Blackwater

Xe Services LLC is a private military company founded as Blackwater USA in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark. In October 2007, the company was renamed Blackwater Worldwide and was colloquially referred to as "Blackwater". Based in North Carolina, Xe operates a tactical training facility which the company claims is the world's largest. The company trains more than 40,000 people a year. Blackwater employees are mostly from U.S. or foreign military services. The training consists of military offensive and defensive operations, as well as smaller scale personal security. Blackwater has a wide array of business divisions, subsidiaries, and spin-off corporations but the organization as a whole has attracted much controversy. The company announced on February 13, 2009, that it would operate under the new name Xe to "reflect the change in company focus away from the business of providing private security." In December 2008, federal prosecutors charged five Blackwater employees with manslaughter for killing 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007. A sixth employee has already pleaded guilty. According to a report by MSNBC and based on alleged sworn statements by two Blackwater employees in federal court, the firm used child prostitutes at its compound in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. The declarations added Iraqi minors got involved in sexual acts with Blackwater members in exchange for one dollar and Erik Prince "failed to stop the ongoing use of prostitutes, including child prostitutes, by his men." Based on other statements, the firm was involved in another sex scandal; "Prince's North Carolina operations had an ongoing wife-swapping and sex ring, which was participated in by many of Mr. Prince's top executives." The two employees also alleged that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe". Erik Prince announced his resignation as CEO of Xe on March 2, 2009. Joseph Yorio was named as the new president, replacing Gary Jackson. Danielle Esposito was named the new chief operating officer and VP.