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Swiss firm wins battle to buy duty free stores in Cayman

October 31, 1997
After a court battle lasting nearly 18 months, Swissair-subsidiary Nuance International Holdings Ltd. has finally been given approval to purchase a chain of local duty free shops in the Cayman Islands.The Cayman Islands Immigration Board reversed an earlier ruling - that was itself a reversal of an April, 1996 ruling - and granted Nuance permission to purchase Island Companies Ltd.

Werner Rey loses extradition appeal in the Bahamas

October 31, 1997
The Bahamas Court of Appeal this month upheld a lower court's decision to extradite businessman Werner Rey to face embezzlement charges involving millions of dollars in his native Switzerland.

Canadian kidnapped in the Bahamas

October 31, 1997
A 31-year-old Bahamian businessman has been charged with 25 offences following the kidnapping and robbery of five Canadian men in Nassau on October 13.

Cayman MLA John Jefferson Jr. loses civil lawsuit

October 31, 1997
Cayman's National Team government has taken no action against one of its members, John Jefferson Jr., who lost a civil lawsuit that included evidence of dishonesty on his part and a letter indicating he may have attempted to extort money from a foreign airline by abusing his position as a Member of the Legislative Assembly.

Credibility concerns hold up Resource Underwriters

October 31, 1997
Concerns about the credibility of some of the people involved are holding up the formation in Bermuda of Resource Underwriters, a new $300 million reinsurer whose front-man is Robin Spencer-Arscott.

McKeeva Bush to be fired after First Cayman Bank collapses

October 31, 1997
McKeeva Bush, a director of First Cayman Bank who lied about his directorship after the bank collapsed amid allegations of fraud, is expected to be officially removed as a government minister when the Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly begins its next session on Friday, October 31.Bush has become an acute embarrassment to the Cayman government since First Cayman collapsed earlier this month, particularly with an international banking conference taking place on the island.

Harris McLean’s Canadian assets frozen

October 31, 1997
The British Columbia Securities Commission has frozen an estimated US$9 million held in Vancouver trading accounts on behalf of Cayman-based broker/dealer Harris McLean Financial Group Ltd. and Ana Jimenez, who is the mother of Richard Harris, one of Harris McLean's principals.

First Bermuda Securities sues former principal

October 31, 1997
First Bermuda Securities, an investment advisor and broker, is suing one of its former principals, Joe Taussig, and a related company, Bitter End Holdings Ltd., for $52,164 in alleged unpaid fees.The claim relates to a management contract FBS said it assigned to Taussig in June, 1995, in return for between 25 and 50 per cent of the fees earned by the contract.

The crooked empire of Charles Gordon-Seymour

October 31, 1997
Regulators might want to take a close look at Bermuda-based insurance management firm Sussex International Ltd. following the collapse by fraud over the last six months of an Antigua-registered insurer and another company based in Nevada.All three were run by Charles Gordon-Seymour, a discredited British businessman and former Bermuda resident whose ventures frequently collapse in suspicious circumstances with debts of millions of dollars.

Anything for a fee? A look at CD&P’s role in the NimsTec fiasco

October 31, 1997
If investors who pumped $2.6 million into Bermuda-based hi-tech firm NimsTec on the basis of misleading and inaccurate information are looking for someone to sue for negligence, they could do worse than to explore the role of law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman in helping NimsTec to raise capital. Before parting with their funds, investors in NimsTec who bought shares in two private placements were assured by NimsTec's officers and directors - who included CD&P partners - that no material facts were omitted from a share prospectus and that "all reasonable care" had been taken in its compilation. However, we can reveal that CD&P should have known about the appalling track record of NimsTec's 3-D camera and printing technology and its management that was not disclosed to investors because the law firm previously represented a similar company called Nimslo.

