Curtis Liburd

The final two defendants in the criminal prosecution of five former officers and directors of the First International Bank of Grenada have pleaded guilty in the United States, thereby averting a trial into one of the most notorious offshore banking frauds in recent years.Douglas Christie Ferguson, 74, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and Laurent Barnabe, a 68-year-old Canadian national, pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering at the U. S. District Court for the District of Oregon on March 19 and March 27, 2006, respectively. Ferguson's plea agreement carries a recommendation that he serve 52 months in prison, while Barnabe's recommended prison-term is six years.

Two defendants face lengthy prison sentences after admitting their involvement in an investment fraud perpetrated by the First International Bank of Grenada.Robert Skirving and Rita Regale each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering regarding FIBG's fraudulent proceeds at the U. S. District Court for the District of Oregon on July 19, 2006.

Offshore Alert can today expose a massive fraud involving at least three banks, an insurance company and a stock exchange into which investors are believed to have invested tens of millions of dollars. Participants in the scam include the World Investors Stock Exchange in Grenada, the International Deposit Insurance Corporation in Nevis, the First International Bank of Grenada, the International Exchange Bank, which is registered in either Nauru or Grenada but operated out of Bermuda and Texas; and Fidelity International Bank, which is registered in Nauru but operated from St. Vincent.

A Nevis company that purports to provide insurance for depositors at offshore banks may be a scam similar to one used to attract funds to the European Union Bank in Antigua that was closed down last year after fleecing investors of several millions of dollars, we can disclose. International Depositor's Reinsurance Corporation Ltd., which does business as International Deposit Insurance Corporation or IDIC, has all the hallmarks of a fraud. It is in breach of Nevis law by using the word 'Insurance' in its trading name and by passing itself off as an insurance company in its promotional literature at its web-site at http://www.depositinsurance.com.