USA

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $7 million on Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC for "failure to timely file certain suspicious activity reports between April 2017 and October 2021" involving wire transfers "to or from certain foreign countries determined to be at a high risk or moderate risk for money laundering, terrorist financing or other illegal monetary movements", including "Costa Rica, Turkey, Honduras, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua, Cayman Islands, Ukraine, and Guernsey".

Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing an industry ban on Thomas F. Plaut, described as "the sole owner, Chairman, and CEO of Worldwide Markets Ltd., a British Virgin Islands company with its principal place of business in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey".

Complaint for $203 million alleging breach of contract regarding a "proxy revenue swap transaction" in Allianz Risk Transfer (Bermuda) Ltd., of Bermuda v. High Lonesome Wind Power LLC, of Delaware, described as "an indirect subsidiary of Enel SpA, a global energy conglomerate with a reported market capitalization in excess of $65 billion", at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

Class Action Complaint alleging cryptocurrency fraud in Christopher Rackauckas v. SafeMoon LLC, SafeMoon US LLC, SafeMoon Connect LLC, Tano LLC, SafeMoon Ltd., of England; SafeMoon Protocol Ltd., of England; SafeMoon Media Group Ltd., of England; David Portnoy, Braden John Karony, Jack Haines-Davies, Ryan Arriaga, Shaun Witriol, Henry 'Hank' Wyatt, Thomas Smith, Kyle Nagy, Jake Paul, Nick Carter, DeAndre Cortez Way, Ben Phillips, described as a resident of London, England; Miles Parks McCollum, and Daniel M. Keem at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah.

Criminal Indictment alleging the defendants engaged in illegal intelligence activities on behalf of China in USA v. Shujun Wang, Jie Ji, Ming Li, and Keqing Lu at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Application by Webuild SpA, of Italy, and Sacyr SA, of Spain, described as "global construction firms specialized in building large works and complex infrastructure projects", to take discovery from WSP USA for use in "two investment arbitrations relating to major investments by Webuild and Sacyr in an international infrastructure project to build the Third Set of Locks Project for the Panama Canal", filed at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Criminal Information alleging securities fraud involving Structured Alpha Funds in USA v. Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Criminal Indictment alleging securities fraud involving Allianz Global Investors in USA v. Gregoire Tournant at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging "a multibillion-dollar fraud" while the defendants "were employed by Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC" and involving "AGI US’s Structured Alpha funds" in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Gregoire Tournant, Trevor Taylor, and Stephen Bond-Nelson at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Petition to Confirm Foreign Arbitration Award of $2.4 billion in Crescent Petroleum Company International Limited, described as a Bermuda-domiciled, United Arab Emirates-based "private oil and gas exploration and production company operating in the Middle East", and Crescent Gas Corporation Limited, of the British Virgin Islands v. National Iranian Oil Company, of Tehran, Iran, at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Judgment for $93,087 in Borah Goldstein Altschuler Nahins & Goidel PC v. Raygan Mills Ltd., of London, England, at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

Complaint alleging a "pattern of self-dealing and conflicts [that] ultimately enriched the debt holders but destroyed $150 million in shareholder value" in Sentia Wellness Inc. v. Boris Jordan, of Miami, Florida; Measure 8 Ventures LP, of New York; Gron Ventures Fund I LP, of Delaware; Zola Global Investors Ltd., Anson Advisors Inc., of Canada, on behalf of Anson East Master Fund LP; AC Anson Investments Ltd., of the Cayman Islands; Anson Investments Master Fund LP, of the Cayman Islands; Anson Opportunities Master Fund LP, of the Cayman Islands; Serendipity SPC - Trimble Fund SP, of the Cayman Islands, on behalf of Emerald Spur Limited; Lapid US Investments LLC, of Delaware; Hadron Healthcare and Consumer Special Opportunities Master Fund, Aterian Inc., of Delaware; Alliance Global Partners LLC, of New York; Sunny Puri, of Toronto, Canada; Juan Martinez, of New York; Peter Clateman, of New York; Wilder Ramsey, of Los Angeles, California; Gregory Crowe, of Singapore; Igor Gimelshtein, of Toronto, Canada; Tarik Ouass, of Toronto, Canada; Andrea Oriani, of London, England; Marco d'Attansio, of London, England, and Afzal Hasan, of Toronto, Canada, at the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon, County of Multnomah.

