Police in Greenland are investigating an 86-year-old Las Vegas man accused of offering residents a major cash incentive to sign a petition supporting the island’s incorporation into the United States.
The man, who identified himself as Clifford Stanley and sometimes simply as Cliff, was picked up Wednesday by taxi driver Danny Brandt outside a downtown hotel in Nuuk. Brandt said Stanley was dressed casually, carried a stack of papers and spoke with an American accent.
During the ride, Stanley made a blunt offer.
“Do you want to earn $200,000?” he asked, according to Brandt.
The money, Stanley indicated, would be available to any Greenlander willing to sign a petition backing Greenland’s accession to the United States.
Brandt, 34, who works both as a taxi driver and on a fishing trawler, declined the offer. “No, thanks,” he replied before dropping Stanley off at another hotel. He then reported the encounter to police.
Authorities have confirmed that they have opened an investigation, though they have released few details. Officials said only that the case may be connected to the broader “current political situation” surrounding Greenland.
The incident has drawn attention in Nuuk, where questions about sovereignty and outside influence remain especially sensitive. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, the world’s largest island and a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. But many Greenlanders have shown little appetite for joining the United States, often pointing to concerns about poverty and other domestic problems in America.
Brandt said the petition paperwork left him uneasy, reported The New York Times.
“Now, I’m no expert on North America,” he said, “but I’ve heard many things about poverty in the United States and was very against joining the country.”
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen responded to the episode on social media, framing it as an affront to Greenland’s right to determine its own future.
“Our future is not negotiated in a taxi,” he said. “That’s not how you treat a people. And that’s not how you talk about a country.”
Local media reported that Stanley approached multiple people with similar offers. Images circulating on social media showed him in a dark suit, holding a clipboard while speaking with residents and interacting with police officers.
In an interview with the Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq, Stanley identified himself as Clifford Stanley and said he was acting independently, not on behalf of the Trump administration. He described the petition drive as an effort to measure public opinion.
“I’m trying to give the Greenlandic people an opportunity,” he said. “It’s up to the people themselves. It’s not my choice.”
Stanley also said any payments would not come from his own money, but possibly from the United States, perhaps with help from Middle Eastern allies.
Greenland already receives more than half a billion dollars a year in subsidies from Denmark. Under its current relationship with Copenhagen, the island could pursue independence, a necessary step before any possible union with another country. But such a process would require approval from Greenland’s government, the Danish parliament and a public referendum. Stanley’s petition effort does not appear to fit within those formal procedures.
The Trump administration has continued to signal interest in Greenland, and some Trump associates have visited the island to explore business and political ties. Danish officials last year described certain activities linked to Trump allies as “covert influence operations,” even as those involved were open about their objectives. Some U.S. officials have also floated the idea of direct payments to individual Greenlanders, a proposal Danish and Greenlandic leaders have denounced as insulting.
Stanley did not respond to messages sent to an email address obtained by reporters. But his brief appearance in Nuuk has revived a larger debate over Greenland’s sovereignty, its relationship with Denmark and the pressure exerted by outside powers seeking influence over its future.
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