Johann Smith

Former offshore banker Kenneth Payne has been sentenced to 17 years and seven months in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of mail fraud and one count of money laundering in the United States.Payne, who helped to operate the now defunct 21st Century Banking Group, in Grenada, was sentenced on April 12, 2002 at the United States District Court for the District of Southern Indiana.

Grenada-registered 21st Century Banking Group is closing down after the US Securities & Exchange Commission froze the assets of the investment group that operated the offshore bank. In a lawsuit filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, the SEC has accused six defendants of defrauding 330 investors out of $29.1 million raised since January, 1998.