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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.

Transamerica wins second ‘spiral’ arbitration

January 31, 2000

California-based Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Co. has won a second arbitration over its refusal to pay multi-million dollar reinsurance claims on coverage brokered by Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings. The losing party was Alan R. Bird, on his own behalf and representing all members of Lloyd's Syndicate 103 for the 1993/94 years of account.

Suisse Security Bank & Trust accepts fraudulent client

January 31, 2000

Bahamas-based Suisse Security Bank & Trust has replaced Eurofed Bank, of Antigua, as the banker for the fraudulently run Accord Insurance group, we have been told.SSBT's decision to provide banking services to Accord, which claims to offer its clients "guaranteed" interest of up to 50 per cent per month, raises serious concerns about its due diligence procedures.

Alternative Risk Reinsurance Company Ltd.: An Analysis

January 31, 2000

Inside Bermuda can today disclose further details about a Cayman Islands-registered company that Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings has been so reluctant to discuss. The reason might be because Alternative Risk Reinsurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Stirling Cooke and the individuals behind New Jersey-based Unicover Managers.

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.

SEC accuses six people of insider trading regarding Mid Ocean-EXEL merger

January 31, 2000

Six people have been accused of insider trading by the SEC after making a profit of $405,000 from dealing in stock and options of Mid Ocean Ltd. prior to its purchase in 1998 by EXEL.

Lawsuits fly in Bermuda following collapse of $500 m hedge fund

January 31, 2000

Four lawsuits were filed at Bermuda Supreme Court in the last week of January following the collapse of the Manhattan Investment Fund Ltd., which was registered in the British Virgin Islands, managed in New York City and administered and audited in Bermuda.

Cayman-based Ponzi scheme raised at least $45 million

January 31, 2000

At least $45 million from more than 500 investors went into a Cayman/US-based Ponzi scheme that is currently being liquidated, according to a report submitted to a US court as part of an SEC investigation. The net insolvency of the scheme, which revolved around a car title loan business called Cash 4 Titles, has not yet been determined since assets and liabilities are still being assessed.

Say it ain’t so: Martin Hoffman solicits reinsurance in Bermuda

January 31, 2000

Dubious businessman Martin Hoffman has been soliciting reinsurance in Bermuda recently as a representative of First American Insurance Co., operating from New York, OffshoreAlert can disclose. And he is also operating another New York-based company called Wilton International Corporation, which describes itself as "a managing general underwriter and program manager that underwrites and manages international facultative property and marine business".

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.

Bermuda suffers first e-commerce failure

January 31, 2000

Bermuda's e-commerce industry is barely out of the blocks but it has already suffered its first casualty with the failure of EBS Ltd., OffshoreAlert can reveal. EBS, which traded as EOCnet.com, ceased operations towards the end of last year only a few months after it was launched in a blaze of international publicity.

Sterling International Bank & Trust and its dubious mutual funds

January 31, 2000

A Grenada-based banking group that appears to be controlled by an attorney located in the Turks & Caicos Islands is promoting dubious investment products, OffshoreAlert can reveal. Sterling International Bank & Trust and its apparent owner, attorney Philip Johnston, have already been involved in one fiasco last year involving the Bermuda-registered Heritage Growth Fund.

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.

BF&M settlement: A breakdown of who pays what

December 31, 1999

One of Bermuda's longest-running farces came to an end this month when the Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company trial ended with an out-of-court settlement. Seven months into the trial, the corporate and individual defendants threw in the towel and appear to have given the liquidators of BFMIC virtually everything they were seeking.

IDIC moves to Grenada after being closed down in two jurisdictions

December 31, 1999

Grenada regulators have allowed the sham insurer known as IDIC to incorporate on the island after regulators in Nevis and Dominica closed down the company, we can disclose. IDIC was closed down by Nevis regulators on January 27, 1999 and, the following month, was shut down in Dominica, where it had moved.

Three Bank of Bermuda officers suspended as part of Cash 4 Titles investigation

November 30, 1999

Three officers of the Bank of Bermuda (Cayman) have been suspended on full pay pending an internal investigation into the bank's links with an alleged criminal. The bank suspended Michael Day, Marc Vanmarsenille and David Spohr shortly after one of its clients, Michael Gause, was arrested in Florida on October 15.

Imperial Consolidated moves from Bahamas to Grenada after pressure from regulator

November 30, 1999

Imperial Consolidated Securities S. A. has moved its investment division to Grenada following consultations with regulators in the Bahamas, where the company is registered and physically based. The move, which was due to be completed by November 30, followed concerns about the company's involvement in the sale of unregistered securities.

Mezzanine Capital writes off $10 m of worthless German bonds

November 30, 1999

Bermuda-registered Mezzanine Capital Ltd., which appears to be involved in the manipulation of penny stocks in the US, has reported a loss of $10.57 million for the 12 months ended June 30, 1999 after writing off $10.1 million of German bonds. The company, whose shares are listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange, had disclosed in 1998 that the bonds, which it acquired for one million of its common shares, might be worthless but did not decide to write off the investment until the current fiscal year.

