BF&M

News Release from the United States Department of Justice announcing that Donville Inniss, described as a "Former Member of Barbados Parliament and Minister of Industry", has been "found guilty" for his role in a bribery scheme that, as previously reported by OffshoreAlert, involved insurers Insurance Corporation of Barbados Ltd., of Barbados, and BF&M Ltd., of Bermuda, which was the majority shareholder of ICBL.

Former Barbados Government Minister Donville Inniss should be precluded from introducing evidence at his upcoming money laundering trial in New York that "bribes are a custom or practice in Barbados", the United States has argued. The alleged scheme involved insurers BF&M, of Bermuda, and Insurance Corporation of Barbados.

Second Superseding Indictment for money laundering regarding an alleged bribery scheme that, inter alia, involved Insurance Corporation of Barbados Ltd., of Barbados, and BF&M Ltd., of Bermuda, in USA v. Donville Inniss, described as a former Member of Parliament and Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development in Barbados; Ingrid Innes, described as a citizen of Canada and resident of Barbados, and Alex Tasker, described as a citizen and resident of Barbados, at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Specially Endorsed Writ of Summons in Jamal Ali Jabaar v. Dean Place and BF&M General Insurance Company Limited at Bermuda Supreme Court.

Government's Pre-Trial Motions regarding an alleged bribery scheme that, inter alia, involved Insurance Corporation of Barbados Ltd., of Barbados, and BF&M Ltd., of Bermuda, in USA v. Donville Inniss, described as a former Member of Parliament and Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development in Barbados; Ingrid Innes, described as a citizen of Canada and resident of Barbados, and Alex Tasker, described as a citizen and resident of Barbados, at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Superseding Indictment in USA v. Donville Inniss and two sealed defendants at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Criminal Indictment in USA v. Donville Inniss, a former Member of Parliament and Minister of Industry in Barbados, at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Specially Endorsed Writ of Summons in Antonio Pimentel DaCosta v. Christopher Carter and Bermuda Fire Service and Marine at Bermuda Supreme Court.

Specially Endorsed Writ of Summons in The Pension Commission, on behalf of BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited v. Kevin Pilgrim, trading as Soho Applications, at Bermuda Supreme Court.

Specially Endorsed Writ of Summons in Jahkeel Audley Quallo v. Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Ltd. at Bermuda Supreme Court.

BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited v. Michael Colin Glasgow et al. - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Reuben Quinton Bean et al. - Bermuda Supreme Court

Dr. Cameron Brown et al. v. BF&M Insurance Company Limited - Bermuda Supreme Court

David William Burch v. BF&M Insurance - Bermuda Supreme Court

Argus Insurance Company Limited v. Somers Isles Insurance Company Limited et al. - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited v. Glenn Envoy Robinson - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Ltd. v. Gillian Clare Walker et al. - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited vs. G.A. Chandima Perera - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited vs. Glenn Envoy Robinson - Bermuda Supreme Court

Michael DeGroote vs. BF&M General Insurance Company Limited - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Ltd. vs. Olive Leonora Burgess - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited vs. Edmarita Curtis (Trustee of the Hokman Trust) - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited vs. Helena Elspeth Trott et al. - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited vs. Andrew William Smith - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited vs. Edward Gladwin Samuel Robinson et al. - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited vs. Roderick Dilworth Earlington Simons - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited vs. Wendell Herbert Simmons - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Life Insurance Company Ltd. vs. Kevin Gregory Bean et al. - Bermuda Supreme Court

BF&M Ltd. has announced a share transaction that will "effectively" cut all ownership links with Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Ltd. (in liquidation), from which it was fraudulently spun off in 1991.Details of the disentanglement - which will end one

The last phase of the 1999 settlement between the liquidators of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Limited and BF&M Ltd., which was fraudulently spun off from it, has begun. Part of the $60 million agreement to settle litigation at Bermuda Supreme Court included Bermuda Fire & Marine receiving options to buy shares in BF&M.

Bermuda-based companies are among 14 insurers who have filed a petition to enforce arbitration awards totaling $1.2 million against two New York-based firms.The action concerns unpaid reinsurance claims from the failed United Kingdom-based underwriting pool known as H. S. Weavers (Underwriting) Agencies Limited, which stopped underwriting in 1990.

A company formed by British investment fraudsters Lincoln Fraser and Jared Brook to disrupt the administration liquidation of their failed Imperial Consolidated Group, including perpetrating an asset recovery fraud against Imperial's investors, is about to go the way of most,

The liquidators of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company have disclosed that they received $50 million as settlement of one of the most high profile lawsuits in the island's history.However, $24 million of that went to cover fees and costs

Somers Isles Insurance Co. Ltd. and Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. vs. Bermuda Medical Society - Bermuda Supreme Court

RBK Design Limited vs. BF&M General Insurance Company Limited - Bermuda Supreme Court

This month's edition of InsideBermuda marks our fifth anniversary of continuous publication, having launched the newsletter on February 24, 1997. In the 60 editions since that date, InsideBermuda has 'broken' many significant stories, perhaps most notably about Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance and Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings.

