MRM and insiders snap up the company’s stock
Mutual Risk Management and its officers and directors have taken advantage of the recent massive collapse in the company's stock price by aggressively snapping up shares on the open market.
KPMG resigns as LaSalle Re auditor over independence issue
KPMG has resigned as auditor of LaSalle Re due to a conflict of interest.The accounting firm cited "a potential independence issue arising from a personal relationship between an officer of LaSalle Re and a member of the firm of KPMG not working on the LaSalle Re audit", stated a press release issued by the reinsurer.
Bahamas-based businessman survives ‘assassination attempt’
Bahamas-based businessman Joe Lewis, who is one of Britain's richest people, recently survived an assassination attempt in Argentina, according to a report in The Independent newspaper in London.
La Prensa newspaper charged over Harris Organization stories
La Prensa newspaper in Panama and some of its journalists have had a criminal libel brought against them after several articles on The Harris Organization financial services group.La Prensa has alleged improper links between The Harris Organization, the Attorney-General, José Antonio Sossa; and a Panamanian attorney, Carlos Jones; allegations which have been denied by the subjects of the articles.
Bank of Bermuda accounts used for on-line gaming
Links to the Internet gaming industry have embarrassed the Bank of Bermuda and contributed to the termination of its correspondent banking relationship with Swiss American Bank in Antigua.
The bank, which is based in a jurisdiction that prohibits gambling, except for special events such as 'Cup Match', insists that it does not provide banking services to on-line gaming operators.
However, more than a dozen gaming web-sites claiming to be licensed in Antigua and Venezuela have been informing gamblers for several months that they can open up accounts by wire transferring funds into Bank of Bermuda accounts at Citibank in New York and Midland Bank PLC in London.
Insider Talking: October 31, 1999
BaTelCo throws spanner in the works of Bahamas International Stock Exchange private placement, Cayman Islands Stock Exchange tells New Utopia to take a hike, trial in Bermuda over European family's wealth costs $600,000 per week, First International Bank of Grenada has difficulty with its math, journalists arrested in Grenada, new sham investment game appears on the Internet, and the growth of the Bahamas is detailed in a prospectus for the new Bahamas International Securities Exchange.
Rudolph Linschoten given prison sentence in California
Investors International founder Rudolph Linschoten was sentenced on September 13 to serve 60 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud at the US District Court for the Central District of California.
Bermuda Commodities Exchange loses money for AIG
The Bermuda Commodities Exchange, which suspended trading in the first week of August, appears to have been an expensive failure for the American International Group.AIG is believed to have borne the brunt of the estimated losses of more than $2 million suffered by the experimental insurance derivatives exchange in its two -year life-span.
FIBG ‘auditor’ has no CPA licence, co-owner indicted in US
Offshore Alert can this month report further disturbing revelations about the First International Bank of Grenada that make a mockery of the island as a legitimate financial centre.One of the most shocking discoveries is that the annual financial statement filed recently by the bank with regulators was signed by a former bankrupt with a criminal record who is passing himself off as a CPA.Nevada-based accountant Kenneth Nelson Craig had his CPA licence revoked in the US in 1996 after committing an appalling number of offences, including swindling three clients out of $81,000.Equally disturbing is news that one of FIBG's owners, Roger V. Cagle, has been criminally indicted in New Jersey on charges of racketeering, bribery and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Stock Generation Internet game: ‘So what if it’s a Ponzi scheme?’
OffshoreAlert takes a comprehensive look at the Internet-gaming pheneomenon called Stock Generation, that is growing at a rapid pace even though it appears to be a Ponzi scheme.
Inter-Ocean refutes Superior National’s ‘false’ allegations
Inside Bermuda has received a letter from Inter-Ocean President Mervin Holland in response to allegations made to the media about his company by Superior National Insurance Company President Chris Seaman.Holland was particularly upset at an article that appeared in The Royal Gazette newspaper on September 23 headlined: "Inter-Ocean tried to mug us - US insurer."
Stirling Cooke’s little-known Cayman affiliate
The Bermuda-based Stirling Cooke insurance group is a shareholder in a little-known reinsurer called Alternative Risk Reinsurance Company Limited that is registered in the Cayman Islands and managed by Mutual Risk Management (Cayman) Limited.
Details of four UK lawsuits filed against Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings
Inside Bermuda has obtained specific details about four of the seven lawsuits filed against Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings and/or related entities in the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division Commercial Court, in the UK.
BVI regulator responds to judge’s ruling against The Harris Organization
In the face of an onslaught of pressure from the international community, offshore regulators have been quick to claim over the last few years that they are not havens for criminal activity.However, the proof of the pudding is, as they say, in the eating.
