Hawthorne-Sterling

Investment fraudster Ian Renert has been severely criticized by a judge in the Bahamas, who accused him of “duplicity and dishonesty” and of abusing the legal system during four years of litigation.After defrauding investors in his offshore hedge funds, Renert then sought to mislead the judiciary in an effort to impede civil and criminal investigations into his activities by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, the SEC in the United States and an unidentified U. S. law enforcement agency, stated Mr. Justice Lyons in a ruling on June 21, 2005.

Ian Renert and his unlicensed Bahamas-based investment fund group receive $1.5 m in penalties in securities fraud action, London-based barristrer Lawrence Jones in messy legal battle with former fiancée, Keith King and the Dominican Republic's Central Bank, AT&T Corp. sues the Bahamas Tourist Office for an allegedly unpaid bill of $104,361, Royal Bank of Scotland refused to explain massive exposure to the Cayman Islands, civil complaints filed in the Turks and Caicos Islands against Professional Capital Ltd. and Intalco Management Ltd., US Government obtains order allowing it to seize $2.6 m of narcotics trafficking proceeds held at Barclays Bank (Bahamas), US Government applies to seize 55-feet catamaran passenger ferry called 'The Preference' moored in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Netherlands Antilles-domiciled Overseas World Marketing NV sues Motivational Marketing Inc. in Florida.

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

Former offshore fund manager Ian Renert might be facing criminal action in the United States to go along with a civil lawsuit alleging securities fraud that was brought against him by the SEC.Documents filed in the civil case indicate that Renert is also being investigated by the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

A firm whose insiders included the now defunct Hawthorne Sterling mutual fund group of the Bahamas has been accused of stock fraud in the United States.The stock of Trans Energy Inc. was artificially inflated by the dissemination of several false

The Securities & Exchange Commission has filed a civil lawsuit against US-based Ian Laurence Renert and his unregistered, Bahamas-based mutual fund group Hawthorne-Sterling & Co., for an alleged $22 million fraud.   As part of the complaint, an emergency order freezing the assets of both parties was granted on June 7, 2001 by the US District Court in Connecticut.

Research into publicly-quoted firms linked with Hawthorne-Sterling's mutual funds has revealed an astonishing pattern of alleged stock manipulation, bankruptcies and ties to convicted criminals. There is overwhelming evidence that the companies exist largely so that insiders can benefit at the expense of unsophisticated investors who are sucked in by hype.

A crucial hearing in the battle for control of the Hawthorne-Sterling group of mutual funds is due to take place at Bahamas Supreme Court on November 1. Florida-based Ian L. Renert wants the court to remove accountant Clifford Culmer as Receiver of 36 companies within Renert's group and be allowed to relocate them to Nevis.

An unlicensed, unaudited mutual fund group into which over 550 investors invested approximately $13.2 million has been forced into Receivership by the Bahamas Securities Commission. It has triggered a bitter legal battle for control of the Hawthorne-Sterling family of funds between their Receiver, accountant Clifford Culmer, and their founder, American Ian L. Renert.