Michael Lauer

There have been two new legal developments at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida concerning the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation into the Lancer Offshore group of hedge funds, which collapsed in 2003 after losing at least $500 million due to fraud by insiders; and The Serious Fraud Office in the United Kingdom enhanced its reputation as an ineffective law enforcement agency when it failed to secure a single conviction against three former officers of Imperial Consolidated at their High Court trial in London.

Former hedge fund manager Michael Lauer and four others have been indicted in the United States on charges that they helped to defraud investors in the Lancer Offshore group of more than $200 million. Lauer, Martin Garvey, Eric Hauser, Laurence Isaacson, and Milton Barbarosh were each indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and six counts of fraud at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on January 29, 2008. The indictment was sealed until February 19, 2008 so arrests could be effected.

Accounting group PricewaterhouseCoopers has agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle claims regarding its audits of the fraudulently-operated Lancer Offshore group of hedge funds, which collapsed in 2003 with losses estimated at more than $400 million.

The Receiver for the Lancer Offshore Group has filed two new complaints against recipients of money transfers that were made while the failed hedge fund group was insolvent. In one case, the defendants are Redwood Financial Group Inc., The Redwood Group Inc., both of Redwood Drive, Westminster, Maryland; Robert D. Maum, of Cowdray Park Drive, Greenwich, Connecticut; and James W. Raker, of Wynfield Road, West Friendship, Maryland. In the other action, the defendants are attorney Kenneth E. Chyten and the Law Offices of Kenneth E. Chyten, both of Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, California.

The Receiver for the Lancer Offshore group has filed another complaint in the United States in his attempt to recover assets for creditors/investors who are collectively owed more than $400 million.Marty Steinberg, representing the U. S. Securities & Exchange Commission, filed his latest action against Off the Map Productions LLC, a.k.a. OTM Productions, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on June 29, 2006.

Fund administrator Citco knew that Lancer Offshore was fraudulently valuing assets nearly two years before the fund collapsed but its sole concern was how to extricate itself from the $400 million insolvency, rather than warn investors and regulators. That is the most serious allegation contained in a civil lawsuit that was filed as long ago as January 14, 2005 at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida but kept sealed until February 21, 2006 due to concerns that its release may breach a court order prohibiting disclosure of certain information. It is supported by copies of extraordinary email exchanges between Citco's senior executives that were disclosed in discovery that Citco opposed.

The Receiver for the Lancer Offshore group has filed four new lawsuits against parties in Bermuda, the Bahamas, the United States, Monaco, and France in an attempt to recover $1.48 million. All of the actions were filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on January 11, 2006 by Marty Steinberg, as court-appointed Receiver for Lancer Management Group LLC, Lancer Management Group II LLC, Lancer Offshore Inc., OmniFund Ltd., LSPV Inc., LSPV LLC, Alpha Omega Group Inc., and G.H. Associates LLC.

Former hedge fund boss Michael Lauer's "girlfriends" and stock "valuation shills" are among the defendants in the latest lawsuit filed in Miami by the Receiver of the Lancer Offshore group. "Lauer would often use the Girlfriends to assist him in violating his duties to the Funds by placing valuable assets, including aircraft and cash, in their names in an effort to prevent investors and/or the SEC from seizing such assets," stated the complaint.

Former Lancer Offshore boss Michael Lauer may soon be incarcerated and fined for breaching court orders freezing his assets and requiring his co operation with the SEC's investigation into his affairs.In a report dated March 22, 2005, U. S. Magistrate

The SEC's Receiver of the Lancer Offshore Group has filed a civil complaint against the hedge funds' former auditors. Marty Steinberg, in his capacity as court-appointed receiver of Lancer Offshore Inc. and The OmniFund Ltd., alleges professional malpractice and gross negligence in an action that was filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on December 2, 2004.

OffshoreAlert has found two more civil lawsuits filed by the Receiver of Lancer Offshore and related parties against alleged recipients of money transfers from the failed hedge fund group.Last month, we reported that Marty Steinberg had filed a lawsuit on July 9, 2004 at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against 26 defendants - mainly financial institutions - in which he sought more than $17 million.

Eighty-six investors from 19 countries who claim to have invested more than $570 million in the Lancer Offshore Group have filed a lawsuit against its directors, administrator, auditor and prime broker. The three biggest claimants are all based in Montreal, Canada: Fondation Lucie et Andre Chagnon, a charity with a claim for $100 million; Bombardier Inc., the world's biggest train maker and third largest civil aircraft manufacturer whose pension fund has a claim for $68 million; and the University of Montreal's pension fund, with a claim for $67 million.