Alpine Partners (BVI) LP, of the British Virgin Islands, to take discovery from Vivo Capital LLC, Vivo Capital Fund IX (Cayman) LLC, and Vivo Capital Fund IX (Cayman) L.P. for use in "an appraisal proceeding in the Cayman Islands" involving New Frontier Health Corporation, filed at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

In a judgment at Bermuda Supreme Court, Australian barrister Evatt Tamine has been ordered to repay nearly $30 million that he allegedly misappropriated from a Bermuda trust he administered on behalf of U.S. businessman Robert Brockman, who was criminally indicted at federal court in California in 2020 for an alleged $2 billion offshore tax fraud scheme.

Petition to Confirm Arbitration Award of $1.49 million regarding a dispute involving "a license to develop and operate a Hard Rock Café restaurant in Fortaleza, Brazil" in Perlatop SA, of Uruguay v. HRC Fortaleza Entretenimentos Ltda., of Brazil, at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

The "corporate officers" of Florida-based health insurance agency Insurance Care Direct - Edward Carriero, Seth Cohen, and Brad Cohen - have been accused of failing to "fully comply" with an IRS tax investigation into its "potentially abusive" relationship with two affiliated Nevis-licensed captive insurers, ICD Captive Re and HOO Captive Re.

Summons With Notice alleging professional negligence and willful misconduct in Hunnewell Partners (BVI) Ltd., of the British Virgin Islands v. Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

Class Action Complaint alleging negligence, conversion, and fraud involving a cryptocurrency called GYEN, described as a "stablecoin" that is "purportedly 'pegged' to the Japanese yen at a rate of one-to-one", in Kenneth Donovan and Hussien Kassfy v. GMO-Z.com Trust Company Inc., described as a New York company that was created by "a Tokyo-based internet services industry company" called GMO Internet Group; Coinbase Global Inc., and Coinbase Inc., both of Delaware, at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Forfeiture Complaint in USA v. 40.997711 Ethereum digital currency in an account at Binance cryptocurrency exchange that is believed to be the proceeds of a fraud against the operator of "an investment vehicle which invests in digital currencies, including Ethereum" who had an account at another cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, filed at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Petition to Enforce IRS Summonses regarding the tax liability of ABS Healthcare Services LLC and Health Option One LLC, both of Deerfield Beach, Florida, collectively doing business as Insurance Care Direct and described as the operators of Nevis-domiciled captive insurers ICD Captive Re Ltd. and HOO Captive Re Ltd., in USA v. Edward Carriero, Seth Cohen, and Bradley Cohen at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Florida resident Susan Devine, the 60-year-old former wife of German accused fraudster Florian Homm, has applied for evidence from New York law firm Spears & Imes for use in criminal proceedings in Liechtenstein, where she is being investigated on suspicion of laundering some of the proceeds of Homm's alleged $200 million Cayman Islands investment scam.

Class Action Complaint in Dagan Investments LLC v. First High-School Education Group Co. Ltd., described as a Cayman Islands company that "operates private high schools in Western China and provides for-profit tutoring services"; Shaowei Zhang, Lidong Zhu, Guangzhou Zhao, Yuanlin Hu, Longwater Topco B.V., EQT Mid Market Asia III Limited Partnership, EQT Mid Market Asia III GP B.V., EQT Fund Management S.À.R.L., Colleen A. De Vries, Cogency Global Inc., The Benchmark Company LLC, Valuable Capital Group Limited, TFI Securities and Futures Limited, AMTD Global Markets Limited, Maxim Group LLC, Boustead Securities LLC, FUTU Inc., US Tiger Securities Inc., and Fosun Hani Securities Limited at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

USA's Motion to Revoke Bond in USA v. Andrew Fahie, former Premier of the British Virgin Islands, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. In the motion, the USA stated, inter alia, that new BVI Premier Natalio Wheatley "has clarified that the immunity letter submitted on the Defendant’s behalf was an unauthorized letter that was prepared by a "rogue public officer", and does not "reflect the position of the Premier’s Office or the government of the Virgin Islands."

Ex Parte Request for Judicial Assistance by Susan Elaine Devine, described as "a citizen of the United States and Brazil and a resident of Florida" and a former wife of Florian Homm, a German citizen who was indicted in California in 2013 for alleged investment fraud and is currently a fugitive, to obtain evidence from law firm Spears & Imes LLP for use "in connection with criminal proceedings that have been launched against Ms. Devine in Liechtenstein relating to alleged money laundering" involving "nine hedge funds that were incorporated in the Cayman Islands", namely Absolute Activist Value Master Fund Limited, Absolute East West Fund Limited, Absolute East West Master Fund Limited, Absolute European Catalyst Fund Limited, Absolute Germany Fund Limited, Absolute India Fund Limited, Absolute Octane Fund Limited, Absolute Octane Master Fund Limited, and Absolute Return Europe Fund Limited, filed at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Twelve days after being arrested, recently-deposed British Virgin Islands Premier Andrew Fahie and co-defendants Oleanvine Maynard and Kadeem Maynard have been criminally indicted at federal court in Miami for alleged narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

