Bruce Cowen

Fund administrator Citco knew that Lancer Offshore was fraudulently valuing assets nearly two years before the fund collapsed but its sole concern was how to extricate itself from the $400 million insolvency, rather than warn investors and regulators. That is the most serious allegation contained in a civil lawsuit that was filed as long ago as January 14, 2005 at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida but kept sealed until February 21, 2006 due to concerns that its release may breach a court order prohibiting disclosure of certain information. It is supported by copies of extraordinary email exchanges between Citco's senior executives that were disclosed in discovery that Citco opposed.

An analysis of Operation 'Bermuda Short', including which defendants were convicted or acquitted and length of sentences. These defendants were Serdar Kalaycioglu, Martin Chambers, Anthony Damato, Kevan Garner, Walter Dorow, Bruce Bertman, Michael Reiter, Geoffrey Gazda, James Cary Parrish, Jeffrey Senger, Melvin Levine, Jerry Poole, Charles Cini, Lawrence Gallo, Bruce Cowen, Daniel Charboneau, Thomas Steinbach, Gordon Novak, Harold Joliffe, Howard Kerbel, Greg Balk, Barry Berman, Vincent Barone, Dax Ross, David Rich, George Doumanis, Michael Puorro, Blair Valentine, Ray Hutchison, Frank Dickey Jr., Daniel Bender, Paul Lemmon, Bruce Biddick, John Purdy, Ronaldo Horvat, Mark Valentine, Joseph Huard Jr., Cris Sagnelli, Michael Vlahovic, Douglas Rasberry, Richard Greene, Tim Rice, Ashley Sosner, Andrew Proctor, Marshall Klein, Mario Turcotte, Sheldon Mickelson, Richard Carson, Dennis Epstein, Kenneth Liebscher, Michael Hepburn, Charles Arnold, Les Price, James Kelly, Justyn Feldman, Robert Wilder, and Paul deRome.

United States-based, British national Nigel Scott Grant has reared his head again, a few years after OffshoreAlert exposed his involvement in sham offshore credit unions, at least one of which was used to commit investment fraud; The U. S. District Court for the Central District of California has granted summary judgment in favor of the SEC and against a publicly-traded firm that was closely associated with a closed-end investment fund that was once listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange; A Commission of Inquiry, which some people believe is a sham, has begun in Grenada regarding a bribery allegation against Keith Mitchell; Still in Grenada, telecommunications firm Cable & Wireless recently settled a libel action brought by sue-happy Keith Mitchell for allowing derogatory messages about him concerning the alleged Resteiner cash bribe to be posted on a web-site it hosted, reported the Associated Press on April 26, 2005; Bruce Cowen is sentenced to prison for his involvement in the fraudulently-operated Lancer Offshore group of hedge funds; The Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission issues warnings against several businesses; and The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission have entered into an Undertaking on Exchange of Information in Securities Matters.

Bruce Cowen, who was a senior officer with the collapsed Lancer Offshore group, has pleaded guilty to fraud conspiracy in the United States.Cowen pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on August 21, 2003.

A United States court has issued a temporary order freezing the assets of the Lancer Offshore Group, which has been implicated in a massive securities fraud.The assets were frozen on July 10, 2003 at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida following a complaint filed by the Securities & Exchange Commission.

American pop star Britney Spears and jailed former Sotheby's Chairman Alfred Taubman are among investors in the Lancer Offshore Fund Group, which has collapsed amid suspicions of securities fraud.They were among 110 "Equity Security Holders" listed by one of the group's investment partnerships, Lancer Partners, when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Connecticut on April 16, 2003.

Investors in a British Virgin Islands-registered offshore hedge fund with ties to convicted or suspected fraudsters might be staring at losses totalling $400 million. That is the capital contribution believed to have gone into Lancer Offshore Inc., much of whose "assets" comprise interests in dubious, loss-making, penny stock firms whose shares are thinly-traded.

Lancer Offshore Inc., which is registered in the British Virgin Islands and listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, has brought a libel lawsuit against the New York Post - one month after notifying investors it was effectively suspending cash redemptions. The libel action was filed at New York State Supreme Court on February 14, 2003 after the Post published three negative articles about the Fund, which purports to have assets valued at $1 billion, and/or its principal, Michael Lauer.

Fifty-eight people have been criminally indicted in the United States following a two-year undercover investigation into white-collar crime. As of lunch-time today, 53 of those indicted had been arrested, including Bahamas-based accountant Michael Hepburn, who helps to operate Barbados-licensed Keywest Swiss Investment Bank.