Blackwater Mercenary Firm: Nisour Square, Pardons, and Rebrands

Blackwater was a private military and security company founded in 1997 by former Navy SEAL Erik Prince, and it became the most notorious contractor of the post-9/11 wars after its guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in September 2007. The Blackwater mercenary firm no longer exists under that name. After a cascade of scandals, criminal convictions, and civil suits, the corporate entity was renamed twice and eventually folded into a larger holding company called Constellis, which is still an active U.S. government contractor today.

How Blackwater Grew Into a Billion-Dollar Contractor

Prince set up the original training compound in Moyock, North Carolina, offering firearms and tactical courses to military and law enforcement clients. September 11 and the wars that followed turned that modest business into something else entirely. In 2000, Blackwater held $204,000 in federal contracts. By 2007, that number had passed $1 billion, and more than half of those contracts had been awarded without full and open competition.¹

The State Department became Blackwater’s most important customer. In 2004, the agency hired the firm to protect diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad after the incumbent contractor, DynCorp, could not keep pace with a growing mission. Under the Worldwide Personal Protective Services II umbrella contract awarded in July 2005, Blackwater was one of three firms eligible for up to $1.2 billion each over five years. By October 2007, the company was billing the State Department roughly $473 million a year for protective services and aviation in Iraq.²

The cost structure was one reason Congress eventually took a hard look. Testimony at a 2007 House hearing established that a military sergeant cost the government $50,000 to $70,000 a year, while a comparable Blackwater contractor cost over $400,000.¹

The Fallujah Ambush

The first Blackwater incident to draw wide attention was not about the firm’s own conduct but about what happened to its people. On March 31, 2004, four contractors — Scott Helvenston, Wesley Batalona, Jerry Zovko, and Michael Teague — were ambushed escorting food supply trucks through Fallujah. Insurgents killed them, burned and mutilated the bodies, and hung two from a bridge over the Euphrates. The footage was broadcast worldwide.³

The team had been sent out with four men in two SUVs instead of the six required by the contract, and local Marines were not told about the mission.³ Four days later the military launched Operation Vigilant Resolve, the First Battle of Fallujah, which left 27 U.S. service members and roughly 200 insurgents dead before a ceasefire on April 9, 2004.⁴ The families of the four contractors sued Blackwater in January 2005, alleging the men had been sent out without promised equipment, personnel, and maps. After years of litigation, including a ruling that arbitration clauses in the employment contracts controlled the dispute, the case ended in a confidential settlement and the 4th Circuit dismissed the suit in late June 2012.⁵

The Nisour Square Massacre

On September 16, 2007, a Blackwater team designated Raven 23 was escorting a State Department convoy when it entered a crowded traffic circle in Baghdad’s Mansour district known as Nisour Square. Over roughly 20 minutes, the contractors fired into the surrounding vehicles and pedestrians.⁶

Blackwater said the team had been ambushed and returned fire under its rules of engagement. Iraqi police and witnesses said the guards shot first, targeting a car that failed to move out of the convoy’s path. Among the victims were a couple and their infant, whose car caught fire, and civilians who were reportedly shot in the back while trying to flee.⁷⁶ Seventeen Iraqi civilians were killed. Many more were wounded. An FBI investigation later concluded that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated the rules governing deadly force.⁸

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the killings a “crime” and announced the government was revoking Blackwater’s license to operate in Iraq.⁷ Prosecuting the guards in Iraqi courts turned out to be impossible: a 2004 order from the Coalition Provisional Authority had effectively exempted U.S. contractors from Iraqi law.⁶

A Pattern, Not an Incident

A House Oversight Committee report found that between 2005 and late 2007, Blackwater personnel were involved in 195 shooting incidents in Iraq and fired first in 84 percent of them. During the same period, the company terminated 122 employees for improper conduct.¹

On Christmas Eve 2006, a reportedly intoxicated Blackwater employee shot and killed a bodyguard of the Iraqi vice president inside the Green Zone. Internal State Department emails showed officials debating a payment to the guard’s family, which was ultimately reduced from a proposed $250,000 to $15,000. The shooter was flown out of Iraq shortly afterward.⁷¹ Civil suits filed by Iraqi families also alleged that up to 25 percent of Blackwater’s deployed personnel were using steroids or other judgment-altering substances.⁹

In August 2009, news broke that the CIA had recruited Blackwater employees for a secret program to kill senior al-Qaeda leaders. Originally launched in 2001 as a CIA-led effort, the program was revived in 2004 under a new code name and outsourced to Blackwater, which received millions of dollars for training and weaponry.¹⁰¹¹¹²

The Accountability Gap

One reason misconduct compounded was that no one could easily prosecute it. The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) gave federal courts criminal jurisdiction over contractors employed by the Department of Defense, but the Justice Department had barely used it. Only two MEJA cases had originated from Iraq by 2007, neither for violence against civilians. A 2006 amendment to the Uniform Code of Military Justice extended potential military jurisdiction to civilian contractors during contingency operations, but that raised constitutional questions about trying civilians in military courts.¹³ In practice, contractors accused of wrongdoing tended to be flown out of Iraq rather than charged.

