We help our clients operate more effectively in the world of high-value international finance.
About OffshoreAlert
OffshoreAlert At A Glance
Founded
1996
Headquarters
Miami, US
Events Annually
3
1996
Headquarters
Miami, US
Events Annually
3
CEO
David Marchant
Industry
News & Intelligence
Focus
Financial Crime
David Marchant
Industry
News & Intelligence
Focus
Financial Crime
The Unofficial Financial Regulator
OffshoreAlert publishes news and documents about Offshore Financial Centers, with an emphasis on fraud investigations, and also holds annual conferences about OFCs, focusing on products and services, tax and political issues, compliance, money laundering, fraud, asset recovery and investigations.
OffshoreAlert is generally considered to be a leading authority on OFCs and serious financial crime.
Years of Exposing Fraud
21
Conferences on Financial Crime
23
Scams Exposed
175+
Delegates Served
5000+
A Complete Approach to Fraud and Asset Recovery
Our Mission
Everything we do is with a view to holding fraudsters accountable for their actions by i) reducing their ability to commit future frauds by publicizing their misdeeds and ii) finding and recovering the assets that they have swindled from victims.
On The News Side
We expose investment fraud schemes while they are in progress, causing them to collapse earlier than they otherwise would. In doing so, we bring fraudulent schemes into play for asset recovery specialists. We literally create ‘action’ in the industry.
On The Conference Side
We bring all stakeholders together in one place at one time so that deals can be made. Victims, insolvency practitioners, litigators, litigation funders, investigators law enforcement, regulators, judges, journalists and others. Our events foster symbiosis.
The Crooks
"I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
"I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
"David Marchant is only alive because killing him would be a crime."
Slogan on a T-Shirt hanging in the office of Panama-based, American offshore provider Marc Harris in 1998 shortly after he was exposed by OffshoreAlert. Five years later, Harris was indicted in Florida for fraud and money laundering, for which he was convicted at trial and sentenced to 17 years in prison and a $30 million financial penalty. He was released in 2016.
"IDIC's operations have been suspended by the government of Nevis as a result of Marchant's malicious and false statements."
U.S. national Douglas Ferguson in a libel complaint filed against OffshoreAlert in Florida in 1999 by his Nevis-domiciled International Depositors' Reinsurance Corporation, a.k.a. IDIC, after we had exposed its $170 million fraudulent scheme with offshore banks in Grenada. Four years later, Ferguson was indicted in Oregon, pleading guilty to money laundering and receiving a prison sentence of 52 months and a financial penalty of $28 million.
"As a result of the actions taken by Marchant and companies under his control, [our] business relationships have been, and continue to be, substantially and irrevocably damaged. In addition, First Bank's ability to attract new customers has been, and continues to be, severely reduced as a result of the actions taken by Marchant and the companies under his control."
U.S. national Gilbert Ziegler, a.k.a. Van Brink, in a libel complaint against OffshoreAlert in Florida in 1999 by his First International Bank of Grenada, which perpetrated a $170 million offshore banking fraud. Brink was indicted in Oregon for fraud and money laundering in 2002 and died in 2006 while awaiting trial.
"Your newsletter exposé and commentary regarding Windsor International Bank and Trust Company Limited, its officers, directors and advisors, and indirectly the State of Grenada, are an affront to integrity in journalism, and a despicable case of malicious intent and gross negligence to damage WIB and all connected thereto, for your own self-serving motives and those whom are obvious supporters of your destructive efforts ... You have a lust for defamation and destruction."
Maryland-based dentist Dr. Noel Tait in 2001. Two years later, Tait was charged with fraud in Pennsylvania, pleading guilty and receiving 27 months in prison and a $1.2 million financial penalty. The directors of his fraudulent offshore bank, which offered depositors "guaranteed" annual interest of 50%, included the following Grenada dignitaries: then Governor-General Sir Paul Scoon; former Prime Minister Ben Jones, and two local magistrates, Carlyle John and Joachim St. John.
