Fraud

The world's largest processor of credit card payments has been ordered by a United States court to assist the IRS in its investigation into tax evasion using offshore accounts.First Data Corp. must turn over information about transactions by holders of American Express, Visa and MasterCard credit cards that were issued by or on behalf of certain offshore financial institutions.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Panama into Zuhey Janett Ceballos Amaya for alleged fraud.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Poland into suspected fraud regarding a securities offering by Poligrafia SpA.

Section 304 Petition for Assistance in Insolvency Proceedings in Dominica by Marcus Wide, as the Foreign Representative of Banc Caribe Ltd., at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Panama and the Bahamas were key elements in the offshore shell company and money-laundering schemes that bankrolled Saddam Hussein for more than 20 years.And Saddam used the same offshore money launderers as Osama bin Laden. His offshore network hid the money skimmed from government oil sales and collected in kickbacks. It was used to pay for Saddam's secret agents and security forces, reward domestic and foreign friends, and buy arms during international embargos. 

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into suspected tax fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Russia - that was filed at federal court in the USA on July 7, 2004. Individuals and businesses that are mentioned in the request for assistance include Orsk Custom House, AV Yakovlev, VB Radchenko, EV Dimaev, SI Sharanov, YF Medvedev, SP Savchenko, Amros-Orsk Ltd., Unsped AS, Uluslararasi Nakliyat ve Gumrikleme AS, Rostek Povolzhe, Old Garant Co. Ltd., RemZapChast Co. Ltd., Biznes sklad Co. Ltd., Keylok Co. Ltd., Reotreyd Co. Ltd., Eydans Co. Ltd., Arvaron Co. Ltd., Sanett Co. Ltd., Cortres Co. Ltd., Goldenstroy Co. Ltd., Elegantprofit Co. Ltd, Russtroyhous Co. Ltd., Patterson Systems Inc., Trevorton Trading Corp., and Sitel LLC.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Poland - that was filed at federal court in the USA on June 29, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Michal Mozgala, Krystyna Brozyna-Mozgala, Cyberheat, Inc., Bank of America, ICS, Inc., RJB Telcom, Inc., Norwest Bank Arizona NA, WebQuest, Inc., Wells Fargo Bank, Cybernet Ventures, Inc., Sanwa Bank, B.E.G. Inc., Keystone Community Bank, Tri-Tech Internet Services Inc., Spedia.com Inc., Citibank, Electrocash Inc., Innovative Ideas International, GoTo.com, Overture.com, Overture Services, Inc., Dixon James Productions Inc., and Key Bank NA.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into suspected fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Mexico - that was filed at federal court in the USA on June 25, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Mauricio Andres Parra Flores, International Bank of Commerce, Alejandro Gerardo Salazar Ampudia, Comercializadora Map, Tyree International LC, and Debruce Grain Inc.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into credit card fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Poland - that was filed at federal court in the USA July 9, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Marek Zapalski and First USA Bank.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged credit card fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Poland - that was filed at federal court int he USA on July 7, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Krzysztof Janusz Oleszek, First USA Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank USA, Citibank South Dakota NA, Euro Kartensysteme EuroCard und Eurocheq, Direkt Bank Service GmbH, Foreningssparbanken AB BABS, Sebkort, Nordbankenkort, Europay Belgium SCRL, and Summitomo Mitsui Card Company Limited.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into suspected securities fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Liechtenstein - that was filed at federal court in the USA on June 30, 2004. Individuals mentioned in the request for assistance include Ilan Mika Arbel, Alan Berkun, and Reinhold Wohlwend.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into suspected fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Portugal - that was filed at federal court in the USA on May 17, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Hassan Raef Hamze, Skyport Computers, Hanna Car Hendles GmbH, Manuel Carvalho de Sousa, Elie Hanna, Efax.com, J2 Global Communications, KBC Bank, Banco Espirito Santo, Bank Fuer Tirol Und Vorarlberg, and Bank One.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud and corruption - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Venezuela - that was filed at federal court in the USA on June 30, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Banco Capital CA, Jose Alejandro Roja Ramirez, Banco Espirito Santo, Espirito Santo Bank, Inversiones Westfalia, Inversiones NBK, CA, Servicios CA, Inversiones 23697 CA, Waterfield Investment Inc., Consorcio Partenon, CA, Westfalia Investments, Citibank, and Fleet Bank, NA.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from the Netherlands - that was filed at federal court in the USA on June 29, 2004. Individuals mentioned in the request for assistance include Balakrishnan Menon, and James Martino.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into suspected fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Slovakia - that was filed at federal court in the USA on July 8, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include B-Stavreal, Inc., Ronald Lawson, CFI Worldco Resources, Louis Genovese, and Roy Gusow.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from the Czech Republic - that was filed at federal court in the USA on June 29, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Alexandr Novak, Steve Seaward, RI Services Inc., AmSouth Bank, and SouthTrust Bank.

Since our article in last month's newsletter, OffshoreAlert has uncovered more information about an offshore-domiciled, United Kingdom-based litigation funding company that casts further doubt about its credibility. One of the founding shareholders of British Virgin Islands-registered Puritan International Ltd., which is offering investors annual returns of 10.5 per cent in an unregistered offering, has gone bust.

Warnings on suspect or bogus companies claiming to have ties to the Island are being posted to the website of investor watchdog, the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

A 39-year-old Nicaraguan citizen who is wanted for investment fraud in Costa Rica has been granted an order temporarily staying his extradition from the United States.Carlos Hermoso Mendoza, a.k.a. Carlos Cecilio Hermoso de Mendoza Vigil, a.k.a. Carlos Hermoso Vigil, had initially consented to extradition on June 25, 2004.

