Paradigm Holdings

Barclays Bank Plc in the United Kingdom has been held liable for damages suffered by investors in a wine-based, offshore investment scam for which the bank provided services.Summary judgment against the bank and in favor of claimant Cayman Islands-registered Architects of Wine Ltd. (in liquidation) was entered at the U. K. High Court on June 16, 2006.

Barclays Bank continued processing checks for an offshore-based wine investment group even after it learned of a regulatory warning in the U. S. and then then refused to co-operate with the group's liquidator after it collapsed amid allegations of fraud, it has been claimed.The allegations are contained in a civil complaint filed by Christopher Johnson, as liquidator of Cayman Islands-registered Architects of Wine Ltd., at the U. K. High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court on March 9, 2006. AOWL is seeking to recover $1.3 million from sole defendant Barclays Bank, of London, England, alleging conversion.

Four current or former employees of Cayman Islands-based Caledonian Bank and Trust Limited are potential targets for legal action concerning the failure of a wine-based investment scheme.First, however, liquidator Christopher Johnson needs to raise money to fund any litigation and he intends to seek court permission to sell 285,717 bottles of wine - valued at €1,856,055 (US$2.4 million) - that are stored in a warehouse in Switzerland.

Two new lawsuits have been filed in the United States by investors in a wine-based investment scheme operated from the Cayman Islands, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The plaintiffs claim to have lost more than $1.5 million in Architects of Wine and related parties after being induced to invest by promises of high returns and liquidity that never materialized. Instead, they claim their funds were misappropriated.