Turks & Caicos Islands

The Lake Shore group of offshore investment funds appears to be insolvent by more than $100 million, according to its Receiver, Robb Evans & Associates LLC.In its first Receiver's report that was filed at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on December 5, 2007, Robb Evans painted a gloomy picture for investors and creditors of the group, whose funds were domiciled in the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands and managed by a Bermuda company.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom into alleged fraud involving Easier Plc.

A jury in Texas has awarded 41 investors clients damages of $8.8 million, plus annual interest of 8.25% backdated to December 12, 2002, against Atlas Financial Group Ltd. and Atlas Private Trust Ltd., which collapsed in the Turks and Caicos

A bank and seven investment funds all domiciled in Caribbean countries are among the 20 largest unsecured creditors of a U. S.-based cash management firm that has filed for bankruptcy in Chicago.

Former offshore services provider Marc Harris, who was sentenced to serve 17 years in prison on May 17, 2004 after being convicted by a jury of conspiracy to defraud the USA, money laundering and tax evasion, turned down a pre-trial offer from prosecutors that would have seen him receive just three years in prison in return for a guilty plea, according to a recently-filed court paper in Miami; New information about what is shaping up to be the latest big offshore hedge fund scandal recently became publicly available in filings at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where the U. S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is trying to close down Lake Shore Asset Management Limited, which is incorporated in Bermuda; and Former offshore specialist Nigel Scott Grant, who once participated in a Nevis-based investment scam while working as an attorney in California, is being sued in Florida for allegedly failing to pay legal fees of $16,125 to a Miami-based law firm, Levey, Airan, Shevin, Roen, Kelso, Corona & Herrera LLP.

The web-sites of two companies whose dubious activities have been highlighted in recent editions of OffshoreAlert have been dismantled over the last few weeks; On February 12, 2007, OffshoreAlert received an email from Kristen Lawson, a “Legislative Advisor” with Miller Thomson LLP, a law firm based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Telecommunications and cable television firms in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands have been dragged into a long-running legal dispute over the ownership of a $900,000 airplane that was damaged in Hurricane Ivan; Under Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, Grenada has become the poster country for corruption and banking fraud; OffshoreAlert recently learned that U. S. Bank N.A. obtained a default judgment for $21 million against British-based alleged fraudster Sendjer Shefket and his British firm Target International Funds Ltd. at federal court in the USA on May 24, 2006; Convicted white-collar criminals who believe they are punished too severely in the United States should be thankful they don't operate in China; and While the U. S. legal system does not yet offer death as a punishment for fraudsters, it is still less than hospitable for convicted white-collar criminals, as Martin A. Armstrong can attest to.

An offshore stock broker has agreed to disgorge $253,346 and pay a civil money penalty of $15,000 to settle regulatory action brought by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The size of the disgorgement represents commissions that Turks and Caicos Islands-based Temple Securities Ltd. earned through the sale of unregistered securities in Allixon International Corp., stated the SEC.

Agreed Final Judgment in Cantania Investments Ltd., Alto Holdings, Ltd., Whimster Nield & Co., Ltd., Weril Investments, Ltd., Doug Pflaum, Rajish Mohan, Luxor Ltd., Michael Kuglitch, Kensington Investments Ltd., Kiyo Chen, Jaime Vicente, Jack Borno, Peter Crealy, Arnold Ames, Nancy Ames, Biltmore Industries, Ltd., Brunel Investments, Ltd., Buckingham Management, Ltd., Calico Management, Ltd., Camden Investments, Ltd., Cuzco Holdings, Ltd., Enclave Holdings, Ltd., Epic Mines, Ltd., Flagstaff Investments, Ltd., G&J, Ltd., Galicia Management, Ltd., Galino Resources, Ltd., Genisis Investments, Ltd., Ben Hansel, Hartford Holdings, Ltd., Hastings Resources, Ltd., Infinity 2000 Ltd., Michael Kelly, Kingsbury Management, Ltd., Lancaster Capital Holdings, Ltd., M&S Trust Company Limited, Midhurst Industries, Ltd., Moonlight Management, Ltd., Morse Systems, Ltd., Navva NV, Nevada Capital Ltd., David Nickerson, Dianne O'Neill, Panther Industries, Ltd., Isabelle Perreault, Lise Pineau, Gaston Perreault, Pinehurst Resources, Ltd., Rochester Holdings, Ltd., Sirocco, Ltd., Sleepy Hollow Holdings, Ltd., Walter Stern, Talbot Consulting International Ltd., Tyrone Resources, Ltd., Zed, Ltd. v. Atlas Financial Group Ltd., Atlas Trust and KPMG LLP at the District Court for the 164th Judicial District, Harris County, Texas.