Elderly investor sues Harris Organization representative in Costa Rica

November 30, 1999

A criminal lawsuit has been filed against the head of the Costa Rica office of The Harris Organization financial services group after an elderly US investor claims she was unable to redeem her investment. Floyce Capmany, 72, who lives in Nevada, claims she is still owed $37,668 of a $70,000 investment she made through The Harris Organization's sales office in Costa Rica in 1998.

Stock Generation may be close to collapse

November 30, 1999

It appears that Dominica-registered Stock Generation, which operates a Ponzi scheme dressed up as an investment game that is played over the Internet, may be about to collapse. The company, whose dubious game was featured in the September edition of Offshore Alert, has, by its own admission, stopped paying out participants.

NimsTec seeks listing on NASDAQ under the name ‘i3Dx.com’

November 30, 1999

A company linked with former Bermuda Premier Sir David Gibbons is involved with a fresh attempt to raise capital for a product that has lost investors tens of millions of dollars over two decades of failure. Nevada-registered i3Dx.com, which is a front for Bermuda-based NimsTec Limited, registered 100 million shares with the SEC on November 12, 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.

Regulators refuse license application by Accord Insurance

November 30, 1999

Regulators in Antigua have turned down an application for an insurance license by Accord Insurance, which sells dubious investment products to the public. Despite the rejection, Accord is continuing to operate from the island, where it maintains an office on the Third Floor of the Bancorp Building, High Street, St. John's.

Stirling Cooke: Where did the $1.4 million go?

November 30, 1999

Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings has refused to explain a mysterious $1.4 million investment write-down that was disclosed in its latest 10Q filing with the SEC. The company is being so secretive about the write-down that it has created an irresistible impression that it has something to hide.

Privy Council protects liquidators of Cayman firms from misguided debtors

November 30, 1999

The Privy Council in London has issued a ruling that limits the rights of debtors of Cayman-registered entities to seek the removal of liquidators they do not approve of. The decision represents a victory for Christopher Johnson and John Dinan, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a defeat for rival accounting firm Deloitte & Touche.

Bank accounts frozen after Cash 4 Titles businessman arrested

October 31, 1999

Two weeks after an article in the September 30th edition of OffshoreAlert about a Bahamas-based mutual fund - Olympia Fund - that invests in a business known as Cash 4 Titles, C4T's funds were frozen following criminal and civil action in the United States.The problems came with the arrest in Fort Lauderdale on October 15 of Michael E. Gause, who helps to run the underlying business in which the fund invests.

New-look Clarendon ends Eton Management contract

October 31, 1999

The Clarendon Insurance Group has terminated a substantial business production agreement with New York-based Eton Management, which is run by notorious businessman Martin Hoffman.

Cayman Financial Brokerage House closes amid losses and police investigation

October 31, 1999

A trading/brokerage operation known as The Cayman Financial Brokerage House Ltd. closed its doors in early October amid reports that it has heavy debts and is being investigated by local police.

Bahamas entities sued over alleged fraud

October 31, 1999

A multi-millionaire Canadian geophysicist has filed a lawsuit in Canada against Barclays Bank (Bahamas) and others claiming he was defrauded of US$1.5 million.Theodore Rozsa, who is in his eighties, claims to have been swindled out of his funds by conmen peddling a fake investment scheme and blames Barclays Bank and Swiss-based private bank Darier Hentsch et Cie for contributing to his loss through alleged negligence.

FIBG latest: Dodgy share offerings and more ‘paper’ firms list on sham stock exchange

October 31, 1999

The latest phase of what is turning out to be one of the most extravagant offshore frauds ever involves the sale of shares over the Internet, supposedly to finance a 120-room luxury resort hotel in Grenada and an on-line casino. Investors in the resort project are "guaranteed" annual dividends of between 25-30 per cent, depending on the amount invested, even before anything has been built, while shareholders of the casino venture are promised 35 per cent annually.

Bank of Bermuda accounts used for on-line gaming

October 31, 1999

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.

‘Legalized loan-sharking’ fund launched in Bahamas

September 30, 1999

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

September 30, 1999

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.

Stock Generation Internet game: ‘So what if it’s a Ponzi scheme?’

September 30, 1999

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.

Details of four UK lawsuits filed against Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings

September 30, 1999

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.

FIBG ‘auditor’ has no CPA licence, co-owner indicted in US

September 30, 1999

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.

Bermuda Commodities Exchange loses money for AIG

September 30, 1999

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.

UBS (Cayman Islands) sued by former client

September 30, 1999

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.

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.

UPS offered little evidence to show it was not avoiding US taxes

August 31, 1999

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.

Transamerica wins arbitration to rescind Stirling Cooke-brokered spiral business

August 31, 1999

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.

Overseas Partners to lose $370 of premiums following UPS Tax Court decision

August 31, 1999

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.

‘Nothing unusual’ about turn-over of Cayman bank records to US Receiver, say Cayman attorneys

August 31, 1999

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

August 31, 1999

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.

Grenada Prime Minister clears FIBG of illegal acts

August 31, 1999

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

August 31, 1999

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

August 31, 1999

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.

Offshore banker William Cooper escapes extradition on a technicality

August 31, 1999

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.