Listed Securities

A US subsidiary of ACE Ltd. is being sued for allegedly refusing to satisfy a business interruption claim totaling $523,000.Details are contained in a civil complaint that was filed by Texas based Gulf Coast Asphalt Co. LLC against ACE American

A US subsidiary of ACE Ltd. is seeking damages of $364,000 against a Greenwich, Connecticut based yacht club after a 1958 Trumpy Flushdeck recreational motor yacht was damaged.Details are contained in a civil complaint filed by ACE America Insurance Company,

Criminal Information filed by the USA against Jonathan Curshen at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

United Kingdom based subsidiaries of Aspen Insurance and ACE are being sued for $2.9 million at federal court in New Orleans concerning an oil spill claim.Details are contained in a civil complaint that was filed by Jefferson Block 24 Oil

A civil complaint in which two Bermuda insurers were accused of illegally profiting from a 'stolen' business idea regarding lease guarantees was dismissed on December 9, 2008 - just 46 days after it was filed.The action had been brought by

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.

Huge investment losses and hurricanes Gustav and Ike were the reasons for overall losses for all but two of the 20 Bermuda insurers and reinsurers that reported their third-quarter results recently.

A U.S.-based subsidiary of Bermuda-domiciled Arch Capital Group Ltd. is seeking to avoid having to pay out millions in claims originating from the collapse of an expressway in Tampa, Florida in 2004.

A U. S.-based subsidiary of Bermuda-domiciled XL Capital Ltd. has asked a court to determine its obligations regarding a performance bond following the termination of a contractor from a $16 million-plus construction project in upstate New York.

UBS Bank has sued Brian O'Hara, who is the chairman of Cayman Islands-domiciled, Bermuda-based insurance giant XL Capital Ltd., and his wife, Nancy, in an attempt to recover $1.5 million of loans that are allegedly outstanding.

 A default judgment has been entered in the United States against offshore services provider Red Sea Management Limited for allegedly defrauding investors of $7.4 million in a securities scam.

Scottish Re Group Ltd., several current and former officers and directors, its auditor, and the underwriters of two public offerings of the reinsurer's shares in 2005 have agreed to pay $37.5 million in cash to settle a class action lawsuit.An order preliminarily approving the proposed settlement was issued by Shira A. Scheindlin at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on September 8, 2008.

A bench trial in the SEC's civil action alleging securities fraud against former RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. boss James Stanard concluded on September 22, 2008 after six days of testimony. U. S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch, sitting at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, has yet to render his judgment.

An offshore services provider who serves as the Honorary Consul for St. Kitts & Nevis in Costa Rica and holds a similar position with the sham Internet-based jurisdiction known as 'New Utopia' has been accused of securities fraud in the United States.Jonathan Randall Curshen, a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the U. S. who appears to reside in both Costa Rica and Sarasota, Florida, was arrested in New York after a criminal complaint alleging conspiracy to commit securities fraud was filed against him and a business associate, Bruce L. Grossman, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on September 4, 2008.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in Australia by Simon Cathro, as the Foreign Representative of Betcorp Limited, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada.

Complaint in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Video Without Boundaries, Inc., d.b.a. China Logistics Group, Inc.; David J. Aubel and Vernon Jeffrey Harrell at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

A subsidiary of Bermuda-domiciled Syncora Holdings Ltd., formerly Security Capital Assurance Ltd., is on the hook for $331 million regarding a financial guaranty policy issued to the recently-collapsed IndyMac Bank.Details are contained in a complaint that was filed by XL Capital Assurance, Inc., now called Syncora Guarantee, Inc., at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 27, 2008. IndyMac Bank FSB was later replaced as the sole defendant by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation after the latter was appointed conservator of the bank on July 11, 2008.

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.

Former RenaissanceRe Chairman and CEO James Stanard has filed a motion to exclude the testimony of another ex-RenRe officer, Michael Cash, from his upcoming trial at federal court in New York, where he is defending a civil complaint alleging securities fraud that was brought by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Max Bermuda Ltd. and a US subsidiary of Bermuda-based Arch Capital Group are among several insurers being sued for in excess of $60 million by the owners and operators of an oil refinery in Kansas that was damaged by flooding.

