Josette Michael

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.

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.