‘Legalized loan-sharking’ fund launched in Bahamas
A Bahamas-registered mutual fund has been set up to invest in a controversial industry in which high-interest loans are issued to low income people who use their pay checks and car titles as collateral.Some call it legalized loan-sharking, others call it a cash life-line to the poor. To investors in Olympia Fund Limited, though, it is, perhaps, best called a means to earning above-average returns.
TCI company accused of bilking Japanese firms of $1 billion
The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission this month filed separate complaints alleging securities fraud against a businessman whose Turks & Caicos Islands-registered entity racked up investment losses estimated at $1 billion.Both complaints were filed on September 13 at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against New Jersey-based Martin A. Armstrong, aged 50; Turks & Caicos Islands-registered Princeton Economics International Ltd. and Princeton Global Management Ltd.
Superior National’s aggressive tactics in dispute with Inter-Ocean Re
Industry watchers have been taken aback by the aggressive strategy adopted by Superior National Insurance Group Inc. in its $175 million contract dispute with Inter-Ocean Re and Inter-Ocean's principal shareholder, American Re-Insurance Company.Not content to wait for the outcome of arbitration proceedings that are due to be held soon in New York, Superior National filed a lawsuit against both parties in Los Angeles County Superior Court on September 7 in which they seek $200 million.
UBS (Cayman Islands) sued by former client
UBS (Cayman Islands) Ltd. is being sued for breach of trust and fiduciary duty in relation to the alleged misappropriation of $775,000 of client funds by former trust officer Barry Victor Randall.The lawsuit was filed at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands on August 10, 1999 by Publishers Representatives Limited, suing as Trustee of the Asian Sources Retirement Plan, and Lee Sku Lee, representing beneficiaries of the plan.
Insider Talking: September 30, 1999
Dominica-registered Overseas Development Bank & Trust has yet to satisfy three judgments totalling US$1.24 million that were entered against it in favor of creditors on January 29, 1999, sham New Utopia jurisdiction claims it is launching "the New Utopia Investment Fund of the Cayman Islands", Ralph Sherman's involvement in the First International Bank of Grenada, comparisons between Van Brink's First International Bank of Grenada and Michael Randy's Canadian Trade Bank, alleged investment fraudster Brent Wagman surfaces in Panama, '60 Minutes' television show goes soft on Alexandre Konanykhine.
‘Nothing unusual’ about turn-over of Cayman bank records to US Receiver, say Cayman attorneys
Although much has been made overseas of a decision by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands to approve a request to hand over the bank records of Euro Bank Corporation client Kenneth Taves to his US-based Receiver, there is nothing unusual about such a move.
The foreign press has been lauding the deal as a break with tradition by Cayman after comments to that effect by Robb Evans, the Receiver for Kenneth Taves, his wife, Teresa; and their businesses J. K. Publications Inc., MJD Service Corp., TAL Services Inc. and their affiliates and subsidiaries.
Bermuda bows to foreign pressure, makes tax evasion an offence
Bermuda has led the way among offshore financial centres by making tax evasion an offence under its Proceeds of Crime Act.
When the amendment comes into effect, which will not be before January, 2000, foreign investigating authorities such as the US government will be able to obtain bank records and other information about people charged with, or suspected of, tax evasion offences.
Inter-Ocean Re/Superior National to arbitrate $175 m contract
An arbitration between Bermuda-based Inter-Ocean Reinsurance Company and Superior National Insurance Company over a $175 million contract could take place before the end of the year.
The dispute relates to coverage Inter-Ocean provided to US-based Business Insurance Group - now a subsidiary of Superior National - and 100 per cent reinsured by American Re.
Nevis drafts law to regulate offshore service providers
A final draft of the regulatory legislation providing for the supervision and licensing of offshore service providers is currently circulating in Nevis. The Service Providers Supervision Ordinance 1999 is expected to become law later this year.
Grenada Prime Minister clears FIBG of illegal acts
The massive financial scam being committed in Grenada by Canadian and American crooks has reached new levels of farce after the island's government announced that it had investigated - and cleared - the First International Bank of Grenada of any wrongdoing.
Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchell gave the bank a clean bill of health at a press conference held on July 23 and attended by local journalists.
Keith King in legal setback in the Isle of Man
Keith King, the head of the Nevis-based First Nevisian corporate services/stockbroking group, has suffered a setback in his latest court battle in the Isle of Man with a former client, Virginia Anne Callow.
King's inactive Isle of Man company, City & International Securities, is suing Callow for US$39,717 and £13,409 (approx. US$21,695), claiming the amounts are debit balances on personal trading accounts.
Former manager of Cayman fund disciplined by SEC
US-based businessman Keith E. Walsh has reached a settlement with the SEC for illegalities in the way he ran a now defunct Cayman-registered company called CS First Boston Offshore Cash Reserve Fund.
