Listed Securities

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.

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.

Even in bankruptcy, the now defunct, fraudulently operated Stirling Cooke Brown Insurance group is causing chaos in the insurance industry.The latest Bermuda firm to be affected is Max Re Capital Limited, which is a defendant in a civil lawsuit concerning

A Cayman Islands registered hedge fund is being sued by the SEC, which claims it helped to perpetrate a multi million dollar fraud.Wood River Partners Offshore, Ltd. was named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit filed at the U.

Judgment in Smart Video Technologies, Inc. v. Rene Hamouth at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

A Florida based stock promoter with a checkered past has been served with a subpoena on behalf of the liquidators of collapsed Cayman Islands based stock broker SEGOES Services Ltd. Howard Gostfrand, of Miami Beach, and his Florida incorporated stock

Renaissance Re announced on September 27 that it had received a “Wells Notice” from the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the SEC's ongoing investigation into the restatement of the firm's financial statements. “Under the

ACE Limited disclosed on September 22 that it had resolved a lawsuit brought by the Connecticut Attorney General, and will pay $40,000 in exchange for a release of Connecticut's claims and a withdrawal of the complaint. "The claims related to

Life just keeps getting worse for offshore financial services firm Lines Overseas Management Ltd., which is headquartered in Bermuda and also has offices in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, and England.In June, LOM became a defendant in another civil complaint in the United States, this one concerning a $140 million investment fraud for which LOM allegedly introduced investors and provided at least one account, despite regulatory warnings about the scheme and unsatisfied judgments against its masterminds, one of whom was already an undischarged bankrupt when LOM allegedly became involved.

Mutual Risk Management Ltd. has settled litigation with Boston based John Hancock Life Insurance Company, which MRM blamed for causing its collapse.MRM's civil complaint against Hancock was dismissed with prejudice at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District

After months of failing to disclose it in SEC filings, a penny stock firm controlled by Bermudian brothers Brian and Scott Lines has given its first hint that an application on its behalf for a Bermuda insurance license has been

Bermuda law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman has been dismissed from a court action in the United States but a judge has ruled that its client, ACE Bermuda Insurance Ltd., must remain in the case. The adversary proceeding was filed

Two career criminals whose undercover work for the FBI was the mainstay of Operation ‘Bermuda Short' have been rewarded with light sentences for a securities fraud they committed nearly ten years ago.David William Jones, 44, received a one-year prison term, while Robert Schlien, 56, escaped prison altogether, receiving just five years of probation, during sentencing at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on June 17, 2005. They must also jointly and severally pay restitution of $4,591,773. They had each previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud concerning criminal activity that ended in February, 1996.

Bermudian Michael Cash, who resigned as on officer of RenaissanceRe after refusing to accept service of an SEC subpoena, will soon have a few more process servers at his door.Along with four other officers and the company itself, Cash has been named as a defendant in at least two class action complaints filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Fidelity - the largest mutual fund group in the United States - has maintained its position as the largest single investor group in the Bermuda insurance market.Fidelity owns at least five per cent of common shares in eight of the 14 Bermuda-based, publicly-listed insurers whose ownerships were reviewed by InsideBermuda. That is three more major investments than another Boston, Massachusetts-based fund group, Wellington Management, which was revealed as the second biggest ownership group in our review. Collectively, Fidelity's stakes have a market value of more than $2.7 billion, with Wellington just behind at $2.5 billion.

The U. S. District Court for the Central District of California has granted summary judgment in favor of the SEC and against a publicly-traded firm that was closely associated with a closed-end investment fund that was once listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

AXIS Capital President and CEO John Charman is Bermuda's $182 million man, according to the latest review of own-company shareholdings that is conducted annually by InsideBermuda. That is the current market value of shares in AXIS that Charman beneficially owns, as reported by the firm in its most recent proxy statement filing with the SEC.

A New York-based attorney with a conviction for securities fraud is an insider in a penny stock firm controlled by the principals of Bermuda-based Lines Overseas Management, OffshoreAlert can reveal. The involvement of Edward Marvin Grushko casts further suspicion on River Capital Group Inc., which is raising money from the public by claiming it intends to operate as a Bermuda insurer without disclosing that two licensing applications were turned down by the Insurance Admissions Committee of the Bermuda Monetary Authority last year and that no further application has been made since then.