Lines Overseas Management has filed a lawsuit against the Bermuda Monetary Authority in an attempt to prevent the SEC in the United States from receiving information about LOM's clients; Two alleged participants in a massive investment fraud involving Evergreen Security, which was registered in the British Virgin Islands and managed in Florida, are to be re-tried after their trial for grand larceny in the first degree ended in a hung jury; How much does failed offshore hedge fund boss and accused $600 million fraudster Michael Lauer hate Christopher Byron, the New York Post columnist who exposed his activities at the Lancer Offshore Group?; Imperial Consolidated administrator Mazars Neville Russell has reported receipts of $6.48 million and payments of $4.57 million in the five months from June 10, 2003 to December 9, 2003 for the group's principal UK company, Imperial Consolidated Financiers Ltd.; On January 19, 2004 at the British Virgin Islands High Court, Allen Wheatley, former Financial Secretary of the BVI Government, and three accomplices pleaded guilty to corruption-related charges concerning the misappropriation of funds for telecommunications projects at the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport; Canadian television firm CBC broadcast a fascinating documentary on convicted money launderer Martin Chambers on January 13, 2004, including hidden camera footage of the undercover sting operation that led to his arrest in the 'Bermuda Short' operation conducted by the FBI and RCMP a few years ago; A liquidator of First Cayman Bank, of the Cayman Islands, announced in December 2003 that he had paid out a third interim dividend of 15 cents in the dollar on November 21, 2003 to all admitted creditors in a distribution of approximately US$4.4 million; Eduardo Masferrer, former Chairman and CEO of the now-closed Hamilton Bank N.A., of Miami, Florida, has agreed to pay $960,000 in restitution for the benefit of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and $40,000 in penalties and stay out of banking for an indefinite period; Grenada-domiciled IBC Joie de Vie Ventures Inc. closed for business after taking in millions of dollars from the public by offering returns of up to 100 per cent per year; U.K. attorney Christopher Stenning's Regalia Offshore Fund Ltd., which has an affiliate in the British Virgin Islands called The Regalia Fund Ltd., did not last long; A Canadian regulatory agency has issued a warning against a sham bank doing business as "Bermuda Credit Re-Insurance Bank Ltd."; The California Division of Corporations might want to look a little more closely at Gamboa Properties Inc. before renewing its status as an 'Active' company in the state; and Two Cayman Islands law firms announced they were merging with firms in other jurisdictions during January.

Attorneys representing hedge fund boss Michael Lauer have been accused of hindering the investigation into his collapsed Lancer Offshore group, which is suspected of defrauding investors of more than $600 million. Richard Asche, Gerry Labush and Jack Litman were "playing

More than $600 million of the $1.15 billion invested in the Lancer Offshore group of hedge funds from 1995 to 2002 may be lost.The initial report of Lancer's receiver, Marty Steinberg, acting for the SEC, showed that investors put in

Lancer Offshore boss Michael Lauer has asked a court to vary an order freezing his assets so that he can meet claimed monthly living expenses of $93,000 and pay for his defense against allegations of fraud.

Bruce Cowen, who was a senior officer with the collapsed Lancer Offshore group, has pleaded guilty to fraud conspiracy in the United States.Cowen pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on August 21, 2003.

A United States court has issued a temporary order freezing the assets of the Lancer Offshore Group, which has been implicated in a massive securities fraud.The assets were frozen on July 10, 2003 at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida following a complaint filed by the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Offshore hedge fund boss Michael Lauer has claimed there is an "excellent likelihood of a successful reorganization" of Lancer Partners L. P., an investment partnership he operated which filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on April 16, 2003.

A United States court today issued a temporary order freezing the assets of the Lancer Offshore Group, which has been implicated in massive securities fraud.The assets have been frozen until at least July 18, 2003 when a hearing has been scheduled at the U. S District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The University of Montreal Pension Plan invested US$67 million - representing more than eight per cent of its total assets - in the now-insolvent Lancer Offshore fund, according to a lawsuit.Another major investor was the AXA group, whose investment vehicles put in $15.25 million in June, 2002 - less than three months before the New York Post newspaper began raising questions about the Fund and six months before the Fund announced it was suspending cash redemptions.

Yet another lawsuit has been filed against the Lancer Offshore Group, which has collapsed with estimated liabilities of approximately $350 million and assets largely comprising shares in dubious, thinly-traded firms that appear to be vehicles for securities fraud.

A hearing to force an offshore hedge fund group into administration has been further adjourned until September 8, 2003 at the British Virgin Islands High Court. The hearing into the affairs of Lancer Offshore Inc. and The Omnifund Ltd. began over one day on May 30, 2003, reconvened over one day on June 11 and will not now continue for another three months.

American pop star Britney Spears and jailed former Sotheby's Chairman Alfred Taubman are among investors in the Lancer Offshore Fund Group, which has collapsed amid suspicions of securities fraud.They were among 110 "Equity Security Holders" listed by one of the group's investment partnerships, Lancer Partners, when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Connecticut on April 16, 2003.

Investors in a British Virgin Islands-registered offshore hedge fund with ties to convicted or suspected fraudsters might be staring at losses totalling $400 million. That is the capital contribution believed to have gone into Lancer Offshore Inc., much of whose "assets" comprise interests in dubious, loss-making, penny stock firms whose shares are thinly-traded.

Lancer Offshore Inc., which is registered in the British Virgin Islands and listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, has brought a libel lawsuit against the New York Post - one month after notifying investors it was effectively suspending cash redemptions. The libel action was filed at New York State Supreme Court on February 14, 2003 after the Post published three negative articles about the Fund, which purports to have assets valued at $1 billion, and/or its principal, Michael Lauer.