Investment

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in France into Marie-Josee Salvaire and Nicolas Zoonekynd for alleged fraud through an 'investment club', New Import Club.

Amended Complaint in John G. Pitman and Susan Pitman v. Seed International, Ltd., Ocean International Marketing, Ltd., Architects of Wine, Ltd., A.V.E. International, Kensington Corporation, Ltd., Paradigm Holdings Limited, OptiDisc International Limited, CD Fender, Churchill Associates, Ltd., Heros Global Marketing Services, Ltd., Paradigm Wine Services, Ltd., New Fine Wines International, Ltd., Paul Freeman, Robert John Middlemiss, Denver Andersson, David Wilcock, Phillip Beasley, Fred Hagelberg, Trevor Burroughs, Giles Cadman, Craig Garrett, Desmond Jackson, Anil Kohli, Jadon Schmidt, and Robin Loxton at the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Italy into Georges El Khoury and others for alleged securities fraud and money laundering.

Complaint in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Cobalt Multifamily Investors I, LLC, Cobalt Multifamily Co. I, LLC, Cobalt Capital Funding, LLC, Mark A. Shapiro, Irving J. Stitsky, and William B. Foster, as defendants, and Vail Mountain Trust, as relief defendant, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Italy into Georges El Khoury and others for alleged investment fraud in the amount of $52 million. The evidence sought comprises an interview with Dennis Herula, "an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey", and Farouk Khan, "a resident or Hillsborough, New Jersey".

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Switzerland into Khundkar Khalid Ahmed Houssain for alleged fraud.

Former Imperial Consolidated Group money-raiser Robert Raven was today sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of court in the United Kingdom. Raven, a 45-year-old British national who was Imperial's International Sales & Marketing Director, received the punishment in a civil action at the High Court for refusing to co-operate with the administrators/liquidators of five Imperial companies in the U. K. and the Caribbean, in the hunt for defrauded assets.

After nearly two years of avoiding it, offshore investment firm boss Scott Lines must finally submit himself to a deposition before the U. S. Securities & Exchange Commission by April 6, 2006. The good news for Lines, however, is that he will not have to travel to the United States, as the SEC had wanted, and face the risk of further civil or even criminal proceedings.

The liquidators of fraudulently-operated offshore stock-broker SEGOES Services Ltd. ran up a $1.49 million deficit during their first eight months in charge of the company.That was the figure that leapt out of the Third Interim Report to Customers and Creditors, dated January 27, 2006, by liquidators Kenneth Krys and Christopher Stride.

Lines Overseas Management Ltd. has been accused of misleading Bermuda Supreme Court in an attempt to obstruct a securities fraud investigation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC claims that LOM withheld information from the Bermuda court when the firm recently asked for a declaration whether it was allowed, under local law, to comply with administrative subpoenas that the Commission served on the investment firm's Managing Director, Scott Lines, in the United States in April, 2004.

Fund administrator Citco knew that Lancer Offshore was fraudulently valuing assets nearly two years before the fund collapsed but its sole concern was how to extricate itself from the $400 million insolvency, rather than warn investors and regulators. That is the most serious allegation contained in a civil lawsuit that was filed as long ago as January 14, 2005 at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida but kept sealed until February 21, 2006 due to concerns that its release may breach a court order prohibiting disclosure of certain information. It is supported by copies of extraordinary email exchanges between Citco's senior executives that were disclosed in discovery that Citco opposed.

Criminal Judgment in USA v. Nicholas Mitsakos at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

First Amended Complaint in Verus Global Fund v. eXair Communications Corporation at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Bermuda-based investment firm Lines Overseas Management Ltd. claims to have started turning over client records to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission after losing yet another court ruling. In a filing at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia on February 21, 2006, LOM stated that it “has begun producing documents to the SEC” pursuant to four SEC administrative subpoenas that were served on its Managing Director, Scott Lines, as long ago as April, 2004.

Judgment in a Criminal Case in USA v. Derek Guise Turner at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Regulation D Securities Filing with the U. S. Securities and Commission by Caribbean Sustainable Fisheries Corporation.

Japanese police today arrested the Tokyo representative of a group headed by former Bahamas resident Bill Godley for allegedly helping to swindle a pension fund out of 80% of its assets. Fabio Takeshi Sunago, 44, was arrested along with Hideo Seki, 49, the former Secretary General of the All Japan Liquor Merchants Association, according to a report by the Kyodo News Agency.

Objection to Pre-Sentence Investigation Report by USA in USA v. Derek Guise Turner at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

An American who is suspected of bribing the Prime Minister of Grenada for appointing him to a diplomatic position has pleaded guilty to unrelated fraud charges in the United States.Eric Resteiner, 46, pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud at a change of plea hearing that was held at the U. S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on February 8, 2006. He is due to be sentenced on May 8. Under a plea agreement, the remaining 53 counts, including 18 regarding money laundering, which carry the harshest penalties, will be dismissed.