Forty-seven individuals and companies in Bermuda, Canada, and the United Kingdom are being asked to provide evidence for a securities fraud civil action brought by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission against the Bermuda, Bahamas and Cayman operations of Lines Overseas Management, the group's President, Scott Lines, and its former President, Brian Lines.The witnesses include a stock analyst, newsletter writers, people who allegedly held shares in a nominee capacity for the Lines brothers, former employees of LOM, and officers and directors of two OTC BB-listed companies whose shares LOM allegedly manipulated, namely Sedona Software Solutions, Inc. and SHEP Technologies, Inc.

Criminal complaint filed by the USA against Jonathan Crushen and Bruce Grossman at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

AXIS Capital President and CEO John Charman has increased his lead as the Bermuda insurance executive with the most valuable portfolio of shares in his or her publicly-listed employer. Charman, 55, beneficially owned shares in AXIS Capital that had a market value of $221 million as of July 31, 2008, according to a share-ownership review of insurance executives by InsideBermuda.

Bermuda-based Arch Capital Group Ltd. and two of its US-domiciled operating subsidiaries are being sued for allegedly refusing to pay claims arising out of litigation filed on behalf of 11 dead and nearly 200 injured victims of a multiple train crash in California two years ago. Plaintiff the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, d.b.a. Metrolink, is seeking compensatory damages in excess of $1.5 million, plus punitive damages, in a civil complaint that was filed at the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, on June 9, 2008 and transferred to the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California on July 14.

Insiders at two of Bermuda's most stock market-challenged insurers have shown their faith in their companies by buying large quantities of shares on the open market, while many others are selling.

A Barbados-licensed insurer whose dubious activities were exposed two years ago by OffshoreAlert was named as a defendant in two civil lawsuits filed over a two-day period at federal courts in the United States during July. Strategy Insurance Ltd. was sued at the U. S. District Court for the District of Utah on July 15, 2008 and at the U. S. District Court for the District of Nevada on July 16, 2008.

Boston, Massachusetts-based mutual fund group Fidelity continues to be the biggest single investor — by a considerable margin — in the Bermuda insurance and reinsurance market.Fidelity owns at least 5% of the common shares of 10 of the 17 Bermuda-based companies publicly-listed in the United States that were included in an ownership review by InsideBermuda, based on filings with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Complaint in Europlan Financial Services, Ltd., as Trustee for Ormond Trust, and Deborah Richdale v. Rene Hamouth, True Product ID, Inc., Hamouth Family Trust, William R. Dunavant, Richard Specht, and Wilson W. Hendricks III at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

A trading loss of $25 million by a Canadian client with a checkered past has emerged as the principal reason for the collapse of a Bahamas-based financial services group earlier this year.Caledonia Corporate Management Limited allowed 39-year-old Ontario resident George Georgiou to start trading without providing any cash or security of his own, instead lending him millions of dollars and pledging other clients' assets as collateral, which were subsequently sold to meet a margin call. As Caledonia's problems mounted, the firm's principals then siphoned off virtually all of its remaining assets for no consideration to new companies they created, managed and controlled, leaving behind a shell that had unaudited assets of US$269,113 and liabilities that management listed as US$57,391 but which, in reality, will include the full amount of Georgiou's trading losses.

Complaint in The Cascade Fund LLLP v. Absolute Capital Management Holdings Limited, Absolute General Partner Limited, Florian Homm, Sean Ewing, John A. Fleming, Ronald E. Tompkins, and Ullrich Angersbach at the U. S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

Mark Watson, CEO of Argo Group International Holdings Ltd., was the highest-compensated executive officer of any Bermuda-based, publicly-listed insurer in 2007, receiving a package valued at $15 million. Watson was one of one of four executives whose remuneration for the 12 months ended December 31, 2007 totaled at least $10 million, with the others being ACE's Evan Greenberg, AXIS Capital's John Charman, and Everest Re Group's Joseph Taranto, with packages of $14 million, $12.5 million, and $10.2 million, respectively.

