Cash 4 Titles

A legal dispute in the Cayman Islands in which current and former Ernst & Young partners Dan Scott, James Cleaver and Richard Fogerty were accused of illegal conduct towards Lewis Rowe over his alleged participation in a Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles has been settled.

Tenth Report of Leadenhall Bank & Trust Company Limited for the period from June 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011.

Originating Summons filed by Lewis Rowe against The Attorney General of the Cayman Islands at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

The liquidator of Bahamas based Leadenhall Bank & Trust Ltd. has lost an attempt to prevent a $300 million plus US court judgment by fraud victims from being admitted as a claim against the bank's estate. The decision is a

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.

The cold reality of life behind bars has persuaded former offshore banker Paul Morgan Jones to start turning over his assets to the Receiver of Cash 4 Titles, which perpetrated one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history, operating from

A former offshore banker was taken into custody in the United States yesterday and an arrest warrant was issued for his Caribbean based former business partner after they were held in contempt of court. In addition, an order has been

Two former offshore bankers have been ordered to appear before a United States federal court in Illinois on August 31, 2006 to explain how they intend to pay a financial penalty of $7.2 million.If David Pollock and Paul Jones fail to show up, warrants for their arrest will be issued for contempt of court, stated U. S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman in a judgment on August 3. Both are U. S. citizens, with Pollock currently residing in St. Lucia and Jones, a former bank examiner for the state of Ohio, living in Cape Coral, Florida, according to court records.

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.

Banc Caribe liquidator & National Bank of Dominica settle litigation with Cash 4 Titles receiver; former house painter Russell Cline enters into plea agreement in Oregon concerning fraud and money laundering charges; and US authorities continue with attempt to seize assets of former Ukraine Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko.

Leadenhall Bank & Trust Company Limited has had its bank and trust license suspended by the Central Bank of the Bahamas and gone into Receivership.The Central Bank did not go into details about the reasons for its actions in a public announcement yesterday but stated the measures were intended "to protect the interests of depositors".

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.

Two Bank of Bermuda clients who once ran an illegal gaming business from an office of Hemisphere Management before it was bought by Mutual Risk Management have gone on trial for another scheme.Lewis Denton Rowe, 75, and Patrick Thomas Tibbetts,

Alleged Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme insider Patrick Thomas Tibbetts, who is currently on trial for money laundering in the Cayman Islands, has been criminally indicted in the United States.Tibbetts, a 51 year old U. S. national who lives on

A now-defunct offshore bank and two of its former principals have lost key court rulings in a fight for control of more than $5 million with the Receiver of a Ponzi scheme group known as Cash 4 Titles.

The United States authorities have been asked to temporarily release four white-collar criminals from federal prisons so they can travel to the Cayman Islands to testify at a money laundering trial.They are Charles Richard Homa, 57; Michael Gause, 47; William Henry Black, 47; and James Albert Franklin, 36, who were all convicted of offenses involving a Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the Cayman Islands into alleged money laundering by Lewis Rowe and Patrick Tibbetts regarding the Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme.

Investors who were defrauded in the Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme can expect to receive a dividend of approximately one-third of their recognized losses, according to Philip Stenger, the SEC Receiver responsible for administering claims; Four offshore companies and their registered agents have been trying to prevent their local regulator in the Turks & Caicos Islands from having access to their records; Also at the TCI Supreme Court, John E. Rutley Jr. has filed a lawsuit against Timothy Prudhoe, Christian Papachristou, Melbourne Wilson and Stephen Wilson, sued as and on behalf of the partners of McLeans law firm, formerly McLean McNally; Financial criminals operating in six offshore centers in the Bermuda-Caribbean region can breathe more easily next year with news that the Miami, Florida-based White-Collar Crime Investigation Team, is being disbanded on March 31, 2004 due to the withdrawal of funding by the United Kingdom government; The capacity of sales people for UK-based due diligence information provider World-Check to tell outrageous lies to potential customers in an attempt to secure a sale appears to know no bounds. FirstRand, the South African parent of Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd., has agreed to pay 25 per cent of the amount being sought by the Irish government to cover the costs of an offshore tax investigation carried out by a panel known as the McCracken Tribunal, reported the Irish Examiner newspaper on December 19, 2003; and The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has obtained an interim order appointing a receiver over Queensland-based Comcash Australasia Pty Ltd., which it claims was operating an unregistered investment scheme in conjunction with SMC Corporation, of Dominica.

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.

Two offshore entities have been named as defendants in a lawsuit filed in the United States by the Receiver of the Cash 4 Titles Ponzi Scheme, whose insolvency is more than $150 million.It has been alleged that Private Terms Ltd., c/o Morningstar Holdings Ltd., Nevis; Classic Terms Ltd., of the Cayman Islands; and their alleged owner, Gilbert M. Miller, of Duluth, Georgia, USA, profited by at least $3.2 million from the scheme.

