Monday, November 9, 2015

MONEY LAUNDERING THROUGH LITIGATION FINANCE

FROM THE - CHRONICLES of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA~
~Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock ~




Innovative money launderers are constantly on alert for new, and safe, methods of cleaning their clients' proceeds of crime, and of making a return on their "investment" in the process. It was only when a drug-laden smuggling vessel was seized off the coast of California, that US law enforcement learned about the abuse of Life Settlements, the secondary market for life insurance policies, by an insurance agent who was a laundryman in Colombia; we often learn too late about new avenues to launder illicit profits.

The proliferation of litigation financing, also known as litigation funding, in high-stakes civil lawsuits in the United States, should concern trial lawyers, not for ethical reasons, though there are valid issues, but because outside financing of their expensive major cases might be coming from a source of funds that they definitely do not want to accept; money launderers.

Litigation financing occurs in major products liability, personal injury, or several other types of lawsuits, especially where the defendant, or its insurer, has a deep pocket to defend the case. Depositions, pretrial discovery, motions, experts, consultants, investigations, all cost money, and some defense lawyers try to bankrupt litigants, through years of litigation, to force settlements, or even dismissal of cases against their clients.

It is logical that clients with limited means would seek out funding sources, to obtain non-recourse advance funding of pretrial, and trial, litigation costs. the problem is that the law has not yet caught up with this emerging field, and there is no requirement that the Source of Funds, or Beneficial Owner, behind such funding companies be disclosed, or obtained through due diligence. 

Since many offshore hedge funds are getting involved, why not domicile the "lenders" of the funds, to the bogus litigation finance company overseas as well. The lawyers, happy that their costs will be paid in advance, will not examine the golden goose.

Any good money launderer worth his salt could create a company that looks like a legitimate business, and borrows money, to lend out to law firms, for their clients' litigation finance needs. In truth and in fact, the captive litigation finance company is a shell, and it "borrows" funds from other shell companies owned and controlled by the money launderer, and funnels criminal proceeds into the lawsuit. 

After settlement of the case, a check, or wire transfer, from the winner's law firm will rarely, if ever, be subject to any regulatory, or law enforcement, scrutiny.

Only if the law firms conduct enhanced due diligence, in advance, will the wheat be separated from the straw, and illegitimate finding sources be unmasked, and refused. One wonders how many major civil cases have already been funded with drug profits.

DEUTSCHE BANK: THE REGULATORS FINALLY GET ONE RIGHT ON SANCTIONS VIOLATIONS

FROM THE - CHRONICLES of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA~ ~Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock ~

We know that fining international banks for sanctions violations is not an effective deterrent, even when the civil fines & penalties are in the multi-million dollar range, for those in command see such costs as the cost of doing business, but I have seen one sanctions violations case recently, worthy of mention. 

Inasmuch as fines alone do not stop the big banks, it is much more effective to also hit back at the individuals themselves who are responsible for the organized sanctions violations. Make sure that the people who actually evaded sanctions are terminated, as publicly as possible.

The New York case, where a whopping $258m fine imposed upon Deutsche Bank AG, for doing business with blacklisted countries, also required the bank to discharge six of the bad actors. Additional players in the sanctions evasion process has already left the bank, and three others transferred, and banned from any duties involving the bank's American operations.

You have got to tip your hat the the New York State Department of Financial Services, for it has been at the forefront of effective enforcement of sanctions laws; it reportedly will receive $200m of the fine payment, at in my humble opinion, it is well earned.



I have a suggestion; name, shame and publish the photographs of all the individuals involved in sanctions evasion, Superintendent Albanese, so that bankers worldwide get the message, loud & clear. Bankers are still constantly accessing my article containing the photographs of BNP Paribas officers who were terminated in its scandal. Out all these financial thugs, please.

GARY LUNDGREN, FACING CLAIMS FROM TRUMP AND OTHERS, SHUTS DOWN IN PANAMA AND WASHINGTON

FROM THE - CHRONICLES Of Andrei Slavenkov Netherlands –  Analyst For Wanted SA ~ Contributed & Written By Kenneth Rijock ~


The Alaskan fraudster operating in anything-goes Panama Panama, Gary James Lundgren, reeling from the publicity generated by the high-profile case against him, filed by the Trump Organization, has begun closing down his dodgy operations. 

Lundgren, who has obviously tired of evading all the angry investors whom he has stopped paying an 8% per month return to, faces an uncertain future, due to multiple investigations reportedly pending against him. 

He refuses to personally meet clients, for fear that he will suffer physical harm at the hands of clients who have threatened him; he takes various, circuitous, routes to his office each day, and has increased security there.

In the Republic of Panama, his securities company, an unlicensed Panamanian branch of his US company, Interpacific Investors Services, has been ordered closed by the Government of Panama. In the United States, his business in Washington State is transferring all its existing clients to a national securities firm, and closing up its broker-dealer operations, as verified by a press release, making the announcement, though the company receiving this business may want to reexamine the situation.

