Verlin Swartzendruber

Verlin D. Swartzendruber, 66, became the latest person suspected of perpetrating an investment fraud through a Grenada-domiciled company to appear before a federal judge in the United States. Swartzendruber, a.k.a. Joseph Severin, was arrested in Texas on June 26, 2008 - 19 months after a warrant for his arrest was issued at the U. S. District Court for the District of North Dakota.

Verlin D. Swartzendruber, 58, has joined the growing band of Americans who have obtained Grenada passports under second names and started raising funds from the island with the lure of high returns. Under his new name of Joseph Severin, Swartzendruber runs Grenada-registered Preferred Trust and Management Ltd, which raises money through continuous stock offering in various companies it manages.

How concerned is the Financial Times newspaper about being used to facilitate fraud? Not enough to stop publishing bogus valuations for the Cayman Islands domiciled Aristocrat Endeavor Fund. The FT is continuing to accept and publish sham Net Asset Values

Investment managers who promise investors returns on a "best efforts" basis must prove they did their best to effect such returns if they want to avoid liability in the event of a loss, a judge has ruled.Judge Brian Alleyne, in Grenada, issued his ruling earlier this year in legal proceedings involving a group that promised a 100 per cent return on $1.4 million for ten consecutive months and failed to deliver.