Laxberg SA

The owner of a failed offshore securities broker that apparently defrauded clients out of millions of dollars has attempted to breach an asset freeze order, it has been claimed.Details of the allegation against John Kaweske Jr. are contained in the first interim report of the joint official liquidators of SEGOES Services Ltd. to customers and creditors, which is dated July 7, 2005 but only publicly released on August 3.

The amount of client funds misappropriated from offshore stock-broker SEGOES Services Ltd. may exceed US$15 million, according to the first interim report to creditors. That is how much was transferred from a group account "to a beneficiary as yet unidentified" on November 17, 2004, stated Kenneth Krys and Christopher Stride, whose status changed from joint provisional liquidators to joint liquidators on May 20 after it was determined the SEGOES group could not continue as a going concern and should be wound-up.

OffshoreAlert has uncovered new evidence casting doubt about the legitimacy of the recent 'sale' of crisis-hit SEGOES Securities Ltd. to Uruguayan company Laxberg SA following regulatory action in the Cayman Islands.

Crisis-hit SEGOES Securities Ltd., which is believed to control $70 million of client assets, claims to have been acquired by a mystery buyer.However, the timing of the 'deal' - coming just days after SEGOES was shut out of Cayman's financial services industry - and secrecy concerning the 'purchaser' raise questions about whether it is bona fide.