Barbados

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in Canada by Greg Watson, as the Foreign Representative of Sino-Forest Corporation, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint in Chamonix Investment Corporation, of Panama; Old Fort Financial Ltd., of the Bahamas; Legends Global Services Ltd., of the BVI; Prestige Diversified Fund Ltd., of the Cayman Islands; and Apollo Nominees Inc., of Barbados, both individually and derivatively on behalf of The Wimbledon Fund, SPC (Class TT), of the Cayman Islands, v. Weston Capital Asset Management LLC, of Delaware; Weston Capital Management, LLC, of Delaware; Albert Hallac, Jeffrey Hallac, Keith Wellner, Societe Generale Private Banking Suisse, SA, of Switzerland; Swiss Financial Services (Bahamas) Ltd., of the Bahamas; and Fundadministration, Inc., of New York, at New York State Supreme Court.

Letter about closing offshore ten tax loopholes from Senator Carl Levin to Senator Harry Reid, Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Jon Kyl, Senator Kent Conrad, Senator Saxby Chambliss, Senator Mark Warner, Senator Mike Crapo, Senator Tom Coburn, Senator Michael Bennet, Senator Mike Johanns, Senator John McCain, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator Kelly Ayotte, Honorable Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury; Gene Sperling, Director, National Economic Council, dated October 5, 2012.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in Bermuda by Michael Morrison, Charles Thresh, and John McKenna, as the Foreign Representatives of Gerova Financial Group Ltd. and Gerova Holdings Ltd., at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Former St. Kitts & Nevis-based offshore provider Malchus Irvin Boncamper was yesterday sentenced to eight years and one month in prison for helping to launder the proceeds of an insurance fraud.

Complaint in United Central Bank v. Shalimar Holdings, LLC, Intesar H. Zaidi, Evelyn Zaidi, Strategy Insurance Limited, Charydczak Family Partnership, Yi Tang, Amy Yang, Isaac Ullatil, Neeraj Isaac, Shore Community Bank, Glen Rock Building Supply, Inc., d.b.a. Glen Rock Lumber; Crest Engineering Associates, Inc., Di Naso & Sons Building Supply Co., Roma Bank, Fulton Bank of New Jersey, Heather Garcia, Thomas Garcia, Nishi Kumar, Niraj Kumar, Sadia Ahmed, Khawar Ahmed, Jalal Hader, Kristine Moskal, and Asghar A. Chaudry at the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Investors who were defrauded out of approximately US$19 million by four Cayman Islands-based hedge funds known as the Grand Island Funds received an initial dividend of 57 cents in the dollar last month from the liquidators, with the prospect of up to six cents more as a final dividend. The first distribution was made possible after the liquidators received US$7 million from the Funds' former service providers, directors and other insiders to settle disputes.

Hedge funds in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and USA have obtained a default judgment for $13 million against Canadian nationals John Hamilton and Sandro Sordi concerning allegations of securities fraud based around a Barbados-licensed insurer.

Default Judgment against John Hamilton and Sandro Sordi in Aviator Master Fund, Ltd.,  Aviator Fund Management, LP, JMG Triton Offshore Fund, Ltd., JMG Capital Partners, LP, Whitebox Concentrated Convertible Arbitrage Partners, LP, Whitebox Concentrated Convertible Arbitrage Advisors, LLC, Whitebox Credit Arbitrage Partners, LP, Whitebox Credit Arbitrage Advisors, LP, Pandora Select Partners, LP, Pandora Select Advisors, LP, Longview Equity Fund, LP, and Longview International Equity Fund, LP. v. John Hamilton and Sandro Sordi at New York State Supreme Court.

Petition to Confirm Arbitration Award in Platinum Underwriters Bermuda Ltd. v. Excalibur Reinsurance Corporation, formerly known as PMA Capital Insurance Company, at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Cayman Islands-based captive manager Monkton Insurance Services Limited has been taken over by its regulator and the firm's president and director, David Self, sued for damages for alleged breaches of fiduciary duties.

The court-appointed managers of Bahamas-domiciled British American Insurance Company Ltd., which operated throughout the Bermuda-Caribbean region, are suing the insurer's former directors and others for 'recklessly gambling away' hundreds of millions of dollars on 'speculative' Florida real estate investments.

Sixth Report of Liquidators of Grand Island Funds filed at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Hedge funds in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and USA whose investors were cheated in a securities fraud based around a sham Barbados-licensed insurer called Strategy Insurance claim to have lost out again in a settlement agreement with the alleged fraudsters.

