drug world. Halvorssen believed that Pérez wasn't responding to his reports on drug trafficking and money laundering and approached his ally, Venezuelan Senator Cristobal Fernandez Daló. In 1992, he was appointed special overseas investigator of an Anti-Money-Laundering Commission by the Venezuelan Senate. He was a liaison between law enforcement agencies around the world, working on drug and money-laundering cases. Arrest and imprisonment In 1993, while Halvorssen was investigating the now defunct Banco Latino and the Grupo Progreso, he was arrested and imprisoned for 74 days on charges of terrorism, which a Venezuelan congressman described at the time as a "set up because he was investigating Medellín Cartel finances and links to Venezuelan businessmen and officials." Halvorssen was one of 12 people charged in a series of six bomb attacks in Caracas in July and August 1993. Police claimed the motive was profit—to capitalize on stock market fluctuations caused by the bombs. Halvorssen denied the charges and claimed he had made no stock or bond transactions in the Venezuelan stock market for two decades. One of the alleged members of the group of bombers, Ramiro Helmeyer, told police that Halvorssen was the leader of the conspiracy. Helmeyer recanted his confession, claiming that the police "tortured me so that I would accuse Thor Halvorssen". Although Halvorssen was ultimately released, Helmeyer was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Halvorssen was held without being charged for eight days. By the time he was released, he had still not been charged with a crime—the only thing that kept him in prison was an order of arrest signed eight days after his actual detention. Halvorssen was beaten and suffered from mistreatment while in the notorious Retén de Catia prison, ranked among the most cruel prisons in the world by human-rights organisations. International organizations, including Amnesty International, a Nicaraguan cardinal, and members of the British Parliament, protested Halvorssen case. Halvorssen was exonerated and his order of arrest rescinded. No files were ever charged against him. After his release, the United Nations-affiliated International Society for Human Rights appointed him director of their Pan-American Committee. During his time in prison, when there was an all out media campaign against him, Halvorssen was supported by the New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau who praised his efforts as someone who provided assistance to his office in the fight against the international narcotics business, as well as