Channel Islands

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged investment fraud and money laundering by Shinder Gangar and others.

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

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.

The Receiver of the Lancer Offshore group has filed a lawsuit against 26 financial institutions and other firms in an attempt to recover more than $17 million of allegedly fraudulent transfers.Defendants include companies from Bahrain, Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

A $6.4 million default judgment in the United States against offshore investment firm Lines Overseas Management Ltd. and an offshore brokerage arm of the Royal Bank of Canada appears to be legally defective.Research by OffshoreAlert indicates that the summonses against LOM and RBC Dominion Securities were served improperly in December, 2001, meaning that the judgment, that was entered on July 1, 2004, should be dismissed if challenged.

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.

A United States court has issued an order freezing offshore bank accounts associated with former Ukraine Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko which are believed to contain approximately $273 million. A restraining order was granted by the U. S. District Court for

Complaint in USA v. All Funds on Deposit at Bank Julius Baer & Company, Ltd., Credit Suisse (Guernsey) Limited, and Eurofed Bank Limited in the names of Pavlo Lazarenko, Pavel Lazarenko, Samante Limited, and Alexander Milchenko at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Eighty-six investors from 19 countries who claim to have invested more than $570 million in the Lancer Offshore Group have filed a lawsuit against its directors, administrator, auditor and prime broker. The three biggest claimants are all based in Montreal, Canada: Fondation Lucie et Andre Chagnon, a charity with a claim for $100 million; Bombardier Inc., the world's biggest train maker and third largest civil aircraft manufacturer whose pension fund has a claim for $68 million; and the University of Montreal's pension fund, with a claim for $67 million.

An offshore fund administrator has been accused of "impeding" the investigation in the United States into the $600 million collapse of the Lancer group of hedge funds. Citco Fund Services (U.S.A.) Inc. has refused to turn over records concerning BVI-registered Lancer Offshore Inc. and The OmniFund Ltd., which its Netherlands Antilles affiliate administered.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence from Fiserv Correspondent Services Inc. - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from the United Kingdom - for a criminal investigation into "an alleged fraud scheme executed by a British solicitor, Kevin Dooley, and his firm".

The United Kingdom has requested evidence from banks in the United States as part of a criminal investigation into the collapse of Versailles Group PLC. Details are contained in an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence

A New York-based investment banker who once hired celebrity attorney Robert Shapiro to sue Bermuda-based investment firm Lines Overseas Management was arrested on October 2, 2003 after being criminally indicted for alleged securities fraud; British Virgin Islands-registered Kesman Overseas has been named as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in the United States; A recent report entitled 'Global Economic Crime Survey 2003' by PricewaterhouseCoopers, in association with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, of New York, contains some interesting statistics; Banks in the Channel Islands have reported renewed efforts by fraudsters attempting to deceive customers into unnecessarily providing important personal banking information, according to the Commercial Crime Services division of the International Chamber of Commerce; Bermuda's local business industry was coming to grips this month with an announcement that the Bank of Bermuda - a 114-year-old national institution and the world's largest offshore-based bank - is to be bought by HSBC Holdings PLC for US$1.3 billion.

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

A former attorney with UK solicitors Radcliffes Le Brasseur is still awaiting sentencing in the United States six months after admitting his part in a scheme to defraud the IRS using offshore structures. Jeremy A. Franks pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on September 27, 2002 and was released on bail of $100,000.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence from Asia, Europe and Americas Bank - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from the United Kingdom - for a criminal investigation into "a high Yield investment scheme in which 8 investors made investments after having been promised up to 1200% return on their 9 funds, only to see the funds disappear without any return".

