The Miscreants’ Global Bust Out (Chapter Two): The “Money Weapon” and a Jihad Bigger than Bin Laden, by Mark Mitchell. Deep Capture, 03 May 2011.
Three years later, a lot of people still thought it was “remarkable” that Sheikh DeLorenzo and an Al Qaeda operative had managed to insert spies into the U.S. military. But that didn’t stop Sheikh DeLorenzo (a sophisticated financier who looks the part in his pin-striped suits) from seeking permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission to set up a trading platform called Al Safi Trust, the ostensible purpose of which was to enable Muslim traders to engage in short selling without violating shariah law.

In 2007, the SEC granted permission, which is pretty “remarkable” because Al Safi Trust creates precisely the sort of crack in the financial system that would likely be exploited by people looking to crash the markets. Traders who engage in legal short selling (as opposed to illegal naked short selling) first borrow stock, then sell it, hoping the price will fall. This is a perfectly legitimate practice because it does not manipulate the markets. The stock that is borrowed and then sold is real stock; it is not phantom stock that artificially increases supply and drives down prices.
The Miscreants’ Global Bust Out (Chapter 3): Michael Milken and the BCCI Criminal Enterprise, by Mark Mitchell. Deep Capture, 05 May 2011.
But, of course, this scheme eventually collapsed – and it must be stressed, the vast majority of the companies that Milken financed ultimately disappeared.

In later years, the “bust out” concept was refined into such schemes as the “death spiral” PIPEs finance that was pioneered with help from Al Qaeda Golden Chain member Shiekh Yamani’s Investcorp and other outfits. Always, the basic idea is to finance a company, load it with debt, and then take it down.

In the 1980s, Milken and his cronies orchestrated a number of bust outs in league with BCCI and its proprietors, including future Al Qaeda Golden Chain member Shiekh Mahfouz, who remained one of Milken’s closest associates until Sheikh Mahfouz’s death in 2009.