Plea Agreement in USA v. Eric Resteiner at the U. S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Complaint filed by Pandora Select Partners LP, Pandora Select Advisors, LP, JMG Capital Partners, LP, JMG Triton Offshore Fund, Ltd.,  Aviator Fund Management, LP, Aviator Overseas Fund II, Ltd., Aviator Master Fund, Ltd., Whitebox Hedged High Yield Advisors, LP, Whitebox Hedged High Yield Partners, LP, Whitebox Convertible Arbitrage Advisors, LLC, and Whitebox Convertible Arbitrage Partners, LP against Strategy International Insurance Group Inc., Strategy Real Estate Investments, Ltd., John Hamilton, Sandro Sordi, and Stephen Stonhill at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The head of a Bahamas-based investment firm has been arrested in the United States after being charged with laundering $1 billion in proceeds from narcotics trafficking and fraud. Canadian national Martin Tremblay, 43, allegedly laundered the funds through Dominion Investments Ltd., of which he is Managing Director.

The operators of yet another Grenada-licensed offshore bank have been convicted of fraud-related charges in the United States. Taansen Fairmont Sumeru, a.k.a. David Freeston, of Santa Barbara, California, and Jerome Harold Hall, a.k.a. JeRu Hall, of Fairfield, Iowa, were convicted jury of eight counts of securities fraud and nine counts of wire fraud at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California on January 24, 2006. Sumeru was also convicted of conspiring to launder money and failing to file federal income tax returns for 1999 and 2000.

In a landmark ruling, Bermuda Supreme Court has determined that offshore investment firm Lines Overseas Management can disclose “confidential” client records and recordings of telephone conversations to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. However, the SEC is not entitled to material that is subject to attorney-client privilege or concerns interviews with former LOM president Brian Lines that were conducted by the Bermuda Monetary Authority after the BMA had given assurances of confidentiality.

The Receiver for the Lancer Offshore group has filed four new lawsuits against parties in Bermuda, the Bahamas, the United States, Monaco, and France in an attempt to recover $1.48 million. All of the actions were filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on January 11, 2006 by Marty Steinberg, as court-appointed Receiver for Lancer Management Group LLC, Lancer Management Group II LLC, Lancer Offshore Inc., OmniFund Ltd., LSPV Inc., LSPV LLC, Alpha Omega Group Inc., and G.H. Associates LLC.

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 Germany - that was filed at federal court in the USA on January 11, 2006. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Erwin Guthoff and Western Union.

A scam by Bahamas-based Banakor Swisse is so low-budget that several shell firms it raises money around have been struck off for non-payment of their $350 annual government fee, OffshoreAlert can reveal. The fact that these sham entities are no longer legally in existence has not stopped Banakor Swisse from continuing to raise funds in their names by holding them out to the public as bona fide businesses.

Prominent offshore businessman Donald Lines has been branded a liar by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Lines, the 73-year-old Chairman and President of Bermuda-based investment firm Lines Overseas Management Limited, is adamant that he was not served with a securities-fraud related subpoena while he was in the U. S. in November, 2005 for emergency heart surgery. After the SEC first made the allegation in a filing at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia in late December, LOM denied it in a court filing of its own and Donald Lines, a former CEO of the Bank of Bermuda, even went so far as to take out a full-page advertisement in the Bermuda Sun newspaper in which he claimed: “I have never been served a subpoena by the SEC”, adding that: “There has been no contact from the SEC to even notify me that they ever intended to serve any subpoenas or that they, however incorrectly, believed they had served me.”

The head of a Bahamas-based investment firm has been arrested in the United States after being charged with laundering $1 billion in proceeds from narcotics trafficking and fraud. Canadian national Martin Tremblay, 43, allegedly laundered the funds through Dominion Investments Ltd., of which he is Managing Director.

Bermuda-based stockbroker Lines Overseas Management Limited has secured more time in its increasingly desperate battle to avoid co-operating with securities fraud investigations being conducted by the SEC. In an order on January 13, 2006, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit temporarily stayed a lower court's order that LOM and its Managing Director, Scott Lines, comply with four SEC administrative subpoenas by January 17. The ruling was in response to an emergency motion for a stay, pending an appeal, filed that same day by LOM and Lines.

A hearing is scheduled to take place at Bermuda Supreme Court on Friday to determine whether offshore stockbroker Lines Overseas Management Ltd. is allowed to release client records to the SEC in the United States. The expedited hearing was requested by the LOM group on January 9, 2006 in what appears to be a last-ditch attempt to avoid complying with SEC enforcement subpoenas that were served on it as long as 22 months ago concerning investigations into alleged securities fraud involving shares issued by Sedona Software Solutions Inc. and SHEP Technologies Inc., both of Vancouver, Canada, and HiEnergy Technologies Inc., of Irvine, California.

Letter to the Editor of Offshore Alert from Clifford Pitt, Founder of DIAK Bank.

