Dominica

Plea Agreement in USA v. Richard F. Downes.

Two offshore bankers have been given lengthy prison sentences in the United States for money laundering. The stiffest sentence was given to William J. Abraczinskas, who was sentenced on May 20 to 121 months in prison, three years of supervised release

Dominica-based offshore bankers Julien Giraud, Brian Boeger and Rodolfo Requena have all pleaded guilty to money laundering offenses at Federal Court in Miami, Florida.Giraud and Boeger were both involved with Overseas Development Bank and Trust, while Requena is the former CEO of British Trade and Commerce Bank (in Receivership).

Judgment in a Criminal Case in USA v. Leo Malcolm West at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Defendant's Sentencing Memorandum in USA v. Leo Malcolm West at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

A change of plea hearing has been set for May 9 for Rodolfo A. Requena, the former Chairman and President of Dominica-based British Trade and Commerce Bank who is charged with money laundering.Requena, 51, previously pleaded not guilty to one count of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Recently-filed warnings from securities regulators around the world.

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.

A Venezuelan businessman who was CEO of Dominica-based British Trade and Commerce Bank before it was forced into Receivership has been charged with money laundering in the United States. Rodolfo A. Requena, 51, was arrested on November 13, 2001 after a sealed complaint was filed against him eight days earlier at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, in Miami.

The scam committed by Morrison Cross Financial Investments, which fleeced investors while operating as a stock broker in Panama without a license, has entered a new phase; Justice Ephraim Georges, sitting in the Antigua High Court, has apparently recused himself from legal hearings relating to the liquidation of Eurofed Bank after an objection by attorneys acting for former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who considered that the judge's partiality was compromised by his son being employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which is liquidating the bank; On February 12, 2002, a Dallas County Grand Jury in Texas returned 24 indictments against Cameron O. Bailey relating to the sale of unregistered securities, namely Certificates of Deposit issued by Cambridge International Bank & Trust, of Grenada, and promissory notes issued by Omne Srl; As Julien Giraud waits in custody in Florida for the start of his trial on money laundering charges, his wife Lyn has been writing letters of outrage to the local press in their native Dominica, protesting at the arrest of her husband in Puerto Rico last November while he was traveling with Dominica's Finance Minister, Ambrose George; OffshoreAlert has previously reported on stock scams and other frauds perpetrated by firms linked with Bermuda Stock Exchange-listed Mezzanine Capital; and Complaints are starting to be made publicly by people who have either bought shares from, or have been approached about buying shares by, Goodman Hart Associates, Morgan Paris & Company and/or St. James & Company, who have been promoting two stocks particularly heavily: AdRentaCar Inc. and Spantel Communications Inc.

Following the convictions of William Abraczinskas and Malcolm West for money laundering only three months after their arrest, five more offshore bankers who were indicted in the same month must wait to see how the cases against them develop. Julien Giraud, of Dominica; Brian Boeger, of the United States; Richard F. Downes and Pamela Butson, who live in Spain; and Thierry Nano, formerly of St. Vincent & The Grenadines, all still have cases pending.

Plea Agreement in USA v. Leo Malcolm West at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

A United States court has appointed a receiver for and frozen the assets of an offshore investment group that has been accused by the SEC of operating a Ponzi scheme that took in at least $25 million. David K. Broadbent was appointed receiver on January 23, 2002 for the defendants in a civil lawsuit that had been filed eight days earlier by the SEC at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah.

A threatened winding-up application against Overseas Development Bank & Trust, of Dominica, had still not been filed by December 31, 2001.

An application may be made to wind up Dominica based Overseas Development Bank & Trust in the first week of December if it does not honor a demand for payment from a creditor, we have been told.Attorney Michael Bruney told

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

Indictment in USA v. Julien Giraud and Brian Boeger at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Indictment in USA v. William Abraczinskas and Leo Malcolm West at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Criminal Complaint in USA v. William Abraczinskas at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

A new LLC in Dominica The financial denizens of Dominica have proposed a new LLC act that certainly looks like it will attract some attention. If what this author sees in the preliminary information is true it will compete effectively

An appeals court ruling in the United States has allowed the SEC to proceed with a civil fraud action against the owners of a Dominica-based virtual stock market 'game' known as Stock Generation. On September 13, 2001, the United States Court of Appeal for the First Circuit overturned a lower court's decision to throw out the SEC's action against SG Ltd.

