Masao Imadzu

British conmen Lincoln Fraser and Jared Brook, who masterminded the $400 million Imperial Consolidated fraud that failed in 2002, are embroiled in yet another international financial scandal involving a group that has done business under several names, including EasyKard, Saphrau, Wharfside, Quatro and G4 Group.

Perhaps in an attempt to limit the negative effects of a criminal complaint and - still outstanding - arrest warrant that were issued against him for alleged investment fraud at the U. S. District Court for the District of South Carolina on March 7, 2003, British-based, Cyprus-born businessman Sendjer Shefket, 46, has started using the name ‘Sencer Sevket' in his business dealings; 2005 was a busy year for offshore-focused attorney Nigel Scott Grant, 65, in more ways than one; and Japanese victims of the Imperial Consolidated Group are finding out first-hand just how useless the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office is when it comes to investigating and prosecuting serious fraud.

The United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office arrested five former insiders with the Imperial Consolidated Group during February. Lincoln Julian Fraser, 32; David Norvel Willerton, 30, who is Fraser's boyfriend; Jared Bentley Brook, 34; and one other person, believed to be a woman, were all arrested in Lincolnshire, England, on February 3, 2004. Three properties were also raided by police.

A fifth person has been arrested in the United Kingdom by police investigating the collapse of the Imperial Consolidated Group. Japanese national Masao Imadzu was picked up this morning as he attended a breakfast meeting in Lincolnshire, England with former Imperial boss Lincoln Fraser and other business associates.

Grenada's Ministry of Finance has extended the control of its agent, PricewaterhouseCoopers, over Imperium Bank until June 9 while it prepares to shut it down permanently.Regulators also want to close the mutual funds that the bank administers but have been

The Imperial Consolidated Group has changed its corporate structure for the second time in nine months.Changes include its British-based holding firm, Imperial Consolidated PLC, re-registering from public to private status three days before its year-end of September 30, 2001.

OffshoreAlert's investigation into the Imperial Consolidated Group reached high farce in May when the firm gave a number of Pythonesque answers to questions that we submitted to its UK-based Public Relations firm, Luther Pendragon. Perhaps the most comical response was a claim that it was prevented by UK law from disclosing the qualifications and experience of a 25-year-old man listed as General Manager of Grenada-based Imperium Bank.

Three weeks after OffshoreAlert exposed their role in a failed hotel in England, Lincoln Fraser and Jared Brook resigned their positions with the UK-based Imperial Consolidated Group. The resignations of Fraser and Brook as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, respectively, of Imperial Consolidated was announced in a press release dated April 23.

Three weeks after OffshoreAlert exposed their role in a failed hotel in Morecambe, England; Lincoln Julian Fraser and Jared Bentley Brook have resigned as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, respectively, of the UK-based Imperial Consolidated Group, with immediate effect.

Imperial Consolidated Securities S. A. has moved its investment division to Grenada following consultations with regulators in the Bahamas, where the company is registered and physically based. The move, which was due to be completed by November 30, followed concerns about the company's involvement in the sale of unregistered securities.