Lester Knox Coleman III^[1] (September 25, 1943 – August 15, 2021)^[2] was an American who was the co-author of the 1993 book Trail of the Octopus: From Beirut to Lockerbie – Inside the DIA,^[3] in which he claimed that a secret drug sting enabled terrorists to evade airport security in the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan American World Airways Flight 103.^[4] Coleman claimed he was at one point employed by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).^[5] Coleman further alleged that a compromised American covert drug-operation allowed Iranian-backed terrorists – the PFLP-GC, led by Ahmed Jibril – to slip a Semtex bomb aboard the plane. ^[3] On September 11, 1997, Coleman stated to a New York Federal court that "...he lied when he claimed that a secret drug sting enabled terrorists to evade airport security in the bombing..." In a plea agreement, Coleman was sentenced to time served, which was five months, and six months' home confinement under electronic monitoring.^[6] Conspiracy theories alleging that the federal convictions of Lester Coleman were an effort to silence him and to hide the truth about Pan Am Flight 103 circulated around the internet.^{[7][verification needed]}

Coleman's hometown was Panama City, Florida.^{[8][verification needed]} According to one source, Coleman once served as a news director for WSGN radio in Birmingham.^[9] In 1985, he worked as a correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network in the Middle East.^[10] CBN later closed its Beirut bureau, and Coleman was no longer employed by CBN.^[11] He also worked as a public relations employee of the Boy Scouts of America in Chicago.^[10]

According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist Ron Martz, in the 1980s, Lester Coleman frequently traveled through Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East and worked as a journalist, primarily in television. Coleman had a Lebanese wife. According to Martz, Coleman frequently used the pseudonym "Collin Knox" while publishing some works.^[7] Tom Silewski, the managing editor of Soldier of Fortune magazine, said that Coleman used the alias Colin Knox when writing two stories for the magazine.^[12] Micheal Hurley, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) operations in Nicosia, Cyprus, said that Coleman worked as an overseas informant for the DEA. Joe Boohaker, a Birmingham, Alabama man who served as Coleman's defense attorney, said that Coleman worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency and checked on the DEA's operations.^[9]

Although the Time magazine article on the crash of Pan Am Flight 103, "Pan Am 103 Why Did They Die?," states that Coleman was a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) agent,^[4] a later article in the American Journalism Review disputes that he ever worked for that agency.^[5]

Coleman said he left the U.S. Embassy in Cyprus in 1988 and claims in his book that he was not engaged by the DIA again until 1990. According to him, he was told to apply for a passport using a former false identity used primarily for work with the DIA.^[13] That identity was to be a man named Thomas Leavy. In May 1990, as he prepared for his unknown job, Coleman was arrested by the FBI and charged with applying for a false passport.^[5]

In 1990 Coleman was a resident of Mobile, Alabama. During that year, a Chicago, Illinois grand jury indicted Coleman on passport fraud charges.^[9] The government accused Coleman of gaining a passport under the name of a newborn baby who died years prior to the application.^[14] According to Redding Pitt, a federal government attorney from Montgomery, Alabama, Coleman missed the bail hearing and appeared in Europe.^[9] While away from the United States, Coleman sought asylum in Sweden, though Sweden denied his residency application.^[15][16] Coleman accused the federal government of prosecuting him to try to silence Coleman's knowledge of the crash of Pan Am Flight 103.^[14]

In 2000,^[8] the State of Kentucky charged Coleman with 36 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument and one count of being a persistent felony offender.^{[29][verification needed]} The forged instrument charges originate from the state's accusation that Coleman used his computer to print forged checks and stole money from the Central Bank and two individuals.^[8] On March 16, 2000, a jury in Fayette County, Kentucky convicted Coleman of the 36 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument; he was not convicted on the count of being a persistent felony offender. The jury recommended a four-year prison sentence.^[29]

In 2000 Coleman received a 10-year prison sentence from the state, and for that he was immediately put on state probation. Coleman was transferred into federal custody because the federal government had accused him of violating the terms of his probation regarding his perjury conviction.^{[30][verification needed]} Lester Coleman, Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)#47321-019, was released from BOP custody on December 7, 2000.^[31] In May 2003 Coleman was arrested in Panama City, Florida, his hometown. On Friday May 23, 2003, Coleman admitted in the Fayette Circuit Court that he had violated the terms of his state probation by leaving the state without the probation officer's permission and not paying restitution to his victims who individually lost over $10,000 ($17692.75 in today's currency). Thomas Clark, the circuit judge, immediately sent Coleman to prison.^[8]

In 2004 Coleman, in a federal court, sued the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Fayette County, Kentucky commonwealth attorney Ray Larson,^{[32][verification needed]} and Mayor of Lexington "Rebecca" Isaac,^{[33][verification needed]} accusing them of violating his constitutional rights. Coleman said that judge Clark had violated his rights by giving him 10 years instead of the jury's recommended four; Coleman did not mention the probation that the judge had included in the sentence.^[32] One week after Coleman filed the suit, Joseph M. Hood, the district court judge, dismissed Coleman's suit without taking input from any of the defendants because he found Coleman's suit to be severely deficient. Hood said that Coleman failed to demonstrate that legal necessities needed to pursue his claim had existed; a declaration from a state tribunal that Coleman's conviction was invalid or a federal writ of habeas corpus would have been filed that challenges the conviction would have fulfilled the requirement. Hood also said that Coleman failed to demonstrate how Isaac, Larson, and others had anything to do with his sentencing.^[33]

Tam Dalyell said "I had contact with Les Coleman 10 years ago. In my opinion, though he has a chequered history, I take him seriously."^[34]

Daniel Cohen, the father of Pan Am 103 victim Theodora Cohen, said that Coleman was a "conman."^[34] This critical view was shared by veteran DEA agent Micheal Hurley, who had extensive dealings with Coleman.^[35][36]

• Pan Am Flight 103 conspiracy theories