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Stuart Brankin Profile

Circumference Group removes Stuart Brankin from website after $212M fraud allegation

Stuart Brankin appears to have left Cayman Islands corporate services provider Circumference FS after OffshoreAlert revealed allegations of fraud against one of their clients. All references to Brankin, including his name, photo, and profile, were removed from Circumference's website one day after we reported that Asia Momentum Fund, of which Brankin was a director and to which Circumference provided services, had been accused of swindling Malaysian citizens out of more than $212 million as part of a wider $4.5 billion fraud involving 1MDB.
James Velissaris

Investment manager James Velissaris indicted for securities fraud involving Cayman & US entities

Investment manager James Velissaris has been criminally indicted in New York for an alleged scheme involving entities in the Cayman Islands and United States in which assets were allegedly over-valued by more than $1 billion so he could receive "tens of millions of dollars" in fees and profits. Civil lawsuits were also filed against him by two US regulatory agencies and a Cayman investment fund, which brought a class action.
Asia Momentum Fund

Cayman Fund ‘swindled Malaysian citizens out of $212M as part of 1MDB fraud’

A Cayman Islands fund allegedly swindled a British Virgin Islands investment vehicle whose ultimate investors were "citizens of Malaysia" out of more than $200 million as part of the 1MDB fraud, all while its directors, Stuart Brankin (pictured), Desmond Campbell, and Christine Godfrey, collectively received fees and expenses "totaling more than US$100,000", it has been claimed in a lawsuit.
MultiBank-Group

Mourant applies to liquidate MultiBank FX (BVI)

Mourant Ozannes law firm has applied to liquidate MultiBank FX International Corporation in the British Virgin Islands over alleged unpaid legal fees of $77,711. The alleged debtor is part of the MultiBank Group, which claims to have companies or offices in Australia, Austria, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Spain, Turkey, USA, and Vietnam.
Alexei and Dmitri Ananyev

Russian investigators seek records from 3 NY banks in hunt for assets of ‘multi-billion dollar bank fraudsters Dmitri and Alexei Ananyev’

Russia's National Bank Trust is seeking records from three New York banks as part of its attempt to recover the proceeds of "a multi-billion dollar banking fraud perpetrated by two brothers, Dmitri and Alexei Ananyev", who are allegedly linked with entities in several jurisdictions, including Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Cyprus, Marshall Islands, and Seychelles.

Vistra (BVI) sued over audits of DC Solar’s “multi-billion-dollar fraud”

British Virgin Islands-based corporate services provider Vistra and accountant Indervir Basra, who works for the group in California, are being sued in the United States regarding audits of DC Solar, which collapsed after swindling investors out of an estimated $1 billion. The audits were allegedly conducted by a group that Vistra acquired just seven months before DC Solar's headquarters was raided by the FBI in December, 2018.
muammer-gaddafi

Libya attempts “largest international asset recovery effort of all time”

As part of what its lawyers claim "could become the largest international asset recovery effort of all time", Libya has applied to take discovery from eight major banks in its hunt for an estimated $100 billion allegedly misappropriated by former leader Muammar Gaddafi. The effort is being led by lawyers Oren Warshavsky, of BakerHostetler, and Warren Gluck, of Holland & Knight.
kenneth-rijock

Israeli attorney Steven Slom awarded damages of $1 after being falsely accused of money laundering by Kenneth Rijock

Israel-based attorney Steven Slom has been awarded nominal damages of $1 by a jury in Miami after being falsely described as a ‘money launderer, tax evader and career criminal’ by self-described ‘financial crime consultant’ Kenneth Rijock in private communications with a resident of Houston, Texas. Slom did not pursue damages against Rijock for similar false claims in Rijock's online 'Financial Crime Blog' after Rijock published "a complete and total retraction" shortly after being sued in 2016.
oil-tanker-margara

Bermuda ship insurer SIGCo seeks $5.6M from Cayman oil tanker owner struck off 10 years ago

Bermuda-domiciled Shipowners Insurance and Guaranty Company Ltd., from which the U.S. Department of Justice has demanded $4.4 million in damages for the grounding of an oil tanker, is seeking to recover the amount, plus $1.2 million in fees and expenses, from a shipping firm - Margara Shipping Ltd. - that was struck off the Cayman Islands Companies Register nearly 10 years ago.
'Bahamas private island owner' Joseph Cammarata & two others indicted for '$40M fraud'

‘Bahamas private island owner’ Joseph Cammarata & two others indicted for ‘$40M fraud’

New Jersey-based businessman Joseph Cammarata, who allegedly owns 'Sandy Cay' private island in the Bahamas, and two associates have been criminally indicted for allegedly swindling $40 million that was intended for securities fraud victims in a scheme that involved entities or accounts in several jurisdictions, including the Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Gibraltar, and USA.
Tether

BVI crypto firms Tether and Bitfinex fined $42.5M by US regulator

British Virgin Islands-domiciled crypto 'stablecoin' group Tether has been fined $41 million for fraud by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which also fined BVI crypto exchange Bitfinex $1.5 million for unlicensed activity and other offenses.
seven-mile-securities

Seven Mile Securities fined CI$250K by Cayman regulator

Five months after one of its clients, Canadian Andrew McAlpine, pleaded guilty to securities fraud in the United States, securities broker Seven Mile Securities has been fined CI$250,000 by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. It is not publicly-known whether the two events are connected.
bear-stearns-companies

Bizarre lawsuit by ‘Bear Stearns’ alleges ‘$450M fraud’ by Bahamas-licensed securities broker

A bizarre and seemingly-frivolous lawsuit alleging a $450 million fraud by a Bahamas investment group and related individuals has been filed in New York by four Ukraine citizens and 35 suspiciously-named firms that purport to be domiciled in some of the seediest offshore jurisdictions, including one called "Bear Stearns", which claims to be registered in the Seychelles. UPDATE: On October 17th, 2021 - just four days after filing the complaint, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal.
lester-hyman

BVI to add 3 more US defendants to ‘Miami Airline’ fraud lawsuit

The British Virgin Islands Government intends to add three more US citizens - Scott Weisman, Jerry Willoughby, and Bruce Bradley - as defendants to a lawsuit it filed against "now-suspended" US lawyer Lester Hyman alleging fraud and corruption involving plans to operate an air service between the BVI and Miami.
moniladai-instagram

Barbados Gov’t ‘agent’ lost $6.7M in ‘COVID-19 vaccine fraud’

A Caribbean firm operated by Barbadian developer Mark Maloney that says it was hired by the Barbados Government to procure one million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine for the country's population claims to have been swindled out of $6.7 million. It's not clear from a complaint filed at federal court in the U.S. last week whether the amount originated from the Government or the company, Rational Investments Ltd.
usa-v-roberto-cortes

Three indicted in NY for ‘$155M Biscayne Capital fraud’

Three men have been indicted in New York for allegedly perpetrating a $155 million fraud and money laundering scheme involving entities in or from Argentina, Bahamas, Belgium, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Ecuador, Germany, Switzerland, Uruguay, and the United States.