Bahamas stock offerings cancelled by regulators

October 31, 1997
Regulators in the Bahamas acted this month to prevent two public offerings from going ahead due to regulatory breaches by the companies selling the shares.Perhaps the most embarrassing postponement involved Caribbean Health & Fitness Ltd., the major developers of Gold's Gym in the Caribbean.

Cayman court enforces foreign judgment

October 31, 1997
In a ruling that could have implications for other offshore ‘paper' companies registered in the Cayman Islands and operated elsewhere, the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands has allowed the enforcement of a foreign judgement against a Cayman entity called Socoa International.The Grand Court rejected one of the main defence arguments that to allow the enforcement of a foreign judgement would be against the national interests of the Cayman Islands and ruled that the Canadian judgement could be enforced without the plaintiff having to prove its case all over again in Cayman.

BVI passes anti-money laundering legislation

October 31, 1997
Twelve months after a similar law was introduced in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, which is home to more than 200,000 foreign companies, became the second Caribbean Dependent Territory to pass wide-ranging anti-money laundering legislation at the behest of the UK government. Bermuda is expected to be next, possibly before the end of the year.

‘Stolen’ Cayman bank records in hands of the IRS

October 31, 1997
The liquidator of Cayman-based Guardian Bank & Trust (in liquidation) has lost a petition he filed against the US government for the return of a computer tape containing details of accounts held at the bank.John Mathewson, the former chairman of the bank, handed over the tape to the FBI in June, 1996, as part of a plea bargain agreement after he was charged with money laundering offences in New Jersey.

Details about the collapse of First Cayman Bank

October 16, 1997
Two loans - one of more than $5 million to the owner and another of about $10 million to Texas oil-man Tom Hajecate - form a major part of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority inquiry into the collapse of First Cayman Bank, Offshore Alert can reveal. These and further details about the bank's financial problems have emerged over the last few days - a period in which this newsletter has been threatened with legal action by government minister McKeeva Bush, who is a director of First Cayman, and warned by his lawyer that we faced criminal prosecution if we continued to pursue the story.

Gulf Union’s bank license suspended in the Bahamas

October 7, 1997
The Bahamian authorities have suspended the banking licence of the Gulf Union Bank (Bahamas) Ltd. following problems at the bank's financially troubled parent and sister companies in the Cayman Islands.Regulators are investigating allegations that suspiciously large amounts of money have flowed from the Bahamas bank to its Cayman affiliates and possibly on to foreign entities over the last few months.

Bermuda Telephone Company appears to have won battle for control of Bermuda Cablevision

October 7, 1997
Bermuda Telephone Company yesterday won a major court victory in its battle to gain control of the highly profitable Bermuda Cablevision from a foreign entity. The Privy Council in London effectively refused to strike out a lawsuit brought on behalf of BTC at Bermuda Supreme Court against Bermuda Cablevision and the US-based McDonald group.
bermuda-stock-exchange

BSX de-lists NimsTec shares

October 3, 1997
The Bermuda Stock Exchange yesterday announced that it was de-listing the shares of 3-D firm NimsTec Limited for publishing an inaccurate and misleading share prospectus. The de-listing of NimsTec's shares is a direct result of an investigation carried out by Offshore Business News & Research which publishes Offshore Alert and Inside Bermuda, into NimsTec earlier this year.

BCCI liquidators awarded US$2.1 billion in damages

September 29, 1997
The Court of Appeals in the Cayman Islands has awarded damages of US$2.1 billion to the liquidators of BCCI-affiliate International Credit and Investment Company and ICIC-subsidiary Finance International and Investment Limited.

Satellite firm re-domiciles from Norway to Cayman

September 29, 1997
A US$500 million major international satellite launching company will move its headquarters from Norway to the Cayman Islands later this year for tax purposes, the company has announced.Sea Launch, which is owned by Boeing, Kvarner Shipping of Norway, a Russian technology firm and two Ukrainian companies, expects the move to take place in December.

