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Evidence of insider trading in Mid Ocean shares prior to take-over

March 31, 1998
Investors apparently acting on inside knowledge made a killing in the derivatives market on the last day of trading before it was announced that EXEL was buying Mid Ocean, we can reveal. The volume of contracts traded in Mid Ocean call options on the American Stock Exchange increased from an average daily volume of 30 contracts to 950 contracts on Friday, March 13 - two days before the deal was signed and three days before it was announced.

FCO announces end of bank secrecy in overseas territories

February 27, 1998
The clearest indication yet that the UK government will force its Overseas Territories to co-operate with foreign regulators investigating both fiscal and regulatory offences was given this week to Offshore Alert.Offshore centres like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Turks & Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands are being told by the UK government to introduce within two years legislation that will be virtually identical to the UK Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990.

Bermuda property dealer gives evidence at Jersey fraud trial

February 27, 1998
Bermuda-based property dealer Bryan Gudgeon flew to Jersey this month to give evidence in the trial of Robert Young, who is accused of making false, misleading or deceptive statements that helped him make $6 million while he was losing his clients more than $10 million in five years.Gudgeon was Young's largest single investor, putting $10 million into his foreign exchange schemes. He was one of the few investors to emerge with a profit.

Bahamas firms part of prime bank securities scam

January 30, 1998
Bahamas-based Loomis Ltd. has been ordered to pay $874,515 following a default judgement against it in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.Loomis and other companies, including fellow Bahamas-registered Comcar International Ltd., fraudulently obtained more than $2.1 million through a scheme involving fictitious ‘prime bank' securities.

BVI to stage due diligence conference

January 30, 1998
The British Virgin Islands has announced that its inaugural Due Diligence and Compliance conference entitled ‘Preserving the Integrity of International Business' will be held on March 9-11.The conference, which is being sponsored by the BVI government in conjunction with the financial services sector, is designed to provide industry participants with in-depth information on recent developments in the cross-border fight against ‘white-collar' crime.

Bermuda Stock Exchange rights offering under-subscribed

January 30, 1998
A rights offering carried out by the Bermuda Stock Exchange has raised nearly $2 million to pay for a new trading system and future expansion but was significantly under-subscribed, we can reveal.BSX chief executive officer William Woods would not comment on information we received from sources that the offering, which took place last August, was under-subscribed by as much as $700,000.

Bahamas accounts used to pay share ramp bribes

January 30, 1998
Bank accounts in the Bahamas was used to bribe brokers who were paid to ramp up the share prices of small companies by promoting them to their unsuspecting clients.Details of the scheme emerged this month after two men pleaded guilty to various offences in the US, including conspiracy, wire fraud, commercial bribery and securities fraud.Leonard Ruge, a 40-year-old Canadian living in Florida, and Theodore Heitzman, 51, of California, each face up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

John Felderhof sued by Bre-X bankruptcy trustees

December 30, 1997
Deloitte & Touche, as trustee of bankrupt Canadian mining firm Bre-X Minerals, has brought a lawsuit in the Cayman Islands against its former chief geologist, John Felderhof; his wife, Ingrid; and a Cayman company they control called Spartacus Corporation.The lawsuit was filed in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands on December 19 and signals the beginning of what will probably be a long legal battle between Felderhof and those who claim he was largely responsible for the massive Bre-X stock fraud that netted him millions of dollars.

Financial troubles of Steven Blumhagen

December 30, 1997
Was Buffalo-based businessman Steven Blumhagen really the source of $30 million that was to have been the start-up capital of Resource Underwriters, as the company's Bermudian front-man, Robin Spencer-Arscott, would have us believe? Highly unlikely, we can report. Unless, that is, 46-year-old Blumhagen has recently won the New York state lottery and checked the ‘no publicity' box.

BFCL comes to an ignominious end

December 30, 1997
One of the most ambitious property developments in Bermuda's history that eventually turned into a four-year embarrassment for its sponsors has ended in typically ignominious fashion. Bermuda Financial Centre Limited was struck off from the Bermuda companies register on December 19 by the authorities and, three days later, the listing of its preference shares was cancelled by the Bermuda Stock Exchange.
goldman-sachs-logo

Stirling Cooke – What you won’t find in its prospectus

November 30, 1997
Investors contemplating taking part in the $50 million IPO of Bermuda-based insurance broker/risk manager Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings Limited, which is 24 per cent owned by Goldman Sachs, may be interested in a few details they will not find in the company's share prospectus. Perhaps the most noteworthy is the involvement of its subsidiary Raydon Underwriting Management in one of the world's largest insurance frauds. Raydon, which shares offices with Stirling Cooke at Victoria Hall, Hamilton, had the dubious distinction of managing reinsurer North American Fidelity & Guarantee.

Long Botham Boats renegotiates debt

November 30, 1997
Long Botham Boats Company Ltd., the Bermuda-based, publicly-listed company that owns Henry VIII bar/restaurant, has renegotiated its debt facility with the Bank of Butterfield.

First Cayman Bank looted of millions of dollars

November 30, 1997
Investigators have uncovered strong evidence that First Cayman Bank was looted of millions of dollars before it was closed down, partly through the granting of fraudulent loans to related parties and its participation in a scheme to defraud investors in Sweden and the US.The minimum amount of the alleged fraud perpetrated at First Cayman Bank is estimated to be US$5 million and the bank itself is insolvent by at least $6.1 million, according to documents filed at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands as part of the bank's proposed liquidation.

