocate rejected Dalyell ' s plea , saying that the Home Office and the English courts have the jurisdiction over the demand of the U . S . government ' s extradition demand regarding Coleman , and that the Crown Office and the Scottish Office had no authority over the case . According to Redding Pitt , Coleman called Governor of Alabama Fob James , an acquaintance of Coleman from the 1970s , for help in his case . James helped arrange Coleman ' s State of Alabama - paid voluntary return to the United States . Boohaker said that James apparently knew Coleman from his radio days . Upon Coleman ' s return , federal agents in Atlanta , Georgia arrested Coleman . On Thursday September 11 , 1997 , Coleman pleaded guilty to the five counts of perjury and signed a public apology . Coleman ' s plea agreement stated that his claim that the U . S . defense and intelligence agencies authorized him to obtain a false passport was not true , that he lied in his Pan Am testimony in order to bolster his image as an international security and terrorism consultant and to obtain money , and that he wanted revenge against the DEA because the DEA had fired him . Coleman ' s prosecutors recommended a sentence of time served , five months in prison , and six months of home confinement . Coleman ' s highest possible sentence could have been 25 years in prison . In 1998 he was sentenced to three years of supervised release . In addition federal district court judge Thomas Platt fined Coleman $ 30 , 000 ( $ in today ' s currency ) . By that year Coleman became a morning talk show host in a Lexington , Kentucky radio station . In 1999 " The Sunday Times " reported that Coleman ' s perjury conviction had been overturned by a United States court of appeals and that judges issued a sealed ruling so the rationale on why Coleman ' s perjury conviction was overturned is not visible to the public . The paper also stated that Coleman filed an action against the federal government for $ 10 million ( $ in today ' s currency ) . State charges , federal and state incarceration . In 2000 , the State of Kentucky charged Coleman with 36 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument and one count of being a persistent felony offender . The forged instrument charges originate from the state ' s accusation that Coleman used his computer to print forged checks and stole money from the Central Bank and two individuals . On March 16 , 2000 , a jury in Fayette County , Kentucky convicted Coleman of the 36 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument ; he was not convicted on the count of being a persistent felony offender . The jury recommended a four - year prison sentence . In 2000 Coleman received a 10 year prison sentence from the state , and for that he was immediately put on state probation . Coleman was transferred into federal custody because the federal government had accused him of violating the terms of his probation regarding his perjury conviction . Lester Coleman , Federal Bureau of Prisons ( BOP ) # 47321 - 019 , was released from BOP custody on December 7 , 2000 . In May 2003 Coleman was arrested in Panama City , Florida , his hometown . On Friday May 23 , 2003 , Coleman admitted in the Fayette Circuit Court that he had violated the terms of his state probation by leaving the state without the probation officer ' s permission and not paying restitution to his victims who individually lost over $ 10 , 000 ( $ in today ' s currency ) . Thomas Clark , the circuit judge , immediately sent Coleman to prison . In 2004 Coleman , in a federal court , sued the Commonwealth of Kentucky , Fayette County , Kentucky commonwealth attorney Ray Larson , and Mayor of Lexington " Rebecca " Isaac , accusing them of violating his constitutional rights . Coleman said that judge Clark had violated his rights by giving him 10 years instead of the jury ' s recommended four ; Coleman did not mention the probation that the judge had included in the sentence . One week after Coleman filed the suit , Joseph M . Hood , the district court judge , dismissed Coleman ' s suit without taking input from any of the defendants because he found Coleman ' s suit to be severely deficient . Hood said that Coleman failed to demonstrate that legal necessities needed to pursue his claim had existed ; a declaration from a state tribunal that Coleman ' s conviction was invalid or a federal writ of habeas corpus would have been filed that challenges the conviction would have fulfilled the requirement . Hood also said that Coleman failed to demonstrate how Isaac , Larson , and others had anything to do with his sentencing . Reception . Tam Dalyell said " I had contact with Les Coleman 10 years ago . In my opinion , though he has a chequered history , I take him seriously . " Daniel Cohen , the father of Pan Am 103 victim Theodora Cohen , said that Coleman was a " conman . "