Insider Talking: June 5, 2005

Offshore investment firm Lines Overseas Management, which is headquartered in Bermuda and has offices in Cayman, the Bahamas and England, claims to have spent US$2.75 million over the last two years on legal fees concerning two securities fraud investigations into its activities by the Securities and Exchange Commission; The International Financial Services Authority in St. Vincent & the Grenadines has revoked these Class I banking licenses: Horizon International Bank Limited, on April 4, 2005; Transglobal Bank Limited, on April 13, 2005; and Triton Capital Bank Limited, on April 13, 2005; How times have changed. On May 26, 2005, something happened that would have been unthinkable when OffshoreAlert was launched in 1997: the Cayman Islands Government issued a press release lauding its co-operation with U. S. authorities in clamping down on financial crime and disclosing that Cayman Islands Chief Justice Anthony Smellie; and OffshoreAlert has unearthed yet another red-flag concerning GISBeX, a Costa Rica-based stock exchange that purports to specialize in securities offered under Regulation S of the Securities Exchange Act in the United States and operates from a web-site at www.gisbex.com.