Walsh, 41, who lives in Pennsylvania, has agreed to be barred from association with any broker, dealer, investment adviser or investment company, with the right to re-apply after three years.
Insider Talking: August 31, 1999
In February, Offshore Alert reported about stock manipulation allegations involving Bermuda Stock Exchange-listed Mezzanine Capital; Viktor Kozeny, the 'Pirate of Prague' who allegedly defrauded his countrymen in the former Czechoslovakia of tens of millions of dollars before fleeing, buying an Irish passport and going to live in the Bahamas, has apparently fallen out with the Grenada government, according to Grenada Today newspaper; A letter to the editor that was published in the Caymanian Compass newspaper on August 20, 1999 caused rum amusement in knowledgeable law enforcement circles; and In the ten days after we posted the Harris Organization/OBNR libel judgment on our web-site, 638 people had downloaded the entire 17 pages, making it the most popular document on the 'Free Documents' section of our web-site.
Odyssey Re files amended complaint against Stirling Cooke et al
Odyssey Re (London) Limited has filed an amended complaint against Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings, several of its subsidiaries and other parties at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Aneco Re wins $35 m UK court decision against Johnson & Higgins
Aneco Reinsurance Underwriting, the Bermuda-based reinsurance group that went into liquidation in 1992, has won US$34.98 million in damages for negligent advice given by US brokerage Johnson & Higgins, reported the Financial Times on July 31, 1999. The broker was also held to be liable for the insurer's losses.
Offshore banker William Cooper escapes extradition on a technicality
An Antiguan court has decided not to extradite to the US banker William Cooper, whose banks have featured in several money laundering investigations and have a habit of failing with debts to deposits of tens of millions of dollars.
UPS offered little evidence to show it was not avoiding US taxes
Given the amount of money at stake, which could eventually come to more than $2 billion in back taxes and fines, the attempt by UPS to create an 'arm's length' reinsurance company in Bermuda appears to have been remarkably clumsy, according to Judge Ruwe's 114-page opinion.
In laying the groundwork for the restructuring of its shipper's risk program in 1983, the company seems to have drawn up little or nothing in the way of documentation that could later be used to give the appearance that the change was driven by sound business reasons, rather than a desire to avoid US taxes.
Overseas Partners to lose $370 of premiums following UPS Tax Court decision
Overseas Partners Limited expects to lose about 35 per cent of its annual premium volume as a result of the US Internal Revenue Service's recent favorable tax ruling over United Parcel Service of America, whose shipper's risk program is OPL's biggest source of revenue.
The annual dollar cost to OPL is likely to be in the region of $370 million in lost premiums and approximately $200 million of net income, according to the company's own estimates.
Harris Organization appeals libel decision
The Harris Organization financial services group of Panama has served official notice that it will appeal its loss of a recent libel lawsuit against Offshore Business News & Research Inc., which publishes Offshore Alert.
The grounds for the appeal were not known at press time.
Transamerica wins arbitration to rescind Stirling Cooke-brokered spiral business
Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings has suffered a major setback in an arbitration held recently in London.
The arbitration panel decided by three votes to nil to rescind reinsurance contracts for 1993 and 1994 that the San Francisco-based Transamerica insurance/financial services group had with Duncanson & Holt, Chubb Insurance Group and Chubb-subsidiary Federal Insurance Company.
OBNR defeats Harris Organization in libel lawsuit
The Harris Organization financial services group of Panama has lost its libel lawsuit brought against Offshore Business News & Research, which publishes this newsletter, and OBNR's principal, David Marchant.
Judge Michael Moore, sitting in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, issued a strong ruling in favour of OBNR and Marchant on August 10, 1999.
John Mathewson let off with probation after turning in his bank’s clients
Former Cayman banker John Mathewson has kept his freedom as a reward for turning in his clients to the US authorities.
Mathewson, 71, was sentenced to five years of probation, 500 hours of community service and a $30,000 fine at the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on August 2 after previously pleading guilty to money laundering, and tax evasion charges brought not only in New Jersey but also at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Bad debtors in the Bermuda-Caribbean Region
In an effort to assist the public in determining the credibility of businesses and businessmen, Offshore Business News & Research has compiled a list of companies in the Bermuda-Caribbean region who are unwilling to pay their debts.
Crown Meridian, Sattva Investment Bank and Offshore Investment Services join FIBG scam
Grenada-registered Crown Meridian Bank has followed in the footsteps of its sister bank, First International Bank of Grenada, by promising depositors annual interest rates of 200 per cent and falsely claiming deposits are insured by the sham insurer IDIC, we can disclose.Crown Meridian is run by the same people who control FIBG and was licensed by Grenada's regulators on February 1, 1999 - three days after Offshore Alert exposed FIBG as a scam.
