Michael Hepburn

Operation ‘Bermuda Short’: Conviction Statistics

October 31, 2005

An analysis of Operation 'Bermuda Short', including which defendants were convicted or acquitted and length of sentences. These defendants were Serdar Kalaycioglu, Martin Chambers, Anthony Damato, Kevan Garner, Walter Dorow, Bruce Bertman, Michael Reiter, Geoffrey Gazda, James Cary Parrish, Jeffrey Senger, Melvin Levine, Jerry Poole, Charles Cini, Lawrence Gallo, Bruce Cowen, Daniel Charboneau, Thomas Steinbach, Gordon Novak, Harold Joliffe, Howard Kerbel, Greg Balk, Barry Berman, Vincent Barone, Dax Ross, David Rich, George Doumanis, Michael Puorro, Blair Valentine, Ray Hutchison, Frank Dickey Jr., Daniel Bender, Paul Lemmon, Bruce Biddick, John Purdy, Ronaldo Horvat, Mark Valentine, Joseph Huard Jr., Cris Sagnelli, Michael Vlahovic, Douglas Rasberry, Richard Greene, Tim Rice, Ashley Sosner, Andrew Proctor, Marshall Klein, Mario Turcotte, Sheldon Mickelson, Richard Carson, Dennis Epstein, Kenneth Liebscher, Michael Hepburn, Charles Arnold, Les Price, James Kelly, Justyn Feldman, Robert Wilder, and Paul deRome.

Martin Chambers receives 15-year prison sentence

December 9, 2003

Canadian attorney Martin Chambers has been sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison for his role in an offshore money laundering scheme. Chambers, 64, was also fined $20,000 and ordered to forfeit $95,000, representing that portion of the $700,000 in cash that he took from undercover officers and agreed to launder but failed to return.

Jury convicts Martin Chambers, acquits Michael Hepburn

September 11, 2003

Vancouver based attorney Martin G. Chambers, 63, is due to be sentenced on December 5, 2003 after being found guilty of five counts of money laundering.Chambers was convicted of all counts against him by a jury at the U. S.

Witness claims attorney paid him not to testify

August 23, 2003

A stock promoter claims he was paid CDN$10,000 not to testify at a money laundering trial that is currently being held in Miami in which the defendants are Canadian attorney Martin Chambers and Bahamas accountant Michael Hepburn.Kevan Garner, of Vancouver, told prosecutors the payment was made on behalf of Chambers through an intermediary, Barry Mann. There is no suggestion that Hepburn was involved.

Kevan Garner receives seven-year prison term

March 31, 2003

Stock promoter Kevan Garner was sentenced to 87 months in prison at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on March 25, 2003 after previously pleading guilty to money laundering. Garner, a Canadian national, is currently out on bail and must surrender to the authorities by May 27 to begin his jail-time.

Martin Chambers suspected of death threat against Bahamas accountant

October 31, 2002

A bail ruling at Federal Court in Miami indicates that prosecutors believe a Canadian businessman may have been behind an alleged death threat against one of his co-defendants, Bahamas accountant Michael Hepburn.In a decision dated October 16, 2002, District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages allowed an appeal by the U. S. Government against an earlier order granting bail to 62-year-old Martin G. Chambers.

Michael Hepburn released on bail in Florida

September 30, 2002

Bahamas based accountant Michael Hepburn has been released on $100,000 bond at federal court in Miami, where he has been indicted on five counts of money laundering.Hepburn, 52, posted bond on September 5, 2002 and is residing at his daughter's

Former Mentor Insurance underwriter fights fraud indictment

August 31, 2002

An underwriter who helped cause one of Bermuda's biggest ever insurance failures is awaiting trial in the United States on insurance fraud charges relating to another company.Michael Leslie Hodnett, a 54-year-old British national, has been charged with five counts of fraud and five counts of insurance crimes affecting interstate commerce at Federal court in Florida.

Insider Talking: August 31, 2002

August 31, 2002

European Federal Union Bank Ltd. falsely claims to be based in Antigua; Barbados Central Bank revokes license of Keywest Swiss Investment Bank Inc.; DIAK Bank's Clifford Pitt fails in an attempt to quash a subpoena duces tecum; John Wayne Zidar is gound guilty of fraud and money laundering; US federal court approves IRS motion to serve John Doe summons on MasterCard International for investigation into tax evasion using offshore credit cards; Offshore bankers Julien Giraud and Brian Boeger have each been sentenced to 37 months in prison in the United States; and an auction of property belonging to Imperial Consolidated is due to take place in England.

Arrested Bahamas-based accountant has history of involvement with fraudulent companies

August 31, 2002

Bahamas accountant Michael M. Hepburn, who has been arrested and charged with money laundering in Miami, has a history of involvement with crooked companies, OffshoreAlert can reveal. Hepburn, 54, has provided fake audits for several offshore insurers that have collapsed amid heavy losses and allegations of impropriety, including Paramount Reinsurance Ltd., formerly First Reinsurance Ltd., of Barbados; and Alpine Assurance Ltd. and Savoy Reinsurance Co. Ltd., both of the Turks & Caicos Islands.

58 suspected fraudsters and money launderers indicted in ‘Operation Bermuda Short’

August 15, 2002

Fifty-eight people have been criminally indicted in the United States following a two-year undercover investigation into white-collar crime. As of lunch-time today, 53 of those indicted had been arrested, including Bahamas-based accountant Michael Hepburn, who helps to operate Barbados-licensed Keywest Swiss Investment Bank.

Client claims that Keywest Swiss Investment Bank will not redeem funds

April 30, 2002

OffshoreAlert has received a complaint that a client of Barbados-based Keywest Swiss Investment Bank is unable to redeem approximately $200,000 placed with the bank.Keywest Swiss Investment Bank Inc. was licensed in Barbados on January 25, 1995 under the Offshore Banking Act, according to the Central Bank of Barbados.The Central Bank stated that KSIB's directors of record are Garet O. Finlayson, Barbara Y. Hepburn,  Harold R. Longley, Robert L Morris and Cecil A. B. Smith.