It was the usual round of lies, broken promises, incompetence, and losses in 2005 in the murky world that OffshoreAlert forces itself to inhabit to investigate and expose financial crimes. As each year passes, it becomes increasingly obvious to us that illegal, immoral, unethical, and incompetent behavior in business are the norm, rather than the exception. OffshoreAlert has dumpster-dived through all the trash that we have found during the year, picked out the smelliest items, and used them as the basis for our ‘Best and Worst' awards.

A Japanese pension fund that invested 80% of its assets in a British litigation funding scam has been advised to write-off its $125 million investment. That was the recommendation of Hori Hiroshi Law Office, which the All Japan Liquor Merchants Association hired to look into the mess and advise how to proceed.

OffshoreAlert has previously reported about the long-running battle between Taiwan and China for influence in the Caribbean in which impoverished countries receive sizeable financial assistance in return for officially recognizing - or refusing to recognize - Taiwan as a country, depending on who is offering the most attractive deal; The Central Bank of Belize issued a warning about United eXchange International Bank on December 1, 2005; Richard Fogerty and James Cleaver, as joint official liquidators of Bancredit Cayman Limited (in liquidation), have filed two civil lawsuits in the United States in an attempt to collect $2.34 million of allegedly unpaid loans that were issued to customers of the banks; Why did First International Bank of Grenada founder Gilbert Allen Ziegler change his name to Van Arthur Brink in June, 1998?[ Florida-based attorney Nigel Scott Grant and his son, Nicolas E. Grant-St. James, who previously established and, in at least one instance, operated sham credit unions in St. Kitts & Nevis, are back in business together, this time onshore; and Kenneth Krys and Christopher Stride, of RSM Cayman Islands, were appointed as Joint Provisional Liquidators of PFA Assurance Group, Ltd. on September 19, 2005 following an investigation by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority.

Bermuda-based investment firm Lines Overseas Management Ltd. and its Managing Director, Scott Lines, have been given until January 17, 2006 to comply with four administrative subpoenas concerning securities fraud investigations by the SEC. The deadline for the provision of testimony and documents was set by U. S. District Court Judge Richard Roberts, sitting at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia, on December 30, 2005 when he turned down an application that was filed almost 12 months by LOM and Lines to stay a Magistrate Judge's ruling that it must comply with the subpoenas.

Bermuda-based investment firm Lines Overseas Management Ltd. has denied that it destroyed evidence that is being sought by the SEC for a securities fraud investigation in the United States. LOM has also refuted a claim that the SEC served three administrative subpoenas on LOM's Chairman and President, 73-year-old Donald Lines, on November 10, 2005 while he was in the United States, apparently for an emergency heart operation.

A Turks & Caicos Islands-based stock brokerage firm and its principal officer are engaged in a legal battle with the Securities & Exchange Commission in the United States. The SEC is seeking an order enjoining Temple Securities Ltd. and its President, CEO and Director, David Clayton Knipe, from violating the Securities Act of 1933.

Letter of complaint to OffshoreAlert from attorney Warren Tobias, representing Banakor Swisse and Joseph Castiglione.

Letter to the Editor of OffshoreAlert from Warren Tobias, counsel for Banakor Swisse SA, complaining about "libellous and slanderous" article.

USA's Objection to Pre-Sentence Investigation Report in USA v. Derek Guise Turner at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Hungary into Attila Kulcsar, Janos Meszaros, Dr. Erika Erzsebet Futo, El Abed Hasan, Mahmoud Abdo and Gyula Szeker for alleged embezzlement and money laundering.

The front-man for one of the most notorious offshore banking scams has died of a heart attack in Oregon before he could be tried on 147 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering. Van Arthur Brink, formerly known as Gilbert Allen Ziegler, passed away on Saturday, December 10, 2005, U. S. authorities have confirmed to OffshoreAlert. He was 54.

Complaint for the Extradition of Emil Giziewicz from the USA to Poland to face allegations of securities fraud involving Kopex Plc.

Montague Morgan Slade FZC - Services Licence issued by Government of Ajman, in the United Arab Emirates.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in South Africa by Anton Lohse, as the Foreign Representative of Stephen Anthony Botes, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.

A Cayman Islands judge has put back a key ruling in a battle for control of an offshore hedge fund that is part of a failed North American group whose losses are estimated at US$179 million.Justice Henderson, sitting at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, must decide whether to grant a petition to liquidate Philadelphia Alternative Asset Fund Limited by five investors who claim to have collectively invested $32 million in the Fund.

U. S. prosecutors may rescind the plea agreement of a former Bahamas resident and bring additional charges after he apparently lied about the extent of his criminal activity.Derek Turner, a New Zealand national, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud concerning an investment scam at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on August 9, 2005.

Forty-six Norwegian parties are seeking evidence from a New York attorney as part of an attempt to recover millions of dollars allegedly defrauded from them in an investment scam.They filed a motion for the issuance of letters rogatory at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn, on November 18, 2005.

The liquidators of an offshore broker have applied to stay a civil lawsuit that has been filed in the United States against the firm's former President.A hearing on the motion by the liquidators of Cayman Islands-based SEGOES Services Ltd. has been scheduled for December 8, 2005 at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.