"Frankly speaking your articles frighten banks and institutions, you've frightened HSBC, Girobank, Lloyds TSB, Barclays, Lloyds Underwriters, Henry Ansbacher, 10's of assurance companies and many others, but by frightening them you've also unstabalised 500 jobs, people who work hard for a living and respect their employer who has at all times treated them well and fairly. You have undermined investor and broker confidence in a company that has never missed a redemption, yield or any other investor obligation in all the years it has traded."
U.K. national Jared Brook in 2001 when complaining about OffshoreAlert's exposure of his fraudulently-operated Bahamas/Grenada/UK-based investment and banking group Imperial Consolidated, which collapsed the following year after perpetrating a $300 million fraud. Brook was disqualified as a company director in 2001, declared bankrupt in 2003, and later, with four others, charged with fraud, all in the U.K. Brook was acquitted of the criminal charges after two trials.
"There is barely a single problem that Imperial Consolidated has encountered that you have not had a personal hand in creating or worsening, much to the financial benefit of you and your clients."
U.K. national Lincoln Fraser in 2002 shortly after his Imperial Consolidated Group, which was exposed by OffshoreAlert in 1999, collapsed after perpetrating a $300 million fraud. Fraser was disqualified as a company director in 2001, declared bankrupt for the second time in seven years in 2003, and later, with four others, charged with fraud, all in the U.K. Fraser was acquitted of the criminal charges after two trials.
"Greetings Skelton Face: This is my last request for you to retract your previous false posting. I have previously emailed you evidentiary documentation stating the true facts concerning my case and you have refused to correct your posting that was based on a corrupt luciferian Corporate United States Federal Court system operating in Madison Wisconsin that you seem to be complicit with. I have thoroughly reviewed your past financial reports and it is obvious that you are a pimp for the United States Federal Corporate Government. I am sure your subscribers would be interested in reading the true [sic] about you. Your handlers are feeding you the wrong information concerning world finances and who owns and controls the gold that backed the development of the entire world. Also attached are filed court documents that you should research. I can assure you that my authority is higher than that of an Ambassador or Diplomat."
Garry Milosevich in 2015 complaining about articles and documents concerning his involvement with Grenada-based Lincoln Investment Bank, which was exposed as a fraud by OffshoreAlert in 2001 and for which Milosevich was indicted for fraud in Wisconsin in 2007. He fled to Honduras but was forced back to the U.S. in 2012, pleading guilty the following year and receiving a prison sentence of six-and-a-half years.
"Your enquiry is illigal [sic] and will be reported to OFAC whom will make a robust response to ensure that your illigal [sic] actions and interefering [sic] policies are stopped, this may result in a fine or custodial or other punitive action by the US Regulators."
"You are a fraudster and a criminal."
Jean-Philippe Grange in 2015 and 2016 after OffshoreAlert published a recording of a telephone interview we conducted with him and his colleague, Sam Zumbe, concerning their involvement with an investment fraud known as CWM. During the interview, Zumbe came out with the classic line that their Delaware-domiciled pretend 'bank' was licensed by "the Pentagon".
"You're a nobody and a nosy parker."
U.K. national Sam Zumbe during a telephone interview in 2015 when OffshoreAlert grilled him about a fraudulent, unlicensed 'bank' known as Newport Enterprises that he was involved with.
"Since the articles were published, the amount of new investment has dropped significantly and significant redemptions have started. For the five months leading up to the articles, i.e. April to September 2016, total subscriptions to the claimant's 'senior secure loan offering' were £2.47 million. For the five months following the article, i.e. October 2016 to February 2017, total subscriptions have been £380,000. This represents a drop in subscriptions of 85%. By way of comparison, in the five months running from November 2015 to March 2016, subscriptions were £2.24 million. It is clear, therefore, that the article itself had a very substantial negative impact on investment."
Mark Munnelly, a director of British firm Privilege Wealth Plc, describing in a witness statement in 2017 at the High Court, in London, the effects of OffshoreAlert's exposure of his firm's investment fraud. Less than 12 months later, Privilege Wealth disclosed it was insolvent by over $40 million due to fraud and went into administration.
"... you have no idea how infuriating it is reading that you're a fraudster when I have never committed fraud in my life ... Your sensational articles, cherry pick small items of information that will sell you $90 subscriptions, but you steadfastly refuse to acknowledge the truth. I hope the following helps you understand your unconscious incompetence ..."
