Barbados

    SHOWING:

    151 to 200 of 214 results
      

    Sort By:

    Search

    Filter By:

    Topics

    show more show less

    Jurisdictions

    show more show less

    Allegations

    show more show less

    Bermuda insurance license reject goes to Barbados, teams up with dubious group

    A wannabe Bermuda insurer whose license application was turned down in 2004 has resurfaced in Barbados, where it has teamed up with a group whose principals include a convicted criminal. The Barbados Supervisor of Insurance issued an insurance license to River Reinsurance Limited on December 16, 2005. 

    Parent of offshore insurer accused of $50 m securities fraud

    A publicly-listed company in the United States whose subsidiaries include an offshore insurer is being sued in New York by investors who claim they were victims of a $50 million securities fraud. Strategy International Insurance Group Inc., whose shares are currently trading on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board at just six cents per share, misrepresented its assets and concealed “material negative facts” about some of its “principal executives and directors” in a private placement memorandum, according to the plaintiffs, who include investment funds in the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands. 

    Pandora Select Partners LP, et al v. Strategy International Insurance Group Inc., et al: Complaint

    Complaint filed by Pandora Select Partners LP, Pandora Select Advisors, LP, JMG Capital Partners, LP, JMG Triton Offshore Fund, Ltd.,  Aviator Fund Management, LP, Aviator Overseas Fund II, Ltd., Aviator Master Fund, Ltd., Whitebox Hedged High Yield Advisors, LP, Whitebox Hedged High Yield Partners, LP, Whitebox Convertible Arbitrage Advisors, LLC, and Whitebox Convertible Arbitrage Partners, LP against Strategy International Insurance Group Inc., Strategy Real Estate Investments, Ltd., John Hamilton, Sandro Sordi, and Stephen Stonhill at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

    New World Network International Ltd.: Chapter 15 Petition

    Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in Bermuda by Mark Smith, as the Foreign Representative of New World Network International Ltd., at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

    USA v. Michael Enrest Zapetis, Sr. et al: Criminal Indictment

    Indictment in USA v. Michael Enrest Zapetis, Sr., Karen Carazo Zapetis, Richard Joseph Solomon, William Allen Broughton, Clifton Fred Lees, William L. Clancy, John E. S. Kramar, Peter Ivan Greengrass, Richard William Peterson, and Anthony John Hicks at the U. S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

    US drops tax fraud lawsuit against xélan & affiliates

    Just a few weeks after losing a key court ruling that unfroze $500 million of assets, the U. S. government has dropped a civil lawsuit against several parties it suspects of helping medical professionals evade taxes. The government filed notice at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California on December 16, 2004 that it intended to dismiss without prejudice its action against Doctors Benefit Insurance Company Ltd., of Barbados; xélan Inc,. of California, and related parties.

    PayPal records targeted by IRS in offshore tax evasion investigation

    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.

    Insider Talking: October 4, 2005

    A Florida based stock promoter with a checkered past has been served with a subpoena on behalf of the liquidators of collapsed Cayman Islands based stock broker SEGOES Services Ltd. Howard Gostfrand, of Miami Beach, and his Florida incorporated stock

    Imagine Group claims ignorance in dealings with Barbados reinsurer

    Bermuda-based reinsurer Imagine Group, which has gone through two CEOs in less than three years, claims it did not know one of its own directors was the president of a Barbados reinsurer it bought reinsurance from in 2003, reported The Royal Gazette newspaper on July 20.Imagine's Chief Financial Officer, Mike Daly, said his firm's purported due diligence on Union Excess Reinsurance never uncovered the identity of Union's president, Trevor Carmichael, who is also an Imagine director, reported the Gazette.

    Univest Multi-Strategy Fund II Ltd.: Section 304 Petition

    Section 304 Petition for Assistance in Insolvency Proceedings in the Cayman Islands by Simon Whicker and Theo Bullmore, as the Foreign Representatives of Univest Multi-Strategy Fund II Ltd., at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

    Missing in Action: Halliburton’s disappearing offshore subsidiaries

    In the space of four or five years, Halliburton, the international oil services and construction conglomerate that is under attack for overcharging and underperforming in Iraq, has gone from reporting approximately 70 to 80 offshore subsidiaries in its annual SEC filing to just two, both in the Cayman Islands.Offshore networks had become a central part of Halliburton's management and financial strategy. When current United States Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, the company's offshore subsidiaries increased from nine to 44. By the year 2001, that had nearly doubled. Now most of them have gone missing!

