Ric Bachour is the Director of International Investigations for 5 Stones intelligence. Mr. Bachour is a retired Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent who served with distinction for 22 years in various leadership positions. During his career, Mr. Bachour held significant leadership positions to include the DEA Headquarters Sensitive Undercover Operations Unit, the Special Operations Division, and leadership positions within DEA’s Foreign and Domestic Field Offices. Mr. Bachour is a highly skilled operator and investigator who has served globally for DEA leading and coordinating numerous sensitive, high-profile undercover operations worldwide. Mr. Bachour is a renowned Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Covert Operations, HUMINT, Financial investigations and U.S. Attorney General Exempt Operations (AGEO).
Mr. Bachour served as DEA’s Country Attaché based in Paris France and other Diplomatic positions resulting in highly successful impactful investigations in coordination with foreign counterparts and the Diplomatic community. Mr. Bachour routinely led DEA’s diplomatic engagements with Ambassadors and senior level foreign government officials. During his tenure abroad, Mr. Bachour was also responsible for all of DEA’s counter-narcotics, narco-terrorism and drug-money laundering investigations in 10 foreign nations located in Europe and West Africa. Mr. Bachour led several global impact high-profile international investigations which led to the dismantlement of transnational criminal organizations as well as OFAC designations against top-tier drug traffickers and narco-terrorists. While overseas, Mr. Bachour forged strong partnerships and alliances with European and African law enforcement and intelligence counterparts. He spearheaded numerous record setting asset seizures from transnational criminal organizations in the United States, South America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. More recently, Mr. Bachour served as the DEA Headquarters Section Chief for Investigative Support for Sensitive Programs including the DEA’s Undercover Program and managed operational budgets exceeding $100 million. Mr. Bachour provided logistical and operational leadership and support to 117 State and Local agencies and 31 federal employees participating in the DEA’s Domestic Cannabis Eradication and Suppression Program, while overseeing the DEA’s State and Local Task Force Program which involves more than 300 State and Local agencies and more than 4,000 Task Force Officers .
Mr. Bachour previously worked as a Staff Coordinator in the DEA’s Counter Narco-Terrorism Operations Center, coordinating several international investigations resulting in U.S. indictments and extraditions of criminals charged with providing material support to terrorist organizations. Mr. Bachour also served as a Supervisory Special Agent in the Miami Field Division where he led a multi-agency task force of Federal Agents and Task Force Officers. He led several highly successful global undercover money laundering investigations, and worked extensively in South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the Levant. Mr. Bachour is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) regarding Lebanon and the Levant region.
Mr. Bachour is a former Massachusetts State Trooper and a former Police Officer for the City of Revere, Massachusetts Police Department, he is fluent in French and Arabic, and studied Spanish. Mr. Bachour has been recognized for his outstanding contributions in drug law enforcement. He is the recipient of dozens of awards to include the US Attorney Generals Excellence Award, two DEA Administrator’s Awards, the Miami-Dade Police Chief’s Federal Agent of the Year Award, the Association of Federal narcotics Agents’ Agent of the Year Award and numerous DEA Performance Awards.
Significantly, Mr. Bachour received the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency’s National Intelligence Meritorious Citation from the Director of National Intelligence for meritorious service. Mr. Bachour was also recognized by the French National Police and received the French (Médaille de la sécurité intérieure) medal for leading global investigations using highly innovative techniques resulting in unprecedented multi-ton cocaine seizures and dismantlement of entire drug trafficking organizations while serving in Paris, France.
Mr. Bachour holds a Bachelor of Science in Law Enforcement from Western New England University. He is also a United States Marine Corps veteran with multiple combat deployments, and received numerous military recognitions and awards including the Purple Heart Medal and Navy Commendations while serving in the Middle East.
Mr. Bachour will continue his outstanding work ethic and serve 5 Stones Clients globally at the highest levels.