Rita Regale

Grenada's former chief offshore regulator, Michael Creft, has admitted that the fraudulently operated First International Bank of Grenada bribed regulators and Government members, including Prime Minister Keith Mitchell. Creft has also acknowledged that he committed perjury in support of FIBG's failed

Eight years after their offshore scam was first exposed by OffshoreAlert, four former officers of the First International Bank of Grenada were sentenced yesterday to prison terms of between one-and-a-half and eight years.

USA's Sentencing Memorandum in USA v. Rita L. Regale, Douglas C. Ferguson, Robert J. Skirving, and Laurent E. Barnabe at the U. S. District Court for the District of Oregon. Editor's Note: This document is notable for its reference to testimony by Grenada's former chief financial services regulator, Michael Creft, in which he acknowledged bribery and corruption.

The final two defendants in the criminal prosecution of five former officers and directors of the First International Bank of Grenada have pleaded guilty in the United States, thereby averting a trial into one of the most notorious offshore banking frauds in recent years.Douglas Christie Ferguson, 74, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and Laurent Barnabe, a 68-year-old Canadian national, pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering at the U. S. District Court for the District of Oregon on March 19 and March 27, 2006, respectively. Ferguson's plea agreement carries a recommendation that he serve 52 months in prison, while Barnabe's recommended prison-term is six years.

Two defendants face lengthy prison sentences after admitting their involvement in an investment fraud perpetrated by the First International Bank of Grenada.Robert Skirving and Rita Regale each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering regarding FIBG's fraudulent proceeds at the U. S. District Court for the District of Oregon on July 19, 2006.

Five insiders with the First International Bank of Grenada have been criminally indicted in the United States for allegedly perpetrating a scam that cost investors more than $206 million. Gilbert Allen Ziegler, a.k.a. Van Arthur Brink, a U. S. national formerly of Oregon and Hawaii, now living in Uganda; Douglas C. Ferguson, a U. S. national formerly of Oregon; Laurent E. Barnabe, a.k.a. Larry Barnabe, a Canadian national residing in Las Vegas, Nevada; Rita L. Regale, a.k.a. Rita L. Brunges, a U. S. national formerly of Hawaii; and Robert J. Skirving, a U. S. national residing in Oregon, collectively face 146 counts at the U. S. District Court for the District of Oregon.

Second Superseding Indictment in USA vs. Gilbert Allen Ziegler, a.k.a. Van Arthur Brink; Rita Regale, a.k.a. Rita Brunges; Douglas Ferguson, Robert Skirving and Laurent Barnabe, a.k.a. Larry Barnabe, at the U. S. District Court for the District of Oregon.

First International Bank of Grenada founder Van Brink stripped $4.5 million of assets out of the bank not long before it went bust, according to its liquidator.In his third report to creditors dated June 1, 2002, Marcus A. Wide, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, reported that details of the asset transfers were contained "unsigned minutes from FIBG's June 2000 Board of Directors meeting".

In his Third Report dated June 1, 2002, the liquidator of the First International Bank of Grenada has again warned creditors that there may not be any dividend distribution.Marcus A. Wide, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, advised "there is a real and distinct possibility that there will be no distribution whatsoever made by the Liquidator to the FIBG depositors/creditors".

Business associated with Imperial Consolidated founders Lincoln Fraser and Jared Brook applies for permission to use a property on an old Royal Air Force base in England to store and test military equipment, Offshore Finance Authority of St. Vincent & the Grenadines revokes licenses of nine offshore banks, BVI Financial Secretary L. Allen Wheatley suspended from his duties after being arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud, Bahamas International Securities Exchange reports net loss of $2.24 million for the 11 monthsended June 30, 2001, criminal action against Yank Barry drags on in Texas, British businessman Sean Quinn charged with US$3 million fraud in Barbados, former FIBG principals fail to comply with subpoeans, and the ego of Marc Harris apparently knows no bounds.

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.

A new scheme run by former First International Bank of Grenada group officer Doug Ferguson has been denounced as a fraud by a representative of an organization within the United Nations. Ferguson has distributed promotional brochures in an attempt to raise "donations" for a "Foundation" to purportedly fund the G77 Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Developing Countries.

Creditors of the First International Bank of Grenada have been informed by its liquidator that they might get back nothing from the liquidation. In a letter to creditors dated April 23, 2001, FIBG liquidator Marcus A. Wide, of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, wrote that "there will be a significant shortfall to creditors".

Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell is being lined up as a potential defendant in a civil fraud lawsuit following the collapse of the First International Bank of Grenada. Depositors have vowed to take action against Mitchell after his government announced that it had granted a license to a new bank called First International Bank of Grenada 2000 Ltd.

Depositors of the First International Bank of Grenada have obtained an order from the Grenada Supreme Court that allows them to freeze up to $373 million of the bank's worldwide assets, if they can find them.The creditors are calling upon all depositors to join the lawsuit as co-plaintiffs and are seeking contributions of $1,000 each to cover costs.

The First International Bank of Grenada, the International Deposit Insurance Corporation and the World Investors Stock Exchange this month failed in their bid to obtain a court injunction preventing Offshore Alert from continuing to report on their fraudulent activities.Attorneys representing these entities filed hundreds of pages of documents at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in an effort to obtain an emergency injunction preventing Offshore Alert from continuing to report on their dubious activities.

Libel Complaint in First International Bank of Grenada Ltd., of Grenada; International Depositors' Reinsurance Corporation, Ltd., doing business as IDIC, of Nevis, and World Investors' Stock Exchange, of Grenada v. David Marchant and Offshore Business News & Research, Inc. at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Offshore Alert can today expose a massive fraud involving at least three banks, an insurance company and a stock exchange into which investors are believed to have invested tens of millions of dollars. Participants in the scam include the World Investors Stock Exchange in Grenada, the International Deposit Insurance Corporation in Nevis, the First International Bank of Grenada, the International Exchange Bank, which is registered in either Nauru or Grenada but operated out of Bermuda and Texas; and Fidelity International Bank, which is registered in Nauru but operated from St. Vincent.