Switzerland

Equitable Settlement AG - Prospectus - March 31, 2009

A Bermuda domiciled protection and indemnity club has taken steps to garnish the US assets of a ship owner and ship manager pending the completion of arbitration in London. Details are contained in a civil complaint that was filed at

Indictment of Philip Baker for alleged investment fraud involving the Lake Shore Group of Companies.

Criminal Information filed by the USA against UBS AG at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Deferred Prosecution Agreement in a criminal action brought by the USA against UBS AG at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

A class action complaint has been brought in New York against the Bermuda based Argus insurance group on behalf of holders of offshore life insurance policies whose premiums were invested with alleged fraudster Bernard Madoff and may now be lost.Details

SEC's Ex Parte Motion for Temporary Restraining Order in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Stefan H. Benger, SHB Capital, Inc., Jason B. Meyers, International Capital Financial Resources, LLC, Philip T. Powers, Handler, Thayer & Duggan, LLC, Frank I. Reinschreiber, and Global Financial Management, LLC, as defendants, and CTA Worldwide Services, SA, and Stephan Gottfried Von Hase, as relief defendants, at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Complaint in SEC v. Stefan H. Benger, SHB Capital, Inc., Jason B. Meyers, International Capital Financial Resources, LLC, Philip T. Powers, Handler, Thayer & Duggan, LLC, Frank I. Reinschreiber, Global Financial Management, LLC, CTA Worldwide Services, SA, and Stephan Von Hase at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Two US based insurers have filed a petition to confirm an arbitration award against reinsurers domiciled or based in Bermuda, France, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the USA.The petition was filed by Clearwater Insurance Company, formerly known as Skandia

A hedge fund group that has long been on OffshoreAlert's watch list amended its registration of securities totaling $459 million with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on January 8, 2009 to include updated performance and other financial information. For

Zurich Financial Services, of Switzerland, has agreed to pay a $25 million penalty, plus $1 million in disgorgement, for participating in an allegedly fraudulent finite risk arrangement involving its Bermuda officer and two Bermuda reinsurers, Inter Ocean Reinsurance Company Ltd.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in Iceland by Olafur Gardarsson, as the Foreign Representative of Kaupthing Bank hf., at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud, theft and money laundering involving Roger Bryer, Yulia Bryer, Herbert Austin, Susan Austin and others.

Criminal Indictment in USA v. Raoul Weil at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Jersey in the Channel Islands into Ian Michael Christmas, John Lewis, Eric Sydney Evans, James Cameron, Russell Foot, De Lec Limited, Sunstone Holdings Limited and Goldridge Stone Ltd. for suspected investment fraud.

A billionaire real estate developer who pleaded guilty last year to willfully filing a false tax return in the United States has filed a civil complaint against his offshore bankers and tax planners in which he claims he was unknowingly drawn into illegal activity.Igor Olenicoff's attorney, William J. King, of Horizon Law Group LLP, in California, told OffshoreAlert that the civil action against UBS AG, Neue Bank, and others in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Denmark, Florida and Texas involved much more than the limited criminal activity that his client previously admitted and said the allegations contained in the civil complaint were "not inconsistent" with his plea agreement in the criminal case, which required Olenicoff to accept full responsibility for his actions.

ACE Ltd. is being sued for US$133 million at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands by the Receiver of the Liberian operations of CIGNA Worldwide Insurance Company.The action was brought on July 9, 2008 - one day before ACE's shareholders approved - at the company's AGM in Bermuda - a proposal to move ACE's domicile from the Cayman Islands to Switzerland. Two days prior to the completion of its re-domestication being announced on July 18, ACE gave a written undertaking to the Cayman court that its Swiss successor would submit to the jurisdiction following the transfer and pay any sum that the court might order in the case. Without such an undertaking, it is questionable whether ACE would have been allowed to move to Switzerland.

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.