    LaSalle Re Holdings Ltd.: Section 304 Petition

    Section 304 Petition for Assistance in Insolvency Proceedings in Bermuda by Mike Morrison and John Waldrop, as the Foreign Representatives of LaSalle Re Holdings Limited, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

    US court lifts freeze order against offshore insurer

    In a blow to the IRS, a United States court has dismissed a receiver and lifted an asset freeze order against a Barbados-licensed insurer which is being investigated for alleged tax evasion.The ruling at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of California on December 3 unfroze more than $500 million of assets belonging to Doctors Benefit Insurance Company Ltd.

    $19.4 m award against PartnerRe

    An arbitration panel has ordered PartnerRe to pay $19.4 million to Diamond State Insurance Company in a dispute over reinsurance coverage for weather derivative contracts.Details of the award were announced on November 29, 2004 by Diamond State's Cayman Islands domiciled

    River Capital still claims to be seeking Bermuda license, also eyes Barbados

    Delaware-domiciled River Capital Group Inc., which is controlled by brothers Scott and Brian Lines, of investment firm Lines Overseas Management, is still maintaining that an affiliate's application for a Bermuda insurance license is alive - even though it appears to have died many months ago.

    AIG cooks the books using offshore insurance structures

    Insurance giant AIG has used offshore structures in Barbados and Bermuda to circumvent or violate U. S. state laws regarding reinsurance and to help at least one crooked client evade taxes.In the late 90s, four state insurance departments were aware

    Insider Talking: July 31, 2004

    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.

    Indosuez Eastern Europe Fixed Income Fund Ltd.: Section 304 Petition

    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.

    Tax avoidance is rampant, claim US Senators

    Nearly two thirds of the top 100 contractors doing business with the U. S. federal government have subsidiaries in tax haven countries which could be used to avoid paying income taxes, it has been claimed. "While the offshore subsidiaries may be technically legal under current law, numerous studies have found that many are little more than a post office box set up to allow corporations to move profits to the low-tax or no-tax havens, rather than reporting that income in the United States," stated U. S. Senators Byron Dorgan (Democrat, North Dakota) and Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan).

    Ratings agency warns about becoming dependent on offshore reinsurers

    A financial ratings agency has warned direct writers of U.S. individual life insurance policies about relying too much on offshore reinsurers. U. S. insurers are "becoming increasingly reliant on offshore reinsurance to transfer off of their balance sheets the growing reserve strains associated with statutory reserve requirements" stated Moody's Investors Service in a press release on January 15, 2004 to announce a new report on the subject.

    US Gov’t applies to seize allegedly criminal proceeds

    The United States Government has applied to seize $438,035 controlled by a United States-based attorney with close ties to a Grenada-based offshore bank and a convicted money launderer in Barbados.The funds are held at the Fifth Third Bank, of Evansville, Indiana, in an escrow account in the names of Price & Associates and Price & Collins law firms and controlled by attorney David E. Price, of Santa Claus, Indiana.

    Trinidad & Tobago: Namcaran Singh et al

    Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Trinidad & Tobago into Namcaran Singh, Cosmas Bonaparte, Horace Blake, Robert Paladino and others for alleged corruption.

    Bank syndicate owed $183 million by Trenwick Group

    A syndicate of banks led by JPMorgan Chase Bank is the biggest creditor of ailing Bermuda-based specialty insurer Trenwick Group Ltd., with an outstanding claim of $183 million at August 20, 2003.The syndicate also includes Wachovia Bank, Credit Lyonnais (New York), Dresdner Bank (New York and Grand Cayman), Fleet National Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, ING Bank (London), Citibank, The Bank of Nova Scotia, State Street Bank and Trust Company, and Mizuho Corporate Bank.

    Insider Talking: August 31, 2003

    Fund manager Brian Paul Kuhn pleads guilty at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands to several counts of theft of client funds; Switzerland investigates theft of financial data by computer hackers; HedgeWorld Limited closes Bermuda office and relocates its staff to New York; "Marc Harris stole your funds", investment fraudster tells clients; Bermuda-based Bank of Butterfield and Bank of Bermuda expand overseas; and career conman David Tedder is sentenced to five years in prison, fined $1.06 million and ordered to forfeit $2.7 million at federal court in the USA.

