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Application to liquidate American International Bank

May 31, 2001
Regulators have applied to the High Court of Antigua to remove Edward St. Clair Smith as Receiver of American International Bank and change the bank's status from receivership to liquidation. St. Clair-Smith is opposing the action on the grounds that the bank can still be sold as a going concern and that there is a reputable Caribbean company interested in buying it, said a source.

OBNR Poll: One in five expects annual offshore returns of 100% and higher

May 31, 2001
The final results of our long-running poll to gauge investors' expectations when going offshore showed that 22 per cent of voters expected guaranteed annual returns of 100 per cent and higher. Offshore Business News & Research, which publishes OffshoreAlert, closed the poll on May 9, 2001 after exactly 500 people had voted since it commenced on September 29, 2000.

OBNR Poll Results: Many investors believe in get-rich-quick schemes

May 9, 2001
Offshore Business News & Research, which publishes OffshoreAlert and InsideBermuda newsletters, has now closed its long-running Opinion Poll asking visitors to our web-site: "What annual interest rate can an offshore entity legitimately guarantee its clients?"

Eric Resteiner charged with defrauding Christian Scientists

April 30, 2001
Former Bahamas resident Eric Resteiner has been accused of defrauding at least 50 people of $22 million in a civil lawsuit filed at the United States by the Securities & Exchange Commission. Many of the alleged victims were members of the Christian Science Church, according to a lawsuit filed at the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts on April 16, 2001.

Stirling Cooke plans name change to ‘Atlantic Star Insurance’

April 30, 2001
Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings plans to change its name to Atlantic Star Insurance Group Limited as part a re-branding of the beleaguered broker. Shareholders will vote on the name change at the company's annual general meeting on May 23, according to the company's recent Proxy filing with the SEC.

Jerry Nims and his 3D technology claim another victim

April 30, 2001
The curse of American businessman Jerry Nims and his 3-D camera technology, whose many failures over two decades have cost Bermuda-based investors millions of dollars, has claimed another victim. NimsTec North America Inc. filed for voluntary bankruptcy at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Georgia on November 6, 2000.

Robin Cotterell client subject to arrest warrant

April 30, 2001
A client of Nevis-based offshore provider Robin Cotterell is still on the run from US authorities nearly 12 months after being criminally indicted on racketeering charges along with members of the New York mafia. Joseph Andrew Mann, known as 'Andy Mann', was one of 120 defendants in securities fraud and RICO actions filed on June 14, 2000 at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Elderly electrician pleads guilty to Omega investment fraud

April 30, 2001
Clyde Hood, the 66-year-old electrician who persuaded gullible investors to send him millions of dollars by promising 5,000 per cent returns, has pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges in the United States. Hood pleaded guilty on April 10, 2001 to one count each of conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and filing a false tax return.

Cambridge International Bank officers charged with fraud

April 30, 2001
Six weeks after they were arrested in the United States, former Grenada bankers David Frank Rowe, 52, and Gerard Michael Burns, 52, were criminally indicted in San Jose, California on April 11. Rowe and Burns are being held in custody pending the outcome of their case, while a third indictee, Waylon McMullen, 54, is subject to an arrest warrant but has not been apprehended.

FIBG liquidator warns creditors to expect no dividend

April 30, 2001
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".

Elfindepan, Southern Financial Group and Calvin Dunlap held in contempt of court

April 30, 2001
Costa Rica-registered Elfindepan S. A., which, inter alia, provides debit card services to Nevis-based Liberty International Bank & Trust, has been held in civil contempt of court in the United States. Co-defendants Southern Financial Group and Tracy Calvin Dunlap Jr. were also held in contempt of court in a ruling issued on March 15, 2001 at the U. S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

Sterling International Bank fails to unfreeze assets

April 30, 2001
An offshore bank has failed to unfreeze US$540,000 of its assets that were frozen at the Bank of Montreal in Vancouver by the British Columbia Securities Commission as part of a stock fraud investigation. The provisional liquidator of Nauru-registered Sterling International Bank Inc., Graham R. Whiteside, had applied for the funds to be released so that he could proceed with the liquidation of the bank.