Florida-based tax attorney Denis Kleinfeld has dropped a civil complaint against the unknown operators of the whistle-blower's web-site Wikileaks in which he alleged he was the victim of an extortion attempt.Kleinfeld's action against the "true owner and operator" of www.wikileaks.org and the similarly anonymous owners of two email addresses, Julius.baer99@yahoo.com and raymondbaer@yahoo.com, was dismissed without prejudice at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on June 24, 2008 for failure to serve the defendants.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Bulgaria into Mario Alexiev Nikolov, Mariana Stefanova Nikolova, Petia Borissova Hadjiivanova, Anna Yurieva Sharkova, Radmil Ventsislavov Petrov, Ivan Hristov Ivanov and Liudmil Danailov Stoykov for suspected fraud and money laundering.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud, forgery and money laundering - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Switzerland - that was filed at federal court in the USA on July 17, 2008. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Kee Sien Lee, Swisscash, Swiss Mutual Fund (1948) SA, Prolexit Technologies, Inc., and Co-Location.com Inc.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Switzerland into Kee Sien Lee for alleged investment fraud.

Staff Report by the U. S. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations entitled 'Tax Haven Banks and U. S. Tax Compliance'.

The United States Government has applied to a federal court in Miami for permission to serve an Internal Revenue Service "John Doe" summons on two local offices of Swiss private bank UBS AG as part of a criminal investigation into U. S. taxpayers for tax evasion using offshore structures.The U. S. filed an ex parte petition at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on June 30, 2008 for leave to serve the summons on UBS AG at 701 Brickell Avenue, Miami, Florida and at 100 SE 2nd Street, Miami, Florida.

Former UBS private banker Bradley Birkenfeld is due to be sentenced on August 13, 2008 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on June 19.

Petition by the USA to serve John Doe Summons on UBS AG, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Decision Notice by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority cancelling the mutual fund registrations of Veco Capital Growth Fund, Ltd. and Veco High Yield Fund Ltd.

Motion for Modification of Court Order and to Supplement Commissioner Appointment regarding a request from Antigua & Barbuda for judicial assistance for a criminal investigation into Lester Bird, Asot Michael, Josette Michael, Bruce Rappaport, Sir Ronald Sanders and others for suspected involvement in fraud, corruption, and money laundering.

A California-based fund that invests in real estate is suing three hedge funds domiciled in the Cayman Islands and one in the British Virgin Islands to prevent them from foreclosing on loans with an outstanding balance of $60 million, MKA Real Estate Opportunity Fund I, LLC, a California Limited Liability Company based in Newport Beach, California, filed a complaint at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California on April 10, 2008.

A former UBS private banker is set to admit his involvement in helping a billionaire United States real estate developer evade taxes on income earned on approximately $200 million of assets allegedly concealed in bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein using shell companies in the British Virgin Islands, Denmark, Gibraltar, Panama, and the United Kingdom.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Guatemala into Alfonso Antonio Portillo Cabrera, a former President of Guatemala; Eduardo Arevalo Lacs, a former Minister of National Defense; Enrique Rios Sosa and Sergio Hugo Cardenas Sagastume, former members ofthe Department of Finances of the Guatemalan Army, and others for alleged corruption.

Criminal Indictment in USA v. Bradley Birkenfeld and Mario Staggl at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Two Bermuda residents have been accused of breach of fiduciary duty in a civil complaint filed by American International Group Inc. at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, on March 26, 2008 Ernest E. Stempel and L. Michael Murphy are defendants alongside Maurice R. Greenberg, a resident of New York; Howard I. Smith, a resident of New York; Edward E. Matthews, a resident of New Jersey; John J. Roberts, a resident of Maryland; and Houghton Freeman, a resident of Hawaii. The causes of action are breach of fiduciary duty as AIG directors against Greenberg and Smith and, against all defendants, breach of fiduciary duty as fiduciaries of AIG, and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty.

Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud and forgery - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Switzerland - that was filed at federal court in the USA on April 7, 2008. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Edgar Winfried Ernst Beck, Dahll Scott Corporation, Don Rakestraw, and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged theft, false accounting and money laundering - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from the UK - that was filed at federal court in the USA on May 1, 2008. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Douglas Arthur Brown, Joan Brown, International Bank of Miami, Palmer (UK) Ltd., and Palmer International Inc.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Switzerland into Edgar Beck for suspected fraud and forgery.