The Prosecution and Pardon of the Nisour Square Guards

The four Raven 23 guards charged over Nisour Square were Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard. Their case took more than a decade to resolve.

A federal grand jury indicted the men, but in 2009 a U.S. judge dismissed the charges, ruling that prosecutors had improperly relied on compelled statements the guards had given to State Department investigators.⁶ Then-Vice President Joe Biden, visiting Iraq, said publicly that “a dismissal is not an acquittal.”¹⁴ The D.C. Circuit revived the case in 2011.

In October 2014, a federal jury in Washington convicted all four men. Slatten, identified as the sniper who fired the first shots, was convicted of first-degree murder. Slough, Liberty, and Heard were convicted of voluntary manslaughter and of using a machine gun to commit a violent crime.¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷

In August 2017, the D.C. Circuit overturned Slatten’s murder conviction, ruling that his case should have been severed from his co-defendants’ so that a co-defendant’s statement (which claimed Slough, not Slatten, fired the first shots) could have been admitted. The same ruling found the 30-year mandatory minimums cruel and unusual and ordered resentencing. Slatten’s 2018 retrial ended in a mistrial after the jury deliberated for 16 days without reaching a verdict.¹⁸ A third trial convicted him again and he was again sentenced to life. Slough, Liberty, and Heard were resentenced to 15 years, 14 years, and 12 years and seven months, respectively.¹⁴

On December 22, 2020, President Donald Trump pardoned all four men. The White House said the pardons were “broadly supported by the public” and pointed to the men’s military service. Nine House Republicans and Fox News host Pete Hegseth had championed the cause, calling the contractors the “Biden Four.”¹⁴ The ACLU’s Hina Shamsi called the pardons a “disgraceful new low.”⁸ A group of United Nations experts led by the Working Group on the use of mercenaries said the pardons were an “affront to justice” and violated U.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions.¹⁹

Civil Suits and Regulatory Fines

Iraqi families sued in federal court in Estate of Himoud Saed Abtan, et al. v. Blackwater Worldwide, et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The complaint named the company, its subsidiaries, The Prince Group, and Erik Prince personally, alleging war crimes under the Alien Tort Statute along with assault, battery, wrongful death, and negligent hiring and supervision.⁹ In January 2010, the company settled a series of these suits on confidential terms.²⁰ Civil suits by the Nisour Square victims’ families were also settled out of court.⁸

In August 2010, the company (then operating as Xe Services) settled with the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls over 288 violations of U.S. export and arms trafficking laws committed between 2005 and 2009. The violations included unauthorized weapons exports, illegal sniper training of foreign nationals (some born in Iran, a sanctioned country), the loss of 113 firearms in Iraq without disclosure to authorities, and false statements to regulators. The settlement carried a $42 million civil penalty, with up to $12 million eligible for credit toward compliance improvements.²¹

From Blackwater to Xe to Academi to Constellis

Blackwater tried to walk away from the name. In February 2009, the company renamed itself Xe Services, pronounced “Zee.”²² In December 2010, an investor group led by private equity firms Forte Capital and Manhattan Partners bought the company, and Prince stepped down from management. In December 2011, the firm rebranded again as Academi; its new president told reporters the goal was to be “boring.”²³

In June 2014, Academi merged with the rival contractor Triple Canopy under a new parent called Constellis Holdings.²⁴ Constellis acquired the Olive Group in 2015, and a 2016 management-led buyout backed by Apollo Global Management valued the combined enterprise at roughly $1 billion including debt.²⁵

Constellis is still active. The company reported $800 million in revenue for 2025, employs more than 10,900 people, and operates in over 25 countries, offering services from security and risk management to humanitarian demining.²⁶ In December 2025, its subsidiary Omniplex World Services signed a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to provide nationwide “skip tracing” services, locating individuals from a target list of 1.5 million immigrants and reporting their positions to ICE. The contract has a potential value exceeding $113 million by its 2027 expiration and is part of a broader Trump administration initiative earmarking over $1 billion for private contractors in immigration enforcement.²⁷

