Money Laundering

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US criminally indicts 11 in alleged $95 million investment fraud

July 31, 2000
The US government has criminally indicted 11 people, including four attorneys, for an alleged $95 million investment fraud in which money was partially laundered by an Antigua-based 'paper' bank called 'AMPAC Bank and Trust' that maintained accounts with the Bank of Bermuda in Bermuda.

FIBG chairman calls for ‘positive energy’ to turn bank around

July 31, 2000
On July 4, 2000, not long before Adrian Ball's audit of the First International Bank of Grenada was completed, the bank's chairman, Richard Downes, sent an extraordinary letter to FIBG's depositors.In the 10-page letter, Downes acknowledged that FIBG was "experiencing a severe cash-flow problem" and asked clients for their "forgiveness".He then called on depositors to help to overcome the problems through "the flow of positive energy" in order to "reverse the polarities" of the "negative energy" surrounding the bank.

German police investigate Marc Harris

June 30, 2000
The Panamanian authorities have received yet another request for assistance from a foreign agency investigating alleged crimes involving The Harris Organization financial services group. La Prensa, which is the main newspaper in Panama, reported in June that Interpol in Wiesbaden, Germany, had submitted a written request for help to their counterparts in Panama on March, 8, 2000. According to La Prensa, the Germans are investigating an alleged fraud committed in Germany and Switzerland and allegedly involving Heinz Richard, 52, someone called 'Hintermeier' and a company named Victus Commerz AG.

Switzerland: Magda Medina Perez

June 12, 2000
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Switzerland into Magda Medina Perez for alleged forgery and money laundering.

Regulators freeze assets of bank controlled by Terry Neal

May 31, 2000
A Nauru-registered bank that is operated out of Nevis by offshore provider and author Terry Neal is at the centre of a major stock fraud investigation in the United States and Canada.Investigators allege that Exchange Bank and Trust helped launder millions of dollars from illegal trading in US stocks through bank and brokerage accounts in Vancouver and Nevis-registered entities.

United Kingdom: Stephen Anthony Trutch et al

May 8, 2000
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom into alleged fraud, money laundering and perjury concerning Stephen Anthony Trutch and Jeanne Mary Trutch.

Grenada regulator Michael Creft is ‘apparently corrupt’, says FIBG auditor

April 30, 2000
Grenada's Registrar of Offshore Financial Services, Michael Creft, was described last year as being "apparently corrupt" by the first accountant who attempted to audit the books of the First International Bank of Grenada. In a letter to Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, Lauriston Wilson wrote that Creft's actions relating to FIBG were "suspect and lead to the inescapable conclusion that he is apparently corrupt".

OECD backs off publishing an offshore ‘hit list’

April 30, 2000
The much-vaunted publication of a tax haven 'hit list' by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has been put off for at least a year. The OECD had planned to name those territories deemed to engage in "harmful tax practices" in June of this year, after which the 29 OECD member countries would seek to punish those on the list by introducing "defensive measures".

Meridian Investment Bank run by former plumber

April 30, 2000
One of the banks linked with the First International Bank of Grenada group is co-owned and partly run by a former plumber and two former bankrupts, Offshore Alert can reveal. The ex-plumber is Florida resident Sheldon A. Mickelson, 40, who we have been told by two sources is one of the senior partners in Meridian Investment Bank, which is one of the many 'sub-banks' sponsored by FIBG. 

‘It all seems very strange’ – A look at the Imperial Consolidated Group in the UK

April 30, 2000
In the course of our inquiries into the Imperial Consolidated Group, which has regional offices in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and Grenada, Offshore Alert talked with a local journalist in Lincolnshire who visited ICG's offices at Brookenby about 12-18 months ago. His report, which appears below, confirmed that the group is one of the largest private employers in the area and has added to the mystique that surrounds ICG, which has become one of the highest profile offshore companies over the last few years.

U. S. regulator issues warning against Digital Commerce Bank

April 30, 2000
The Caribbean Bank of Commerce, which had its banking license revoked in Antigua last year, has been up to its old tricks again. On March 29, 2000, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency put out a warning about something calling itself Digital Commerce Bank Ltd., which is one of the names CBC now operates under.

Regulators take over Cayman management firms

April 30, 2000
The Executive Council of the Cayman Islands government has appointed a controller to take over two management companies: Everest Management Ltd. and Zephyr International Ltd.