Second Amended Complaint in Brookfield Asset Management, Inc., f.k.a. Hees International Bancorp Inc., of Canada, and Brysons International, Ltd., f.k.a. Brysons International Bank, Ltd., of Barbados, v. AIG Financial Products Corp. and American International Group, Inc. at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint in Aviator Master Fund, Ltd., Aviator Fund Management, L.P., JMG Triton Offshore Fund, Ltd., JMG Capital Partners, LP, Whitebox Concentrated Convertible Arbitrage Partners, LP, Whitebox Concentrated Convertible Arbitrage Advisors, LLC, Whitebox Credit Arbitrage Partners, LP, Whitebox Credit Arbitrage Advisors, LP, Pandora Select Partners, LP, Pandora Select Advisors, LP, Longview Equity Fund, L.P., Longview International Equity Fund, L.P., and Longview Fund, LP v. John Hamilton and Sandro Sordi at New York State Supreme Court.

Government's Statement of Facts in USA v. Malchus Irvin Boncamper, Christopher Purser, Robert Steve Mills, Edmund Hugh Benton, William Ballachey, and Marc-Thibaud Duchesne at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Amended Class Action Complaint in Rutland Baker, Xianhua Xu, Ali Arar, Elenore Kram, and Bruce Henry v. Gerova Financial Group Ltd., Gary Hirst, Michael Hlavsa, Joseph Bianco, Jack Doueck, Arie Van Roon, Keith Laslop, Richard Rudy, Stillwater Capital Partners, Inc., and Stillwater Capital Partners, LLC at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Fifth Report of Liquidators of Grand Island Funds filed at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Writ of Summons filed by FirstCaribbean International Bank (Barbados) Limited against Orel Prendergast at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Evidence has emerged that a major securities fraud on the New York Stock Exchange could have been prevented if regulators in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands had been more diligent.It appears that a complaint alleging improprieties against offshore reinsurer Gerova

Fourth Report of Liquidators of Grand Island Funds filed at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

St. Kitts & Nevis based accountant Malchus Irvin BonCamper, who has featured in several OffshoreAlert articles over the last 10 years concerning his involvement in illegal activity, is in custody in Texas after being criminally indicted on multiple counts of

Petition in USA v. World Wide Re, formerly known as World Wide Management Consultants, Ltd., at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

A breakdown by jurisdiction and amounts of accounts held at Stanford International Bank.

Superseding indictment by USA against Malchus Irvin BonCamper, Christopher Purser, Robert Steve Mills, Edmund Hugh Benton, William Ballachey and Marc-Thibaud Duchesne for alleged insurance fraud and money laundering. 

A Bermuda based, New York Stock Exchange listed group that was granted a Bermuda insurance license last June is "likely fraudulent", according to an investment research firm in the United States.Gerova Financial Group Ltd., which moved its domicile from the

Third Report of Liquidators of Grand Island Funds filed at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Prominent Cayman Islands based businessman Naul Bodden has agreed to pay US$3.3 million to settle his liabilities to a fund group he controlled whose investors were defrauded out of US$19 million, including two banks licensed in Barbados and two hedge

Writ of Summons in FirstInternational Bank (Barbados) Limited v. Andrew Scott at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission has accused a trust company of commingling client and company funds and claims that it is insolvent.Details of the allegations against Whitten Trust Company Limited entered the public domain as a result of

Democratic and Republican politicians alike in the USA fail to return Allen Stanford donations, including Charles Rangel, Max Baucus, John McCain and … gulp … Barack Obama!; victims of one of Canada's biggest hedge fund frauds prepare to sue Grant Thornton Bahamas; man charged with murder of British financial services provider Hywel Jones - police continue to investigate the person who ordered the hit; and a penny stock firm that vanishes into thin air exposes two ridiculous audits conducted by Bahamas firm HLB Galanis Bain

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in Ireland by Michael McAteer, as the Foreign Representative of Bedminster International Limited, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.

A default judgment for $10.2 million has been entered in the United States against a Barbados licensed insurer that was allowed to continue in business by Barbados' Supervisor of Insurance, Carlos Belgrave, despite evidence of fraud that was publicized by

Judgment by Confession in Pandora Select Partners, LP, Whitebox Convertible Arbitrage Partners, LP, Whitebox Hedged High Yield Partners, LP, Aviator Master Fund, Ltd., Aviator Overseas Fund II, Ltd., JMG Triton Offshore Fund, Ltd., JMG Capital Partners, LP, Longview Equity Fund, LP and Longview International Equity Fund, LP v. Strategy International Insurance Group, Inc., Strategy Real Estate Investments Ltd., Strategy Holding Company Limited, and Strategy Insurance Limited at New York State Supreme Court.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in the Bahamas by Juan Lopez, a.k.a. John Lopez, as the Foreign Representative of British American Insurance Company Limited, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.