Brett Jolly, a banned company director in the U.K. and a serial fraudster, complaining in 2017 about OffshoreAlert revealing that he was secretly behind a $40 million-plus investment fraud carried out by the Privilege Wealth Group., which we exposed in late 2016, causing it to quickly collapse.
Their Attorneys
"You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies."
- Oscar Wilde
"You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies."
- Oscar Wilde
"You have established yourself as the type of journalist who is incapable of fair, factual and accurate reporting, so we will not oblige you with any response for you to distort and misreport."
Cayman Islands attorney Orren Merren, representing corrupt Cayman Islands politician McKeeva Bush, complaining in 1997 about OffshoreAlert's exposure of the fraudulently-operated First Cayman Bank, of which Bush was a director and the beneficiary of a substantial loan. FCB was closed down by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority that year and Bush, who threatened to sue OffshoreAlert for libel but never did, was fired as a Government Minister.
"In the investment community, a business' financial well-being relies heavily on its reputation for honesty and stability. Your articles falsely depict the Clients as fraudulent investment sources without providing any evidentiary support for your conclusion. The articles mislead readers by strategically placing fraudulent "buzz" words around incorrect and insignificant statements which cast the Clients in an extremely negative light and result in an inescapable inference of impropriety and dishonesty."
Hans Christian Beyer, of Florida law firm Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, on behalf of his clients, International Depositors' Reinsurance Corporation Ltd., d.b.a. IDIC, of Nevis; First International Bank of Grenada Ltd., and World Investors' Stock Exchange, both of Grenada, in a libel complaint against OffshoreAlert in 1999 shortly after we had exposed their $170 million offshore banking fraud in which they were offering foreign depositors "guaranteed" returns of up to 250% per year. Four years later, five of the scheme's principals, Gilbert Ziegler, Larry Barnabe, Douglas Ferguson, Robert Skirving, and Rita Regale, were indicted for fraud and money laundering in Oregon. Ziegler died before trial and the other four pleaded guilty, receiving prison sentences from 18 months to eight years and a $28 million financial penalty.
"The Offending Articles are a collection of false and malicious conclusions supported, if at all, solely by incorrect, incomplete, misleading, or irrelevant factual assertions. The Offending Articles contain language rich in innuendo from which a disinterested reader could only conclude that the Plaintiffs actually are "crooks" engaged in fraudulent practices."
David Rothstein, of Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, on behalf of fraudulent offshore companies IDIC, FIBG, and WISE in a failed Emergency Motion in 1999 for an injunction to prevent OffshoreAlert from further exposing their criminal enterprise in which they were offering foreign clients "guaranteed" annual returns of up to 250%.
"The glaring inconsistencies in the article, as well as the obvious absence of a relationship between the scandalous headline and the body of the article, represents one of the clearest examples of irresponsible journalism that I have encountered ... I therefore demand that your magazine publishes an appropriately worded apology and that the said apology be given the same prominence which was provided to the above-mentioned article. Given the nature of the libel, however, an apology will not suffice to right the wrong which has been inflicted upon my clients. I therefore must require that you submit to me an offer of damages as compensation for the injury inflicted upon my client. If no reasonable apology and offer of damages is made to me by facsimile within 14 days of the date of this letter instructions shall be provided to solicitors in your jurisdiction for the initiation of appropriate legal proceedings against you. I must also inform you that I have instructed solicitors to act on my own behalf to seek an appropriate apology and damages from you for the grave libel inflicted upon me personally and professionally, by the imputation that I involved [sic] in the perpetration of a fraud."
Dominica-based attorney Gerald Burton complaining in 1999 about our exposure of fraudulent offshore insurer IDIC, of which he was corporate counsel. Three weeks later, IDIC was closed down by the Nevis financial services regulator and it later came out that Burton had received at least $107,000 for participating in the scam.
"... my clients intend to make inquires of the appropriate authorities in the State of Florida including criminal counsel, as to whether your activities amount to some sort of criminal wrongdoing. I can assure you that if they do, my clients’ intention is to seek to bring you personally to justice. It would be prudent and wise on your part to refrain from any further publication as to my clients or their associated or affiliated corporations and business associates. Should you choose to do so, please be advised that you are proceeding at your own risk."