Regulators and offshore creditors act against SunState FX

April 30, 2001
Regulators in the United States have acted to close down a Florida-based investment firm weeks after two lawsuits were filed by offshore corporations alleging they were victims of fraud. The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed separate lawsuits against SunState FX Inc. at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on April 18, 2001.

Clarendon America/Eton Management involved in premiums dispute lawsuit

April 30, 2001
Clarendon America Insurance Company is suing two US Virgin Islands-based brokers for $2.92 million of premiums that were allegedly sent to a firm controlled by Martin Hoffman, instead of to Clarendon. The lawsuit was filed against Marshall & Sterling of St. Thomas Inc, d.b.a. Theodore Tunick & Co., and Marshall & Sterling of St. Croix Inc. at the US District Court for the District of Delaware on July 14, 2000 before being transferred to Federal Court in US Virgin Islands on April 10, 2001.

Mathewson claims Cayman politician asked for pay-off

April 30, 2001
Former banker John Mathewson claims that a member of the Cayman Islands government once asked him for a pay-off of $250,000, plus shares in an offshore bank that Mathewson controlled. Mathewson, who owned and managed the now defunct Cayman-registered Guardian Bank & Trust, made the allegation on the first of three days of United States Senate hearings into money laundering.

Lincoln Fraser and Jared Brook resign from Imperial Consolidated

April 30, 2001
Three weeks after OffshoreAlert exposed their role in a failed hotel in England, Lincoln Fraser and Jared Brook resigned their positions with the UK-based Imperial Consolidated Group. The resignations of Fraser and Brook as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, respectively, of Imperial Consolidated was announced in a press release dated April 23.

United Nations body acts against latest scam run by former FIBG group officer

April 30, 2001
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.

Securities regulators act against Global Privacy Management Trust

April 30, 2001
On December 12, 2000, the Ontario Securities Commission has issued a Temporary Cease and Desist Order against Global Privacy Management Trust, whose web-site was registered to a Cayman Islands address, and its principal, Robert Cranston, who lives in London, Ontario.

ESG Re shareholder seeks voluntary liquidation of the firm

April 30, 2001
A major shareholder in beleaguered Bermuda-based reinsurer ESG Re has called on directors to liquidate the firm or resign their seats on the board at the AGM on May 8. Peter M. Collery, President of New York-based investment advisor SC Fundamental LLC, believes the time has come to pull the plug on John C. Head III's latest reinsurance flop.

Fraud case involving XtraNet Systems to move to lower court

April 30, 2001
More than two years of legal action involving parties related to Bermuda-based Mezzanine Capital has been wasted, with a US judge expected soon to rule that a lawsuit be moved from Federal to State court. Nevada-registered plaintiff Voice Media Inc., which has alleged racketeering against several defendants, intends to continue its civil action at the lower court, OffshoreAlert has been told.

Alleged Mid Ocean insider dealers settle with SEC

April 30, 2001
Two Tennessee stock brokers accused of profiting from insider trading in shares of Mid Ocean Ltd. prior to the announcement of its acquisition by EXEL in March, 1998 have settled an SEC lawsuit. Cristan Kinnard Blackman and Charles Ray Roberts Jr., who both worked for broker Morgan Keegan & Co. at the time, agreed to disgorge profits of $317,409 that they made from the trades.

Bahamas judge removes Receiver of Hawthorne-Sterling group

April 30, 2001
The Bahamas Supreme Court has ruled that the local Securities Commission does not have the legal authority to wind up a mutual fund if the fund is unlicensed and, therefore, operating illegally. Senior Justice Emmanuel E. Osadebay issued his ruling on April 11, 2001 in relation to a winding up application filed by the Securities Commission against firms known as the Hawthorne-Sterling group.

