Investment

British Virgin Islands-domiciled crypto "stablecoin" group Tether has been fined $41 million for fraud by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which also fined BVI crypto exchange Bitfinex $1.5 million for unlicensed activity and other offenses.

Notice of Voluntary Dismissal in Oksana Hryn, Yelyzaveta Lata, a.k.a. Elizaveta Lata; Ihor Ushenko, Volodymyr Hren, Astor Asset Management Ltd., Astor Asset Management 1 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 2 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 3 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 4 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 5 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 6 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 7 Ltd., America 2030 Capital Limited, America 2030 Capital 1 Limited, America 2030 Capital 2 Limited, America 2030 Capital 3 Limited, America 2030 Capital 4 Limited, America 2030 Capital 5 Limited, Astor Capital Fund Ltd., Bentley Rothschild Capital Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 1 Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 2 Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 3 Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 4 Limited, Blackrock Capital LLC, SAL Oppenheim Ltd., Bear Stearns Companies, Bentley Bronfman Capital Ltd., Dreyfus Corporation, Lincoln Capital Ltd., Newburgh Capital Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund 1 Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund 2 Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund 3 Ltd., State Street Global Advisors Ltd., Union Pacific Capital Ltd., AC Capital Limited, BSC Capital Ltd., Cornelius Vanderbilt Capital Management Ltd., and Aurelius Capital Management Ltd. v. Weiser Global Capital Markets Ltd., Christos Livadas, a.k.a. Chris Livas; Hong ‘Rainbow’ Yang, Chris Papaioannou, a.k.a. Christos Papaioannou; Courtney Filipenko, Rahul Kirpalani, Selby Brice, Jose Marmolejo, Jamaal Stubbs, Weiser Global Asset Management, and Weiser Asset Management at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Criminal Indictment alleging conspiracy to commit money laundering and bribery of a public official in Ecuador and involving companies in Panama in USA v. Jorge Cherrez Miño, described as a citizen of Ecuador who managed "U.S. Investment Fund Companies", and John Luzuriaga Aguinaga, described as a citizen of Ecuador who was "Risk Director" of the Instituto de Seguridad Social de la Policia Nacional, a.k.a. ISSPOL, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Public Notice by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission that it has suspended the license of investment firm Maxigrid Ltd. for regulatory breaches.

Public Notice by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission that it has suspended the license of investment firm Maxiflex Ltd. for regulatory breaches.

Administrative Order by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission imposing a fine of $41 million on Tether Holdings Limited, Tether Operations Limited, and Tether International Limited, all of the British Virgin Islands, and Tether Limited, of Hong Kong, for alleged fraud with its "virtual currency stablecoin".

Administrative Order by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission imposing a fine of $1.5 million on iFinex Inc., BFXNA Inc., and BFXWW Inc., all of the British Virgin Islands, a crypto group collectively doing business as Bitfinex, for regulatory breaches.

Director Details for Seven Mile Securities, obtained from the Cayman Islands General Registry on October 14th, 2021.

Search Report for Seven Mile Securities, obtained from the Cayman Islands General Registry on October 14th, 2021.

Five months after one of its clients, Canadian Andrew McAlpine, pleaded guilty to securities fraud in the United States, securities broker Seven Mile Securities has been fined CI$250,000 by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. It is not publicly-known whether the two events are connected.

A bizarre and seemingly-frivolous lawsuit alleging a $450 million fraud by a Bahamas investment group and related individuals has been filed in New York by four Ukraine citizens and 35 suspiciously-named firms that purport to be domiciled in some of the seediest offshore jurisdictions, including one called "Bear Stearns", which claims to be registered in the Seychelles. UPDATE: On October 17th, 2021 - just four days after filing the complaint, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal.