Ukraine: Pavel Lazarenko et al

April 28, 2000
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Ukraine into Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko, a former Prime Minister; Myckola Ivanovych Agafonov, Petro Myckolayiovych Kirichenko and Igor Olexandrovych Polozhentsev for alleged fraud, embezzlement and corruption.
lincoln-fraser-jared-brook

Imperial Consolidated Group’s links to High Yield Investment Programs

March 31, 2000
Offshore Alert has obtained documents which implicate the Imperial Consolidated Group in the sale of investment programs purporting to offer guaranteed returns of as much as 30 per cent per month. In one program, Imperial Consolidated offers to pay a return of 9.25 per cent per month while simultaneously paying a 40 per cent commission to brokers who introduce investors.

Harris Organization associate deported from Panama

March 31, 2000
A fugitive American businessman who has been helping The Harris Organization run investment schemes through IBCs set up in the Bahamas and the BVI was deported this month from Panama to the US. Within days of his deportation, Brent A. Wagman was criminally indicted in Texas on charges of masterminding a scheme that defrauded mainly elderly victims of approximately $30 million.

Nevis-based offshore provider criminally indicted in Utah

March 31, 2000
Raymond David Finzer, Managing Director of the Nevis-based LIFE Offshore Group, has been criminally indicted in the United States on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and aiding and abetting. Finzer, 46, and co-defendants Ned Richard Hart, who was a client of Finzer's, and Christian G. Cooper were indicted on March 1 at the US District Court for the District of Utah (Central Division).

Regulators dither over First International Bank of Grenada

March 31, 2000
There has been considerable activity in Grenada over the last month as regulators belatedly try to get to grips with the fact that at least one-third of all banks incorporated on the island appear to be scams. The Grenada International Financial Services Authority, a newly-formed body designed to better regulate the offshore sector, has held several meetings to discuss the First International Bank of Grenada.

Bank of Bermuda (Cayman) officers fired over handling of client accounts

March 31, 2000
Three officers of the Bank of Bermuda (Cayman) have been fired following an internal investigation into the bank's handling of accounts controlled by allegedly crooked client Michael Gause. The Bank of Bermuda confirmed that it terminated the employment of Michael Day, Marc Vanmarsenille and David Spohr on December 8, 1999 following their suspensions a month earlier.

Netherlands: Moenipersad Baidjnath Misier

March 8, 2000
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the Netherlands into Moenipersad Baidjnath Misier for alleged money laundering.

Mexico: Mario Villanueva Madrid

March 8, 2000
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Mexico into Mario Villanueva Madrid, former Governor of the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico, for allegedly laundering the proceeds of narcotics trafficking by a cartel headed by Amado Carillo Fuentes, a.k.a. "El Senor de los Cielos".

Criminal indictment against Suisse Security Bank & Trust client

February 29, 2000
Bahamas-based Suisse Security Bank & Trust, whose dubious clients have been exposed in the last two editions of Offshore Alert, is the banker to yet another allegedly fraudulent investment scheme, we can disclose. Although not a defendant, the bank is mentioned in a criminal indictment filed at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California against Larry W. Wilcoxson, David Baxter, C. William Gordin, Roxanne Albaugh and John R. Witzke.

Imperial Consolidated Group launches new offshore credit card

February 29, 2000
Bahamas-based Imperial Consolidated Securities, which has had several scrapes with regulators over the way it promotes its mutual funds, has launched a new offshore credit card with an aggressive promotional campaign that repeats claims that its funds guarantee returns of up to 18 per cent per year. "The Imperial Consolidated HINT MasterCard can be used like a regular credit card but the card offers superb advantages when used in conjunction with Imperial Consolidated mutual funds," states promotional literature.

More lawsuits following collapse of $500 million hedge fund

February 29, 2000
The barrage of litigation surrounding the collapse in January of BVI-registered Manhattan Investment Fund and the disappearance of nearly $500 million continued this month. Five lawsuits were filed at Bermuda Supreme Court during February to go along with the four that were filed at the same court the previous month and one in New York.

FIBG reports fictitious net income of $60 billion

February 29, 2000
The founding chairman of the First International Bank of Grenada has informed Grenada's chief offshore regulator, Michael Creft, that FIBG has made a net income of $60 billion in its first two years in business. The astonishing claim is made in a rambling, 26-page letter sent by Van A. Brink (a.k.a. Gilbert Allen Ziegler) to Creft on December 23, 1999 in an effort to assuage the regulator's concerns about the bank.

Nine charged with money laundering at Euro Bank

February 29, 2000
Cayman Islands police have brought charges against nine people as part of an investigation into the alleged laundering of $25 million through Euro Bank Corp. (in liquidation). Four of the accused are residents of the Cayman Islands - including three former officers of the bank, while the other five live in California.

