All content of David Marchant

Marsh & McLennan and JP Morgan fall out after years of success

March 31, 1999

Bermuda's most successful insurance investment partnership, between Marsh & McLennan (now J&H Marsh & McLennan) and JP Morgan, may be coming to an acrimonious end.The two giants of the investment and insurance sectors, who were responsible for the formation of companies such as ACE, EXEL and Mid Ocean, have fallen out, apparently over Merrill Lynch being preferred to JP Morgan in lucrative insurance deals involving companies JP Morgan helped set up, we have been told.

Leroy Johnson starts legal fight to reclaim Cayman land

March 31, 1999

Cayman citizen Leroy Johnson has started legal proceedings as the latest phase of his long battle to reclaim ownership of over 200 acres of quarrying land potentially worth tens of millions of dollars that has mysteriously ended up in the control of the island's Minister of Land, John Bonwell McLean.Johnson, through his attorney Keith Collins, of Collins Broadhurst & Furniss, filed a lawsuit on March 5, 1999 in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands against Cayman's Registrar of Lands, Clarke Buchanan.

US businessman arrested after using Cayman firm to invest in Cuba

March 31, 1999

A Florida businessman who allegedly used a Cayman Islands company to illegally invest in Cuba was this month charged with violating the seldom-enforced Trading with the Enemy Act.Thomas H. Boylan, 43, has been accused of investing $920,000 in a seaport and airport development at the Port of Mariel in Cuba.

Societe Generale refuses to pay full price for Coutts (Bahamas)

March 31, 1999

French-based Societe Generale is so disappointed with its acquisition of Coutts (Bahamas) last August that it is refusing to pay the balance of the previously agreed $100 million purchase price, according to sources.

Stirling Cooke discloses London arbitrations and lawsuits

March 31, 1999

Although readers of this newsletter have known for several months about the arbitrations that Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings has been involved with in London, the company only declared the hearings to the SEC this month in its 10 K filing. The company also disclosed that it is a defendant in seven different lawsuits filed in 1998 by reinsurers and reinsureds alleging fraud.

Stirling Cooke accused of racketeering and fraud in US lawsuit

March 31, 1999

Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings and some of its subsidiaries, affiliates and officers have been accused of engaging in widespread fraud to the detriment of mostly US insurers and reinsurers in a lawsuit filed by Odyssey Re (London) on March 29 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. As with lawsuits and arbitration proceedings involving Stirling Cooke in London, the company has been accused of running reinsurance spirals purely to generate brokerage commissions and underwriting management fees for itself regardless of the consequences to insureds and reinsureds.

Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings in crisis

March 31, 1999

Serious questions about the future of Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings are being raised following the filing of a lawsuit in New York accusing the firm of racketeering and fraud and the collapse of its share price to an all-time low on NASDAQ. The company has also disclosed for the first time in its SEC filings that it is involved in several arbitrations in the UK and is also a defendant in seven different lawsuits that were filed last year by reinsurers and reinsureds claiming to have been defrauded.

Local insurance industry posthumously honors defendant in civil fraud trial

March 31, 1999

In what could easily be construed as a shameless snub to foreign insurance buyers, particularly so close to the start of an embarrassing civil fraud trial, the Bermuda Insurance Institute and local insurer BF&M Ltd. have dedicated a room at the BII offices in Hamilton to the late Charles Collis, the attorney who helped to orchestrate the stripping of $50 million of assets from Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance two years before it went bust owing creditors over $1.4 billion.

Bott & Associates: ‘We have not been raided.’

March 31, 1999

Bermuda-based Bott & Associates has taken legal advice after the UK-based Insurance Times erroneously reported that the company's offices had been raided in connection with an investigation being carried out by the City of London fraud squad.

Belvedere Insurance liquidators chase ‘illegal’ dividends

March 31, 1999

The liquidators of Belvedere Insurance have placed its holding company, Caliban Holdings Ltd., into provisional liquidation in a bid to recover up to $2.2 million that was dividended out of Belvedere in 1996.Although Malcolm Butterfield and Anthony McMahon are seeking to recover the full amount on behalf of Belvedere's creditors, they are particularly concerned about $663,000 of the dividend that was technically illegal under Bermuda law.