A lawsuit alleging contempt of court has been brought in the United States against Bermuda's biggest law firm, Conyers Dill & Pearman, and one of its clients, ACE Insurance Company Ltd. They are defendants in an adversary proceeding filed at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona on April 18, 2005 by Gerald Smith, as Plan Trustee of Boston Chicken Inc. and related parties, and as assignee of former Boston Chicken officers or directors Scott A. Beck and Peer Pedersen.

Bermuda based stock broker Lines Overseas Management has been caught up in yet another securities fraud investigation being carried out by the Securities & Exchange Commission in the United States.LOM was named as a relief defendant in a civil complaint

The principal owner of a failed offshore stock broker known as SEGOES has filed a suspicious activity report against two of its former officers and a penny stock promoter.John Kaweske, a U. S. national with Caymanian status, supplied information to

Stock option profits of $9.8 million helped make Anthony Taylor the best compensated officer of a Bermuda-based, publicly-listed insurer in 2004.The Chairman, President and CEO of property and casualty reinsurer Montpelier Re received a total package worth $15.3 million during the 12-month period, propelling him into top spot in InsideBermuda's compensation review, compared with 31st position a year earlier.

A penny stock firm controlled by the senior officers of Bermuda-based investment firm Lines Overseas Management reported a net loss of $778,928 for the 12 months ended December 31, 2004, according to its recent 10K filing with the SEC, increasing its deficit to $1.08 million.However, River Capital Group Inc.'s share price soared during the year, hitting a high of $6.50 on the Pink Sheets market, despite the firm having no full-time employees, no revenue and, some would say, no future.

SEC's Closing Argument and Trial Brief in a securities fraud complaint against Agora, Inc., Pirate Investor, LLC and Frank Porter Stansberry at the U. S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

ACE announced on March 8 that California Superior Court Judge James L. Warren had entered judgment in favor of several ACE companies in a lawsuit brought against Insurance Company of North America (INA), INA Financial Corporation, ACE Property and Casualty

BF&M Ltd. has announced a share transaction that will "effectively" cut all ownership links with Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Ltd. (in liquidation), from which it was fraudulently spun off in 1991.Details of the disentanglement - which will end one

Just three months before its claim for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages is due to be tried, Mutual Risk Management Ltd. is involved in a discovery dispute with John Hancock Life Insurance Company.In a filing at the U.

Three former senior officers of The Harris Organization, which defrauded clients out of tens of millions of dollars before collapsing in 2002, are back in business in Panama. Lawrence George Gandolfi, 65, a.k.a. Larry Gandolfi Christopher Glover Davy, 60, and

Bermuda registered ESG Re is now pursuing a professional negligence claim against its former auditor, Deloitte and Touche, in Ireland after a United States court rejected jurisdiction.Defendants in a new action filed at the High Court (Commercial Division) in Dublin

Segments of Bermuda's insurance industry are in chaos as law enforcement and regulatory agencies in the United States crank up their investigations into offshore transactions.AIG's local operation appears to be in melt down, while finite risk reinsurer Inter Ocean Reinsurance

The auditor of River Capital Group Inc., which appears to be controlled by investment firm Lines Overseas Management and is associated with ex-Aon (Bermuda) boss Robin Spencer-Arscott, has resigned.No explanation for the resignation of Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Sweeney, Gates & Co. was given in an SEC filing on March 3, 2005 other than to state there were no accounting disagreements.

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. announced on February 28 that it had received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with an industry-wide investigation into non-traditional insurance products.

Two Bermuda companies are among several insurers being sued for allegedly refusing to pay a business interruption claim concerning a mine fire in Pennsylvania. Allied World Assurance Company Ltd. and XL Insurance (Bermuda) Ltd. are defendants alongside Berkshire Hathaway Inc., incorporated in Delaware and based in Stamford, Connecticut; National Fire & Marine Insurance Company, incorporated and based in Nebraska; Commonwealth Insurance Company, of Vancouver, Canada; International Mining Industry Underwriters Ltd., of London, England; International Insurance Company of Hannover Limited, of Surrey, England; Lloyd's of London, Hiscox Syndicate Limited, Ascot Underwriters Limited, and R. J. Kiln & Co. Limited, all c/o Mendes & Mount, New York.