Motion for Temporary Restraining Order by entities in Alaska, Anguilla, Bahamas, Belize, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles and Ukraine alleging a $450 million fraud by entities in or from the Bahamas, Canada, and Hong Kong in Oksana Hryn, Yelyzaveta Lata, a.k.a. Elizaveta Lata; Ihor Ushenko, Volodymyr Hren, Astor Asset Management Ltd., Astor Asset Management 1 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 2 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 3 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 4 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 5 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 6 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 7 Ltd., America 2030 Capital Limited, America 2030 Capital 1 Limited, America 2030 Capital 2 Limited, America 2030 Capital 3 Limited, America 2030 Capital 4 Limited, America 2030 Capital 5 Limited, Astor Capital Fund Ltd., Bentley Rothschild Capital Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 1 Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 2 Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 3 Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 4 Limited, Blackrock Capital LLC, SAL Oppenheim Ltd., Bear Stearns Companies, Bentley Bronfman Capital Ltd., Dreyfus Corporation, Lincoln Capital Ltd., Newburgh Capital Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund 1 Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund 2 Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund 3 Ltd., State Street Global Advisors Ltd., Union Pacific Capital Ltd., AC Capital Limited, BSC Capital Ltd., Cornelius Vanderbilt Capital Management Ltd., and Aurelius Capital Management Ltd. v. Weiser Global Capital Markets Ltd., Christos Livadas, a.k.a. Chris Livas; Hong ‘Rainbow’ Yang, Chris Papaioannou, a.k.a. Christos Papaioannou; Courtney Filipenko, Rahul Kirpalani, Selby Brice, Jose Marmolejo, Jamaal Stubbs, Weiser Global Asset Management, and Weiser Asset Management at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint by entities in Alaska, Anguilla, Bahamas, Belize, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles and Ukraine alleging a $450 million fraud by entities in or from the Bahamas, Canada, and Hong Kong in Oksana Hryn, Yelyzaveta Lata, a.k.a. Elizaveta Lata; Ihor Ushenko, Volodymyr Hren, Astor Asset Management Ltd., Astor Asset Management 1 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 2 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 3 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 4 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 5 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 6 Ltd., Astor Asset Management 7 Ltd., America 2030 Capital Limited, America 2030 Capital 1 Limited, America 2030 Capital 2 Limited, America 2030 Capital 3 Limited, America 2030 Capital 4 Limited, America 2030 Capital 5 Limited, Astor Capital Fund Ltd., Bentley Rothschild Capital Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 1 Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 2 Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 3 Limited, Bentley Rothschild Capital 4 Limited, Blackrock Capital LLC, SAL Oppenheim Ltd., Bear Stearns Companies, Bentley Bronfman Capital Ltd., Dreyfus Corporation, Lincoln Capital Ltd., Newburgh Capital Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund 1 Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund 2 Ltd., Sovereign Liquidity Fund 3 Ltd., State Street Global Advisors Ltd., Union Pacific Capital Ltd., AC Capital Limited, BSC Capital Ltd., Cornelius Vanderbilt Capital Management Ltd., and Aurelius Capital Management Ltd. v. Weiser Global Capital Markets Ltd., Christos Livadas, a.k.a. Chris Livas; Hong ‘Rainbow’ Yang, Chris Papaioannou, a.k.a. Christos Papaioannou; Courtney Filipenko, Rahul Kirpalani, Selby Brice, Jose Marmolejo, Jamaal Stubbs, Weiser Global Asset Management, and Weiser Asset Management at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Judgment regarding defendants' application to set aside the plaintiff's claim on the grounds of "bye-law indemnity" for directors in Global Distressed Alpha Capital I Limited, of Bermuda v. AAAF Management Limited, Michael John Shone, described as "a former director and shareholder of the Plaintiff" and funder of "the Commercial Intelligence Fund Group" who "has absconded and his whereabouts are not known"; Christian Michelsen Herman, described as a former director of the plaintiff, and Walton Law Eddlestone, described as a former "de facto director of the Plaintiff" and who appears to be an English lawyer, at Bermuda Supreme Court.