Richard Hape arrested on suspicion of money laundering

March 31, 1999

Canadian businessman Richard Hape, 51, who is a Senior Executive of Turks & Caicos Islands-based British West Indies Trust Limited, was arrested in Canada on February 16 and charged with conspiracy to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking.Simultaneous with Hape's arrest in Ontario, the Royal Turks & Caicos Islands Police executed a search warrant at the offices of British West Indies Trust Limited and a restraining order was served on the Trust's employees and banks.

Florida regulator investigates ‘insurers’ operated by Harris Organization

March 31, 1999

The Department of Banking and Finance in Florida is investigating an alleged scam involving two insurance companies run by The Harris Organization financial services group of Panama. It has been alleged that investors were duped into investing funds with Florida-registered Lifeblood Biomedical Inc. on the grounds that their investment was fully insured by Threshold Insurance Services Ltd. and Caribbean General Insurance Corporation, which are both operated by The Harris Organization. However, following the collapse of Lifeblood Biomedical last year after raising $10 million, the insurance companies have refused to pay investors' claims, alleging that agreements on their letterhead and signed by the President of both insurers, Ilka M. Barria, are bogus.

Details of allegations against Keith King in South Africa

March 31, 1999

Further information came OffshoreAlert's way recently about the nature of the allegations that led to the South African authorities issuing an arrest warrant against Keith Leslie King, the senior principal of First Nevisian, a Nevis-based stockbroking/corporate services group.We have obtained a document that originated from the Director of the Office for Serious Economic Offences in Pretoria dated May 15, 1996 that states: "This office is presently conducting an investigation into alleged fraudulent transactions in South African gilts (government and municipal stocks). The alleged falsification of stock certificates is an important element of the investigation.

Anne Kast’s Insurance Fund: Time to buy or sell?

March 31, 1999

Anne Kast, the Bermuda-based investment advisor who runs the Bermuda Insurance Index Fund, may have been ruing the timing of a recent full-page advertisement in The Royal Gazette newspaper. In an effort to drum up business for the fund, which was launched last year at $10 and is now at $9.40, readers were treated to massively optimistic buy recommendations of Bermuda's insurance stocks from analysts such as Morgan Stanley, Prudential, Merrill Lynch and Warburg Dillon.

Interclaim (Bermuda) freezes $200 m of assets controlled by callous white-collar criminals

March 31, 1999

Debt recovery firm Interclaim (Bermuda) Limited made international headlines recently after a series of daring legal manoeuvres in several countries against the type of heartless criminals who have become accustomed to getting away with their crimes.The company, which operates from Dublin, Ireland, has successfully frozen in the region of US$200 million of assets linked with Blair Down, a Canadian businessman who created his wealth by ripping off the elderly.

Hannover Re completes Clarendon Insurance acquisition

March 31, 1999

Hannover Re's decision to finally go ahead with its purchase of the Clarendon insurance group after six months of deliberation has surprised several people in the industry who view the acquisition as a 'Beauty and the Beast' arrangement. But it appears that the deal, which finally closed at the end of February, may have substantially altered since it was first announced last August.

Grenada bank scam: Injunction bid against Offshore Alert fails

March 31, 1999

The First International Bank of Grenada, the International Deposit Insurance Corporation and the World Investors Stock Exchange this month failed in their bid to obtain a court injunction preventing Offshore Alert from continuing to report on their fraudulent activities.Attorneys representing these entities filed hundreds of pages of documents at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in an effort to obtain an emergency injunction preventing Offshore Alert from continuing to report on their dubious activities.

Regulators asked to investigate Star Capital Fund

March 31, 1999

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority has been asked to investigate a failed mutual fund that was run and promoted by the staff of Lines Overseas Management (Cayman) and administered by Alexandria Bancorp.A Canadian investor has made a written request for an inquiry on the grounds that a number of laws may have been broken during the operation and current liquidation of Star Capital Fund.

Three judgments against Overseas Development Bank & Trust

March 31, 1999

Dominica-licensed Overseas Development Bank & Trust Ltd., which is run by John E. Greaves in Antigua, appears to be in financial trouble.Three separate judgments for a total of US$1.24 million were entered against the bank on January 29, 1999 by the High Court of Justice in Dominica.

