Windsor International Bank

Windsor International Bank & Trust was one of 40+ fraudulent offshore banks that were licensed by the Caribbean island of Grenada in the late 1990s in what amounted to a joint criminal partnership between the jurisdiction’s public and private sectors, including Grenada's corrupt chief regulator, Michael Creft, and corrupt Prime Minister, Keith Mitchell. WIBT was founded and operated by US-based dentist Noel Tait and its directors comprised several Grenada dignitaries, including a former Governor-General, a former Prime Minister, and two Justices of the Peace. Tait and his accomplice Douglas Castle received prison sentences for WIBT-related fraud in 2003 - two years after being exposed by OffshoreAlert.
Timeline
09

July

2003

Grenada offshore banker receives prison sentence

A U. S.-based businessman has been sentenced to 34 months in prison for defrauding $1.2 million from clients of his offshore shell bank.Douglas Castle, a principal of Grenada-licensed Windsor International Bank & Trust, was also ordered to pay $1.2 million when he was sentenced on June 25, 2003 at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

31

March

2003

Offshore bankers plead guilty to fraud

A dentist and his accomplice who defrauded $1.2 million from clients of their Grenada-licensed offshore shell bank that was capitalized with just $300 have entered into plea agreements in the United States. Dr. Noel E. H. Tait and Douglas E. Castle each pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on March 14 and March 27, 2003, respectively.

28

February

2003

Two more Grenada offshore bankers charged with fraud

Two principals of a Grenada-licensed offshore bank whose directors included a former Governor-General, an ex-Prime Minister and two Justices of the Peace have been criminally charged in the United States. Noel E. H. Tait, a former staff dentist with the Department of Corrections in Washington D. C., and Douglas E. Castle were each charged with one count of wire fraud on January 30, 2003 at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

30

November

2002

Insider Talking: November 30, 2002

The British Columbia Securities Commission has scheduled a hearing for December 10 11, 2002 to consider applications to vary asset freeze orders relating to accounts at the Bank of Montreal in Vancouver that were frozen in 2000 as part of

31

August

2001

Fraud charges brought in Merrion Re investigation

Three people linked with an Irish-based reinsurer which Grenada-registered Windsor International Bank and Trust claimed was guaranteeing its high yield investments have been charged with conspiracy to defraud.Darren Louis Thomas, Leslie Gerald Hursey and David Graham Da Costa, of Merrion Reinsurance, were charged on July 19, 2001 at the City of London Magistrates Court, in England.

31

August

2001

Fraud charges brought in Merrion Re investigation

An offshore reinsurer run by people with links to the Dai Ichi Kyoto/Kobe Re/North American Fidelity & Guarantee scandal in the 1990s, which was partly based in Bermuda, is being investigated for fraud.Three principals of Irish-based reinsurer Merrion Reinsurance have been charged in the United Kingdom with conspiracy to defraud.Darren Louis Thomas, Leslie Gerald Hursey and David Graham Da Costa, of Merrion Reinsurance, were charged on July 19, 2001 at the City of London Magistrates Court, in England.

30

June

2001

Insider Talking: June 30, 2001

The First International Bank of Grenada loaned $30,000 to the wife of Grenada’s then chief regulator, Michael Creft, so that she could buy a car and another $50,000 to the then President of the Grenada Bar Association, Reynold Benjamin, according to a document sent to OffshoreAlert; Dean Cantrell and Marcel Deinnet snap up domains in names of countries in the Bermuda-Caribbean region, fraud complaint filed against ‘offshore banker’ Douglas Castle, 72-year-old convicted fraudster is back in business, SEC continues trend of failing to menaingfully punish accused fraudsters, First Ecom.com Inc. acquires half of First Ecommerce Data Services Ltd. that it did not already own, Antigua gaming outfit World Sports Exchange Ltd. sues County Savings Association over three checks that allegedly bounced, First American International Bank becomes latest offshore bank to be operated in Nevis without a license by Global Dominion Financial Services, and Latvia-based Paritate Bank appears to be in financial trouble.

30

April

2001

‘No business relationship between Merrion Re and Windsor Bank’, writes Darren Thomas

Dear Sir,
RE: WINDSOR INTERNATIONAL BANK AND TRUST (“WINDSOR”)
Further to our brief discussion and your follow up e-mail request for information of 27th inst., concerning the relationship of Merrion Reinsurance Company Ltd. (“Merrion”) and Windsor. There has not existed nor does there exist any business

30

April

2001

Windsor International Bank told to remove references to Merrion Re

A Grenada-licensed bank founded by a dentist has been told to remove references on its web-site to a reinsurer that purportedly “guarantees” the bank’s high yield investment products.
Darren Thomas, a Director of Merrion Re, of Dublin, Ireland, told OffshoreAlert that references to the reinsurer on the site of Windsor International Bank & Trust had been “put there in error”.

28

February

2001

Grenada bank with dignitaries as directors implicated in fraud

A bank whose directors include an ex-Prime Minister, a former Governor-General and two Justices of the Peace has become Grenada’s latest offshore financial institution to be implicated in fraud. A promoter and ‘Honorary Director’ of Windsor International Bank & Trust, Douglas E. Castle, is being sued in the United States for allegedly defrauding a client of $244,636.