Windsor International Bank told to remove references to Merrion Re

April 30, 2001
A Grenada-licensed bank founded by a dentist has been told to remove references on its web-site to a reinsurer that purportedly "guarantees" the bank's high yield investment products. Darren Thomas, a Director of Merrion Re, of Dublin, Ireland, told OffshoreAlert that references to the reinsurer on the site of Windsor International Bank & Trust had been "put there in error".

Attorney Jeffrey Matz and others found guilty of $64 million investment fraud

April 30, 2001
Six people have been convicted of criminal offenses relating to a $64 million investment scam that involved several offshore jurisdictions, including Antigua, Bermuda and the Bahamas. The convictions on April 13, 2001 followed a six-week jury trial at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida that focused on investment programs known as Hammersmith Trust, Microfund and Luxor Capital Markets.

Canadian regulator acts against Tri-West Investment Club

April 30, 2001
The British Columbia Securities has issued a Temporary Cease Trade Order against an offshore investment scheme run by Tri-West Investment Club that offers "risk-free" annual returns of up to 300 per cent. The Order relates to Tri-West Investment Club, its President, Jason Kingsley; Haarlem Universal Corp., its founder, Alex Haarlem, Alan Richards and Mark Goldman.

Imperial Consolidated principals resign

April 23, 2001
Three weeks after OffshoreAlert exposed their role in a failed hotel in Morecambe, England; Lincoln Julian Fraser and Jared Bentley Brook have resigned as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, respectively, of the UK-based Imperial Consolidated Group, with immediate effect.

Suspicious trading patterns of MRM stock

April 19, 2001
News of Mutual Risk Management's infusion of $112.5 million from a consortium of XL Capital Ltd, First Union Capital Partners, High Ridge Capital and Century Capital Partners II seems to have leaked out yesterday before the deal was officially announced, judging by trading patterns on the New York Stock Exchange.

Mutual Risk Management shares continue to plummet

April 17, 2001
The collapse of the share price of Mutual Risk Management is continuing today, with the price down by 24 per cent to just $3.75 per share on heavy volume of 285,000 in the first two hours of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Grenada bankers arrested in US on suspicion of investment fraud

March 31, 2001
Two businessmen who helped run Grenada-registered Cambridge International Bank & Trust were arrested in the United States on February 28 and are being held in custody. David Frank Rowe, 52, and Gerard Michael Burns have been accused of fraud at the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

John Charman abruptly leaves ACE

March 31, 2001
John Charman, who is highly respected for his achievements in the London market, this month suddenly departed as Group President and CEO of the ACE International Group.

Poor results for Clarendon Insurance Group

March 31, 2001
Hannover Re has announced what it described as "disappointing" results for fiscal 2000 for the New York-based Clarendon Insurance Group, which it bought in February, 1999. Although Clarendon's gross premium income increased by 15 per cent to $1.7 billion, the firm's after-tax profit "fell markedly from $33.8 million to $1 million", according to a press release dated March 8.

Cash 4 Titles businessman pleads guilty to fraud

March 31, 2001
American businessman Michael Gause has pleaded guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud,  and money laundering charges in relation to the Ponzi scheme known as Cash 4 Titles. Gause changed his plea to guilty to six counts on January 3, 2001 and is due to be sentenced on May 4. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of twice the amount lost in the scam.

Nevis regulator leaves after just five months

March 31, 2001
Thomas Peacock, who was appointed Regulator for Financial Services in Nevis, effective October 1, 2000, has quit his position five months into a two-year contract, leaving on March 9, 2001.

Arthur Engel snaps up MRM shares as price falls

March 31, 2001
Mutual Risk Management's share price might be dropping like a stone but at least one director is putting his money where his mouth is by snapping up the firm's stock on the open market. Arthur E. Engel has spent $1.43 million buying 120,000 shares on the New York Stock Exchange since December 8, 2000.

Panamanian regulators act against Marc Harris

March 31, 2001
The Panama Securities Commission has turned down an investment advisor application by Harris Investment Advisory Inc., which is part of The Harris Organization group. A Commission spokesman said the application was rejected primarily because of "the number of  complaints we have received from Harris clients alleging all sorts of dubious practices".