Insider Talking: March 31, 1999

March 31, 1999

Further incriminating evidence against Bermuda Stock Exchange-listed Mezzanine Capital, Lines Overseas Management has sophisticated computer software system installed, Marc M. Harris and his Panama bodyguards, 'The Invisible Investor' book provides a plethora of unintentional laughs, Nigerian fraudsters appears in Cayman Islands court, Florida-based scam seeks to take advantage of bona fide firms like Lloyd's Bank and Barclays Bank, Members of Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly shelve plans to award themselves huge pay increases.

Still no official word on Clarendon/Hannover Re deal

February 26, 1999

There is still no official word on the status of Hannover Re's proposed acquisition of the Clarendon insurance group, which has companies in the US and Bermuda.

Insider Talking: February 26, 1999

February 26, 1999

If you ever needed proof as to how far the Russian mafia has infiltrated Antigua's government, you need look no further than Clare K. Roberts, who was Antigua's Attorney General until last year, and Steadroy Benjamin, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives; The Caribbean Bank of Commerce featured in an alert sent out by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to US banks and regulators on November 13, 1998 that advised that the bank was operating illegally from an address in the United States, namely 17 Chestnut Street, Ridgewood, New Jersey; Bermuda Supreme Court last month appointed the Official Receiver to take over the financial affairs of Bermuda attorney Julian Hall, who used to be an MP for the Progressive Labour Party when it was in Opposition; A French chateau hotel venture run by outspoken former Bermuda-based insurance boss Jonathan Crawley seems to be heading the way of several insurance companies he helped run; The name of Antigua-registered American International Bank, which is now in receivership after being mismanaged by its owner William Cooper and its CEO John E. Greaves, has cropped up in several official investigations into criminal activity involving money laundering; and The Cayman Islands government wasted yet more of the public's money by first obtaining a court injunction against the Cayman Free Press preventing its Caymanian Compass newspaper from reporting the contents of the government's agreement with telecommunications carrier Cable & Wireless and then inexplicably dropping the matter without any explanation just before a court hearing to hear the pros and cons of the case.

Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance trial set to start on May 4, 1999

February 26, 1999

What is probably the most eagerly-awaited civil trial in Bermuda's history - involving the alleged $50 million asset-stripping of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company while it was known to be insolvent - is scheduled to start on May 4, 1999. The trial, in which some of the island's best-known businessmen and companies are defendants, is expected to last four months.

Grenada scam bank offers annual interest of 250 per cent

February 26, 1999

Offshore Alert's story about the banking/insurance scam that appeared in last month's edition of the newsletter has created quite a stir in the Caribbean. Several newspapers in the region followed up on the scandal, including those in Nevis, St. Vincent and Bermuda, and we received requests for assistance from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the the FBI.

TOPS Insurance goes into voluntary liquidation

February 26, 1999

TOPS Insurance Ltd., which is managed by Bermuda-based Oil Management Services Ltd., announced on February 2, 1999 that it was going into voluntary liquidation. TOPS wrote total loss insurance coverage for offshore oil platforms mainly situated in the North Sea.

Dubious past of attorney David Hampton Tedder

February 26, 1999

OffshoreAlert has carried out further research into attorney David Hampton Tedder, who featured in a story last month about a Bahamas-registered IBC, Global Investments Inc., which appears to be selling unregistered securities in the United States. In California alone, Tedder has filed for a bankruptcy, has appeared as a debtor in 12 judgments at State Court and as a defendant in 23 lawsuits at State Court. Additionally, he appears as a debtor in 33 liens.

Clarendon America’s widespread breaches of Delaware insurance laws

February 26, 1999

Clarendon America Insurance Company moved its domicile to New Jersey in 1995 not long after a damning report into its business affairs by Delaware regulators, Offshore Alert can disclose. The company, which forms part of the US/Bermuda-based Clarendon group, was found to have breached numerous regulations during an examination by regulators Nicholas Prumatico and Ronald Fox.