Nearly $5 million belonging to the government-controlled National Commercial Bank of Dominica has been frozen in the United States after an offshore bank client was found to be in contempt of court.The U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois froze $4,793,472 at NCB's correspondent account at the Bank of America in Miami, Florida on July 9, 2003.

The Receiver of the Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme, which is estimated to have caused losses to investors of more than $300 million, has filed a lawsuit in the United States against three Bahamas-based firms. Leadenhall Bank and Trust Ltd., Axxess International Ltd. and Axxess International (Bahamas) Ltd. are defendants in an action filed at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on November 27, 2002.

In the wake of action taken by Swiss authorities against the Zurich based Sovereign Finance Group, which is being investigated for money laundering involving Russia and the Caribbean, regulators in St. Vincent & the Grenadines are taking action against Sovereign

Another of the masterminds behind a massive investment fraud that cost the Bank of Bermuda tens of millions of dollars has been sentenced to five years in prison. Charles Richard Homa was also ordered to pay restitution of $157 million

An attorney who was last year imprisoned for helping to launder $1.1 million of drugs money through the Cayman-based Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme has been sentenced to another term for investment fraud.James A. Franklin Jr. was sentenced to 54 months in prison on July 8, 2002 at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Michael Gause, who was one of the principals of the Cayman based Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles, has been sentenced to ten years and seven months in prison in the United States. Gause was also ordered to pay

Subpoenas have been sent out to several former officers of the First International Bank of Grenada, including Rita Regale, Robert Skirving and Van Brink, to appear for examination in Grenada as part of the liquidation process being carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers; Yet another Grenada offshore bank has gone out of business amid allegations of fraud against its clients; The Bank of Bermuda has estimated that its remaining potential liability to outstanding litigation relating to the Cayman-based Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme, excluding the $67.5 million settlement of a class action lawsuit in the United States, is no greater than $20 million; A civil complaint alleging 'dumpster diving' against international debt recovery firm Interclaim that was reported in last month's edition of OffshoreAlert has been dropped; The incredibly slow - yet inevitable - collapse of The Harris Organization financial services group of Panama appears to be closer than ever; and Bermuda-based stockbroker Carol Green has been ordered by a local court to repay $143,536 of debt run up with her former employer Lines Overseas Management.

The Bank of Bermuda today announced plans to drastically cut back on its operations in the Cayman Islands. The bank is moving much of its Cayman business to its headquarters in Bermuda and intends to slash its workforce in Cayman from 50 to approximately eight people.

A new lawsuit has been filed against the Bank of Bermuda by victims of the Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme who have opted out of a $67.5 million settlement agreement with the bank. More than 40 plaintiffs filed an action under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on February 11, 2002.

 The settlement between the Bank of Bermuda and victims of the Cayman-based Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles has received approval of the United States courts."On Friday 12 October 2001, the court gave final approval to the settlement of the Illinois and Florida Cash 4 Titles litigation," stated the Bank in a press release.

Letter to the Editor of OffshoreAlert from Michael Wheaton, a Cayman Islands resident.

Expense accounts and management reports handed over in discovery weighed heavily against the Bank of Bermuda (Cayman) in its fight to avoid United States jurisdiction in the Cash 4 Titles litigation.In one report, the Bank's management stated: "Miami continues to grow in importance as a location with potential business and we are now working with a number of relationships with a Miami presence."

The loss of a key ruling on the issue of jurisdiction seems to have been the catalyst behind the Bank of Bermuda's decision to settle two civil lawsuits for an amount not to exceed $67.5 million. An application for preliminary approval of a settlement agreement with victims of the Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles was filed with the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on July 3. 

The Bank of Bermuda has settled two lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of the Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme, whose losses have been estimated at up to $300 million.The settlement requires the bank to pay up to 50 per cent of "actual losses" suffered by participants in the Cash 4 Titles scheme, according to a press release issued on July 9, 2001 by the Bank of Bermuda.

Another civil lawsuit has been filed in the United States against the Bank of Bermuda in relation to the Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme that collapsed in 1999 with debts estimated at $300 million.The lawsuit was filed on behalf of more than 170 plaintiffs from various parts of the United States at the Circuit Court of Shelby County, Alabama on April 26, 2001.

American businessman Michael Gause has pleaded guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud,  and money laundering charges in relation to the Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles. Gause changed his plea to guilty to six counts on January 3, 2001 and is due to be sentenced on May 4. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of twice the amount lost in the scam.

