Insider Talking: October 31, 2003

A New York-based investment banker who once hired celebrity attorney Robert Shapiro to sue Bermuda-based investment firm Lines Overseas Management was arrested on October 2, 2003 after being criminally indicted for alleged securities fraud; British Virgin Islands-registered Kesman Overseas has been named as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in the United States; A recent report entitled ‘Global Economic Crime Survey 2003’ by PricewaterhouseCoopers, in association with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, of New York, contains some interesting statistics; Banks in the Channel Islands have reported renewed efforts by fraudsters attempting to deceive customers into unnecessarily providing important personal banking information, according to the Commercial Crime Services division of the International Chamber of Commerce; Bermuda’s local business industry was coming to grips this month with an announcement that the Bank of Bermuda – a 114-year-old national institution and the world’s largest offshore-based bank – is to be bought by HSBC Holdings PLC for US$1.3 billion.