The names of the new shareholders in the Bahamas International Securities Exchange are expected to be announced in January. A list of all 45 companies that submitted subscription applications for the recent $5 million private placement has been submitted for

One of Bermuda's longest-running farces came to an end this month when the Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company trial ended with an out-of-court settlement. Seven months into the trial, the corporate and individual defendants threw in the towel and appear to have given the liquidators of BFMIC virtually everything they were seeking.

The cave-in by the defendants in the Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company trial brings to an end one of the most disgraceful episodes in the history of the island's offshore business sector. Although the standard 'nobody admits any wrongdoing' clause was built into the settlement, it does not take a genius to figure out who won the lawsuit and who lost it.

For those who are not already aware from other media outlets, David Marchant, the publisher of this newsletter, came close to being imprisoned in Bermuda this month for refusing to reveal his sources for articles he had written about Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company. Marchant was giving evidence during what is probably Bermuda's biggest ever civil trial in which some of the island's most prominent businessmen and companies are accused of defrauding creditors of BFMIC (in liquidation) of more than $50 million of assets.

As I flew out of Bermuda on June 10 after narrowly surviving an attempt by Donald Lines' attorney, Robin Potts, to have me put in prison for contempt of court for refusing to reveal my sources in relation to articles I wrote about Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance, who should I bump into on the flight to Atlanta but one of Donald's sons, Brian Lines, who is the President of Lines Overseas Management, which has been on the receiving end of several unflattering articles in this newsletter; Some of the UK's leading attorneys have made Bermuda their home for the next several months as they work on two of the biggest civil trials in the island's history: The Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company case and a trust dispute involving the Thyssen-Bornemisza family, which has a $2.7 billion fortune; What was it like sitting in front of Britain's finest while they debated for two days whether to lock me up for seven days for contempt of court? Not much fun, I can tell you; The lengths that crooks will go to in order to lend credibility to their scams knows no shame; and Beleaguered Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings Ltd. is laying off staff in Bermuda and is in the process of moving its Bermuda-based broking activities to London, we have been told.

The Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance trial began, as scheduled, on May 4 and most of the rest of the month was spent hearing allegations of lies, deceit and fraud against people who were at one time considered to be among the crème de la crème of the local business community.

Some of the UK's top attorneys began arriving in Bermuda this month to prepare for the island's biggest ever civil trial, involving the alleged asset-stripping of the failed Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company by some of the island's most prominent businessmen and companies. The trial, which is due to start on May 4, is expected to last four months and there have been no indications in the run-up to the off that the case will be settled.

In what could easily be construed as a shameless snub to foreign insurance buyers, particularly so close to the start of an embarrassing civil fraud trial, the Bermuda Insurance Institute and local insurer BF&M Ltd. have dedicated a room at the BII offices in Hamilton to the late Charles Collis, the attorney who helped to orchestrate the stripping of $50 million of assets from Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance two years before it went bust owing creditors over $1.4 billion.

What is probably the most eagerly-awaited civil trial in Bermuda's history - involving the alleged $50 million asset-stripping of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company while it was known to be insolvent - is scheduled to start on May 4, 1999. The trial, in which some of the island's best-known businessmen and companies are defendants, is expected to last four months.

Defendants in a fraud lawsuit involving Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company made an offer last year of between $10 million and $15 million to settle the case, OffshoreAlert can reveal. However, Bermuda Fire's liquidators, Ernst & Young, rejected the offer on the grounds that it fell substantially short of what was acceptable, said a source whose company is owed money by Bermuda Fire.

OffshoreAlert's unblemished track record when it comes to publishing exposes, despite letters threatening litigation; human cloning group touts Cayman and Bahamas as potential domiciles, who is disgrunted ex-Bank of Butterfield employee who criticized recently-retired chairman Sir David Gibbons?, Richard Black and Mike Cascio look to form new Bermuda insurance facility, possible bribery in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands Monetary Authority MD Neville Grant accepts no responsibility for collapse of First Cayman Bank, Global Private Banking magazine causes mirth by describing closure of FCB as an example of regulators "acting tough on miscreants", Cayman-based Oxford Advisors opens up office in Bermuda, 18 luxury homes in Bermuda sold for a total of $72 m in 1997, and what effect, if any, will the death of Charles Collis have on Bermuda Fire and Marine Insurance litigation? 

Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company, which was stripped of over $40 million of assets two years before it went bust without Bermuda's regulators so much as batting an eyelid, is now estimated by its liquidators to be insolvent by an astonishing $1.4 billion. If the figures are accurate, Bermuda Fire would become not only by far the biggest insolvency in Bermuda's history but also one of the biggest insurance insolvencies anywhere in the world.

A trial date has finally been set for what will be one of the most eagerly-awaited business-related civil trials in the history of Bermuda.Bermuda Supreme Court has provisionally set aside a date in the spring of 1998 to begin hearing allegations that some of the island's most influential businessmen stripped Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance of assets valued at over $40 million even though they allegedly knew the firm was insolvent.

A scheme of arrangement has been selected as a way to liquidate the assets of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company, which is estimated to have liabilities of $500 million to $700 million. Details of the scheme are expected later this year but the process is expected to last at least 20 years.