Mezzanine Capital linked to manipulation of penny stocks

February 26, 1999

A Bermuda Stock Exchange-listed company whose minority shareholders include subsidiaries of the Bank of Bermuda and financial services firm Lines Overseas Management is caught up in what appears to be a scheme to defraud investors on the NASDAQ over-the-counter market, Offshore Alert can disclose. We have uncovered an astonishing list of proven abuses and allegations of fraud and dishonesty against individuals and companies associated with Bermuda-registered investment holding company Mezzanine Capital Ltd., including its Chairman and President, Eric Chess Bronk, although we have found nothing to incriminate LOM or the Bank of Bermuda.

Share Register of Mezzanine Capital

February 10, 1999

Share Register of Mezzanine Capital, accurate as of February 10, 1999.

Lloyd’s of London to investigate Stirling Cooke

January 29, 1999

Lloyd's Regulatory Board, the body that regulates the Lloyd's of London market, is soon to begin an investigation into Bermuda-based Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings that, in the worst scenario, could lead to the company's Lloyd's broking licence being suspended or even revoked.

Scott Oliver’s bank: The hunt is over

January 29, 1999

Lines Overseas Management is standing by its Cayman-based salesman Scott Oliver despite the fact that a bank he is linked with is part of a major fraud and is operating illegally from Bermuda, where LOM is headquartered. LOM has decided not to fire him even though, five months after Offshore Alert caught him claiming in LOM marketing material to be 'an advisor to the International Exchange Bank of Bermuda', we have found that such a bank has indeed been operating illegally on the island.

Mutual Risk Management officers in heavy selling

January 29, 1999

Senior officers of Mutual Risk Management engaged in heavy selling of their company's stock from November 20-December 14, 1998, collectively off-loading 247,214 shares for $9,121,767 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Aaron Day, Arnold Goldstein and two non-existent Bahamas companies

January 29, 1999

Nine months after threatening to sue us for alleging that he promoted the services of The Harris Organization of Panama, Florida-based attorney and offshore author Arnold Goldstein has written to thank us for calling his attention to a dubious web-site that promotes his products and services.

Details of alleged fraud against Bahamas attorney Leslie Vernon Rolle

January 29, 1999

Bahamas attorney Leslie Vernon Rolle is facing a criminal investigation into an alleged attempt to swindle clients of UBS (Bahamas) Limited out of $2.2 million. Police have been asked to look into the matter following incriminating evidence that was unearthed during the execution of an Anton Piller order issued by the Bahamas Supreme Court last month as part of a civil action brought by UBS.

Attorneys threaten OffshoreAlert with lawsuit over exposé of insurance-banking fraud

January 29, 1999

Offshore Alert has received two letters from attorneys threatening to sue us over the banking/insurance scandal involving World Investors Stock Exchange, International Deposit Insurance Corporation, First International Bank of Grenada, International Exchange Bank and Fidelity International Bank, that is exposed in the January 29, 1999 edition of Offshore Alert.

Banking-insurance scam advertisements ask investors to sign away their assets

January 29, 1999

Avertisement from 'Vincent Lachmi' and 'Dr. Vincent Kumar' starts appearing on the Internet in connection with fraud perpetrated in the names of the International Deposit Insurance Corporation, the World Investors Stock Exchange, Fidelity International Bank, International Exchange Bank and the First International Bank of Grenada.

Clarendon Insurance-Hannover Re deal may be off

January 29, 1999

Robert Ferguson, who is the President of the US/Bermuda-based Clarendon insurance group, was in Germany from January 20-23 in a last ditch bid to save the proposed sale of the company to German giant Hannover Re, we have been told. Although the outcome of his visit was not known to us at publication time, Ferguson told acquaintances before the trip that the deal was "99 per cent dead", according to a source.

Marc Harris-OBNR lawsuit due to be tried in May

January 29, 1999

The Harris Organization's $30 million libel action against Offshore Business News & Research, Inc. and its principal, David Marchant, is scheduled to go to trial in May of this year at the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Miami).

Two more Harris Organization clients indicted in the US

January 29, 1999

Less than a year after two clients pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking charges in California, a criminal indictment has been brought in Florida against two more clients of The Harris Organization of Panama. The indictment was filed against Aurelio Anthony Vigna and his son, Joseph R. Vigna, on December 17, 1998 at the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Bahamas company may be committing illegal acts in the US

January 29, 1999

Bahamas-registered Global Investments Inc. appears to be selling unregistered securities in the US in which investors are investing on the belief they are likely to get high rates of return. Some investors in Alabama have been putting their life savings into the scheme and some have even borrowed against their pensions, OffshoreAlert has been told.