Dominica-based British Trade and Commerce Ltd., which went into receivership earlier this year, has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed in the United States.The lawsuit was filed by Global 3000 LLP, a Delaware Limited Partnership, and Herbert Beck at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee on June 14, 2001.

Regulators have applied to the High Court of Antigua to remove Edward St. Clair Smith as Receiver of American International Bank and change the bank's status from receivership to liquidation. St. Clair-Smith is opposing the action on the grounds that the bank can still be sold as a going concern and that there is a reputable Caribbean company interested in buying it, said a source.

China I have business associates who travel regularly to China. I also work with Chinese businessmen who conduct a lot of business in the US. From both perspectives, the recent air crash incident involving the United States was most cumbersome,

Attorney David Hampton Tedder, 54, who has spent much of his career involved in offshore finance, including several dubious ventures, is no longer licensed to practice law in the United States. Records kept by the State Bar of California, where

Former Bermuda insurance boss John McGarrity resurfaces in the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos Islands regulators issue warning about Petro Funds, Bahamas resident Yank Barry goes on trial in Texas, default judgment entered in U. S. against American International Bank (in receivership), Bahamas union boss negotiates for employees of Suisse Security Bank & Trust, a private letter from FIBG principal Van Brink hints at corrupt payments to influential individuals in Grenada.

The High Court in Dominica has ordered that the island's regulator reinstate the banking license of British Trade & Commerce Bank, according to a report by the Caribbean News Agency (www.cananews.com/news.html).

British Trade & Commerce Bank and Suisse Security Bank & Trust are both due to go to court tomorrow in Dominica and the Bahamas, respectively, in an attempt to win back their banking licenses. BTCB will be seeking to overturn the revocation of its license last month, while SSBT will be seeking to overturn the suspension of its license on Monday, March 5, 2001.

An appeals court has overturned a US District Court judge's decision to unfreeze millions of dollars of frozen assets of a Dominica-based Internet gaming firm known as Stock Generation.In a decision on February 5, 2001, the Court of Appeals ordered that a preliminary injunction and asset freeze against the Stock Generation group will remain in effect until further order.

Offshore regulators act against banks named in U. S. Senate's 'Correspondent Banking: A Gateway to Money Laundering' report, Marc Harris denounces attempt to strip him of Panamanian citizenship, David Voth comes up with a novel excuse as to why he can't make investment pay-outs, complaints about Morrison Cross Financial Investments start coming in, details of relatively-recent lawsuits involving Jerome Schneider and/or related entities, U. S. court approves settlement plan between Heartland Financial Services and investors who received "false profits", Pittsburgh travel agent Roy Davis Jr. becomes latest victim of John Mathewson's co-operation with US authorities, sset freeze order issued against Midpoint Trading Corporation, Euro Bank Corp. 'Preliminary Inquiry' hearing starts in Cayman Islands.

Dominica, Costa Rica, St. Kitts, Isla Margarita, Belize, and Fulfillment Issues.

A claim by Dominica-based British Trade & Commerce Bank that its liquidity problem is substantially due to having its assets frozen by a Canadian court is in dispute. The Plaintiffs in the only known lawsuit against BTCB in Canada told Offshore Alert that no assets have been frozen as a result of the action, which contradicts BTCB's public stance.

Dominica-licensed British Trade & Commerce Bank appears to be on its last legs, if a recent letter to clients from the bank's President, Rodolfo Requena, is anything to go by. In the letter, Requena seems to be digging the bank into a deeper hole by offering rates of return of up to 50 per cent for clients who delay making withdrawals.

Grenada has finished a close second to the fake jurisdiction of Melchizedek in an Internet poll to determine the worst offshore jurisdiction. In answer to the question 'Which of these offshore centers would you least trust with your money?', Melchizedek came top with 30 per cent of votes cast, while Grenada followed with 21 per cent.