Letter in 2005 from Warren Tobias, attorney for Giuseppe Joseph Castiglione, a twice-convicted fraudster in North America and a disqualified director in the U.K., and his fraudulently-operated Bahamas-based Banakor Swisse, which swindled pensioners and others in a securities scam.
"The defendants' conduct has been vicious, outrageous, and high-handed, thereby warranting the imposition of very substantial aggravated and punitive damages."
Toronto-based barrister and solicitor Ronald Chapman, representing Kevin Hamilton, in a libel complaint in 2006 in Ontario. Hamilton claimed that OffshoreAlert defamed him by describing him as a "convicted fraudster". In his deposition, twice-bankrupt Hamilton agreed that he had been convicted of knowingly falsifying his tax returns, for which he went to prison, but denied this amounted to fraud.
"We represent Tim Schools. We write on his behalf regarding your recent articles about our client and the Axiom Fund. ... The thrust of those articles ... is that Axiom is a Ponzi scheme and that our client has taken money from investors by means of that scheme. You say that our client has embezzled the money. The allegations are untrue and defamatory. Our client is in the process of issuing proceedings against you for defamation ... You are, of course, not accountable to anyone and are thus able to be as self-important and irresponsible as you please - a privilege our client does not enjoy. The reality is that Axiom is a properly run business, offering good returns to investors and assisting those who lack the means to assist themselves."
David McIntosh QC, of Rodney Warren & Co. and a past president of the Law Society of England and Wales, no less, in 2012 after his client, Timothy Schools, and Schools' Cayman Islands-domiciled Axiom Legal Financing Fund were exposed by OffshoreAlert. Axiom went bust in 2013 after perpetrating a £100 million investment fraud. Schools and several other British solicitors were later struck off by the U.K. Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for their roles in the scam.
"David Marchant is one of those self-righteous self-titled “journalist” [sic] who peddles fake news for money ... I have dealt with your sort for many years. They throw out allegations which when challenged they cannot substantiate – even to the very modest 51% level of probability required in a UK course [sic]. So using one excuse or another they just duck out. I regarded you as a charlatan then and do so now."
English attorney Jonathan Coad in emails in 2018 regarding his client, Privilege Wealth Plc, whose $40 million-plus investment fraud targeted pensioners and was exposed by OffshoreAlert in 2016, causing it to collapse in 2017. Ironically, a creditor in PW's administration was none other than Coad's employer, Lewis Silkin, with a claim for £45,107 in unpaid legal fees!
The Delusional
"Judge a man by the reputation of his enemies."
- Arabian Proverb
"Judge a man by the reputation of his enemies."
- Arabian Proverb
"To suggest, as you have done, that companies based in the TCI are crooked until proven otherwise is totally misleading and demonstrably and palpably false … If the balance of your efforts bear no more resemblance to reality than those with respect to the TCI I suggest the existence of [OffshoreAlert] will be brief and its demise swift, just and certain."
Turks and Caicos Islands resident Dale Peters complaining in 1997 about OffshoreAlert's description of the TCI as the "Totally Corrupt Islands". Twelve years later, the TCI Government was suspended and the country taken over by the United Kingdom, essentially for being 'Totally Corrupt'. OffshoreAlert, meanwhile, is thriving!
"... the repeated inaccurate and/or incomplete stories, loaded questions, and misrepresentations we find in your publication have made us conclude that our hope of receiving a balanced view from you is simply not possible."
Scott Hill, Compliance Officer with Bermuda-based stock-broker Lines Overseas Management, in 1999 complaining of OffshoreAlert's exposure of LOM's involvement in investment scams. Six years later, LOM was sued for securities fraud in New York by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, settling the action in 2010 by agreeing to financial penalties of $2.5 million and trading bans.
"You, who appear to have no academic qualification whatsoever, are seen to take delight in pulling down those who have done something with their life over and above writing a third-rate tabloid. … you are a cowardly ersatz journalist … You are no Ralph Nader nor are you an acclaimed guardian of offshore public morals – we all know that!"