Application by Yuan Hsu, a resident of Taiwan, to take discovery from Wells Fargo Bank NA for use in criminal proceedings in Taiwan alleging "embezzlement and theft" by Ping Hsu, described as "the Petitioner's daughter", regarding the Estate of the Petitioner's husband, filed at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Criminal Indictment alleging conspiracy to import a controlled substance, conspiracy to engage in money laundering, and attempted money laundering in USA v. Andrew Fahie, former Premier of the British Virgin Islands; Oleanvine Maynard, and Kadeem Maynard, all of the British Virgin Islands, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

USA's Response to Fahie's Motion to Dismiss Bond Appeal in USA v. Andrew Fahie, former Premier of the British Virgin Islands, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern of Florida.

Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Government Appeal of Bond Order in USA v. Andrew Fahie, former Premier of the British Virgin Islands, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Application by Associação dos Profissionais dos Correios, described as "a Brazilian non-profit association that defends and represents the interests of present and former/retired postal worker employees of Correios, a state-owned public postal company", to take discovery from The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation for use in legal proceedings in São Paulo, Brazil "against Instituto de Seguridade Social dos Correios e Telégrafos, Empresa Brasileira de Correio e Telégrafos, KPMG Auditores Independentes, and BNY Mellon Serviços Financeiros Distribuidora de Títulos e Valores Mobilários S.A." alleging "misconduct, malfeasance, breaches of fiduciary duties, and corruption", filed at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Application by Globalization Partners Mexico SA de CV, described as being "part of a family of companies that provide technology-based human resources solutions that enable clients to seamlessly engage talent in various jurisdictions across the world without needing to set up a local entity", to take discovery from GoGlobal USA Inc. for use in legal proceedings in Mexico "against its former employee Francisco Mendez after learning that Mendez took away with him Globalization Partners' trade secrets and confidential information and brought it with him to a direct competitor, GoGlobal", filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

Complaint "to recover so-called 'short-swing profits'" of $61 million in Canoo Inc., described as a Delaware-domiciled, California-based "startup American manufacturer of consumer and commercial electric vehicles founded in 2017" v. DD Global Holdings Ltd., described as a Cayman Islands-domiciled, Hong Kong-based "owner of more than 10% of Canoo’s outstanding common shares", at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Judgment awarding $16.8 million, $5.395 million, and £5 million against the defendants in BCT Limited, a Cayman Islands subsidiary of Maples Group, as Trustee of the A. Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust, and Spanish Steps Holdings Limited, of the British Virgin Islands v. Evatt Tamine, an Australian barrister, and Tangarra Consultants Limited, of Bermuda, at Bermuda Supreme Court.

Application by Invictus Global Management LLC to take discovery from Apollo Global Management LLC and Marc Rowan for legal proceedings at Bermuda Supreme Court regarding "the fair value of the shares of Athene Holdings Ltd. previously held by Petitioner", filed at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Class Action Complaint alleging fraud in Robert Glick v. Arqit Quantum Inc., formerly known as Centricus Acquisition Corp., described as a Cayman Islands-domiciled, London-based "cybersecurity company that has pioneered a unique quantum encryption technology"; David Williams, Nick Pointon, Carlo Calabria, Stephen Chandler, Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio, VeraLinn Jamieson, Garth Ritchie, and Stephen Wilson at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Complaint "to compel the disclosure of all government documents and records requested pursuant to FOIA that were unlawfully withheld by Defendant, the Internal Revenue Service" in Robert T. Brockman, a resident of Houston, Texas who was criminally indicted in 2020 for allegedly concealing approximately $2 billion from the IRS and swindling investors in his firm using offshore structures in Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Nevis, and Switzerland v. Internal Revenue Service at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Director Details for Providers Re SPC, obtained from the Cayman Islands General Registry on May 6th, 2022.

Public Notice by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority that it has imposed a fine of CI$16,950 on Providers Re SPC for "Failure of a Class B Insurer that is established as a segregated portfolio company under Part XIV of the Companies Act (as revised) to maintain the prescribed margin of solvency in respect of each segregated portfolio".

