Equivest Premier Holdings

Unlicensed fund manager Ian Renert has abandoned his defense of a $22 million securities fraud lawsuit in the United States and apparently moved overseas to start a new investment scheme.After more than two years of fighting an action filed by

The long-awaited criminal trial of Bahamas resident Yank Barry in Texas on charges that he bribed a prison governor to secure a lucrative contract for his soy-based food firm called VitaPro is due to start on August 7, 2001 following previous delays; A look at OffshoreBanc.com; Kevin Mann, Registrar of Mutual Funds in the British Virgin Islands, has issued a Cease and Desist Order against Ian Renert's so-called Equivest Premier Holdings (BVI) Inc., which has been holding itself out to be an offshore mutual fund manager; Evergreen Security - details about creditors and how much they are owed; The 'New Utopia' farce continues; Bahamian Hubert Bowe is still trotting out press releases at www.alexandersworld.net claiming that he is about to "break ground" on a major development called Alexander's World; The last remains of FIBG's sham insurer, IDIC, disappeared recently when its web-site at www.idic-ec.org went off-line; The purchase of about 10 million shares in Manchester United PLC for some GBP28 million (US$40 million) by BVI-registered The Cuban Expression Company Ltd. - pushing its overall stake up to 6.77 per cent - caused quite a stir among business and soccer reporters in England; Further misrepresentation by The Harris Organization of Panama; and Paul de Weerd leaves his position as Superintendent of the Turks & Caicos Financial Services Commission.

Investment advisor Ian Renert has been portrayed in a lawsuit as a bungling fraudster who genuinely believes that bank debenture trading programs exist and who signed mutual fund documents in the names of his pet geese.Renert, who controlled 36 mutual fund firms that were mostly incorporated in the Bahamas, has been accused of defrauding at least 850 investors who invested $22 million from June, 1997 to April, 1999.