Jonathan Curshen pleads guilty to securities fraud

Offshore financial services provider Jonathan Randall Curshen faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after admitting his role in a securities fraud and bribery scheme. Curshen, 44, who holds dual British and U. S. citizenship and who is a former Honorary Consul for St. Kitts & Nevis in Costa Rica, where he lived prior to his arrest last September, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and commercial bribery at a change-of-plea hearing held at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 24, 2009 – just 37 days before his trial was scheduled to start.