    Fugitive offshore banker files criminal charges

    A French magistrate has ordered a criminal investigation into several people accused of offenses against fugitive offshore banker Thierry Nano.Among those named in the complaint are two U. S. FBI Agents, an alleged FBI informant, the Prime Minister and chief offshore regulator of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent & The Grenadines, and a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

    Protect Kids From Online Porn, Inc. et al v. Donville Inniss et al: First Amended Complaint

    First Amended Complaint in Protect Kids From Online Porn, Inc., of California, and One World Media LLC, of New Mexico v. Peter Zicherman, of Obtario, Canada; Fernando Pereira, of Barbados; Donville Inniss, of Barbados; Wired Solutions Inc., of Canada; Networks International Inc., of Canada; Rosedale Publishing Ltd., of Canada; Stormbreak Limited, of the Marshall Islands; Starruby Group Inc., of Canada; Giant Sun Group Inc., of Canada; Bizmedia Inc., of Barbados; Tempest Interactive Corp., of Barbados; Virtual Service Inc., of Canada; Internet Billing Company Ltd., of Florida; Internet Billing Company LLC, f.k.a. iBill Ltd., of Georgia; InterCept Inc., of Georgia; PSW Inc., of Rhode Islands, and Web Transaction Services Inc., of Texas, at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

    Insider Talking: February 28, 2003

    Christopher Stone, ex-Managing Director of now-defunct, Dominica-based Investors Bank and Trust Ltd. was released from custody in Belgium in February on bail of 125,000 Euros, said a source; A default judgment for $130 million was entered against Bahamas-registered Vavasseur Corp. at the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia on February 21, 2003 for its part in an international Ponzi scheme; Grenada Supreme Court issued a $125 million judgment against Van Arthur Brink, a.k.a. Gilbert Allen Ziegler, former head of the First International Bank of Grenada; Allen Wheatley, former Financial Secretary of the British Virgin Islands, was sentenced to serve five months in prison on February 17 after being found guilty of corruption charges; Cayman Islands-based businessman Kenneth Dart has acquired a 5.7 per cent stake in financially crippled, Bermuda-based insurance firm Mutual Risk Management; British trader Sean Alexander Quinn, 36, was released from prison in Barbados on December 5, 2002 after pleading guilty to an amended charge of money laundering; Receivers for the fraudulently-operated asset planning group Merrill Scott & Associates have found $1.03 million of assets in the Cayman Islands; The Bahamas Ministry of Finance expects to receive a report on the status of the financially-troubled Bahamas International Securities Exchange in the first week of March, 2003; The number of companies incorporating in the Cayman Islands has steadily decreased over the last three years, according to a report by Cayman Net News based on information provided by the Registry General; Florida-based Briton Edward Myles Chism Jr., 63, was taken into custody in Florida on February 7, 2003 - one day after being criminally indicted on three counts of tax evasion at federal court in Miami; Bermuda may be about to lose its grip at the top of the offshore world; and The Irish Minister for Justice has applied to Ireland's High Court for an order directing the Cayman Islands branch of Ansbacher International to pay US$3.1 million to cover the costs of a long-running inquiry into corruption and tax evasion.

    Sham business that plagiarized Bayshore Bank web-site goes off-line after OffshoreAlert inquiry

    The web-site of a sham bank purporting to be based in the Cayman Islands was taken down in December within 24 hours of OffshoreAlert emailing questions to the operators asking about their business.Citi Finance Corporation had set up a web-site at www.citifinancecorp.com whose design and content had clearly been plagiarized from an unrelated, bona fide bank, Bayshore Bank & Trust, of Barbados.

