David Bishara

Rampart Securities, a Canadian stock brokerage which is said to be owed at least US$2 million by Atlas Securities of the Turks & Caicos Islands, has had its "membership rights and privileges" suspended by the Investment Dealers Association of Canada; Regulators in St. Vincent have revoked the Class I international banking license of Maxi Bank Inc.; A Canadian crook who goes by the name of 'Sir Daniel Kingsley Lear' has been involved in a bizarre tax fraud trial in Manitoba, Canada; Four more people have been sentenced for their involvement in a $64 million fraud carried out in the names of Hammersmith Trust, Microfund and Luxor Capital Markets; Bahamas-based Oceanic Bank and Trust Limited has opened a marketing office in London, England; and La Comisión Nacional de Valores in Panama has launched investigations into the activities of Morrison Cross Financial Investment Ltd. and Britex International Ltd.

Lengthy prison terms have been handed down to the first two defendants to be sentenced in a $64 million fraud some funds were laundered through the Bank of Bermuda in the name of an Antiguan 'paper' bank.William H. West, of Niceville, Florida was the first to be sentenced, receiving 136 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $25 million at a hearing on July 19, 2001.

Six people have been convicted of criminal offenses relating to a $64 million investment scam that involved several offshore jurisdictions, including Antigua, Bermuda and the Bahamas. The convictions on April 13, 2001 followed a six-week jury trial at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida that focused on investment programs known as Hammersmith Trust, Microfund and Luxor Capital Markets.

A guilty plea has been entered by one of the defendants in an alleged $95 million investment fraud in which funds were allegedly laundered through the Bank of Bermuda in the name of an Antiguan 'paper' bank. Benjamin David Gilliland, of Memphis, Tennessee, pleaded guilty on August 22, 2000 to one count each of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.