Suisse Security Bank & Trust fights for its license

March 31, 2001
Bahamas-based Suisse Security Bank & Trust filed an application at the Bahamas Supreme Court on March 29, 2001 to reverse what it has called "a purported out-of-court appointed receivership". The Respondents in the lawsuit are Julian Francis, who is the Governor of the Central Bank of the Bahamas; the Attorney-General of the Bahamas and SSBT's Receiver, accountant Raymond Winder.

Petitition to wind up Sentinel Insurance

March 31, 2001
A petition to wind-up Bermuda-based Sentinel Insurance Company was filed by regulators at Bermuda Supreme Court on March 14 and is scheduled to be heard on April 6. The action follows concerns over the solvency of the insurer, as reported in last month's edition of InsideBermuda.

Bermuda judge quits ‘Thyssen-Bornemisza’ trial after one and a half years

March 31, 2001
Bermuda was faced with an international embarrassment during March when a judge quit a complex trust trial 17 months after it started, saying that: "To be blunt. I've had enough." Appropriately, given the nature of the case, which involves a dispute over a $2.7 billion European family fortune, Judge Dennis Mitchell resigned apparently after Bermuda's Governor, Thorold Masefield, declined to renew his three-year contract when he asked for more money.

Stirling Cooke reports record quarterly loss

March 31, 2001
Fourteen days after its share price collapsed to a record low of 56 cents on NASDAQ, Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings reported a record quarterly net loss of $21.2 million.

SEC files lawsuit against Wellington Bank & Trust

March 31, 2001
Thirteen months after being exposed by OffshoreAlert as a scam, the SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Grenada-registered Wellington Bank & Trust, its principals and affiliates. The lawsuit was filed at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on February 27, 2001.

Head of MRM-subsidiary Valmet admits to being ‘economical with the truth’

March 31, 2001
The head of Isle of Man-based Valmet Group, which was recently purchased by Mutual Risk Management, has admitted being "economical with the truth" during a criminal trial in New York. Peter Bond is the chief witness in the trial of former penny stock promoter Robert E. Brennan, who is charged with 13 counts of bankruptcy fraud and money laundering.

Imperial Consolidated: Prior debts of principals and more regulatory problems

March 31, 2001
The Chairman of the Imperial Consolidated Group was threatened with criminal action in England in 1996/97 after being accused of breaking the terms of his bankruptcy, we can disclose. Even then, it took Lincoln Julian Fraser many more months to settle a debt of GBP22,000 (approximately US$32,111) to Lincolnshire-based creditor Heckford Advertising.

Raids on Jerome Schneider and Global Prosperity, charges against Anderson’s Ark

March 31, 2001
Jerome Schneider, who has made a living by selling offshore bank charters in lightly-regulated jurisdictions to private individuals and by writing offshore books, had his office raided by the IRS on February 26. The raid on the office of Schneider's Wilshire Publishing Company in California was one of three high profile actions taken against offshore promoters within five days of each other in the United States.

Lawsuits filed against Fortis Fund Services

March 31, 2001
Two lawsuits have been filed at Bahamas Supreme Court following the collapse of the Bahamas-registered Oracle Fund, with the loss of more than $100 million. Plaintiffs in one lawsuit are HSBC Bank Middle East, HSBC Investment Bank PLC, HSBC Private Banking Nominees 1 Jersey Ltd, Hunter Douglas Holdings Limited, Lazamar Foundation,  Montsol Investments Inc.

Years later, Anglo-American Insurance liquidators still baffled by Centre Re commutation

March 31, 2001
As John Head's ESG Re reported its latest quarterly loss, liquidators of one of his previously-failed insurers are still trying to figure out an unusual reinsurance commutation years after the firm collapsed. A major focus of the liquidation of UK-based Anglo American Insurance Company Ltd. is the commutation of financial reinsurance contracts with Bermuda-based Centre Re prior to Anglo's collapse.