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 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