The views of Grenada-based banker Peter Johansson on the FIBG scandal

February 29, 2000
As the First International Bank of Grenada scandal made its way onto the front-page of The Wall Street Journal on February 29, Offshore Alert wondered how the negative publicity was affecting the legitimate financial institutions located on the island. Offshore Alert conducted a Question and Answer session with Peter Johansson, CEO of Swedish-owned Bank Crozier Limited, which was the second offshore bank to be licensed in Grenada in October, 1997.

Larry Barnabe – a businessman to be avoided at all costs

February 29, 2000
Offshore Alert has uncovered further disturbing information about the dubious past of another of the senior officers within the First International Bank of Grenada group. As with several other North Americans involved in the FIBG scam, Canadian citizen Laurent Barnabe, who is known as Larry Barnabe, has a history of ripping off investors.

United Kingdom: Ibrahim Karagozlu et al

February 10, 2000
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom involving Ibrahim Karagozlu and others.

United Kingdom: Ibrahim Karagozlu

February 9, 2000
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom into Ibrahim Karagozlu and others for alleged narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

Harris Organization moves closer to collapse

January 31, 2000
There are increasing indications that The Harris Organization financial services group of Panama is edging closer to collapse. Several of the group's clients have contacted Offshore Alert recently to complain that their requests to redeem all or part of their investments have been ignored.

Bahamian jailed for 20 years for $50 million fraud

January 31, 2000
Bahamian businessman George Wilson was this month sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Texas judge after previously being convicted of 18 offences relating to a $50 million dollar fraud.

Wellington Bank & Trust – same scam, different name

January 31, 2000
Offshore Alert has uncovered another highly dubious Grenada-registered bank that is owned by a former bankrupt. Wellington Bank & Trust, which was incorporated on July 27, 1998, is owned by John Edward Brinker Jr. and Gary Joel Bentz, who are both based in Ohio.

Latest on massive Grenada banking fraud

January 31, 2000
Offshore Alert can this month reveal further disturbing details about the massive financial fraud that is being committed on the island of Grenada in what appears to be a joint effort between the island's government and the private sector. What is currently taking place in Grenada mirrors what happened in Montserrat in the late 1980s when approximately 300 'paper' banks established with phantom capital defrauded foreign clients of tens of millions of dollars before eventually being closed down by the UK police in 1989/90.

FIBG hooks up with Alexander’s World (Or could it be Wayne’s World?)

January 31, 2000
Two more companies have listed on the sham Grenada-registered World Investors' Stock Exchange, bringing the total number of listed issuers to approximately 20. They are Bahamas-registered Alexander Development International Corporation and St. Vincent-registered Molecular Waste Technologies Inc.

Year in Review: 1999

December 31, 1999
January In our first exposé of the year, we give details of a multi million dollar fraud being committed by the First International Bank of Grenada, the World Investors' Stock Exchange, the International Deposit Insurance Company and related parties in

Insider Talking: December 31, 1999

December 31, 1999
The names of the new shareholders in the Bahamas International Securities Exchange are expected to be announced in January. A list of all 45 companies that submitted subscription applications for the recent $5 million private placement has been submitted for

OffshoreAlert Awards For 1999

December 31, 1999
Annual OffshoreAlert Awards for: Worst Regulator, Worst Regulated Jurisdictions, Lie of the Year, Coward of the Year, Crooks of the Year, Jurisdiction in Most Need of a PR Make-Over, Most Small-Minded Decision, Most Arrogant Jurisdiction, Most Stupid Comments, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow Award, and Most Responsible Regulators.

Eurofed Bank goes from receivership to liquidation

December 31, 1999
Eurofed Bank, which went into receivership in November, has now gone into liquidation. The bank went into liquidation by order of the High Court of Justice of Antigua and Barbuda on December 3, 1999.

Eurofed Bank goes into receivership

November 30, 1999
Antigua-registered Eurofed Bank Ltd. has been placed into receivership by the island's regulators over its suspected involvement in money laundering. Eurofed, which also has a banking license in Grenada, went into receivership on or around November 15 after being implicated in a scandal involving Pavlo Lazarenko, a former Prime Minister of the Ukraine.

BVI implements new anti-money laundering measures

November 30, 1999
The British Virgin Islands government has implemented two new measures designed to combat money laundering. They are the Anti-Money Laundering Code of Practice (made under section 27 of the Proceeds of Criminal Conduct Act) and the Proceeds of Criminal Conduct (Designated Countries and Territories) Order 1999 (made under section 32 of the Proceeds of Criminal Conduct Act 1997).

Rudolph Linschoten given prison sentence in California

September 30, 1999
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.

Harris Organization appeals libel decision

August 31, 1999
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.