Erroll Rhodes

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.