In the spring of 2003, Robert Olson, then general counsel of Chiquita Brands International Inc., was advising the company on whether to continue making illegal “security payments” to known terrorists in Colombia. The money bought protection for the company’s employees and banana plantations.

Olson told Chiquita executives to keep paying. Warned by outside counsel that funding foreign terrorists is a federal crime, court records show that Olson responded with words he must surely regret today.