Fortress Re Inc. and its two principals, Maurice Sabbah and Kenneth Kornfeld, have reportedly agreed to settle a $1 billion arbitration award by giving up assets worth more than $400 million.The assets include "lavish homes, antiques, a Gulfstream III jet and other assets", according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on July 21, 2004.

The Receiver of the Lancer Offshore group has filed a lawsuit against 26 financial institutions and other firms in an attempt to recover more than $17 million of allegedly fraudulent transfers.Defendants include companies from Bahrain, Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

A bitter legal dispute is taking place in the Bahamas over the refunding of millions of dollars to people who held offshore credit cards issued by Leadenhall Bank & Trust Ltd. Bahamas-based Leadenhall and First Financial Caribbean Trust Company Ltd., a licensed trust company in the Turks & Caicos Islands, each claims the other holds security deposits that are owed to card-holders. 

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Turkey into Merve Safa Kavakci, Durmus Perk and Sinan Eriklioglu for alleged forgery.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Bolivia into Marcelo Levy Pacheco for alleged check.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Russia into Raduga LLC, Schteller LLC, Continent K LLC, YuSA-Secret LLC and YuSA-Lux LLC for alleged tax fraud.

Complaint in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Andrew J. Zahn, Cynthia K. Berryman, and Philip J. Sexauer at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in India into alleged fraud by Ram Singh Batra, Apsara Iyengar and Baljit Singh regarding the will of Sharan Premi.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Brazil into Rubens de Faria, Jr. for "crimes involving physical harm to other individuals and tax evasion, based on the facts provided that Rubens de Faria Jr. claimed to be possessed by the spirit of the late Dr. Fritz and tried to cure individuals of serious medical conditions in return for money."

Panama has requested evidence in the United States as part of a criminal investigation into the alleged sale of counterfeit national identification cards. The cards, which, inter alia, allow holders to vote, were being sold for $250 each if they

The owner of a Hilton hotel in the Bahamas was the recipient of a $3 million fraudulent preference from a Bahamas-based offshore bank shortly before it collapsed, a court has ruled.Canadian national Ronald Hubert Kelly, a 60-year-old former Catholic priest and convicted pedophile, received the transfer from Americas International Bank on September 4, 2001.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the Netherlands into Joao Estavano Mendes Neves, Teresa Maria Dos Santos, Plantage Mendes NV and Trees & Flowers NV, t.a. Cactus Entertainment, for suspected tax fraud.

Indictment in USA v. William J. Abraczinskas and Jose Ignacio Macia at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Warning by the Bermuda Monetary Authority against Unimed.

Warning by the Bermuda Monetary Authority against Professional Liability Insurance Company Ltd.

Warning by the Bermuda Monetary Authority against Medical Risk Associates RPG, Ltd.

Warning by the Bermuda Monetary Authority against Crowne Global Group Ltd.

Warning by the Bermuda Monetary Authority against Coliseum Investment Inc. or Coliseum Investment of Bermuda.

Like lambs to the slaughter, scores of Americans and Canadians will be led to Bermuda in December for a financial culling arranged by an organization formerly known as the Global Prosperity Group. They are being lured to a seven-day conference on the promise that they will learn 'little-known' secrets about investing offshore that the wealthy of the world have hitherto selfishly kept to themselves, not wanting the ‘little man' to prosper.

A $6.4 million default judgment in the United States against offshore investment firm Lines Overseas Management Ltd. and an offshore brokerage arm of the Royal Bank of Canada appears to be legally defective.Research by OffshoreAlert indicates that the summonses against LOM and RBC Dominion Securities were served improperly in December, 2001, meaning that the judgment, that was entered on July 1, 2004, should be dismissed if challenged.

Daniel Andersen has become the latest member of the Global Prosperity Group - which specialized in investment and tax fraud - to be convicted in the United States.Andersen, of Leominster, Massachusetts, and Oxnard, California, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States at the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on July 15, 2004.

Suisse Security Bank and Trust Company Limited has moved a step closer to full liquidation in the Bahamas following a recent court ruling.In a decision delivered on June 29, 2004 after one-and-a-half days of hearings, the Bahamas Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed what was essentially an appeal of an appeal by SSBT.

A default judgment for $6.4 million has been entered in the United States against offshore investment firm Lines Overseas Management Ltd. and an offshore brokerage arm of the Royal Bank of Canada in connection with an allegation of banking and securities fraud.The judgment against LOM and RBC Dominion Securities, of the Turks & Caicos Islands, was entered at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama on July 1, 2004 after they failed to defend a civil complaint after being served in December, 2001, according to court records.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the Slovak Republic into alleged investment fraud involving  B-Stavreal Inc.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Poland into Marek Zapalski for alleged fraud.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Poland into Krzysztof Janusz Oleszek for alleged bank card fraud.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Russia into the following officers of Orsk Custom House: AV Yakovlev, VB Radchenko, EV Dimaev, SI Sharanov, YF Medvedev and SP Savchenko.

Section 304 Petition for Assistance in Insolvency Proceedings in the British Virgin Islands by Stephen Akers and Terry Carson, as the Foreign Representatives of Indosuez Eastern Europe Fixed Income Fund Ltd., Clariden Eastern Europe Debt Fund, Ltd., and Safra Eastern Europe Fixed Income Fund, Ltd., at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Warning by the Bermuda Monetary Authority against Western Equities Limited.

Warning by the Bermuda Monetary Authority against Trans Atlantic Financial Trust Group.

Warning by the Bermuda Monetary Authority against Trafalgar Insurance Company Limited.