Bankruptcy action in Cayman against Peter Kruger

September 29, 1997
Four years after filing an apparently false bankruptcy in Switzerland, Swiss national Peter Kruger is again subject to bankruptcy proceedings - this time in his adopted home of the Cayman Islands.

First Cayman Bank and Gulf Union in financial trouble

September 29, 1997
The future of First Cayman Bank and its parent, Gulf Union Bank, which also has a Bahamas subsidiary, has been subject to speculation over the last month after the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority blocked the appointment of a new general manager, forced through its own choice and alluded to "problems" at First Cayman.

Ansbacher fires its New York correspondent bank

September 29, 1997
Ansbacher (Bahamas) Ltd. has fired its New York correspondent bank for providing confidential information about its account to the IRS without notifying the offshore bank first.And Ansbacher itself has been reprimanded by the Central Bank of the Bahamas for failing to inform the body quickly enough that the IRS was seeking information about its clients.

Have you heard the one about John Felderhof’s lie detector test?

September 29, 1997
Lawyers acting for John Felderhof, the former chief geologist at Bre-X Minerals who by simple logic is either one of the most incompetent geologists in the history of geology or a crook, caused some amusement this week when they claimed he had passed a lie detector test - held in private at a Cayman hotel without a policeman in sight.

PLP lose Pindling seat in Bahamas

September 29, 1997
The ruling Free National Movement party gained another seat in the Bahamian parliament when it won a by-election in the South Andros constituency, which the opposition Progressive Liberal Party had held for 41 years.The seat had been vacated by former Prime Minister and PLP leader Sir Lynden Pindling, who had represented South Andros for 30 years before retiring from politics after his party's humiliating defeat in the March 14 general election.

Cayman businessmen reunite (in prison)

September 29, 1997
Ernest Foster, a Caymanian citizen who was sentenced to 14 years in prison by a US court in 1992 for money-laundering offences, has been returned to Cayman to serve out the remainder of his sentence in Northward Prison, where he will be reunited with his former business partner, Barry Randall.

John Tugwell announces resignation as Bank of Butterfield CEO after just 15 weeks

August 28, 1997
The shock resignation of Bank of Butterfield CEO John Tugwell last week just 15 weeks into a five-year contract remains a mystery.Unusually for a small community like Bermuda, no-one appears to know with any certainty exactly why Tugwell announced his resignation, which will take effect once a replacement is found.

Robin Spencer-Arscott attempts to set up new Bermuda insurer

August 28, 1997
Robin Spencer-Arscott, who lost his position as chairman of Aon Re and Aon Risk Services in Bermuda after Aon's acquisition of Alexander & Alexander, is believed to be close to setting up a new $300-$400 million reinsurer in Bermuda.Details of the new reinsurer have not been announced but Spencer-Arscott has been telling insurance people that he hopes to have the company up and running by the Rendezvous de Septembre gathering in Monte Carlo next month.

US Security Alert on Bahamas is lifted

August 28, 1997
A US Security Alert warning Americans of the dangers of being in The Bahamas was lifted after several days, much to the relief of the tourism industry.

Caribbean islands target offshore gaming industry

August 28, 1997
Already home to many of the world's phone sex companies, the Dominican Republic has now firmly established itself as the domicile of choice for another controversial area of offshore business and one of the fastest-growing - gambling via ‘800' telephone numbers and over the internet.With annual licences running from $20,000 to $100,000, several Caribbean islands are looking to the sector as a lucrative revenue-earner.

UK reviews status of tax free citizens

August 28, 1997
British citizens living in Dependent Territories must wait and see whether a review of global British taxation affects their tax-free status.A high level spokesperson for the UK Treasury Department, who did not want to be named, said that "reviews of areas of tax avoidance" are currently underway at the Inland Revenue Service.