UK-based Capital City Finance Limited, which was formed on August 20, 2001 as a spin-off from the Imperial Consolidated Group, is three and a half months overdue with the filing of its annual return with Companies House for England and Wales; If clients of St. Vincent-licensed Omnicorp Bank needed further evidence that they are being taken to the cleaners by the bank's management, there has been plenty of it recently; Investment fraudster Tracy Calvin Dunlap, Jr. was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison on December 19, 2002 at the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.; Steve Saemmler Klein, who operates a dubious Belize-based offshore group known as Grupo CAT, has apparently gone missing; and Alyn Richard Waage, 56, of Canada, and James Michael Webb, 40, of California, were extradited on December 19, 2002 from Costa Rica to Sacramento, California to face numerous federal charges relating to the Tri-West Investment Club, an Internet-based investment fraud scheme that allegedly netted more that $60 million.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom into Neil Edward Walker, James George Thomas Brooman, Ian David Cale, Irnraan Abid Karim, Barrie John Connor, Timothy Theobald, David Hodgson, Simon Morley, Craig Mark Ireland and Iftekhar Ahmed for alleged tax fraud.

New evidence obtained by OffshoreAlert shows that THREE convicted drug dealers are beneficial owners of the British Virgin Islands-registered parent of The Harris Organization financial services group. The traffickers all own preferred shares, which purport to pay annual interest of 10% in the case of Wallace Stull and James Somerville, and 7% for Lawrence Boulanger.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence from Pinebank - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from the United Kingdom - for a criminal investigation into "Kevin Dooley, John Silver and others for theft and conspiracy to defraud".

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.

Information Memorandum for LOM (Holdings) Limited, filed with the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

An offshore mutual fund that has collapsed amid debts of $200 million and allegations of massive fraud had close links with Bahamas-based Surety Bank & Trust, OffshoreAlert can reveal. SBT's relationship with British Virgin Islands-registered Evergreen Security Ltd. appears to be the reason why the bank chose voluntary liquidation late last year over being sold as a going concern.

Indictment in USA v. Daniel Leveto and Donald Turner, a.k.a. Don Wood, at the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

A Vancouver-based businessman who used a Jersey-registered trust and a BVI-registered IBC to conduct illegal insider trades in firms he managed has been fined $50,000 by Canadian securities regulators. David Michael Patterson admitted that he did not file insider-trading reports for trades he made through a British Virgin Islands firm in shares of four companies where he was an officer or director.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom into Michael Stanley Buchanan and Stanley George Mole for suspected theft, forgery and conspiracy to steal.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Jersey, in the channel Islands, into suspected fraudulent offenses perpetrated on the Royal Bank of Canada (Jersey) Ltd. by persons unknown regarding the account of Edward John Erlendsen.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner for a criminal investigation in South Africa into Dr. Wouter Basson for alleged fraud, murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, possession of prohibited substances (Cocaine, Mandrax and Ecstasy) and "defeating the ends of Justice".

The much-vaunted publication of a tax haven 'hit list' by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has been put off for at least a year. The OECD had planned to name those territories deemed to engage in "harmful tax practices" in June of this year, after which the 29 OECD member countries would seek to punish those on the list by introducing "defensive measures".

Anyone who still has doubts that UK Overseas Territories such as the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the Turks & Caicos Islands will be forced to co-operate with foreign tax investigations should read a paper published by the UK Treasury in February. Titled 'Exchange of Information and the Draft Directive on Taxation of Savings', it makes it clear that UK Overseas Territories are being pressured not only to co-operate with requests for information on tax matters but to take the initiative and report suspicious tax-related transactions.

Philip Mark Croshaw - Disqualified Directors - Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom into Michael Joseph O'Brien and others for narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

If offshore practitioners in UK Overseas Territories are looking for an indication as to what they can expect in the forthcoming Government white paper on their review, they could do a lot worse than study the recently published report by

Bermuda-based property dealer Bryan Gudgeon flew to Jersey this month to give evidence in the trial of Robert Young, who is accused of making false, misleading or deceptive statements that helped him make $6 million while he was losing his clients more than $10 million in five years.Gudgeon was Young's largest single investor, putting $10 million into his foreign exchange schemes. He was one of the few investors to emerge with a profit.

The Mexican government has amended the country's tax laws to try to curb the massive outflow of capital being lost to the world's tax havens.

Information Memorandum for Aristocrat Endeavor Fund Ltd.