    Insider Talking: September 30, 2002

    The Imperial Consolidated fraud has taken a further turn for the bizarre with the distribution in September of several press releases, masquerading as news stories, by a newly incorporated British company called Matrix International (Management) Ltd., whose commercial address is

    Insider Talking: August 31, 2002

    European Federal Union Bank Ltd. falsely claims to be based in Antigua; Barbados Central Bank revokes license of Keywest Swiss Investment Bank Inc.; DIAK Bank's Clifford Pitt fails in an attempt to quash a subpoena duces tecum; John Wayne Zidar is gound guilty of fraud and money laundering; US federal court approves IRS motion to serve John Doe summons on MasterCard International for investigation into tax evasion using offshore credit cards; Offshore bankers Julien Giraud and Brian Boeger have each been sentenced to 37 months in prison in the United States; and an auction of property belonging to Imperial Consolidated is due to take place in England.

    USA v. Alvin Irwin Moss et al: Criminal Indictment

    Indictment filed by USA against Alvin Irwin Moss, Frederick John Collier, Avraham Zohar, a.k.a. Avy Zohar; Richard Titterington, Geoffrey L. Feldman, Sherrie-Lee Doreen Cave, Peter James O'Sullivan, Rosalind Rose, Wayne Budd, Thomas Montgomery Bayer, Robert Murray Bohn, Stacy Layne Beavers, Beverly Ann Moss, Jeffery Allen Moss, Larry Charles Moss, Michael Joseph Harkin and Michael Elliot Cole at the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

    Client claims that Keywest Swiss Investment Bank will not redeem funds

    OffshoreAlert has received a complaint that a client of Barbados-based Keywest Swiss Investment Bank is unable to redeem approximately $200,000 placed with the bank.Keywest Swiss Investment Bank Inc. was licensed in Barbados on January 25, 1995 under the Offshore Banking Act, according to the Central Bank of Barbados.The Central Bank stated that KSIB's directors of record are Garet O. Finlayson, Barbara Y. Hepburn,  Harold R. Longley, Robert L Morris and Cecil A. B. Smith.

    Insider Talking: April 30, 2002

    Business associated with Imperial Consolidated founders Lincoln Fraser and Jared Brook applies for permission to use a property on an old Royal Air Force base in England to store and test military equipment, Offshore Finance Authority of St. Vincent & the Grenadines revokes licenses of nine offshore banks, BVI Financial Secretary L. Allen Wheatley suspended from his duties after being arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud, Bahamas International Securities Exchange reports net loss of $2.24 million for the 11 monthsended June 30, 2001, criminal action against Yank Barry drags on in Texas, British businessman Sean Quinn charged with US$3 million fraud in Barbados, former FIBG principals fail to comply with subpoeans, and the ego of Marc Harris apparently knows no bounds.

    Caribbean Media Corp. sued over ‘unpaid’ bills for West Indies cricket coverage

    Barbados-based Caribbean Media Corporation, which collapsed in January, is being sued for US$144,500 for allegedly defaulting on payments for the rights to distribute coverage of West Indies cricket matches. The action was filed by EchoStar Satellite Corporation, of Colorado, at the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on March 5, 2002.

    Insider Talking: January 31, 2002

    Less than a month after they were taken down as a result of an OffshoreAlert investigation, references to Grenada-registered Euro Caribbean Bank have been reinstated on the web-site of the 'Stock Exchange' of the sham country known as the Dominion of Melchizedek; Caribbean Media Corporation, which operated the Caribbean News Agency, popularly known as CANA, has suspended operations; Another web-site that has shut down, albeit for different reasons, is that of Prosperitas Internationale Credit Union at www.prosperitasinternationale.com; Vanuatu-domiciled International Seminars Ltd., which organizes offshore seminars at which get-rich-quick schemes are promoted, is operating under a new name - Global Wealth Education Ltd.; John Bourbon resigned as Managing Director of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, effective January 16, 2002 - 18 months after taking up the position, citing "personal reasons"; An ex-SEC officer is critical of his former employer in a book he has written about how the stock markets and the Internet are used to commit fraud against the unsuspecting public; Clyde Hood, the 67-year-old retired electrician from Mattoon, Illinois who persuaded thousands of people from all around the world to collectively send him more than $12 million by offering a return of 5,000 per cent in 275 days, has been sentenced to serve 14 years in prison; A web-site has been set up to raise funds to defend Kenneth R. Weare, of Belize-based J&K Global Marketing, against an SEC lawsuit filed on April 10, 2001, even though the case has ended without the defendants or their legal representatives ever putting in an appearance; The Isle of Man government has granted an online gaming license to Action Online Entertainment (IOM) Limited, which is the fifth firm to receive such a license; Imperial Consolidated is blaming its lawyers for its loss of a libel lawsuit in New Zealand, in which the judge determined they had fabricated documents submitted as evidence and questioned the legitimacy of their investment products; and Justice Hugh Small, sitting at the Bahamas Supreme Court, issued an order on December 20, 2001 that the voluntary liquidation of Americas International Bank Corporation Ltd. be continued but under the supervision of the court.