Class Action Complaint alleging "the unlawful use of material non-public information by Defendants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, who collectively avoided billions in losses by selling shares of Vipshop Holdings Ltd., a leading online discount retailer for brands in China, to Plaintiff and other unsuspecting and unwitting public shareholders, after confidentially learning that Archegos Capital Management, a family office with $10 billion under management, failed (or was likely to fail) to meet a margin call, requiring it to fully liquidate its position in the Company" in Chew King Tan v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The British Virgin Islands Government intends to add three more US citizens - Scott Weisman, Jerry Willoughby, and Bruce Bradley - as defendants to a lawsuit it filed against "now-suspended" US lawyer Lester Hyman alleging fraud and corruption involving plans to operate an air service between the BVI and Miami.

Liquidators in the Cayman Islands and United Arab Emirates who are investigating the alleged misappropriation of at least $43 million from a Cayman investment vehicle for six Kuwaiti brothers have filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy recognition in the United States.

Complaint for "recovery of insurance proceeds due to lack of insurable interest" in Estate of Martin A. Zawatsky, by its Executor, Marc Zawatsky v. Corry Capital Advisors LLC, of Delaware; CCA Life Settlements Sàrl, of Luxembourg, and CCA Life Settlements Fund FCP-SIF, of Luxembourg, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Class Action Complaint in Christopher Underwood, Louis Oberlander, and Zeneyda Patin v. Coinbase Global Inc., described as the operator of "two digital asset trading platforms: Coinbase and Coinbase Pro", at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint in Benjamin Bin Chow v. Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, LLC, of Delaware; Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, LLC, of the Cayman Islands; Canyon Bridge Management Corp., of Delaware; Canyon Bridge Capital Management, LLC, of Delaware; Canyon Bridge Fund I, LP, of Delaware; Canyon Bridge Fund I, LP, of the Cayman Islands; Hong John Kao, Heber Raymond Bingham, and Peter Chin Kuo at the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware.

Stipulation to $300 million Settlement in a dispute involving a Cayman Islands company described as the "Facebook of China" in Heng Ren Silk Road Investments LLC, of Massachusetts; Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd., of the Cayman Islands, and Jodi Arama, derivatively on behalf of nominal defendant Renren Inc., of the Cayman Islands v. Joseph Chen, David K. Chao, DCM III, L.P., DCM III-A, L.P., DCM Affiliates Fund III, L.P., DCM Investment Management III, LLC, Duff & Phelps, LLC, Oak Pacific Investment, Social Finance, Inc., SoftBank Group Capital Limited, SoftBank Group Corp., SB Pan Pacific Corporation, Renren SF Holdings, Inc., and Renren Lianhe Holdings at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

Public Notice from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority that it has imposed "discretionary administrative fines" totaling CI$250,000 on Seven Mile Securities for regulatory breaches.

Public Notice by the Luxembourg CSSF that it has imposed a fine of €67,500 on Pharus Management Company S.A. for regulatory breaches.

Complaint seeking damages "in excess of $300 million" against entities in Guernsey, Luxembourg, Qatar, and the USA in Catherine E. Youngman, Litigation Trustee for ASHINC Corporation et al, as successor to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of ASHINC Corporation and its Affiliated Debtors v. Yucaipa American Alliance Fund I LLC, Yucaipa American Management LLC, American Airlines Master Fixed Benefit Pension Plan Trust, American Private Equity Partners II LP, Automotive Machinists Pension Trust, Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners of the City of Los Angeles, California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Carpenters Pension Trust Fund for Northern California, Coller Partners 702 LP Inc., Clouse S.A., Consolidated Retirement Fund, Lam Private Equity LLC, ILGWU Death Benefit Fund 4, International SIF SICAV SA, Locals 302 & 612 of The International Union of Operating Engineers - Employers Construction Industry Retirement Trust, Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System, National Retirement Fund, New Mexico State Investment Council, New Mexico State Investment Council Land Grant Permanent Fund, New Mexico State Investment Council Severance Tax Permanent Fund, New York City Employees’ Retirement System, New York City Fire Department Pension Fund, New York City Police Pension Fund, Northeast Carpenters Pension Fund, Pacific Coast Roofers Pension Plan, Sanba II Investment Company, State Street Bank and Trust Company (as Trustee on behalf of American Airlines Master Fixed Benefit Pension Plan Trust), Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore Inc. - International Longshoremen’s Association (AFL-CIO) Pension Fund, Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Pension Plan for Employees, and Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust at the U. S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

