Robin Spencer-Arscott

OffshoreAlert has previously reported about the incomplete and materially inaccurate disclosures of River Capital Group Inc., a Delaware corporation operated from Bermuda with a Barbados insurer as its principal subsidiary, in its filings with the SEC in the United States, where its shares are listed on the OTC BB; Marty Steinberg, the Receiver for the fraudulently-operated Lancer group of hedge funds, recently filed two more civil complaints at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in an attempt to recover a total of $106,000 that he claims was illegally transferred out of Lancer to third-parties in 2003; An offshore reinsurer has taken action in the United States to enforce a judgment for US$347,576 it obtained against a U. S. firm at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands; and Syrian-born arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar, an ex-business partner of the now-defunct, fraudulently-operated Imperial Consolidated Group, was arrested in Spain — where he lives — on June 7, 2007 after being indicted in the United States.

A former business associate of Bermuda insurance executive Robin Spencer-Arscott has been sentenced to 57 months in prison in the United States for defrauding victims out of $10 million in an insurance scam. At his sentencing hearing on December 15, 2006 at the U. S. District Court for the Western District of New York, Steven D. Blumhagen received prison terms of 57 months for conspiracy to defraud the United States and 48 months for fraud, with both sentences to run concurrently. He had pleaded guilty on April 18, 2006.

After two previous attempts at heading a Bermuda reinsurer ended in fiasco, Robin Spencer-Arscott has been appointed President of a new firm sponsored by XL Capital Ltd.Cyrus Reinsurance Limited and its parent, Cyrus Reinsurance Holdings Limited, were formed on October 28, 2005 with initial capital of $525 million. The group also has an affiliate in the Cayman Islands called Cyrus Reinsurance Holdings SPC, which is a segregated portfolio company.

A penny stock firm controlled by the senior officers of Bermuda-based investment firm Lines Overseas Management reported a net loss of $778,928 for the 12 months ended December 31, 2004, according to its recent 10K filing with the SEC, increasing its deficit to $1.08 million.However, River Capital Group Inc.'s share price soared during the year, hitting a high of $6.50 on the Pink Sheets market, despite the firm having no full-time employees, no revenue and, some would say, no future.

Two weeks after our story on River Capital Group Inc. last month, the firm notified the SEC that Richard King "the Chairman of the Board of Directors, resigned from all of his positions with the registrant". No reason for King's decision was given in the filing, which was signed by RCGI's "President", Howard Taylor. An odd aspect of the September 21, 2004 filing was its description of King as the chairman, while the firm's previous SEC filing on August 23, 2004, stated that this position was held by Taylor, who was also President and CEO.

For the second time in seven years, a proposed reinsurer headed by former AON (Bermuda) boss Robin Spencer-Arscott has been turned down for an insurance license.The failed application to the Bermuda Monetary Authority was on behalf of River Reinsurance Ltd., which is owned by Bermuda-based River Capital Ltd.

The potential embarrassment that Bermuda avoided by not granting a license to Robin Spencer-Arscott's Resource Underwriters in 1997 has been hammered home by an SEC lawsuit filed in the United States.The man whom Spencer-Arscott claimed was providing Resource's $30 million start-up capital, New York State-based Steven Blumhagen, has been accused of masterminding a $12 million investment fraud.Steven D. Blumhagen and his wife, Susan, who are both 50, are defendants in a civil lawsuit filed last year at the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.

A lawsuit filed three years ago in New York is revealing in that it includes details of another business deal involving Martin Hoffman that ended in tears amid allegations of fraud and dishonesty and shows a link between Hoffman, the Bermuda/US-based Clarendon insurance group and Bermuda insurance consultant Robin Spencer-Arscott.

Was Buffalo-based businessman Steven Blumhagen really the source of $30 million that was to have been the start-up capital of Resource Underwriters, as the company's Bermudian front-man, Robin Spencer-Arscott, would have us believe? Highly unlikely, we can report. Unless, that is, 46-year-old Blumhagen has recently won the New York state lottery and checked the ‘no publicity' box.

An application to incorporate Resource Underwriters, the proposed $300 million reinsurer fronted by Robin Spencer-Arscott, appears to have been turned down by Bermuda's regulators.The Admissions Committee of the Insurance Advisory Committee met on November 7 to determine the fate of the company, said sources.

Concerns about the credibility of some of the people involved are holding up the formation in Bermuda of Resource Underwriters, a new $300 million reinsurer whose front-man is Robin Spencer-Arscott.

Robin Spencer-Arscott, who lost his position as chairman of Aon Re and Aon Risk Services in Bermuda after Aon's acquisition of Alexander & Alexander, is believed to be close to setting up a new $300-$400 million reinsurer in Bermuda.Details of the new reinsurer have not been announced but Spencer-Arscott has been telling insurance people that he hopes to have the company up and running by the Rendezvous de Septembre gathering in Monte Carlo next month.

Anchor Underwriting Managers has won a contract to run off its main client, Paumanock Insurance, Anchor chairman and chief executive officer Robin Spencer-Arscott revealed last night."Contrary to reports, I'm happy to say that we'll be handling the Paumanock run off," said Mr Spencer-Arscott.

Anchor Underwriting chief Robin Spencer-Arscott is this week fighting to save jobs after the company was put on notice that Paumanock Insurance, its biggest underwriting account, is going into run off.Anchor, one of Bermuda's leading underwriting managers, has 27 staff, many of them working on Paumanock business.

Paumanock Insurance Company Ltd, the Bermuda-based reinsurance subsidiary of the Grumman Corporation, has ceased underwriting and is to go into run off.No official reason has been given for the move which sent shockwaves through the island's insurance community. However, it is believed that Grumman is preparing to sell the Bermuda subsidiary.