Simon Mann Simon Mann Simon Francis Mann (born 26 June 1952) is a former British Army officer and mercenary. He served part of a 34-year prison sentence in Equatorial Guinea for his role in a failed coup d'état in 2004, before receiving a presidential pardon on humanitarian grounds on 2 November 2009. Mann was extradited from Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea on 1 February 2008, having been accused of planning a "coup d'état" to overthrow the government by leading a mercenary force into the capital Malabo in an effort to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Charges in South Africa of aiding a
Corruption in Equatorial Guinea with racks of merchandise for him to browse and "would close off its second-floor showroom when his girlfriends came in to shop." One girlfriend "racked up about $80,000 in purchases, including bronze and red dresses that cost nearly $7,000 apiece." In June 2005 he bought two 50-foot speedboats worth $2 million and shipped one to Hawaii so he could use it there. In 2008 "he commissioned a German company...to design a 'mega yacht' worth $380 million, nearly three times what Equatorial Guinea spends on health and education in a year. After the plan became public, Equatorial Guinea announced he would