    Everest Re seeks to have arbitration ruling overturned

    Everest Reinsurance Company, whose parent company is domiciled in Bermuda, is being sued in Texas by an insurer seeking to enforce an arbitration award.American National Insurance Company filed the lawsuit at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas on December 7, 2001.

    Four offshore bankers arrested, two more on the run

    Four offshore bankers were arrested by United States law enforcement agencies in November and charged with money laundering.Two more have also been charged with money laundering but are still at large after warrants were issued but not executed.Those arrested were

    Insider Talking: August 31, 2001

    Rampart Securities, a Canadian stock brokerage which is said to be owed at least US$2 million by Atlas Securities of the Turks & Caicos Islands, has had its "membership rights and privileges" suspended by the Investment Dealers Association of Canada; Regulators in St. Vincent have revoked the Class I international banking license of Maxi Bank Inc.; A Canadian crook who goes by the name of 'Sir Daniel Kingsley Lear' has been involved in a bizarre tax fraud trial in Manitoba, Canada; Four more people have been sentenced for their involvement in a $64 million fraud carried out in the names of Hammersmith Trust, Microfund and Luxor Capital Markets; Bahamas-based Oceanic Bank and Trust Limited has opened a marketing office in London, England; and La Comisión Nacional de Valores in Panama has launched investigations into the activities of Morrison Cross Financial Investment Ltd. and Britex International Ltd.

    Insider Talking: June 30, 2001

    The First International Bank of Grenada loaned $30,000 to the wife of Grenada's then chief regulator, Michael Creft, so that she could buy a car and another $50,000 to the then President of the Grenada Bar Association, Reynold Benjamin, according to a document sent to OffshoreAlert; Dean Cantrell and Marcel Deinnet snap up domains in names of countries in the Bermuda-Caribbean region, fraud complaint filed against 'offshore banker' Douglas Castle, 72-year-old convicted fraudster is back in business, SEC continues trend of failing to menaingfully punish accused fraudsters, First Ecom.com Inc. acquires half of First Ecommerce Data Services Ltd. that it did not already own, Antigua gaming outfit World Sports Exchange Ltd. sues County Savings Association over three checks that allegedly bounced, First American International Bank becomes latest offshore bank to be operated in Nevis without a license by Global Dominion Financial Services, and Latvia-based Paritate Bank appears to be in financial trouble.

    Grenada bank with dignitaries as directors implicated in fraud

    A bank whose directors include an ex-Prime Minister, a former Governor-General and two Justices of the Peace has become Grenada's latest offshore financial institution to be implicated in fraud. A promoter and 'Honorary Director' of Windsor International Bank & Trust, Douglas E. Castle, is being sued in the United States for allegedly defrauding a client of $244,636.

    Martin Hoffman Interview: Part Three

    InsideBermuda continues this month with the third installment of our in-depth interview with New York-based businessman Martin Hoffman, who has attracted his fair share of publicity since he entered the insurance industry in the 1960s and has been an active participant in the Bermuda market.

    Barbados and Anguilla firms and Barbados attorney defendants in $323 m fraud lawsuit

    Companies based in Barbados and Anguilla and a Barbados attorney are at the center of an investigation in the U.S. into an alleged $323 million insurance fraud. The investigation was launched after the liquidation on January 21, 1998 of Pennsylvania-based medical malpractice insurer PIC Insurance Group Inc., formerly known as Physicians Insurance Group.

    Major countries strike hard against offshore centers

    The high stakes poker game between onshore and offshore governments lost six players recently but another 35 have 12 months to decide whether the OECD is bluffing with the threat of sanctions.Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Malta, Mauritius and San Marino have all signed an 'Advanced Letter of Commitment' agreeing to co-operate with international tax investigations.