A Turks & Caicos Islands-based stock brokerage firm and its principal officer are engaged in a legal battle with the Securities & Exchange Commission in the United States. The SEC is seeking an order enjoining Temple Securities Ltd. and its President, CEO and Director, David Clayton Knipe, from violating the Securities Act of 1933.

An offshore attorney has been accused of helping Jean-Bertrand Aristide misappropriate millions of dollars through fraud and corruption while he was president of Haiti.British national Adrian Corr, a 41-year-old partner with Miller Simons O'Sullivan, in the Turks & Caicos Islands, established and administered a shell firm - Mont Salem Management Ltd. - that received and distributed kickbacks and bribes paid by U. S. and Canadian telecommunications carriers to Aristide and his accomplices, it has been alleged. Corr also allegedly wrote at least one letter in which he “falsely represented” that Mont Salem was “a telecommunications carrier” with operations in the U. S. and Canada.

A Canadian national has been accused of misappropriating $1.6 million from an offshore investment brokerage in the Turks and Caicos Islands that he ran before being fired.The amount that Daniel Tremblay allegedly defrauded from his former employer, Noble Securities Holding

The IRS has asked a U. S. federal court for permission to serve a “John Doe” summons on Internet money transfer firm PayPal Inc. as part of a clampdown on tax evasion using offshore credit and debit cards.“The records requested in the summons will identify the holders of bank accounts at, or payment cards issued by banks in, the listed jurisdictions, information which is not otherwise readily available to the Internal Revenue Service,” stated the IRS in its petition.

Computer programmer Christopher John Donnachie has been ordered to pay legal costs of $808,653 to a Bahamas banking group from which he tried to extort money. The costs against Donnachie, a British national believed to be residing in the Turks & Caicos Islands, and his Panamanian-registered firm, Pandon Technology S. A., were awarded by Bahamas Supreme Court on December 1, 2004.

Total Systems Services Inc. has become the latest third party credit card processor to be ordered to turn over client records to the IRS as part of its offshore tax evasion investigation. An order allowing the IRS to serve a

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud, embezzlement and forgery - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Switzerland - that was filed at federal court in the USA on August 17, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Maria Cecilia Rothermel Manzanera, Rolf Rothermel, Feraro Properties LLC, Grimaldi & Co., Dolores Nerlinger, Frederick Nerlinger, Bank of America, Colonial Bank, and Liberty Savings Bank.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Switzerland into Maria Cecilia Rothermel Manzanera for suspected fraud, forgery and embezzlement.

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.

How absurd has the criminal case in Texas involving Bahamas resident Yank Barry become?; A recent land-mark opinion by the United States Supreme Court that effectively determined federal sentencing guidelines were unconstitutional has formed the basis of an appeal by jailed former offshore services provider Marc Harris against his sentence of 17 years in prison and a financial penalty of $26 million for fraud, money laundering and tax evasion; The Central Bank of Belize has warned that an entity calling itself 'Development & Holding Bank of Belize' is not licensed; In July, the Bermuda Monetary Authority also issued warnings about suspect or bogus companies claiming to have ties to the jurisdiction; The United States FBI is establishing an office in the Bahamas, reported the Nassau Guardian; On July 19, 2004, a United States podiatrist admitted to using an offshore bank and credit card account to launder money and evade New York City state and federal taxes on more than $300,000 in income, according to a press release from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, which prosecuted the case at the state Supreme Court; Germain Bourgeois, the former investment manager of the University of Montreal Pension Plan, is suspected of receiving payments in return for "convincing" three parties to invest "hundreds of millions of dollars" in the Lancer Offshore group of funds; and A civil lawsuit has been filed at the Turks & Caicos Islands Supreme Court against a solicitor who was recently disqualified from serving as a company director in the U. K. by the Department of Trade & Industry for his part in a timeshare scam.