Over 100 BCCI-related lawsuits filed in Cayman, Crown Prince of Dubai among defendants

August 28, 1997
Lawyers acting for the liquidator of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International have swamped the Cayman court system by bringing over 100 lawsuits against people who borrowed money from the bank and foreign banks and insurers it did business with.A defendant in two of the actions brought at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands is the Crown Prince of Dubai and the Minister of Defence for the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Yugoslavia government sues Cayman bank

August 28, 1997
The Bank of New York's Cayman branch is being sued for allegedly failing to repay deposits placed by the Federal Directorate of Supply & Procurement in Yugoslavia and for allegedly transferring US$2.1 million to a blocked account on Wall Street without the client's permission.

F. Lee Bailey flies to Cayman to meet with Felderhof

August 28, 1997
Lawyer F. Lee Bailey, best-known for being part of OJ Simpson's ‘Dream Team' of defence attorneys, flew to the Cayman Islands recently and met with an attorney acting for John Felderhof, the disgraced former vice-president of Bre-X mining company.Andreas Kontrimas, a Houston-based lawyer for Felderhof, confirmed that Bailey and Toronto attorney Joe Groia, also a member of the Felderhof defence team, met recently in Cayman.

Cayman tax initiative – latest

August 28, 1997
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the UK and Cayman Islands governments are still denying the existence of an initiative from London requesting that Cayman begin co-operating with tax investigations carried out by G7 countries, as was reported last month by Offshore Alert.The ‘does it or doesn't it exist' debate has reached almost farcical proportions, largely as a result of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London refusing to discuss the subject in any depth and the Cayman government refusing to discuss the subject at all.

Existence of Cayman tax directive confirmed by Cayman sources

July 31, 1997
Offshore Alert can today confirm that the Cayman Islands Governor, John Owen, HAS received a directive from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London instructing the island to introduce legislation to assist foreign countries with tax investigations.Yesterday, we ran a story indicating that the directive existed but also quoting senior government and business sources as categorically stating that it did not.Today, after further investigations, Offshore Alert can clear up any confusion and confirm that FCO correspondence seeking co-operation on foreign tax investigations has indeed arrived in Cayman and its existence is well-known in the top echelons of power.

Cayman delegation meets with US officials

July 30, 1997
A series of recently-concluded talks between the US government and a Cayman government/private sector delegation that began last week in Washington have been termed "extremely beneficial" by Cayman governor John Owen, who headed the delegation.The meetings were designed to "continue to foster good relations with the US government" and to discuss problems of mutual interest, said Owen, who initiated the first series of talks last year.

UK tax initiative in Cayman

July 30, 1997
Does it exist or doesn't it? That was the question being asked in the Cayman Islands this month after widespread reports that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London sent a directive to Governor John Owen instructing Cayman to pass legislation opening up bank accounts for tax investigations carried out by the world's major countries.

Black and Cascio resign from Stockton Re

July 30, 1997
The ability of finite risk reinsurer Stockton Re to continue its impressive growth since it was formed three years ago is in question following the resignations last month of chief underwriters Richard Black and Michael Cascio, who effectively ran the insurance side of the company.Their departures followed differences with senior management over the future direction of the firm following the recent sale of its investment manager and sister company, Commodities Corporation, to Goldman Sachs.

Bermuda Fire & Marine insolvent by $1.4 billion

July 30, 1997
Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company, which was stripped of over $40 million of assets two years before it went bust without Bermuda's regulators so much as batting an eyelid, is now estimated by its liquidators to be insolvent by an astonishing $1.4 billion. If the figures are accurate, Bermuda Fire would become not only by far the biggest insolvency in Bermuda's history but also one of the biggest insurance insolvencies anywhere in the world.

Bermuda jeweller ‘steals’ name of Caribbean jeweller

June 27, 1997
In an extraordinary move, a Bermuda jeweller has set up an operation in the name of a leading Caribbean jewellery chain in an apparent bid to disrupt the chain's attempt to muscle in on its territory.The action by HS & JE Crisson Limited is likely to lead to a complicated dispute with Bahamas-based Colombian Emeralds International, which had not trademarked its name in Bermuda.