2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt the US of backing the plot, but the Pentagon denies supporting it. US officials say it was Greg Wales who made all the approaches to them. Greg Wales, a London-based property dealer, is alleged to have raised $500,000. Equatorial Guinea official sources claim that in November 2003 , when the plot was in its early stages, an Old Etonian mercenary, Simon Mann, paid Mr Wales about $8,000. Mr Wales denies any involvement in the coup. Theresa Whelan, a member of the Bush administration in charge of African affairs at the Pentagon, twice met a London-based businessman, Greg Wales, in Washington
Corruption in Equatorial Guinea it from Rio to Los Angeles to fetch his barber. "In one six-week period in 2006," reported the "New York Times" in 2009, Teodorin had "transferred $33,799,799.99 to the United States...which was used to buy" the jet. As of October 2012 his private jet was "believed to be in Equatorial Guinea but US officials said they would try to seize it if it ever lands in another country." In a single month he spent "$80,000 at Gucci and $50,000 at Dolce & Gabbana" for designer clothing. Dolce & Gabbana would periodically send a sales associate and tailor to his estate