A non-profit corporation that assists the advertising community by independently determining the circulation of commercial publications has accused AXIS Specialty Insurance Company of refusing to pay its legal costs and fees occurred in defending two class action lawsuits. Details are contained in a civil complaint that was filed against AXIS by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which is incorporated in Illinois and based in Schaumburg, Illinois, at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on May 28, 2008. The causes of action are breach of contract, and unreasonable and vexatious failure to provide coverage. 

Two Bermuda-based firms, Allied World Assurance Company and ACE Underwriting Agencies Limited, are among 13 defendants being sued for $14.7 million by U. S. Comcast Corporation over an insurance claim for damages caused by a hurricane that struck Florida in 2004. The complaint was filed by Pennsylvania-based Comcast Corporation, which is the largest cable television company and second largest Internet Service Provider in the U. S. and also a provider of telephone services, at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on April 9, 2008. The sole cause of action is breach of contract.

A U. S. subsidiary of Bermuda-based XL Capital Ltd. is seeking to avoid having to pay the costs of defending former officers and directors of scandal-plagued commodities and futures broker Refco Inc. in a slew of litigation brought by parties who claim they were defrauded. XL Specialty Insurance Company, which is incorporated in Delaware and based in Hartford, Connecticut, claims an insurance policy it issued does not cover such losses because Refco was involved in fraudulent conduct before the policy became effective but hid the activity from XL.

Bermuda-based Security Capital Assurance Ltd., in which XL Capital owns a 46% stake, has been hit with a new wave of class action lawsuits. Already facing class action litigation brought on behalf of shareholders for alleged fraud, the latest lawsuits seek to recover damages on behalf of purchasers of municipal derivatives from January 1, 1992 to the present. The latest class action complaints - numbering three so far - were filed at three different federal courts in the United States from March 12 to April 23, 2008, with eight municipalities or cities and one university as the specimen plaintiffs.

A British Virgin Islands-domiciled investment fund domiciled is suing a U. S. corporation whose shares are traded on the Over The Counter Bulletin Board for allegedly defaulting on a $500,000 loan. Professional Offshore Opportunity Fund Ltd., which is recognized as professional funds under Section 20 (1) of the BVI Mutual Funds Act, 1996 (as amended), filed a complaint against Franklin Towers Enterprises Inc., identified as a Nevada corporation based in Barnstead, New Hampshire, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on April 21, 2008.

Two United States-based subsidiaries of Bermuda firms have joined a slew of litigation by insurers and reinsurers who are seeking damages against the United States Government for claims caused by Hurricane Katrina.The two new actions were filed at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on March 7, 2008 and brought to 1,568 the number of Katrina-related cases filed at the court against the Government, which have been rolled into one lead action.

London-based Merrill Lynch International has filed a lawsuit against a subsidiary of Bermuda-based bond insurer Security Capital Assurance Ltd. in an attempt to enforce guarantees of up to $3.1 billion.MLI, which is incorporated in England and Wales, filed a complaint at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 19, 2008. Defendants are XL Capital Assurance Inc., which is incorporated and based in New York and a subsidiary of SCA, and XLCA Admin LLC, as Trustee for seven trusts, which are all based in New York. MLI is seeking declaratory judgments that guarantees from XLCA are "binding and enforceable".

KPMG (Bermuda) has agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle class action shareholder litigation concerning its audits of Bermuda-based Annuity & Life Re (Holdings) Ltd. An order approving a provisional settlement agreement was issued by U. S. District Judge Ellen Bree Burns, sitting at the U. S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, on February 19, 2008. The settlement amount was due to be paid by KPMG "within ten business days" of the date of the order. KPMG entered into the settlement without admitting any wrongdoing.

Complaint in Kent Carasquero, Leslie Lounsbury, Riverside Manitoba, Inc., and Tyee Capital Consultants, Inc. v. Intrepid Global Imaging 3D, Inc., Richard Specht, Rene Hamouth, Hamouth Family Trust, William R. Dunavant, and William R. Dunavant Family Holdings, Inc. at the U. S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Order dismissing a libel complaint filed by Kevin Hamilton against KYC News, Inc. and David Marchant at Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Canada.

