Bruce Rappaport

Letter from 'Michael Gibson', using an email address at 'lawyer.com', threatening legal action over an OffshoreAlert article headlined 'Unsealed documents detail corruption allegations against ex-Antigua PM Lester Bird & associates'.

Documents that were unsealed recently at federal court in Miami provide specifics of a long-running criminal investigation into alleged fraud, corruption, extortion, and money laundering by former Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Lester Bird and his associates, including Asot Michael, Josette Michael, John E. St. Luce, Robin Yearwood, Bruce Rappaport, and Sir Ronald Sanders.

The Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda has issued a public appeal to the country's former Ambassador to the United Kingdom - Sir Ronald Sanders - to co-operate with a corruption investigation in which he is a suspect.

Supplemental Request for Judicial Assistance from Antigua & Barbuda regarding a criminal investigation into Lester Bryant Bird, Asot A. Michael, John E. St. Luce, Robin Yearwood, and Bruce Rappaport for alleged conspiracy to defraud the Government of Antigua & Barbuda.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers (Bermuda) have paid the State of New Jersey $5.85 million to resolve allegations of fraud and accounting improprieties at Tyco International Ltd., according to a press release issued by New Jersey's Attorney General, Anne Milgram, on

Motion for Modification of Court Order and to Supplement Commissioner Appointment regarding a request from Antigua & Barbuda for judicial assistance for a criminal investigation into Lester Bird, Asot Michael, Josette Michael, Bruce Rappaport, Sir Ronald Sanders and others for suspected involvement in fraud, corruption, and money laundering.

Accounts at the Bank of Bermuda and Butterfield Bank were used to launder millions of dollars of criminal proceeds stemming from corruption by former Antigua Prime Minister Lester Bird and his associates, it has been claimed. The Bank of Bermuda account was controlled by Asot Michael, Bird's former Chief of Staff and a current Opposition Member of Parliament, and the Butterfield Bank account was controlled by Bruce Rappaport, an offshore banker who is a former Antigua Ambassador to Israel and Russia and who was once the single biggest shareholder in the Bank of New York, according to the current Antigua Government. 

Wachovia Bank is trying to avoid turning over records to the Antigua Government for an investigation into alleged corruption by former Prime Minister Lester Bird, offshore banker Bruce Rappaport and others. The North Carolina-domiciled bank has applied for a protective order in a civil complaint filed by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda at the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Florida on February 23, 2006. 

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Antigua & Barbuda - for a criminal investigation into Lester Bryant Bird, Asot A. Michael, John E. St. Luce, Robin Yearwood, and Bruce Rappaport for suspected corruption and fraud.

The Bank of New York's one-time biggest single shareholder, Bruce Rappaport, no longer controls shares in Antigua-licensed Global Bank of Commerce Ltd., formerly known as Swiss American Bank Ltd.Antigua's International Financial Sector Regulatory Authority approved a change of ownership at a meeting on December 18, 2001.

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

The US government has lost its bid to recover $7 million from banks in Antigua, Panama and Switzerland that were the proceeds of marijuana smuggling carried out in Massachusetts. Judge William Young, of the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston, dismissed a lawsuit brought against Swiss American Bank and Swiss American National Bank (both of Antigua), Swiss American Holding Company S.A. of Panama and Inter-Maritime Bank of Geneva.

A battle for legal jurisdiction between the US government and four offshore financial institutions in a $7 million forfeiture case contains a number of important issues that will affect all companies and individuals who operate offshore but have US clients.Among arguments being put forward by the US government for jurisdiction over banking entities located in Antigua, Switzerland and Panama is the fact that the offshore companies sell their services over the Internet, which can be accessed in the US; that Swiss American Bank has advertised in the in-flight magazine of American Airlines; and that SAB has correspondent banking relationships with banks in the States.

Swiss American Bank Limited and Swiss American National Bank of Antigua filed on March 16 a motion to dismiss a complaint filed against them in Massachusetts by the US government alleging theft of $7 million of drugs money.

Readers who followed last month's story about the US government's lawsuit accusing four banks and the Antiguan government of illegally divvying up $7 million in drug profits might be interested to know that Antigua recently appointed the banks' owner, Bruce Rappaport, as its Ambassador to Russia.The appointment of Rappaport to this official position on December 3, 1997, adds an interesting twist to the recent lawsuit brought by the US government against the Antigua-based Swiss American Bank group and Inter-Maritime Bank, of Geneva.