Trying times for Jacob J. Elkin and Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza

January 29, 1999

Former high-flying Canadian investor Jacob J. Elkin and Swiss tycoon Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza were featured in two separate stories in The Royal Gazette newspaper in Bermuda this month. The newspaper reported that Elkin's Bermuda home, which has an estimated value of $1.5 million, was being auctioned off in an attempt to collect part of the $12.5 million he owes creditors.

Mutual Risk Management is Bermuda’s top insurance stock for second straight year

January 29, 1999

For the second consecutive year, the common stock of Mutual Risk Management has outperformed all other Bermuda-based, publicly-listed companies operating in the insurance/reinsurance sector. MRM's stock achieved a total investment return of 31.39 per cent for 1998, way ahead of its nearest rival, EXEL, which returned 20.93 per cent to investors. MRM's stock has now returned 100 per cent in two years.

David Brown’s ‘no downside’ $20 m share loan

January 29, 1999

Former Centre Solutions boss David Brown can hardly lose in his new venture, Gemini Re Holdings, which recently filed a prospectus with the SEC in relation to a planned $400 million IPO.

OffshoreAlert exposes massive offshore banking and insurance fraud

January 29, 1999

Offshore Alert can today expose a massive fraud involving at least three banks, an insurance company and a stock exchange into which investors are believed to have invested tens of millions of dollars. Participants in the scam include the World Investors Stock Exchange in Grenada, the International Deposit Insurance Corporation in Nevis, the First International Bank of Grenada, the International Exchange Bank, which is registered in either Nauru or Grenada but operated out of Bermuda and Texas; and Fidelity International Bank, which is registered in Nauru but operated from St. Vincent.

Insider Talking: January 29, 1999

January 29, 1999

Cayman Islands Government award members huge salary increases, McKeeva Bush offers $200,000 to settle $1 million liability, according to First Cayman Bank liquidators; Antigua journalist Tim Hector continues to publish despite printing presses being destroyed in an arson attack, the dubious past of New Utopia conman Prince Lazarus Long, a.k.a. Howard Turney; First Nevisian Group forms Life Offshore Group of Companies, Barron's magazine rips into Agora's The Oxford Club.

Gemini Re Holdings files SEC prospectus for $400 million IPO

January 7, 1999

Bermuda-registered Gemini Re Holdings Ltd. today filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC as the first step towards a proposed $400 million IPO. It is intended at this stage that the offering, which is being handled by Merrill Lynch and Chase Securities, will be valued at $15 per share and that the shares will be listed on NASDAQ.

PLP causes jitters in business community after only six weeks in power

December 31, 1998

The PLP has only been in power a month but there are already signs that the party's stance on work permits for foreign employees might be tougher than previous governments. A permit has not been renewed for Paul Rowlerson, a Senior Vice President with J&H Marsh & McLennan, after 14 years on the island in the insurance sector, according to a story in The Royal Gazette newspaper.

Plans move ahead for fourth bank in Bermuda

December 31, 1998

It might have all the hallmarks of a disaster about to happen but plans are moving ahead to form a new, fourth bank in Bermuda called the First International Citizens' Bank. A Private Members' Bill to incorporate what is intended to be a Bermudian-owned bank was introduced to the House of Assembly this month.

Conferences cater to the shadier side of the offshore world

December 31, 1998

Mexico played host this month to two seminars organized by individuals and groups operating on the murkier side of the offshore world. Cancun was the venue over December 9-11 for the 'Offshore Wealth Summit', which was put on by Jerome Schneider, who is one of the most reviled figures in the offshore world.

Hunt continues for Scott Oliver’s ‘fictitious’ bank

December 31, 1998

As regular readers of this newsletter should be aware, we recently caught Lines Overseas Management salesman Scott Oliver lying to potential clients about his credentials by claiming he was on the board of advisors of the International Exchange Bank of Bermuda, which does not exist. After being exposed, Oliver sent out e-mails to associates in which he claimed that "this bank was not registered in Bermuda as initially discussed but instead was registered in another British Commonwealth offshore jurisdiction". He also declared that he was no longer an advisor to the 'bank'.