U.K. national Nigel Scott Grant in 2001 in response to allegations that approximately 200 of his offshore firm's clients had been swindled of $6 million. Five years later, Grant's business partner, Charles Nolon Bush, was indicted for securities fraud and money laundering in Washington, for which he was found guilty at trial and sentenced to 30 years in prison and a $30 million financial penalty. Grant, meanwhile, moved from Nevis to Florida and filed for bankruptcy in 2010.
"I feel strongly that you should search your own soul because the only frauds being committed are by your publication (if you can call it that), by your vicious guesses and insinuations, by your sponsors and the fact that you are being paid so little to prostitute your editorial integrity. You do not have a career as a journalist because you will never be able to secure a position with a real publishing house. You have no more right to be a journalist than you would the right to run a trust company in Nevis because you have to real credentials or experience. In fact I believe you have a longer Rap sheet than you have a list of qualifications. Were you not ejected from Bermuda, striped [sic] of your status, for exactly the same kind of sleaze journalism? It's time for you to get a life and a real job David!"
Nicolas Grant-St. James, an undischarged bankrupt in the U.K. at the time, complaining in 2001 about OffshoreAlert's exposure of a Ponzi scheme involving a Nevis-based offshore firm he operated with his father, Nigel Scott Grant, and Nolon Bush, the latter of whom was later indicted for fraud in the U.S. and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
"We have every reason to believe that, besides being a malicious pseudo-journalist, Mr. Marchant is an illegal immigrant in the United States, is being financed by one of our offshore competitors to attack other offshore businesses like ours, has known arms traffickers with links to terrorism among his clients and is engaged in blackmail and extortion. It will come as no surprise that we want him stopped. Therefore, we have taken the unusual step to offer a reward of $100,000, that is one hundred thousand US dollars, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Mr. Marchant in any applicable jurisdiction for crimes committed. We have prepared an advertising campaign to bring this offer to the attention of the public. The advertisements will be published in various international media outlets within the next weeks."
Okke Ornstein, a citizen of the Netherlands and a former associate of convicted fraudster and money launderer Marc M. Harris, in a public announcement in 2002 after OffshoreAlert exposed his Panama-based Tulip Fund, which was offering investors double-digit annual returns and was subject to a public warning by the Panamanian Securities Commission for operating without a license. The Tulip Fund quickly collapsed and its reward went uncollected.
"... I imagine you have left in your wake an endless number of individuals and businesses claiming libel against you."
David Leppan in 2002 after OffshoreAlert exposed his British firm, World-Check, for falsely claiming that it had profiles of 15 of the 19 9/11 terrorists in its Know Your Customer database BEFORE the attacks. In reality, World-Check only created profiles of the terrorists three days later AFTER their identities were revealed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Nine years later, Leppan and his partners sold World-Check to Thomson Reuters for $530 million!
The Victims
"As an individual investor, I very much appreciate the information which your website provides in the matter of Imperial Consolidated ...Keep up the good work."
Victim of Imperial Consolidated Group thanking OffshoreAlert in 2002 for exposing the Imperial Consolidated Group, which perpetrated a $300 million investment fraud in the late 1990s.
"Just to say ‘Thank you’ for bringing Fraser Brook crooks to my attention back in 2001 ... although we all suffered financial loss, it would have been a lot worse if you hadn’t provided much of the evidence I needed ...."
Another victim of Imperial Consolidated Group thanking us in 2009 for exposing the scam.
"Just a note of 'thanks' for uncovering this scam 4 years ago ... most of us are getting 'something' back. If you had NOT uncovered this scam, then surely Williams et al would have eventually taken ALL of the funds."
A resident of Indonesia thanking OffshoreAlert in 2018 for exposing an offshore litigation funding-based investment fraud by the Centaur Group.
"I want to thank David Marchant for posting information about 'Our bank is licensed by the Pentagon' - An Interview With Two Fraudsters http://www.offshorealert.com/sam-zumbe-jean-philippe-grange-newport-enterprises-group-cwm -fraud.aspx. Based on published interview with this two swindlers my clients and me as a lawyer managed to avoid participation in an organized by them another fraud related to “US Treasury Recognition of the 1808 Te Awaroa Native Resrve Bank - Maori Peoples ", which mentioned above persons tried to implement in Ukraine under the 'Pentagon licensed bank'."