Class Action Complaint alleging fraud in Daniel P. McLaughlin v. Nano-X Imaging Ltd., of Israel; Ran Poliakine, and Tal Shank at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Complaint alleging "an investment offering fraud through which they raised millions of dollars from investors for a start-up hemp company" in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. CanaFarma Hemp Products Corp., of Vancouver, Canada; Vitaly Fargesen, and Igor Palatnik, both described as residing in New Jersey, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in Bermuda by Simon Appell, of England, and John McKenna, of Bermuda, as the Foreign Representatives of Markel CATCo Reinsurance Fund Ltd., CATCo Reinsurance Opportunities Fund Ltd., Markel CATCo Investment Management Ltd., and Markel CATCo Re Ltd., filed at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint in Hain Capital Investors Master Fund Ltd., of the Cayman Islands v. Plasti-Paint Inc., described as "a global automotive supplier that designs and manufactures automotive components", at the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Alleging "a fraud has been committed", a creditor of two dissolved Cayman Islands firms that are part of British businessman Harvey Boulter's Porton Group has applied for them to be restored to the corporate register and their liquidations continued under court supervision.

Winding Up Petition in Safe Castle Limited, of the British Virgin Islands v. China Silver Asset Management Limited at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Public Notice by the Luxembourg CSSF that it has imposed a fine of €10,000 on LIA Luxembourg Investment Advisors Sàrl, described as an "alternative investment fund manager", for regulatory breaches.

Public Notice by the Luxembourg CSSF that it has imposed an administrative fine of €10,000 on Federale Management S.A., described as "an investment fund manager", for regulatory breaches.

Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $50,000 on Donna M. Silverman to settle allegations of fraud involving TCA Fund Management Group Corp., of Florida, and four TCA funds in the Cayman Islands.

Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $50,000 on Donna M. Silverman to settle allegations of fraud involving TCA Fund Management Group Corp., of Florida, and TCA Global Credit Fund GP Ltd., of the Cayman Islands.

Complaint alleging fraud in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Uduakobong Udo Inyangudo, a.k.a. Alexander Uti Bassey, described as a citizen and resident of Nigeria; Vanessa Okocha, Amen Okundaye, Charles Ochi, Diego Okeh, Daniell Liggins, Victor Edeh, and Tochukwu Edeh at the U. S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Complaint for recovery of "short-swing profits" in Mark Rubenstein v. Union Bridge Holdings Ltd., described as a Nevada company based in Hong Kong; Mary Ho, described as a resident of Canada; Moana Ho, described as a resident of Australia, and Lily Ho, described as a resident of Canada, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Criminal Indictment alleging conspiracy "to launder the proceeds of online investment fraud schemes and to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business to transfer the proceeds of criminal offenses, including wire fraud" in USA v. Tochukwu Abel Edeh, described as a citizen of Nigeria, at the U. S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Public Notice by the Luxembourg CSSF that it has imposed an administrative fine of €15,000 on Agate Assets S.A. for failure to publish its 2020 annual financial report on time.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence from Life Partners Inc. - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Germany - for a criminal investigation into Rolf Jerke and Dr. Uwe Schilling for suspected embezzlement involving viaticals settlements.

