Axxess International

Victims of the Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme have been awarded damages of $330 million against two now-defunct, Bahamas-based businesses - Leadenhall Bank & Trust Ltd. (in liquidation) and former offshore credit card administrator Axxess International Limited.

A $1 million civil judgment against two now defunct, Bahamas based entities - Leadenhall Bank & Trust Ltd. (in liquidation) and Axxess International Ltd. - may soon be increased to $330 million.That is because U. S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan

Damages totaling $1.04 million have been awarded against two Bahamas companies for their involvement in a U. S./Cayman Islands-based Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles. The award against Leadenhall Bank & Trust Limited (in liquidation) and now-defunct Axxess International Limited, which combined to provide accounts and credit cards for victims, was entered jointly and severally at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on February 12, 2007.

Fraudulent conveyances totaling “millions of dollars” were made from Bahamas-based Leadenhall Bank & Trust Limited just before the bank went into voluntary receivership in 2005, it has been claimed. The allegation was made in a filing at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida by class action attorneys pursuing a claim for $100 million against the bank on behalf of approximately 2,300 victims of a Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles.

Bahamas-based Leadenhall Bank & Trust Ltd., which was closed down by regulators seven months ago, may be insolvent by more than $11 million. That was the glum news for creditors in the first report of liquidator Craig A. (Tony) Gomez on December 9, 2005. On paper, the bank had shareholders' equity of $1.6 million as of October 3, 2005, with assets of $29,864,139, including $20.4 million in cash, and liabilities of $28,235,807. “However my review has revealed that the balance sheet includes loans and past due credit card receivables totaling $6.6 and $6.3 million, respectively, and that both balances are either unsecured or inadequately collateralized,” stated Gomez in his report.

No mention of SEC's securities fraud investigation in publicly-listed Lines Overseas Management's half-monthly letter to shareholders; Fraudster Maurice Lewis Mills loses a civil lawsuit that was filed against him by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Former offshore provider David Hampton Tedder indicted again; Former banker Mohamad Harajchi claims to have contributed $10 million to the Progressive Liberal Party to fund its successful general election campaign in the Bahamas in 2002; US Gov't tries to kick-start its stalled criminal action against Yank Barry and James Collins; Leadenhall Bank & Trust says its viability has not been affected by the loss of its MasterCard license and its legal dispute with former card administrator Axxess International over the return of millions of dollars of deposits to card-holders; and Axxess International appears to have gone out of business.

A bitter legal dispute is taking place in the Bahamas over the refunding of millions of dollars to people who held offshore credit cards issued by Leadenhall Bank & Trust Ltd. Bahamas-based Leadenhall and First Financial Caribbean Trust Company Ltd., a licensed trust company in the Turks & Caicos Islands, each claims the other holds security deposits that are owed to card-holders. 

A Florida-based firm which processes card transaction payments has been ordered to turn over its records to the IRS as part of an investigation into offshore tax evasion using MasterCard, VISA and American Express. An order issued on September 11, 2003 at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida allows the IRS to serve a "John Doe" summons on Credomatic of Florida Inc., of Brickell Avenue, Miami.

Two years after obtaining a $67.5 million settlement from the Bank of Bermuda, victims of the Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles have filed a class action lawsuit against another offshore bank.The target this time is Bahamas-based Leadenhall Bank & Trust, which is a defendant along with its credit card processing affiliate, Axxess International, also of the Bahamas.

One of the biggest issuers of offshore credit cards, Leadenhall Bank & Trust in the Bahamas, has had its card issuing license terminated by MasterCard.Effective July 29, 2003, all MasterCards issued by Leadenhall Bank were cancelled - a victim of the U. S. clampdown on the use of offshore cards to access the proceeds of crime, including tax evasion.

A programmer who caused his former employer's computer system to crash in the Cayman Islands shortly after resigning and then demanded money to fix it has lost a court judgment.Christopher John Donnachie "unlawfully placed a blocking device" in software used by British American Card Company Ltd., ruled Bahamas Supreme Court Justice Hugh Small on June 5, 2002.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal prosecution in the Turks and Caicos Islands into Dwight Rigby for alleged forgery, theft and money laundering while employed by Temple Securities.

The UK-based Imperial Consolidated Group has suffered another blow with the forced termination of its HINT MasterCard offshore credit card program, which was operated from the Bahamas. Leadenhall Bank & Trust, which issued the card, and Axxess International, which administered it, withdrew their support in November due to concerns over Imperial Consolidated's credibility.

The Bahamas-based HINT MasterCard credit card program that was offered by the Imperial Consolidated Group has been terminated by the issuing bank, Leadenhall Bank & Trust, and the data processor, Axxess International, which are both based in the Bahamas. In other news, Brent Wagman has been sentenced to five years in prison in Texas and fined $19.7 million for investment fraud.