SEC v. Jerome Pinckney, et al: Order, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

November 3, 1997
Order, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jerome Pinckney, Richard L. Arnold, Donald E. Elder, Fernando Cruz, Shaun K. R. Maxwell, Anthony Bukovich, and Six Capital Corporation at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Netherlands: Friedrich Adolf Specht

October 10, 1997
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the Netherlands into Friedrich Adolf Specht and others for alleged involvement in a scheme to sell fraudulent bonds on behalf of Panama-domiciled Colon Impex, Inc. to third parties through a European company named AGIG Foundation, Private Investment Banking International.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bank of Butterfield takes on dubious business

June 26, 1997
Butterfield Securities Ltd., a subsidiary of the Bermuda-based Bank of N. T. Butterfield & Son, has replaced London firm Teather & Greenwold as the stock-broking advisors to Mackie International, the Belfast-based textile engineering company, following Mackie's decision to suspend its shares in April when the company said it may have to restate its accounts, reported the Financial Times.

Deloitte & Touche attacked over bid to increase liquidation fees

June 26, 1997
Investors in a failed Cayman-registered mutual fund have criticized the fund's liquidators, Deloitte & Touche, for going behind their backs in applying for a large increase in their liquidation fees. A group of about 20 shareholders of The Global Opportunity Fund, who claim to have lost more than $40 million in the fund, have accused the accounting firm of greed and underhandedness.
jerry-nims-nimstec

NimsTec’s appalling track record

May 28, 1997
Investors thinking of buying into high-tech firm NimsTec, which last month became the latest company to list on the Bermuda Stock Exchange, may want to look closely at the track record of its technology and its senior management before parting with their funds. Bermuda-based NimsTec, which manufactures and markets 3-D products, including cameras, has raised $3 million so far from investors in Bermuda, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Investors include Deloitte & Touche (Bermuda) partners Bill Jack and Roger Titterton, who have invested $40,000 between them. The company bears striking similarities to a company called Nimslo, which lost investors in the US, the UK and Bermuda tens of millions of dollars over the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s with the same technology now owned by NimsTec.

New US law hits offshore funds

May 28, 1997
The offshore mutual fund industry has been dealt a potentially significant blow by changes to US tax laws proposed in the 1997 US budget.

Kruger loses Cayman extradition battle as another fugitive, John Felderhof, arrives

May 28, 1997
As one millionaire fugitive was finally forced to leave his paradise island hiding place to face the music back home, another took his place to cause further embarrassment to the Cayman Islands.Swiss businessman Peter Kruger gave up a 16 month battle to escape justice by leaving the Cayman Islands on May 15 to return to Switzerland to face charges of bankruptcy fraud involving nearly US$272 million.But his place in the public eye has already been taken by John Felderhof, the former chief geologist of Bre-X Minerals, a would-be mining firm that defrauded investors of about $4 billion through false claims of gold finds in Indonesia.

Money launderer convicted in Cayman

May 28, 1997
In a case that has triggered investigations on both sides of the US-Canadian border, Pietro Paolo Codispoti, of Montreal, was convicted in the Cayman Islands on May 22 of three counts of money laundering.

Canada: Kenneth Ivan Crause

April 28, 1997
Complaint for the arrest of Kenneth Ivan Crause and extradition from the USA to Canada to face charges of fraud and theft.

NimsTec shares list on BSX

April 27, 1997
NimsTec Limited, a hi-tech firm which produces 3-D cameras and printers for the medical and photographic industries, has begun listing its ordinary shares on the Bermuda Stock Exchange, where they will be traded in minimum blocks of $100,000.

John W. Henry sues Bank of Bermuda

April 27, 1997
Companies associated with John W. Henry, a futures fund manager with $1.9 billion under management, according to its own figures, is suing its former business partner, the Bank of Bermuda, for $300,000 at Bermuda Supreme Court.

Interamerican Asset Management Fund allegedly used in multi-million dollar fraud

March 16, 1997
A Bahamas-based mutual fund was used by one of Ecuador's best-known business families to defraud investors and the Central Bank of Ecuador out of approximately $160 million, it has been claimed.And the scandal has extended to the United States where the Federal Reserve Board has taken steps to safeguard the financial position of the Pan American Bank, in Miami.Both the Bahamian mutual fund - the Interamerican Asset Management Fund Limited - and the Pan American Bank were set up by the powerful Ortega family of Ecuador.

Adrian Finance Limited

March 9, 1997
Adrian Finance Limited - Enforcement Actions - Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission

Charles Collis accused of altering Bermuda Fire & Marine minutes

February 28, 1997
One of Bermuda's most influential businessmen, lawyer Charles Collis, has been accused of doctoring the minutes of a crucial committee meeting to hide evidence that directors of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance knew the firm was in financial trouble before they stripped it of $40 million in assets.

Isle of Man: Neville Michael Gothold

August 14, 1996
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud and theft by Neville Michael Gothold through Nimrod Investments Ltd.

United Kingdom: Gerhard Martens et al

March 25, 1996
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom into an alleged advance fee fraud by Gerhard Martens and others.