JeRu Hall

The operators of yet another Grenada-licensed offshore bank have been convicted of fraud-related charges in the United States. Taansen Fairmont Sumeru, a.k.a. David Freeston, of Santa Barbara, California, and Jerome Harold Hall, a.k.a. JeRu Hall, of Fairfield, Iowa, were convicted jury of eight counts of securities fraud and nine counts of wire fraud at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California on January 24, 2006. Sumeru was also convicted of conspiring to launder money and failing to file federal income tax returns for 1999 and 2000.

The National Commercial Bank of St. Vincent has been awarded damages by Grenada Supreme Court after its correspondent accounts were frozen in the United Kingdom by attorneys representing victims of the First International Bank of Grenada. In a decision on December 12, 2000, the court discharged an injunction that had been granted on August 11, 2000 in Grenada and September 14, 2000 in the High Court in England against NCB's assets held in correspondent accounts in the United Kingdom.