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. 

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.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance by Switzerland - that was filed at the U. S. District Court for the District of Alabama on March 18, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Maria Cecilia Rothermel-Manzanera, Dolores Nerlinger, Frederick Nerlinger, Colonial Bank, Grimaldi & Co., and Bexhill Ltd.

Ian Renert and his unlicensed Bahamas-based investment fund group receive $1.5 m in penalties in securities fraud action, London-based barristrer Lawrence Jones in messy legal battle with former fiancée, Keith King and the Dominican Republic's Central Bank, AT&T Corp. sues the Bahamas Tourist Office for an allegedly unpaid bill of $104,361, Royal Bank of Scotland refused to explain massive exposure to the Cayman Islands, civil complaints filed in the Turks and Caicos Islands against Professional Capital Ltd. and Intalco Management Ltd., US Government obtains order allowing it to seize $2.6 m of narcotics trafficking proceeds held at Barclays Bank (Bahamas), US Government applies to seize 55-feet catamaran passenger ferry called 'The Preference' moored in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Netherlands Antilles-domiciled Overseas World Marketing NV sues Motivational Marketing Inc. in Florida.

Accounting firm KPMG is facing two multi-million dollar lawsuits over its involvement in a failed offshore investment group.The actions concern KPMG's provision of auditing and other services for the now-defunct, Turks & Caicos Islands-based Atlas Financial Group. 

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Switzerland into Maria Cecilia Rothermel Manzanera for alleged fraud.

The IRS is investigating alleged tax evasion involving Miami-based American Bankers Insurance Group and reinsurance companies in the Turks & Caicos Islands. ABIG is part of the Fortis Group, an international conglomerate of insurance, banking and investment concerns, including offshore banks and trust companies under the 'Fortis Bank' and 'MeesPierson' brands.

Investors who were defrauded in the Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme can expect to receive a dividend of approximately one-third of their recognized losses, according to Philip Stenger, the SEC Receiver responsible for administering claims; Four offshore companies and their registered agents have been trying to prevent their local regulator in the Turks & Caicos Islands from having access to their records; Also at the TCI Supreme Court, John E. Rutley Jr. has filed a lawsuit against Timothy Prudhoe, Christian Papachristou, Melbourne Wilson and Stephen Wilson, sued as and on behalf of the partners of McLeans law firm, formerly McLean McNally; Financial criminals operating in six offshore centers in the Bermuda-Caribbean region can breathe more easily next year with news that the Miami, Florida-based White-Collar Crime Investigation Team, is being disbanded on March 31, 2004 due to the withdrawal of funding by the United Kingdom government; The capacity of sales people for UK-based due diligence information provider World-Check to tell outrageous lies to potential customers in an attempt to secure a sale appears to know no bounds. FirstRand, the South African parent of Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd., has agreed to pay 25 per cent of the amount being sought by the Irish government to cover the costs of an offshore tax investigation carried out by a panel known as the McCracken Tribunal, reported the Irish Examiner newspaper on December 19, 2003; and The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has obtained an interim order appointing a receiver over Queensland-based Comcash Australasia Pty Ltd., which it claims was operating an unregistered investment scheme in conjunction with SMC Corporation, of Dominica.

A Florida-based firm which processes card transaction payments has been ordered to turn over its records to the IRS as part of an investigation into offshore tax evasion using MasterCard, VISA and American Express. An order issued on September 11, 2003 at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida allows the IRS to serve a "John Doe" summons on Credomatic of Florida Inc., of Brickell Avenue, Miami.