First Report of Liquidators of Grand Island Commodity Fund to the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Complaint in Raymond Massi and Clifford Culmer, as Receivers and Liquidators of the Norshield Receivership Companies, v. Lowell Holden at the U. S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Miami-based businessman Charles Intriago, who sold his anti-money laundering-focused company Alert Global Media, Inc. to New York-based supplier of AML technology Fortent in December, 2006 and continued to manage it before abruptly departing in late March, 2008, is preparing to launch a new business venture that will concentrate on asset forfeiture; Canadian national Wayne Wile, who has been accused of committing securities fraud along with the Cayman, Bahamas and Bermuda operations of investment group Lines Overseas Management, obtained a Cayman Islands Driver's License in a false name, according to the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission; OffshoreAlert has obtained more information about companies and individuals involved with the Grand Island Commodity Trading Fund group of companies, which went into liquidation on June 17, 2008 - one month before its trading manager, R. Christopher Girvan, was arrested in Cayman on suspicion of theft, false accounting and fraud; Investment fraudster Keem Kalfon is at it again. His latest venture operates as 'The People's Money Center' from a web-site at www.peoplemc.com, which was established in June, 2007; and Despite all that has happened over the last 10 years in terms of legal gateways being implemented to allow foreign parties to obtain information about individuals and businesses operating in offshore financial centers, there is still a misconception among some residents of major countries that the secrecy and anonymity of their offshore transactions is enshrined in law.

A Barbados-licensed insurer whose dubious activities were exposed two years ago by OffshoreAlert was named as a defendant in two civil lawsuits filed over a two-day period at federal courts in the United States during July. Strategy Insurance Ltd. was sued at the U. S. District Court for the District of Utah on July 15, 2008 and at the U. S. District Court for the District of Nevada on July 16, 2008.

Deposition of Kevin Hamilton for a libel complaint filed by Hamilton against KYC News, Inc. and David Marchant at Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Canada.

A Barbados insurer and an affiliate are suing a Swiss Re unit in a dispute over a financial guaranty.Lincoln National Reinsurance Company (Barbados) Limited, an insurer domiciled and based in Barbados, and The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, incorporated in

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in Nevis by Richard Fogerty and William Tacon, as Foreign Representatives of Condor Insurance Limited, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

OffshoreAlert has previously reported about the incomplete and materially inaccurate disclosures of River Capital Group Inc., a Delaware corporation operated from Bermuda with a Barbados insurer as its principal subsidiary, in its filings with the SEC in the United States, where its shares are listed on the OTC BB; Marty Steinberg, the Receiver for the fraudulently-operated Lancer group of hedge funds, recently filed two more civil complaints at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in an attempt to recover a total of $106,000 that he claims was illegally transferred out of Lancer to third-parties in 2003; An offshore reinsurer has taken action in the United States to enforce a judgment for US$347,576 it obtained against a U. S. firm at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands; and Syrian-born arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar, an ex-business partner of the now-defunct, fraudulently-operated Imperial Consolidated Group, was arrested in Spain — where he lives — on June 7, 2007 after being indicted in the United States.

A Bahamas-based business operated by Mohamad Harajchi and his son, Michel Harajchi, that was exposed in the October 31, 2006 edition of OffshoreAlert has stopped accepting new business; Andreas Ihrke has agreed to be extradited from the United States to Germany, where he has been charged with fraud and falsification of documents; British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported on December 23 that the U. K. Government “is set to announce within weeks an amnesty scheme for tax evaders who have stashed money in offshore bank accounts"; OffshoreAlert has uncovered a securities fraud complaint that was filed - and later dismissed - at the U. S. District Court for the District of Nevada in 2003 against a company that has featured prominently in the newsletter in recent months, Bermuda-based River Capital Limited; A Costa Rica-based brokerage firm has reached a settlement with the British Columbia Securities Commission after admitting to unregistered trading to B. C. residents; and Bancafe International Bank Ltd., which is the fifth largest unsecured creditors of bankrupt commodities broker Refco, with a claim for $204 million, had its operations closed by the Central Bank of Barbados, effective October 23, 2006.

Worst Liquidation: Suisse Security Bank & Trust Ltd.; Worst Regulator: Carlos Belgrave, Supervisor of Insurance and Pensions, in Barbados; and Best Justice System: United States of America.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in Barbados by Marcus Wide, as the Foreign Representative of Bancafe International Bank Ltd., at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Bahamas-based attorney Anthony Thompson has emerged as a key player in another securities scheme by a group whose allegedly fraudulent activities were exposed in the previous edition of OffshoreAlert. Thompson is the sole officer and director of two offshore companies that beneficially own 43.8% of the common stock of Reliant Home Warranty Corporation, a Florida-registered, Canada-based “mortgage banking” firm whose shares are currently trading for six cents each on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board in the United States.

Lennox Gibbs is well-paid for his role in dubious penny stock Strategy International Insurance Group Inc.; Law firm Charles Russell and financial advisors Smith & Williamson, continue to be handsomely rewarded for their lmismanagement of the iquidation of Invaro Ltd.; and the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations' 'Tax Haven Abuses: The Enablers, The Tools and Secrecy' is not without its humorous side.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in St. Vincent and the Grenadines by Malcolm Butterfield, Brian Glasgow, and Simon Whicker, as the Foreign Representatives of Tri-Continental Exchange Ltd., Combined Services Ltd., and Alternative Market Exchange Ltd., at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California.