Class Action Complaint against defendants in or from the British Virgin Islands, Czech Republic, England, Hong Kong, Poland, Scotland, Thailand, Ukraine, and USA alleging "Defendants orchestrated a massive international scheme to defraud Plaintiffs and similarly situated investors by soliciting them to deposit money or cash equivalents with ROFX, a “robotically operated foreign exchange trading” platform that purportedly utilized algorithms to trade on behalf of investors" in Ryan Birmingham, Roman Leonov, Mitchell Parent, Jonathan Zarley, and Steven Hansen v. ROFX.net, described as "an unincorporated entity providing unregulated financial services through its web-based platform to investors around the world" with "registered addresses" in England, Hong Kong, and the USA; Auro Advantages LLC, Aware Choice Ltd., Boonruk Ruamkit Co. Ltd., Brass Marker s.r.o., Easy Com LC, Epayments Systems Ltd., Ester Holdings Inc., Global E-Advantages LLC, Grovee LLC, Igoria Trade S.A., IT Outsourcing Co. Ltd., Notus LLC, Shopostar LLC, VDD-Trading Ltd., Wealthy Developments LP, Andrei Fetin, Anna Shymko, Anton Bilous, Borys Konovalenko, Dmytro Fokin, Jorge Luis Castillo, Manuchar Daraselia, Mikhail Rymanov, Natalia Los, Nattpemol Krinara, PapahraTsor Nrviratporn, Peter Mogilniy, Stanislav Khomenko, and Youras Ziankovich at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Complaint alleging the defendants "fraudulently solicited members of the public for the purported purpose of trading off-exchange, retail foreign currency on a leveraged or margined basis in accounts to be managed by Tradewale, and misappropriated customers' funds" in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Tradewale LLC, of Illinois; Tradewale Managed Fund, described as "an entity purportedly located in London, United Kingdom offering forex investments to the public", and Valdas Dapkus at the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Complaint alleging "repeated acts of insider trading by Defendant Sanchez, who abused his position of trust as a Senior Analyst in the Compliance Division of a prominent United States-based investment bank to reap hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal trading profits" in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jose Luis Casero Sanchez, described as citizen of Spain who worked in Poland while the alleged offenses were allegedly committed, as Defendant, and Jose Luis Casero Abellan and Maria Isabel Sanchez Gonzalez, both citizens of Spain, as Relief Defendants, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

SEC's Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jose Luis Casero Sanchez, described as citizen of Spain who worked in Poland, as Defendant, and Jose Luis Casero Abellan and Maria Isabel Sanchez Gonzalez, both citizens of Spain, as Relief Defendants, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

First Amended Complaint in Sabby Volatility Warrant Master Fund Ltd., of the Cayman Islands v. Aterian Inc., of Delaware, at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

Opinion and Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Defendants' motions to dismiss a class action complaint known as "Tether and Bitfinex Crypto Asset Litigation" in which "a group of individual investors who purchased cryptocommodities - a class of crypto-assets that includes bitcoin - detailed a wide-ranging conspiracy to artificially inflate the price of those cryptocommodities" by entities in or from the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Panama, and USA in Pinchas Goldshtein et al v. iFinex Inc., BFXNA Inc., BFXWW Inc., Tether Holdings Limited, Tether Operations Limited, Tether Limited, Tether International Limited, DigFinex Inc., Giancarlo Devasini, Ludovicus Jan van der Velde, Philip Potter, Reginald Fowler, Crypto Capital Corp., Bittrex, Inc., and Poloniex, LLC at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Public Notice by the Mauritius Financial Services Commission that it has revoked the license of Emerging Markets Investment Fund 1A for regulatory breaches.

Walkers law firms in the Cayman Islands and Dubai are being sued for alleged negligence by two Kuwait state-owned entities regarding a fund whose Arab investors were allegedly swindled out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Complaint alleging "fraudulent inducement to invest in cryptocurrency followed by embezzlement of that investment" in Jonathan Lowry, individually and derivatively on behalf of Vix Capital Partners LP v. Gabriel Edelman, , described as a resident of New York and Spain; Vix Capital Partners LP, Edelman Blockchain Advisors, Nehemia Markovits, Louis Taubman, Hunter Taubman Rischer & Li LLC, IFM Investors, of Australia; Interactive Brokers, Chen Edelman, described as a resident of New York and Spain, and Jiyson Edelman at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Amended Complaint alleging fraud and dishonest assistance involving the Cayman Islands-domiciled "Porton Group" in Enigma Diagnostics Limited (in Liquidation), Paul David Allen, and Geoffrey Lambert Carton-Kelly, as Liquidators of Enigma Diagnostics Limited, all of England v. Harvey Boulter, DLA Piper UK LLP, a law firm, and Charles Cook, a lawyer, all of England, at High Court of Justice for England and Wales.

Originating Application in the matter of LP Advance Value Fund II LP at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.