As 51-year-old British businessman Leslie Wingham scours the world for places to park millions of dollars allegedly defrauded from clients of Antigua-based Accord Insurance, it is worth taking a look at his none-too-pretty business record over the years; We can report further news on Dominica-based British Trade & Commerce Bank, which acknowledged in our July 31 edition that it was experiencing liquidity and other problems due to having some of its assets frozen in Canada and because of an alleged credit card fraud against the bank; American Eric Resteiner, who bought Viktor Kozeny's luxury home in Lyford Cay in the Bahamas not too long ago, has vacated the property after failing to meet mortgage payments and is believed to be now living in either Switzerland or Cairo, said a source; We recently received another fax from 'Anne Gregory' of The Finance Merchants Group, which purports to sell offshore bank charters from a base in the Bahamas; and We reported last month on how DIAK Bank was being operated without a license in St. Vincent by 'minister of religion' Clifford Pitt and was offering depositors annual interest rates of 25-35 per cent. We have since learned that these rates are peanuts compared with the returns of five per cent per month or 90 per cent annually being offered for five-year certificates of deposits by its sister company, DIAK Asset Management Company Ltd.

Dominica-registered Stock Generation, which was a Ponzi scheme dressed up as an Internet investment game, appears to be out of business.

The governments of offshore financial centers have moved with unprecedented haste in changing their regulatory and supervisory systems in order to be removed from international 'hit lists'.Rather than attempt to group together and negotiate with foreign agencies from a position of strength, many governments have capitulated to international pressure and rushed through emergency legislation.

British Trade and Commerce Bank's Chairman and President, Rodolfo Requena, responds to questions about the bank's financial state.

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.

The SEC has frozen the assets of Dominica-registered Stock Generation, which Offshore Alert exposed nine months ago as operating a Ponzi scheme masquerading as an Internet investment game.In doing so, the SEC has acknowledged the co-operation of the Economic Crime Division of the Central Criminal Police of Estonia, a country where Stock Generation maintained bank accounts.

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".

Telecommunications Review in Bermuda-Caribbean region: Bermuda continues to offer by far the cheapest overseas telecommunications rates compared with its rival offshore jurisdictions in the Caribbean, we can disclose. While rates have generally fallen in many islands since our last survey in April, 1997, the gap between Bermuda and the pack remains huge, largely due to the introduction of competition for international calls. 

The founding chairman of the First International Bank of Grenada has informed Grenada's chief offshore regulator, Michael Creft, that FIBG has made a net income of $60 billion in its first two years in business. The astonishing claim is made in a rambling, 26-page letter sent by Van A. Brink (a.k.a. Gilbert Allen Ziegler) to Creft on December 23, 1999 in an effort to assuage the regulator's concerns about the bank.

Questions and Answers with Rhonda Kelly, the Public Relations Manager for Cable & Wireless' regional headquarters in the Cayman Islands, about C&W's telecommunications service in the Bermuda-Caribbean region.

Letter to the Editor from Banc Caribe's Managing Director, David Pollock, falsely denying that Charles Richard Homa was a shareholder of Banc Caribe.

Grenada regulators have allowed the sham insurer known as IDIC to incorporate on the island after regulators in Nevis and Dominica closed down the company, we can disclose. IDIC was closed down by Nevis regulators on January 27, 1999 and, the following month, was shut down in Dominica, where it had moved.

Cayman Islands Immigration Board approves Ann Nealon's work permit for Walkers law firm by a vote of two to one; Banc Caribe potential target for Cash 4 Titles victims; Antigua assures USA that William Cooper will be extradited; Scott Oliver leaves Lines Overseas Management; and Hundreds of Caribbean immigrants living in the US and residents of Dominica lose $1.2 million in investment scam.

It appears that Dominica-registered Stock Generation, which operates a Ponzi scheme dressed up as an investment game that is played over the Internet, may be about to collapse. The company, whose dubious game was featured in the September edition of Offshore Alert, has, by its own admission, stopped paying out participants.

OffshoreAlert takes a comprehensive look at the Internet-gaming pheneomenon called Stock Generation, that is growing at a rapid pace even though it appears to be a Ponzi scheme.

Dominica-registered Overseas Development Bank & Trust has yet to satisfy three judgments totalling US$1.24 million that were entered against it in favor of creditors on January 29, 1999, sham New Utopia jurisdiction claims it is launching "the New Utopia Investment Fund of the Cayman Islands", Ralph Sherman's involvement in the First International Bank of Grenada, comparisons between Van Brink's First International Bank of Grenada and Michael Randy's Canadian Trade Bank, alleged investment fraudster Brent Wagman surfaces in Panama, '60 Minutes' television show goes soft on Alexandre Konanykhine.