Privy Council upholds Bermuda’s ban on fast-food restaurant chains
The UK Privy Council has thwarted plans by private entrepreneurs, led by former Premier Sir John Swan, to take Bermuda down-market by opening US fast-food franchises on the island.The court of appeal rejected an appeal by Swan's company, Grape Bay Ltd., to strike down Bermuda's Prohibited Restaurants Act, which was enacted in 1996 in a bid to stop Swan from opening a McDonald's restaurant.
US criminal defendants become latest victims of John Mathewson
Eight defendants in a criminal indictment filed in Nebraska recently appear to be the latest victims of former Cayman banker John Mathewson's decision to help US authorities investigate his ex-clients.David Abboud, his brother Gene, son Baron and nephew Joseph, Susan Germer, United Imports Corp. (d.b.a. M. D. Electronics), G&A Distributing Inc. (d.b.a. Broadway Enterprises) and Infinite Electronics were charged on April 26, 1999 with 15 counts of Mail Fraud, 11 counts of Wire Fraud, seven counts of Unauthorized Reception of Cable Television Service, one count of Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering, and 13 counts of Domestic Money Laundering.
Caribbean Bank of Commerce scam continues under another name
After finally having its bank licence revoked by regulators in Antigua earlier this year, the Caribbean Bank of Commerce has simply changed its name and is continuing its criminal activity without interruption.The bank has not even bothered to change its Antiguan telephone and fax numbers or its two web addresses at www.caribbank.com and www.cbcltd.com.
Winding-up petition against Caribbean International Insurance Company
The UK Secretary of State for Trade and Industry presented a petition to the High Court in London on June 18, 1999 to wind up the affairs of Antigua-registered Caribbean International Insurance Company Inc.
US regulators put squeeze on offshore gaming operators
US regulators have continued to put the squeeze on Internet gaming operators with the passage of a US Senate Judiciary Committee bill to ban sports and casino gambling over the Internet in the United States.
New Unicover lawsuits
US and Canadian insurers this month started three new legal actions that will help to determine who will pay for the huge losses associated with the Unicover workers' compensation insurance pool.
Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada announced it had started arbitration to void Unicover-related reinsurance contracts, Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Co. filed a lawsuit in the United Kingdom in an attempt to force a broker, Rattner Mackenzie, to reveal more information about Unicover and it is also believed that Lincoln National Life has filed a suit.
Major shareholders of Bermuda’s insurers and reinsurers
Ever wondered who controlled Bermuda's major insurers and reinsurers?
Here is a breakdown of the major shareholders of the island's publicly-listed companies.
Libel trial judge asks: ‘Where is Marc Harris?’
The libel trial involving The Harris Organization financial services group of Panama and Offshore Business News & Research ended on July 30 with Judge Michael Moore asking: "Where is Marc Harris?"
Harris was nowhere to be seen during six days of testimony even though he was the main subject matter of the March 31, 1998 Offshore Alert article that was being complained about.
TCI Police asked to investigate alleged stock fraud against Asian investors
Police in the Turks & Caicos Islands are to be asked to investigate a company that was allegedly used to defraud mainly Asian investors, according to a recent report in the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong."Peddlers of worthless shares in the Grand Financial Fund, Equity Mutual Trust and Mercantile Securities now appear to be working from the Turks and Caicos Islands," stated the newspaper in an article published on July 12, 1999.
New Stirling Cooke boss, Len Quick, is former defendant in RICO action
Mark Cooke this month stepped down as CEO of Goldman Sachs-controlled Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings following the company's disastrous performance since going public in November, 1997.
But the man promoted to temporarily replace him and steady the firm in the face of widespread fraud allegations was himself accused of impropriety with his previous employer, we can reveal.
Len Quick, 57, who was previously the head of Stirling Cooke's North American operations, was elevated to Chief Operating Officer of the group and interim CEO until a permanent replacement for Cooke is found.
Insider Talking: July 31, 1999
Global Village Market and the World Investors' Stock Exchange, Global Prosperity Group charges attendees $17,000 each for its get-rich-quick conferences, John Mathewson and the FBI, Cayman bank officer lived in home owned by client, says source; Harris Organization tries to subscribe to Offshore Alert, journalists seek information on Michael Ashcroft, Harris Organization officer Alan McAloon professes ignorance over Florida property ownership.
SEC files administrative action against Gary Pierce and CSI Ag
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has commenced cease-and-desist proceedings against Turks & Caicos Islands-registered CSI Ag and its principal, Gary J. Pierce, of Studio City, California.
From July, 1997 to February, 1999, Pierce and CSI solicited investments in a $500 million unregistered bond offering for the Government of Free Vietnam, which is a political association in Garden Grove, California, via its Internet web-site and its newspaper, according to the SEC in its administrative complaint.
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