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence from Wells Fargo - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Portugal - for use in a criminal investigation into an "unknown subject" for a suspected cryptocurrency-related asset recovery fraud following an apparent cryptocurrency-related investment fraud.

Consent Order imposing a civil penalty of $10 million on Samuel Reed regarding the operation of the BitMEX cryptocurrency trading platform in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. HDR Global Trading Limited, of the Seychelles; 100x Holdings Limited, of Bermuda; ABS Global Trading Limited, of Delaware; Shine Effort Inc. Limited, of Hong Kong; HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited, of Bermuda, all d.b.a. BitMEX; Arthur Hayes, described as a citizen of the United States residing in Hong Kong; Ben Peter Delo, described as a citizen of the United Kingdom residing in Hong Kong, and Samuel Reed, described as a U.S. citizen who resided in Milwaukee, WI, and Boston, MA, during the relevant period, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Consent Order imposing a civil penalty of $10 million on Benjamin Delo regarding the operation of the BitMEX cryptocurrency trading platform in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. HDR Global Trading Limited, of the Seychelles; 100x Holdings Limited, of Bermuda; ABS Global Trading Limited, of Delaware; Shine Effort Inc. Limited, of Hong Kong; HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited, of Bermuda, all d.b.a. BitMEX; Arthur Hayes, described as a citizen of the United States residing in Hong Kong; Ben Peter Delo, described as a citizen of the United Kingdom residing in Hong Kong, and Samuel Reed, described as a U.S. citizen who resided in Milwaukee, WI, and Boston, MA, during the relevant period, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Consent Order imposing a civil penalty of $10 million on Arthur Hayes regarding the operation of the BitMEX cryptocurrency trading platform in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. HDR Global Trading Limited, of the Seychelles; 100x Holdings Limited, of Bermuda; ABS Global Trading Limited, of Delaware; Shine Effort Inc. Limited, of Hong Kong; HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited, of Bermuda, all d.b.a. BitMEX; Arthur Hayes, described as a citizen of the United States residing in Hong Kong; Ben Peter Delo, described as a citizen of the United Kingdom residing in Hong Kong, and Samuel Reed, described as a U.S. citizen who resided in Milwaukee, WI, and Boston, MA, during the relevant period, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

USA's Notice of Appeal and Motion to Stay Entry of Bond Pending Review in USA v. Andrew Fahie, Premier of the British Virgin Islands, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Complaint alleging a law firm's negligence caused a client to transfer $2.8 million to an "imposter" who had "spoofed" an email address in LTC (BVI) Ltd., of the British Virgin Islands, described as "an investor and investment manager" v. BraunHagey & Borden LLP, a law firm in California, at the Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco.

Complaint for $682,673 alleging breach of contract in Diginet Global FZC LLC, of the United Arab Emirates v. Profluence Inc., described as a Delaware-domiciled, Miami Beach-based company; Kinner Digital LLC, d.b.a. Profluence, described as a Delaware-domiciled, Miami Beach-based company; Christina McKinley, of Massachusetts, and John McKinley, of Massachusetts, at the Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit, in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Arthur Hayes' Sentencing Submission in USA v. Arthur Hayes, who pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act on February 24th, 2022 regarding the operation of the BitMEX cryptocurrency trading platform, of which he was co-founder and CEO, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and unjust enrichment regarding "a business venture involving an automated market maker protocol to facilitate token swaps using smart contracts and tokens" called SaucerSwap in Matthew Clark Kramer, of Utah v. Ground Zero Crypto LLC, of Maryland; Peter Campbell, of Maine; Joseph Bergvinson, of Canada; Henry He, of New York; Christopher Neil Davenport, of Maryland, and Matthew DeLorenzo, of North Carolina, at the U. S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Complaint to Recognize Cayman Islands Judgment in Bronzelink Holdings Limited, of the British Virgin Islands v. STM Group Inc., of Delaware, and STM Atlantic NV, of the Netherlands, at the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

Application by Palantir Technologies Inc. to take discovery from Williams & Connolly LLP, a law firm, and laywers Barry S. Simon, and Stephen L. Wohlgemuth for use in "two German proceedings: (i) a patent entitlement litigation before the Regional Court of Munich, Federal Republic of Germany between Palantir and Williams & Connolly's client, Marc L. Abramowitz, and (ii) a criminal investigation by a German public prosecutor of Abramowitz, Simon, and Wohlgemuth" for suspected "attempted litigation fraud", filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Order Granting Bond to Andrew Fahie (Stayed until May 5th, 2022 pending an appeal by the USA) in USA v. Andrew Fahie, Premier of the British Virgin Islands, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.