A notorious penny stock swindler currently in prison for fraud is secretly behind a Costa Rica-based Internet 'stock exchange', OffshoreAlert can disclose. Harold Bailey Gallison Jr., a 47-year-old U. S. national, controls the Global Internet Stock Brokerage Exchange, trading as GISBeX, through nominees, including his 74-year-old mother.

GISBeX: Listed Issuers, their management and service providers (past and present) - February 28, 2005

Bermuda-based investment firm Lines Overseas Management and its Managing Director, Scott Lines, have applied for a stay - pending an appeal - of a court order requiring them to turn over information to the SEC for use in two investigations into alleged securities fraud. In a joint motion to the U. S. District Court for the District of Maryland, LOM and Lines, claim that, until a final order is rendered, they "cannot lawfully be required to comply" with four SEC subpoenas and, therefore, the effect of a January 7, 2005 ruling by Magistrate Judge Alan Kay ordering them to comply should be stayed until it becomes final.

The last phase of the 1999 settlement between the liquidators of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Limited and BF&M Ltd., which was fraudulently spun off from it, has begun. Part of the $60 million agreement to settle litigation at Bermuda Supreme Court included Bermuda Fire & Marine receiving options to buy shares in BF&M.

A South Carolina risk purchasing firm is suing two Bermuda companies for at least $122,000 in damages and an injunction preventing the commutation of an insurance policy. The action was filed at the U. S. District Court for the District of South Carolina on August 31, 2004 against Alternative Re Holdings Ltd., of Bermuda, Arch Excess & Surplus Lines Insurance Co., of Bermuda; and Indiana Provider Coalition Inc., of Indiana. Plaintiff LTC Risk Purchasing Group Inc., of South Carolina, alleges beach of contract and is seeking an accounting, declaratory relief, and injunctive relief.

The share price of Bermuda-based ACE Ltd. has been unaffected by a lawsuit alleging that one of its subsidiaries paid a $50,000 bribe to broker Marsh & McLennan to secure an $80 million state contract. ACE's shares ended January at $43.40 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, virtually unchanged from the day before the complaint was filed at Connecticut Superior Court by the State of Connecticut on January 21, 2005. The price was 19 per cent higher than the day before the Marsh scandal began on October 14, 2004.

The British Columbia Securities Commission yesterday dismissed an application for cease trade orders and other sanctions against offshore investment firm Lines Overseas Management Ltd. and its senior officers. However, it was a hollow victory for the respondents since the Commission panel immediately ordered a new hearing to determine whether to ban LOM from the local market for different reasons.

Bermuda-based investment firm Lines Overseas Management Ltd. and its Managing Director, Scott Lines, have been ordered by a U. S. court to comply with four subpoenas served on them last April by the SEC. The order was issued by Magistrate Judge Alan Kay at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia on January 7, 2005. It is likely that LOM, at least, will appeal the decision, as the firm has previously indicated it would do if the ruling went against it.

The head of an Aspen Insurance-subsidiary resigned in December after admitting that he "misstated his educational credentials in U. S. insurance regulatory submissions", stated the company. Aspen gave no further details about the reasons for the departure of Peter Coghlan as President and CEO of Aspen Specialty Insurance Company in a press release dated December 13, 2004. Coghlan has been replaced by Chris Maciejewski, who has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Casualty Underwriter of Aspen Specialty since 2003.

Arch Capital Group and AXIS Capital Holdings both reported in December that they had been issued with subpoenas as part of industry-wide investigations by various U. S. authorities.

A United States court has reserved judgment on whether an offshore investment firm and its boss must comply with four subpoenas served on them by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay did not issue a ruling from the bench at the end of a two-hour hearing on December 10, 2004 at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia, as the SEC had hoped.

Judgment in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Philip Sexauer at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Three more former Enron officers have filed a complaint against insurers in Bermuda and elsewhere in an attempt to protect their directors and officers liability coverage.The latest action was filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District

An arbitration panel has ordered PartnerRe to pay $19.4 million to Diamond State Insurance Company in a dispute over reinsurance coverage for weather derivative contracts.Details of the award were announced on November 29, 2004 by Diamond State's Cayman Islands domiciled

Bermuda firms continued to received subpoenas in connection with various investigations into the insurance industry that are being conducted in the United States.Both ACE and Platinum Underwriters disclosed that they had received subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission in