USA

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Russia into alleged fraud by Oleg Vitalievich Lototsky and Marat Vladislavovich Chekanov.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Spain into Manuel Vales Cacheiro, Mark Vales and David Vales for the allegedly fraudulent sale of property.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Latvia into OU Vabiro for alleged smuggling and tax fraud regarding items ordered from New York Motorcycle Ltd.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Belgium into Charles Van Renynghe de Voxvrie for alleged fraud, forgery and money laundering.

A Bermuda-based mutual insurer is being sued for damages of $121,680 in the United States regarding an accident on the Mississippi River. The United Kingdom Mutual Steamship Assurance Association (Bermuda) Ltd. is a defendant in a complaint that was filed at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on January 2, 2007 by Florida Marine Transporters, Inc., TUG Cynthia Inc., and FMT Industries LLC. Other defendants are M/V Ernst Oldendorff, Stafford Shipping Corp., and Egon Oldendorff OHG.

Bermuda-based property catastrophe reinsurer RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has agreed to settle a consolidated shareholder class action lawsuit at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by paying $13.5 million. RenRe announced the settlement on February 14, 2007 - five days after the firm disclosed that it had agreed to pay $15 million to settle a securities fraud lawsuit regarding the same conduct that was brought at the same court by the SEC. Neither settlement required the reinsurer to admit liability.

The net insolvencies of two former operating subsidiaries of Bermuda-based Mutual Risk Management Ltd. rocketed from $334.3 million to $852.6 million in 2006, according to their liquidator. The deficits of Legion Insurance Company and Villanova Insurance Company increased from $225.3 million to $614 million and from $109 million to $238.6 million, respectively, during the year.

Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation "in the Matter of Gangar" - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Liechtenstein - was filed at federal court in the USA on February 8, 2007.

Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged tax evasion - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Germany - that was filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on February 13, 2007. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Hans-Jurgen Kliebenstein, Henning Wackernagel, TCI Television Creativ Internacional SA, Filmhaus GmbH, Creativ Television Fernsehproduktions GmbH, and Barnett Bank.

Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged corruption - subject to a request for judicial assistance from Brazil - that was filed at federal court in the USA on January 31, 2007. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Adriana Gianello Costa de Oliveira, Grupo Sundown, Jose Luiz Altheia, Rozenblum Trosman Family, Jaime Rozenblum Margolis, Vizzel Corp. SA, Paulo Goldenstein, Compasc, Biraco SA, Talinor SA, Replecta, Kennyblock, Oxyx, Sergio Voltolini, Karina, Wilson Luiz Cunha Rodrigues, Sundown do Brasil, BSD, Citibank, and Citicorp Financial Services.

The web-sites of two companies whose dubious activities have been highlighted in recent editions of OffshoreAlert have been dismantled over the last few weeks; On February 12, 2007, OffshoreAlert received an email from Kristen Lawson, a “Legislative Advisor” with Miller Thomson LLP, a law firm based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Telecommunications and cable television firms in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands have been dragged into a long-running legal dispute over the ownership of a $900,000 airplane that was damaged in Hurricane Ivan; Under Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, Grenada has become the poster country for corruption and banking fraud; OffshoreAlert recently learned that U. S. Bank N.A. obtained a default judgment for $21 million against British-based alleged fraudster Sendjer Shefket and his British firm Target International Funds Ltd. at federal court in the USA on May 24, 2006; Convicted white-collar criminals who believe they are punished too severely in the United States should be thankful they don't operate in China; and While the U. S. legal system does not yet offer death as a punishment for fraudsters, it is still less than hospitable for convicted white-collar criminals, as Martin A. Armstrong can attest to.

Nine people have been indicted for fraud in the United States regarding an investment scheme that was perpetrated through a Bahamas shell company. The indictment was brought at the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia on February 28, 2007 against Shinder Singh Gangar, 45, a United Kingdom national residing in England; Alan White, 48, a U.K. national residing in England; Birgit Mechlenburg, a.k.a. Gitte Mechlenburg, a resident of Massachusetts; Kenneth Mason, a U. S. national residing in Chicago, Illinois; Michael Hardesty, a U. S. national residing in Utah; Mark Smyth, a U. S. national residing in California; Gregory Smyth, 56, a U. S. national residing in California; Mary Dowdell, 49, a U. S. national residing in Charlottesville, Virginia and wife of Terry L. Dowdell, who is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to related fraud charges in June, 2004; and Rebecca Dowdell, 30, the daughter of Terry Dowdell and a U. S. national residing in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Securities broker Bear Stearns Securities Corp. has been ordered to pay $159 million to the estate of a failed offshore hedge fund for ignoring red flags about the fund's fraudulent operating practices. The judgment at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is a huge boost for creditors of the British Virgin Islands-registered, New York-based Manhattan Investment Fund Ltd., whose net insolvency before the ruling was $391 million.

Arthur Andersen has agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle litigation regarding its audits of now-defunct Bermuda-based broker AlphaStar Insurance Group Limited, formerly Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings. A motion to approve the settlement was filed with the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on February 16, 2007 by AlphaStar's Chapter 7 Trustee, Richard E. O'Connell. The deadline for objections to the Andersen agreement is March 8 and a hearing to approve it is scheduled to be held on March 13.

Telecommunications and cable television firms in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands have been dragged into a long-running legal dispute over the ownership of a $900,000 airplane that was damaged in Hurricane Ivan. KeyTech Limited, and Bermuda Cablevision, both incorporated and based in Bermuda; WestStar TV Ltd. and WestTel Ltd., both incorporated and based in the Cayman Islands; West Interlink Inc., a Florida corporation based in Miami, Florida; and Rodney Alan Hansen, a resident of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are all defendants in a complaint filed at the U. S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on February 5, 2007.

Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Thailand - that was filed at federal court in the USA on January 23, 2007. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Pramutmark Natisupalak, GoDaddy.com, Passionnet Co. Ltd., E-Travelmax Co. Ltd., Wasu Prasannetr, passionasia.com, etravel-max.com, monotalent.com, gossipstar.com, monoplanet.com, monofilm.com, and mono2u.com.

Colorado's banking regulator has taken legal action in an attempt to close down American International Depository & Trust, which bills itself as the “first Old-World International Private Bank in the United States”. AIDT is defending the action at Colorado's Office of Administrative Courts and has obtained an order sealing the case in an attempt to limit the damage to its business.

Two companies that at one time or another have been controlled by imprisoned offshore fraudster Terry Neal are plaintiff and defendant in litigation filed recently in the United States.One of them, Crowne Gold Inc., claims that the other, Nevis American Trust Company Ltd., was involved in a conspiracy to defraud it of at least US$2.5 million.

Plea Agreement in USA v. Ali A. Yawar at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Trinidad and Tobago into three former members of the National Lotteries Control Board regarding an agreement between NLCB and G-TECH Corp.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Spain into Jose Juan Redon de Diego and Christopher Stephen Russell for alleged misappropriation and forging of official documents.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged theft by Dariusz Zyla and others.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the Czech Republic into Pavel Mahileuchyk and others for alleged fraud.

Damages totaling $1.04 million have been awarded against two Bahamas companies for their involvement in a U. S./Cayman Islands-based Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles. The award against Leadenhall Bank & Trust Limited (in liquidation) and now-defunct Axxess International Limited, which combined to provide accounts and credit cards for victims, was entered jointly and severally at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on February 12, 2007.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Panama into Robert Lloyd Hammond for alleged fraud.

United States presidential hopeful Barack Obama has thrown his political weight behind a comprehensive bill to clamp-down on an estimated $100 billion per year offshore tax evasion by U. S. taxpayers. The draft legislation - known as The Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act - was introduced to Congress on February 17, 2007 by Obama, fellow Democrat Senator Carl Levin, and Senator Norm Coleman, who is a Republican.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Mexico into Enrique Uribe Serradel for alleged fraud.

Bermuda Supreme Court has set a date of April 27th to hear an application by a local regulator to have a provisional liquidator appointed over a mutual fund group that allegedly exists to launder the proceeds of corruption by a Russian government minister. A petition to involuntarily wind-up IPOC Capital Partners Ltd., IPOC International Growth Fund Ltd., Gamma Capital Fund Ltd., Convergence Capital Ltd., Com Tel Eastern Ltd., First National Telecommunication Fund Ltd., Convergence Capital Management Ltd., Augmentation Investments Ltd., and Telco Overseas Ltd. was presented to the court on January 12, 2007 by Bermuda's Registrar of Companies.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Germany into Hans-Jurgen Kliebenstein for alleged tax evasion.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Ecuador into Victor Joaquin Cedeno Alvarez for allegedly defrauding Gonzalo Rodrigo Macias.

Property catastrophe reinsurer RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has agreed to pay a $15 million civil penalty to settle a lawsuit filed against it in New York by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. RenRe has also agreed to an injunction prohibiting future violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and to retain an independent consultant to review internal controls, according to the SEC, which announced the settlement in a press release issued on February 6, 2007 - the same day that the complaint was filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

A class action securities fraud lawsuit has been filed in the United States against Bermuda-based, NASDAQ-listed specialty insurer Quanta Capital Holdings Ltd., seven officers and directors, and two underwriters. The complaint was filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 5, 2007 on behalf of all purchasers of Quanta's common and preferred shares between December 14, 2005, when Quanta completed a $135 million equity offering, and March 2, 2006.

Bermuda-based Allied World Assurance Company Ltd. is seeking to avoid paying $15 million in claims relating to JP Morgan's combined $4.2 billion settlements of Enron and WorldCom litigation. Details are contained in a civil complaint that was filed by AWAC against Boston-based Lexington Insurance Company at the U. S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on January 16, 2007.

Two U. S. subsidiaries of Bermuda-based Arch Capital Group Ltd. are being sued for up to $34 million in compensatory damages for allegedly failing to honor a construction bond. Details are contained in a civil complaint that was filed by Whitlock Mills LP, a Maryland limited partnership based in Columbia, Maryland, at the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on December 29, 2006.

The Bermuda-headquartered Alea Group is being sued by a former officer who claims to have suffered financial, emotional and reputational harm as a result of the company allegedly misrepresenting its financial position.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in the Cayman Islands by David Walker and Lawrence Edwards, as the Foreign Representatives of Amerindo Internet Growth Fund Ltd., 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 in Liechtenstein "In the Matter of Gangar". The application was filed under seal and, therefore, no details about who or what is being investigated is publicly available.

A British Virgin Islands company that is managed by a Bermuda entity is seeking damages of at least $1.5 million from a Cayman Islands fund and related parties for alleged fraud and securities violations. Details are contained in a civil complaint that was filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on January 23, 2007.

Fund administrator UBS Fund Services (Cayman) Ltd. has been dragged into litigation concerning a hedge fund group that allegedly concealed $179 million of losses from investors before collapsing. On January 22, 2007, UBS was added as a third-party defendant to an action that was started nine months ago at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Delaware-incorporated, New York-based futures broker Man Financial Inc. and others by C. Clark Hodgson, Jr., as Receiver for Philadelphia Alternative Asset Management Company, LLC (“PAAMCo”), Philadelphia Alternative Asset Fund, Ltd. (the “Offshore Fund”), Philadelphia Alternative Asset Feeder Fund, LLC, Philadelphia Alternative Asset Fund, LP, and Option Capital Fund, LP. The case has been set for trial in May, 2007.

An offshore stock broker has agreed to disgorge $253,346 and pay a civil money penalty of $15,000 to settle regulatory action brought by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The size of the disgorgement represents commissions that Turks and Caicos Islands-based Temple Securities Ltd. earned through the sale of unregistered securities in Allixon International Corp., stated the SEC.

Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged tax evasion - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Costa Rica - that was filed at federal court in the USA on January 30, 2007. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include La Nacion SA, Manuel Francisco Jimenez Echeverria, Javier Leon Longhi, Luis Javier Uribe Chaverri, Carlos Alberto Gonzalez Jimenez, Fernando Vargas Espinoza, all of Costa Rica, Capital Leasing Corporation Inc., a.k.a. Leasing Corporation; Cuscatlan International Bank & Trust Ltd., National Bank of Miami NA, Desarrollos Los Olivos SA, and Corporacion de Noticias de Guatemala.

Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Costa Rica - that was filed at federal court in the USA on January 4, 2007. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Maria del Carmen Cruz Lizano, Intrade ABC SA, and Casino Central.

Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged embezzlement - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from the Ukraine - that was filed at federal court in the USA on January 10, 2007. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Greenway-1 LLC, MGR United Corporation, Mikhail Gitelman, Technoproekt Private Company, Trendmax LLC, Gatestar Consultants Ltd., Introalliance LLC, Sunset LLC, Patrick McLaughlin, Sean O'Brennan, John Read, Andre Soltas, Lyudmyla Vasylivna Kachyns'ka, AA Tkachenko, AI Godetskiy, Latvian Economic Commercial Bank, a.k.a. Lateko Bank; Union Bank of California International, Parex Bank, Citibank NA, and Aizkraukles Banka.

Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from the Czech Republic - that was filed at federal court in the USA on January 19, 2007. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Roman Durisik, Krnovska Skrobarna Ltd., Ales Marecek, Milan Vymetalik, Manildra Milling Corporation, eBank PLC, and Jay Piester.

Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation involving Bobby Gipson - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Israel - that was filed at federal court in the USA on December 21, 2006.

Bermuda Supreme Court has ruled that Finance Minister Paula Cox acted lawfully in assisting U. S. tax authorities in an investigation into California-based offshore trust advisor Terence Michael Coxon; On January 10, 2007, the Central Bank of the Bahamas issued warnings against Caribbean International Bank and Deltec Financial & Trust Services; and a look at the dubious background of Ronald Rudman, Compliance Officer for Colorado-based American International Depository & Trust.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation innvolving Paul DeBuyser - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Belgium - was filed at federal court in the USA on January 4, 2007.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged forgery by Mustafa Birlik and others - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Turkey - that was filed at federal court in the USA on January 30, 2007.

Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation that involves Alenter Finance LLC - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Lithuania - was filed at federal court in the USA January 19, 2007.