Rebreather used to Escape from Dubai
Dubai/West Palm Beach (Global Adventures): A French businessman, former Navy officer, intelligence operative, and marine engineer has been sued in U.S. District Court in Florida by a company located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Dubai World, a government-owned conglomerate, alleges that Jaubert siphoned money from the company through supply deals and sued for conspiracy to commit fraud and breach of contract.
Herve Jaubert was hired by Dubai World in 2004 after Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem visited his factory in Florida and invited him to move his firm to the Persian Gulf. Jaubert accepted the invitation and bin Sulayem put him in charge of a new subsidiary of Dubai World, called Exomos. There Jaubert started to manufacture recreational luxury submarines. Within two years, Exomos made 4 mini-submarines, a submersible yacht, and a larger submarine called Nautilus, able to carry 9 people, according to various newspaper reports.
In 2007, Jaubert says he was interrogated intensively by Dubai's secret police about being a mercenary or hit man. He alleges that he was threatened to be tortured. Dubai World, a government-owned conglomerate, in turn alleges that Jaubert siphoned money from Exomos through supply deals linked to a firm he and his wife owned. Dubai World claims that $4,000,000 worth of equipment was missing.
After Jaubert needed to surrender his passport, he sent his family home and went hiding under cover using false names and identities. He managed to contact some friends to smuggle a rebreather into the United Arab Emirates and planned his escape. In May of 2008, Jaubert covered his scuba gear under a burka and slipped from his hotel to the sea. He did swim to the areas only police patrol boat, which was anchored at a coastguard station, and cut the fuel lines to prevent any possible pursuit.
After that, he did dive for 6 hours using the rebreather (some sources say it was an Italian made OMG Castoro C-96 Pro, a description is available here) to a pre-arranged meeting point where he was picked up by a sailing yacht just outside UAE territorial waters. The boot headed to Mumbai, India, and from there he went home to Florida.
After he escaped, Dubai World and police accused him of embezzlement and said that at least two of his submarines did not work. On 28 June 2009, a Dubai Court sentenced him in absentia to five years’ imprisonment. A couple of weeks later, Dubai World did file a suit against former employee Jaubert in the United States federal court, Southern Florida.
Jaubert denied any charges in dozens of interviews given from his home in West Palm Beach, Florida. His book “Escape from Dubai” is due to be released in October. Jaubert did set up a website, which can be found here.
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