A United Kingdom subsidiary of Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. is being sued in the United States for allegedly failing to pay claims concerning an oil spill. Eagle Oil Management Co. LLC, based in Caddo, Louisiana, is seeking unspecific compensatory and punitive damages in a civil complaint that it filed against Aspen Insurance UK Ltd. at the 1st Judicial District Court for the Parish of Caddo in the State of Louisiana on October 22, 2007. The case was transferred to the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on November 16, 2007 by Aspen Insurance.

Two subsidiaries of Bermuda-based Arch Capital Group Ltd. are being sued in the United States in a dispute over construction performance bonds. Arch Insurance Co. and Arch Reinsurance Co. were named as the only defendants in a civil complaint that was filed at the 250th Judicial District Court of Travis County, Texas on October 9, 2007 and later transferred by the Arch companies to the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Texas on November 8, 2007.

Following a long regulatory investigation that it went to extraordinary lengths to block through the courts, offshore financial services group Lines Overseas Management has been charged with securities fraud in a civil complaint that was filed yesterday by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The defendants include LOM companies in Bermuda, where the group is headquartered; the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands, as well as LOM's President and CEO, Scott Lines, and his brother, Brian Lines, who resigned as LOM's president, effective July 1, 2005, as a result of the SEC investigation. The group's chairman, Brian and Scott's father Donald Lines, is not a defendant.

Complaint alleging securities fraud in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Brian N. Lines, of Bermuda; Scott G. S. Lines, of Bermuda; LOM (Holdings) Ltd., of Bermuda; Lines Overseas Management Ltd., of Bermuda; LOM Capital Ltd., of Bermuda; LOM Securities (Bahamas) Ltd., of the Bahamas; LOM Securities (Bermuda) Ltd., of Bermuda; LOM Securities (Cayman) Ltd., of the Cayman Islands; Anthony W. Wile, a Canadian residing in Florida; Wayne E. Wile, a Canadian residing in the Cayman Islands; Robert J. Chapman, of Punta Gorda, Florida; William Todd Peever, of Vancouver, Canada; Phillip James Curtis, of Vancouver, Canada, and Ryan G. Leeds, of Boca Raton, Florida, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

A Hurricane Katrina-related lawsuit has been filed in Louisiana against two U. S. subsidiaries of Bermuda-based insurers.

The now-defunct, Bermuda-based insurance broker best-known as Stirling Cooke Brown has agreed to pay up to $42.3 million to settle claims with its one-time business partner, Clarendon Insurance Group. A motion to approve the settlement was filed by Stirling Cooke's Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee, Richard E. O'Connell, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on November 30, 2007.

A U. S. subsidiary of Bermuda-based Arch Capital Group Limited is being sued in New Jersey by a large, privately-held property management and security services company. Arch Insurance Company, based in Stamford, Connecticut, is a defendant along with IOA Re, described as a "professional reinsurance underwriter manager" headquartered in Norristown, Pennsylvania; and The Loomis Company, described as an "independent insurance agency" based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, in a complaint that was filed by Control Services Group, a New Jersey corporation based in Secaucus, New Jersey, at the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Bergen County, on September 19, 2007 and transferred to the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on November 2, 2007 by IOA Re.

A U. S. subsidiary of Bermuda-domiciled Everest Re Group Ltd. is fighting an attempt to hold it responsible for a $52.4 million judgment against one of its insureds. Everest Indemnity Insurance Company, a Delaware corporation based in New Jersey, is embroiled in litigation at state and federal courts in Ohio with Joshua Doepker, Kevin Johnson, and Willo Security Inc.

Retail giant Sears, Roebuck and Co. and related companies have filed a complaint in Atlanta in which they are seeking hundreds of millions of damages against insurers in Bermuda and elsewhere concerning an alleged bid rigging scheme involving brokers Marsh