Where Erik Prince Went Next

Prince did not leave the private military world after selling Blackwater. He co-founded Frontier Services Group (FSG), a Hong Kong-listed company initially focused on logistics and aviation in Africa. CITIC Group, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, acquired a 20 percent stake.²⁸ FSG shifted toward security work tied to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and opened a training facility outside Beijing that claimed to have trained thousands of Chinese military and police personnel. Plans for a facility in Xinjiang, where China has interned Uyghur Muslims, drew criticism; the company later removed the announcement from its website and said it had been posted by mistake.²⁹ The FSG CEO and board member William Fallon, a retired admiral, resigned in 2016 over the direction. A separate United Nations investigation alleged Prince violated a Libya arms embargo by offering weapons, drones, and mercenaries to a Libyan militia commander. He denied the allegations.³⁰

Since the start of the second Trump administration in January 2025, Prince has been active on the administration’s edges. CNN reported he participates in group text chats with senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, and the National Security Council, and has been seen at the Pentagon. His pitches have included a 26-page plan to use private contractors for mass deportations, a proposal to detain migrants with criminal records in foreign countries (which he reportedly discussed with El Salvador’s president), and repeated proposals to send private military contractors against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Three sources told CNN the Yemen plan had been “presented numerous times but hasn’t gone anywhere.”³¹

In March 2025, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced a “strategic alliance” with Prince against narcoterrorism and illegal fishing. Ecuador’s Defense Ministry said Prince’s team was “already on the ground,” advising and training local forces.³² A former Ecuadorian army commander called the arrangement “deplorable” and an attempt to “hire the services of a mercenary army.”³³ In Haiti, Prince’s firm Vectus Global signed a 10-year contract with the transitional government to restore security and reform tax collection. Since March 2025 the operation has used drones, helicopters, and armed personnel, including U.S. veterans, against gangs in Port-au-Prince.³⁴ As of mid-2025, authorities had not announced the death or capture of a single high-value target.³⁵ Eight Democratic senators have asked the State and Homeland Security departments about the legality of the operation, citing potential violations of arms export laws and the Leahy Law, which bars U.S. assistance to military units implicated in human rights abuses.

Current and former administration officials described Prince to CNN as “radioactive.” During the first Trump term, officials had banned him from the Pentagon and CIA over concerns his proposals “pushed the boundaries of legality.”³¹ The reputation has not stopped foreign governments from signing contracts.

1
GovInfo. House Oversight Committee Hearing on Blackwater USA
2
U.S. Department of State. Testimony on Worldwide Personal Protective Services Contracts
3
PBS. High Risk, High Reward
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U.S. Marines. Operation Vigilant Resolve
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France 24. Blackwater Fallujah Lawsuit Settled
6
ICoCA. The Nisour Square Massacre
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Brookings Institution. The Dark Truth About Blackwater
8
PBS NewsHour. How the Blackwater Pardons Could Have a Lasting Impact
9
Center for Constitutional Rights. Blackwater Faces New Death and Injury Claims and Drug Allegations
10
The Washington Post. CIA Hired Firm for Assassin Program
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The Herald (Everett). CIA Hired Blackwater for Assassin Program
12
The Guardian. CIA Blackwater Assassination Programme
13
Yale Journal. Mind the Gap: Private Military Companies and the Rule of Law
14
The Washington Post. Trump Pardons Blackwater Contractors
15
The New York Times. Blackwater Verdict
16
PBS NewsHour. Ex-Blackwater Guards Receive Lengthy Prison Sentences
17
Texas Public Radio. Blackwater Security Guards Handed Lengthy Sentences
18
NPR. Blackwater Guard’s Second Murder Trial Ends Without a Verdict
19
United Nations OHCHR. US Pardons for Blackwater Guards an Affront to Justice
20
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. Blackwater Settles Series of Civil Lawsuits
21
BBC. Blackwater Fined for Export Violations
22
Time. Blackwater Becomes Xe
23
BBC. Blackwater Rebrands as Academi
24
PR Newswire. Constellis Holdings Inc. Acquires Constellis Group Inc.
25
GovConWire. Apollo Group, Constellis Executives to Buy Out Security Services Contractor
26
Constellis. Constellis Official Website
27
The Intercept. Blackwater Successor Constellis Hunts Immigrants for ICE
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The Washington Post. A Warrior Goes to China: Did Erik Prince Cross a Line
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NPR. China Business Ventures Tied to Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Raise Questions
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The New York Times. Erik Prince Topic Page
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CNN. Erik Prince’s Return to the Trump Orbit
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InSight Crime. Erik Prince Privatizing Latin America’s War on Crime
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CNN. Ecuador’s Noboa Announces Blackwater Alliance With Erik Prince
34
Haitian Times. Erik Prince’s 10-Year Contract With Haiti
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The New York Times. Haiti Signs Contract With Erik Prince to Fight Gangs