The Bank of Bermuda sacked 14 staff in June after catching them distributing pornographic e-mails, reported The Royal Gazette newspaper; Imperial Consolidated co-founders Jared Brook and Lincoln Fraser are close to being arrested by the Serious Fraud Office in the United Kingdom, according to the June 12, 2003 edition of 'Private Eye', a British satirical magazine; Meanwhile, UK-registered financial services firm Kingsbridge Holdings PLC has partly blamed its "very disappointing" loss of £1.397 million (US$2.3 million) for the six months ended February 28, 2003 on Imperial Consolidated; While owners of web-sites in the United States are legally protected against libel actions from people who believe they have been defamed on Internet message boards, that does not appear to be the case in the Cayman Islands; In the United States, where there is a tax protester, there is usually an illegal offshore investment scheme not far behind and Eddie Ray Kahn, who lives in Sorrento, Florida, is no exception; The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission issued a warning about Richmont Investments Inc. on April 10, 2003; Former Bank of Bermuda (Cayman) officer Marc Vanmarsenille, who lost his job in the aftermath of the Cash 4 Titles fiasco, is a defendant in a civil lawsuit filed at the Turks & Caicos Islands Supreme Court on November 7, 2002; At the same court, a lawsuit has been filed against TCI-registered Sealand Housing Corporation in an attempt to collect on a judgment awarded in the UK High Court; Two businessmen previously exposed in OffshoreAlert for their involvement in the sale and operation of sham offshore credit unions involving Nevis, Panama and the United States have each been sentenced to 25 years in prison, ten of which is suspended, for defrauding a 101-year-old woman out of her life savings; and If creditors of Bahamas-based Suisse Security Bank & Trust were wondering why the winding-up of the bank is taking so long, they should read the prelude to the recently-released written judgment by Bahamas Supreme Court Justice Austin Davis in which he turned down the bank's attempt to regain its banking license, which was suspended on March 5, 2001 and revoked on April 2, 2001.

The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets has issued a public warning against several offshore firms involved in a "fine wine" trading scam. On January 23, 2003, the AFM advised investors "not to take up offers of securities" by Ocean International Marketing B.V., of Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Seed International Ltd., of the Cayman Islands; Cupidus.com Ltd. and Cupidus.com (Turks & Caicos) Ltd.

A civil complaint has been filed in the United States against failed Turks & Caicos Islands-based Atlas Financial Group, its auditor, KPMG, and several current or former officers. Among the defendants are the Managing Director of KPMG (TCI), Gary Brough, 40, who is British; and the accounting firm's former Director of Corporate Finance,Robert Gass, 38, who is Canadian. AFG founders Wayne Turner and his son, Scott Turner, who are both Canadian nationals, are also defendants.

The British Columbia Securities Commission has scheduled a hearing for December 10 11, 2002 to consider applications to vary asset freeze orders relating to accounts at the Bank of Montreal in Vancouver that were frozen in 2000 as part of

Turks & Caicos Islands based Temple Mortgage Fund Ltd. has informed its 350 investors of losses due to downgrading the valuation of property on its books. As a result of the re evaluation, the fund incurred a loss of 19.02

The former General Manager of Lines Overseas Management (Cayman) has filed a civil complaint against an investment firm based in the Turks & Caicos Islands. Canadian national Terry McKolskey, who left Cayman in or around 1998 amid allegations of impropriety,

Businessman Richard Hape has been convicted of two counts of money laundering involving offshore companies he established in the Turks & Caicos Islands, where he worked and lived.The 54-year-old Canadian national faces up to ten years in prison and is currently out on bail pending sentencing.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom into suspected investment fraud by William Booth Cook and Donald Nutter.

