Client’s $25 m trading loss caused collapse of financial group, says liquidator
July 2, 2008
A trading loss of $25 million by a Canadian client with a checkered past has emerged as the principal reason for the collapse of a Bahamas-based financial services group earlier this year.
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John Mathewson target of new tax investigation, accuses IRS of a “double-cross”
July 2, 2008
Former Cayman Islands-based banker John Mathewson, who infamously turned in his bank's clients to the United States Internal Revenue Service in return for leniency on tax evasion and money laundering charges in the 1990s, is the target of a new investigation into tax fraud.
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IRS seeks court permission to serve summons on Miami offices of UBS AG
July 2, 2008
The United States Government has applied to a federal court in Miami for permission to serve an Internal Revenue Service "John Doe" summons on two local offices of Swiss private bank UBS AG as part of a criminal investigation into U. S. taxpayers for tax evasion using offshore structures.
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Ex-UBS banker agrees to “co-operate fully” with IRS, faces up to 5 years in prison
July 2, 2008
Former UBS private banker Bradley Birkenfeld is due to be sentenced on August 13, 2008 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on June 19.
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One former Grenada ‘banker’ gets 11 years, another is declared mentally incompetent
July 2, 2008
A mortgage broker in Wisconsin and a dentist in Nebraska have become the latest perpetrators of Grenada-based offshore financial scams to be dealt with by the U. S. legal system.
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Investment advisers accused of “massive fraud” against offshore firms and others
July 2, 2008
Two former officers of a U. S.-based investment adviser have been accused of perpetrating a "massive fraud" against clients, who include an offshore bank and several offshore hedge funds.
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BVI-domiciled PROOF Fund sues second US penny stock
July 2, 2008
For the second time in less than three months, a British Virgin Islands-domiciled investment fund has filed a complaint against an Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board-listed penny stock for allegedly defaulting on a loan.
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Merrill Scott principals indicted for tax evasion & money laundering
July 2, 2008
The operators of a now-defunct asset protection firm based in Utah and the Bahamas have been criminally indicted in the United States on multiple counts of tax evasion and money laundering.
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Donald Lines awarded $3 m damages against fraudulent process server
June 16, 2008
Bermuda-based businessman Donald Lines has been awarded damages of $3 million against a Massachusetts process serving company that falsely claimed to have served him with three securities fraud-related subpoenas on behalf of the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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latin AmericA Round-up
July 2, 2008
COLOMBIA: Laundering Through Cows. MEXICO: Cubans Entering US through Mexico; Anti-Drug Plan on the Rocks; New Anti-Laundering Body; Salinas's Money to Return Home. NICARAGUA: Hard Times for Ortega. PERU: Something Smelly In Military Rations; Exoneration for Lawmakers Accused of Accepting Bribes. REGIONAL: Haiti and Colombia the Most Vulnerable; Smear Campaigns against NGOs.
Insider Talking
July 2, 2008
Grenada’s extraordinary inability to oversee and regulate its banking industry in anything other than a manner that appears to be suspiciously incompetent to many in the outside world is exposed again with its handling of the insolvency of Capital Bank International, Cayman Islands Monetary Authority Chairman Tim Ridley warns local directors against a possible increased risk of being served with subpoenas while traveling in the United States, a federal court in Florida prohibits Pinnacle Quest International from publicizing and promoting “tax fraud schemes” to customers in the United States, and a review of financial compensation packages for 2007 of the senior officers of Bermuda’s publicly-listed insurers reveals that Mark Watson was the highest-compensated, with a package worth $15 million.
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