During the course of 2000, Offshore Alert received many telephone calls and e-mails from clients of The Harris Organization financial services group in Panama who claimed to have been defrauded of various amounts of money; After Tony Vigna was recently deported from Panama to face criminal charges in Miami, further details emerged of a fake British passport that was obtained for him by The Harris Organization when he fled the US before being indicted; Standard Hellier Bank and Allianz Trade Reinsurance web-sites become inactive after investigation by Offshore Alert; We have been told by the Grenada Supreme Court that between 10 and 15 civil lawsuits have now been filed against the First International Bank of Grenada group; The default judgment entered against the Bank of Bermuda in favor of the Receiver of the Cash 4 Titles alleged Ponzi scheme at a US federal court on November 20, 2000 was set aside ten days later; Clyde DHood, the small-town electrician in Illinois who persuaded thousands of suckers all over the world to mail him millions of dollars just by promising high returns, remains in jail after his bail application was turned down; Canadian crook Jordan Bionda seems to subscribe to the philosophy that 'the best form of defense is attack'; and Americans are regarded virtually all over the world as being parochial in that they tend not to travel abroad, generally know little about other countries or world affairs and, rather insultingly to the rest of the world's population, give themselves titles such as 'World Champions' when they win a national championship, be it in basketball, baseball, American football or whatever.

In an attempt to more accurately gauge the expectations of investors when they go offshore, we decided not to close last month's Internet poll on offshore investing but to keep it going indefinitely; Approximately 1,911 investors have filed claims totaling US$189.3 million, according to the latest report by the Receiver of the Cash 4 Titles alleged Ponzi scheme, which operated largely out of the United States, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas; Controversial businessman Yank Barry, who hails from Montreal in Canada, has been given his passport back by Judge Lynn Hughes sitting at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where Barry is awaiting trial on eight counts of bribery, fraud and money laundering; The Panama Supreme Court has still not ruled on a dispute between The Harris Organization and La Comisión Nacional de Valores (National Securities Commission), which ordered the suspension of the financial services group's operations for operating without a license; The State of Washington Department of Financial Institutions Securities Division has issued a Cease and Desist Order against Grenada-registered Joie De Vie Ventures Inc., which Offshore Alert exposed earlier this year, and Arthur Kilner, d.ba. Kilner Enterprises Ltd.; and We recently contacted Bill Wallace, of Pannell Kerr Forster, in Nassau, to ask how his accounting firm was able to perform a competent audit of several Bahamas and Grenada-registered mutual funds operated by the Imperial Consolidated Group when the BVI-registered companies upon which the funds' solvency entirely depends do not appear to be audited.

A default judgment has been entered against the Bank of Bermuda in a racketeering lawsuit filed by the Receiver of the alleged $300 million Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles. The judgment was entered against the Bank of Bermuda Ltd. and the Bank of Bermuda (Cayman) Ltd. on November 20, 2000 at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The Bank of Bermuda has been sued again over its involvement in the alleged $300 million Cash 4 Titles Ponzi scheme that operated in the United States, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas. Barely a month after the bank was served with a class action lawsuit in Federal Court in Miami that was filed on behalf of victims, a second action was filed in Illinois on September 19, 2000.

The Bank of Bermuda (Cayman) Limited is a defendant in a class action civil lawsuit filed in the United States on behalf of over 1,000 victims of an alleged $300 million Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles. The bank appears to be the 'deep pocket' of the eight named defendants in the complaint, which has been filed in Miami, Florida, under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

The US Securities & Exchange Commission has added 16 defendants to a lawsuit filed in connection with an alleged $300 million Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles.Several of them are legal entities registered in the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, where most of the proceeds of the US-based scheme were allegedly laundered.

International Financial Privacy Association's '6,000 square foot' office building fails to materialize, fraudulently-operated World Investors' Stock Exchange shamelessly targets the elderly, Imperium Bank offers double-digit annual returns, Cayman Islands Court of Appeal upholds decision to remove Chris Johnson and Nick Freeland as liquidators of local Cash 4 Titles firms, Eugene Chusid's Digital Commerce Bank, John Bourbon and Valia Theodoraki appointed heads of Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, respectively; Nigel Scott Grant - sorting out fact from fiction on his Curriculum Vitae.

Three officers of the Bank of Bermuda (Cayman) have been fired following an internal investigation into the bank's handling of accounts controlled by allegedly crooked client Michael Gause. The Bank of Bermuda confirmed that it terminated the employment of Michael Day, Marc Vanmarsenille and David Spohr on December 8, 1999 following their suspensions a month earlier.

Letter to the Editor from Banc Caribe's Managing Director, David Pollock, falsely denying that Charles Richard Homa was a shareholder of Banc Caribe.

At least $45 million from more than 500 investors went into a Cayman/US-based Ponzi scheme that is currently being liquidated, according to a report submitted to a US court as part of an SEC investigation. The net insolvency of the scheme, which revolved around a car title loan business called Cash 4 Titles, has not yet been determined since assets and liabilities are still being assessed.

Cayman Islands Immigration Board approves Ann Nealon's work permit for Walkers law firm by a vote of two to one; Banc Caribe potential target for Cash 4 Titles victims; Antigua assures USA that William Cooper will be extradited; Scott Oliver leaves Lines Overseas Management; and Hundreds of Caribbean immigrants living in the US and residents of Dominica lose $1.2 million in investment scam.