Rodolfo Requena

Rodolfo Requena, the former Chairman/President of now-defunct British Trade and Commerce Bank, of Dominica, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for money laundering.Requena, 51, was sentenced on July 17, 2002 at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, in Miami. He also received two years of supervised release. 

Two offshore bankers have been given lengthy prison sentences in the United States for money laundering. The stiffest sentence was given to William J. Abraczinskas, who was sentenced on May 20 to 121 months in prison, three years of supervised release

Dominica-based offshore bankers Julien Giraud, Brian Boeger and Rodolfo Requena have all pleaded guilty to money laundering offenses at Federal Court in Miami, Florida.Giraud and Boeger were both involved with Overseas Development Bank and Trust, while Requena is the former CEO of British Trade and Commerce Bank (in Receivership).

A Venezuelan businessman who was CEO of Dominica-based British Trade and Commerce Bank before it was forced into Receivership has been charged with money laundering in the United States. Rodolfo A. Requena, 51, was arrested on November 13, 2001 after a sealed complaint was filed against him eight days earlier at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, in Miami.

Dominica-licensed British Trade & Commerce Bank appears to be on its last legs, if a recent letter to clients from the bank's President, Rodolfo Requena, is anything to go by. In the letter, Requena seems to be digging the bank into a deeper hole by offering rates of return of up to 50 per cent for clients who delay making withdrawals.

British Trade and Commerce Bank's Chairman and President, Rodolfo Requena, responds to questions about the bank's financial state.