Bahamas accountant Michael M. Hepburn, who has been arrested and charged with money laundering in Miami, has a history of involvement with crooked companies, OffshoreAlert can reveal. Hepburn, 54, has provided fake audits for several offshore insurers that have collapsed amid heavy losses and allegations of impropriety, including Paramount Reinsurance Ltd., formerly First Reinsurance Ltd., of Barbados; and Alpine Assurance Ltd. and Savoy Reinsurance Co. Ltd., both of the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Hendrik Rienstra, 73, the principal of sham Panama-registered insurer New England International Surety Co. Inc., has died.; OffshoreAlert has uncovered three new names associated with the business activities of crooked financial services provider Marc M. Harris, who has moved his operations to Nicaragua after running up massive debts in Panama, leading to an application from a creditor to wind up his company and an eviction notice issued by his commercial landlord; Police in the UK have charged a fourth person, Francois M. Verkaeren, with conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with an investigation into the business practices of Merrion Reinsurance Company, which is located in Dublin, Ireland; The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has announced that two residents of the Turks & Caicos Islands - Michael Witt, 45, and his partner, Tina Grenier, 41 - have been arrested and charged with various narcotics, money laundering and possession of crime offenses and their US$1 million property restrained in an operation codenamed 'Oilsheik'; and Local newspapers in the Bahamas have suddenly become excited over a criminal indictment that was issued in the United States as long ago as June 15, 1999.

OffshoreAlert has uncovered further information casting doubt on the legitimacy of Nasdaq-listed Brek Energy, whose dismal operating results caused the Bank of Bermuda to write off its entire $14.3 million investment.We have obtained details of allegations of impropriety against the firm's Chief Financial Officer in 1995 relating to a former employer.

A programmer who caused his former employer's computer system to crash in the Cayman Islands shortly after resigning and then demanded money to fix it has lost a court judgment.Christopher John Donnachie "unlawfully placed a blocking device" in software used by British American Card Company Ltd., ruled Bahamas Supreme Court Justice Hugh Small on June 5, 2002.

Police investigating money laundering and drug trafficking have raided the offices of a Costa Rica-based money exchange operated by Luis Enrique Villalobos.The action has led to financial uncertainty for hundreds of foreigners who have collectively invested millions of dollars in a long-running high yield investment scheme operated by Villalobos and his brother, Oswaldo, who are known locally as 'The Brothers'.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal prosecution in the Turks and Caicos Islands into Dwight Rigby for alleged forgery, theft and money laundering while employed by Temple Securities.

OffshoreAlert has received a letter from an Arizona based client of Grenada licensed Cornerstone International Savings and Investment Bank, which was taken over by the Grenada authorities on April 25, 2002 - AFTER the bank's principals had already disappeared without

Grenada licensed AvantGuard Bank and Trust Ltd. has gone into voluntary liquidation following a review of its operations by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, acting on behalf of Grenada's Ministry of Finance. Pierre Gauthier, a spokesman for the bank, told OffshoreAlert on

An arrest warrant has been issued in the Turks and Caicos Islands against a third person suspected of fraud involving Atlas Financial Group (in liquidation), namely Robert D. Whitney, who is AFG's former Chief Operating Officer. It follows arrest warrants that

A spokesman for AvantGuard Bank and Trust has said it may go into liquidation whatever the outcome of recent action taken against it by regulators in Grenada.The administrative functions of AvantGuard Bank were taken over for an initial 15-day period by the Grenada Ministry of Finance at the end of April in a clampdown that saw similar action taken against Imperium Bank and CornerStone International Savings and Investment Bank.

A California court has approved a request by the Internal Revenue Service for leave to file "John Doe" summonses on VISA International as part of an investigation into tax evasion using offshore credit cards. The order, issued on March 28, 2002, allows the IRS to examine the records of VISA credit or debit cards issued "by, through, or on behalf of banks or other financial institutions" in 31 offshore jurisdictions.

Offshore financial services provider Mary Catherine Bruce has been  found guilty of a criminal offense in the Turks & Caicos Islands. Bruce, a U.S. national, was fined $1,000 for lying about a previous criminal conviction when applying for TCI citizenship, which is known locally as 'Belongership'.

Nevis has a new regulator for its offshore sector - Neville Cadogan, a Jamaican national; and Ian Strang has been replaced as liquidator of Atlas Securities by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Evidence has emerged that the President of a 'paper' offshore securities firm accused of fraud in the United States was attorney Philip W. Johnston, a Canadian who once had a law firm in the Turks & Caicos Islands.Details of Johnston's alleged involvement in TCI-registered Carib Securities Ltd. is contained in a civil lawsuit that is on-going at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.