A promoter with a long history of involvement in dubious investment schemes, which often involve offshore entities, has been accused of fraud by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Gary Lynn McDuff helped perpetrate a scam in which over $11 million was raised from approximately 105 investors, according to a complaint that was filed by the SEC at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on March 26, 2008.

The board of directors of one of the offshore world's biggest reinsurers, ACE Limited, has decided to move its domicile from the Cayman Islands to Zurich, Switzerland; Offshore promoter David Rose indicted for the second time in six weeks in Kentucky; Anguilla limited partnership is relief defendant in SEC fraud complaint; and residents of the Bahamas "don't like credit cards", according to accused cash smuggler Edward Okun.

An offshore bank is seeking to close down a web-site for whistleblowers that is currently displaying account records that were allegedly leaked by the financial institution's former Chief Operating Officer. Cayman Islands-licensed Julius Baer Bank and Trust Co. Ltd. and its Swiss parent, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd., filed a complaint against the anonymous operators of wikileaks.org and the California company that hosts its web-site, Dynadot LLC, at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California on February 6, 2008.

Article based on application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation involving Jean-Jacques Davrainville - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Switzerland - that was filed under seal at federal court in the USA on February 14, 2008.

After a roller-coaster 28-day ride of litigation and negative publicity, the Julius Baer private banking group has dropped its injunction application and claim for damages against an anonymously-operated web-site for whistleblowers. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd., incorporated in Switzerland, and a Cayman Islands subsidiary, Julius Baer Bank and Trust Co. Ltd., filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice of its complaint against Wikileaks and wikileaks.org at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California on March 5, 2008. In doing so, the plaintiffs stated that they "may, at their option, later pursue their claims, including in an alternate court, jurisdiction or venue".

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Ukraine into Nataliya Ivanivna Petrushova for alleged tax fraud and money laundering.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the Slovak Republic into Pavol Fabik, Jan Kimek, Jozef Jakubik and Karol Fako for alleged tax evasion.

A management agreement between a Bermuda corporate services provider and a hedge fund group accused of committing a $100 million-plus fraud against investors was back-dated by two weeks in an attempt to circumvent a restraining order issued by a U. S. federal court, a regulator has claimed. The contract pursuant to which Bermuda-based Mercury Group Limited agreed to provide "office and related facilities and services" to the Lake Shore group was, in reality, entered into on June 29, 2007 - the same day that 38 boxes of Lake Shore records were transferred from Roth Mosey & Partners LP accounting and consulting firm in Canada to MGL in Bermuda, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a filing on January 9, 2008 at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where it is suing Lake Shore and its principal, Philip Baker, for fraud.

Plaintiff's Opposition to Defendant Lake Shore Asset Management Ltd.'s response to court order of January 4th, 2008 in U. S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Lake Shore Asset Management Limited, Lake Shore Group of Companies Inc. Ltd., and Philip J. Baker at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The Lake Shore group of offshore investment funds appears to be insolvent by more than $100 million, according to its Receiver, Robb Evans & Associates LLC.In its first Receiver's report that was filed at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on December 5, 2007, Robb Evans painted a gloomy picture for investors and creditors of the group, whose funds were domiciled in the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands and managed by a Bermuda company.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Colombia into Pedro Pablo Martinez Serrano for suspected embezzlement while serving as Financial Director of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in Switzerland by Peter Lutz and Romeo Da Rugna, as the Foreign Representatives of Tradex Swiss AG, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom into an alleged investment fraud against former Manchester United Football Club chairman Martin Edwards.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the British Virgin Islands into IPOC International Growth Fund Ltd., Jeffrey Galmond, Michael Ludwig Rudolf North, Lapal Limited, Albany Invest Limited and Mercury Import Limited for allegedly laundering the proceeds of corruption by Russia's Minister of Telecommunications, Leonid Reiman.