The steep decline in new tenants, coming into Panama, due to the change in economic activity, and the public perception of a major increase in street crime, has resulted in a large number of vacant condominiums that he controls, meaning that his cash flow has been severely reduced. 

He has a number of civil suits pending against him in the Republic of Panama, and some of his victims, who allege he is guilty of sexual battery, are exploring their legal options.

Will the United States request the extradition of Mr. Lundgren, for securities violations, or will Panama do the honors, for the Petaquilla Mine scandal ? We cannot say, but his problems have multiplied exponentially in 2015.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

SHARON LEXA LAMB LEADER OF CAYMAN GANG OF FOUR THREATENS BLIND INVESTOR WHO ASKED FOR HIS FUNDS

FROM THE - CHRONICLES Of Andrei Slavenkov Netherlands – Analyst For Wanted SA ~ Contributed & Written By Kenneth Rijock ~

LEADER OF CAYMAN GANG OF FOUR THREATENS BLIND INVESTOR WHO ASKED FOR HIS FUNDS


The Cayman Gang of Four are showing signs of desperation lately. A 90-year old American investor, who is blind and disabled, was threatened by the group's leader, Sharon Lexa Lamb, when he again requested that his investment account be returned to him. 

Lamb told the client that, should he continue to ask for his money, she would turn over all his information to the Internal Revenue Service, and that the end result would be a Federal prison term for tax evasion.

Is there nothing the Gang of Four will not do to hold on to the estimated $450m they have stolen from Canadian and American investors ? This is one of the most despicable things they have done to date. 

Lamb had previously delayed refunding the investor his money, by placating him with the story that B & C Capital had to sell off some stock, and then he would receive his $2m, in full. When that lie ran out, she threatened the investors with the dire consequences stated above.

The investor, who has no liability for undeclared income, has decided to proceed with litigation, but, in my humble opinion, no less than a substantial prison time, in a Federal Prison in the United States, is in order, for Sharon Lexa Lamb, as well as the other members of the Cayman Gang of Four, Derek Buntain, Fernando Mota Mendez, and the fugitive, Ryan Bateman.
Lamb, Bateman, Buntain

GARY LUNDGREN & OTHER DIRECTORS WILL BE SUED FOR $75M IN DAMAGES BY TRUMP ORGANIZATION

FROM THE - CHRONICLES Of Andrei Slavenkov Netherlands – Analyst For Wanted SA ~ Contributed & Written By Kenneth Rijock ~

TRUMP SEEKS $75m IN DAMAGES AGAINST GARY LUNDGREN AND OTHER TRUMP OCEAN CLUB DIRECTORS

                   
     
The Trump Organization has brought a claim against the Directors of Panama's Trump Ocean Club, which is led by the American businessman, Gary Lundgren, for $75m, for wrongfully terminating Trump's management agreement with the condominium association. Lundgren is seeking to have his wife take over management of the condominium, and collect the maintenance fees, though she has no training or experience in building management.

The case was reportedly brought before a type of arbitration, and is not public, but details were leaked to American  media, and Trump's New York attorney confirmed the filing. The complaint also alleges that Lundgren has engaged in a wide variety of illegal activity in Panama.

Lundgren and Perez

Gary Lundgren, whose controversial career has been the subject of much media attention, is said to be the owner of the largest number of properties in Trump Ocean Club, allegedly acquired with laundered Colombian narcotics profits, and millions in cash given to him, by the convicted Colombian Ponzi schemer, David Eduardo Helmut Murcia Guzmán, which he later stole, when Murcia was extradited. Witnesses have seen Lundgren present for deposit, at Panamanian banks, $15-16m in cash, in garbage bags, still wet from covert fast-boat transport from Colombia.
 Lundgren allegedly met Murcia through drug cartel kingpins in Medellín,  who are related to Lundgren's wife, Griselda Pérez. Murcia is reported to have laundered two billion dollars, in FARC narco-profits, in Panama.

Griselda Pérez
Lundgren's checkered past, which includes allegations of money laundering of narcotics profits, his status as a known sexual predator in the US and in Panama, and his theft of Panama real estate, owned by expats from North America and Europe, and his failure to pay accrued interest to his investors, should have disqualified him from serving as chairman of the Board of Directors of any public company. 

Lundgren has also been said to have acquired bonds, issued by the corporation that developed the project, Newland, through opaque circumstances.

Lundgren's longtime association with Panamanian attorney Ismael Gerli has led to speculation that Gerli had a role in advising Lundgren in his mysterious acquisition of the bonds,  and acquiring Trump Ocean Club condominium units, for cash. Some Panama observers claim that Lundgren covets the casino license at the building, and also wants to be the recipient of the monthly condominium maintenance payments paid by the unit owners.

Ismael Gerli

We shall keep our readers advised of this developing story as it unfolds.

DUNDEE BANK IN GRAND CAYMAN OPERATED BY CRIMINALS & FRAUDSTERS

FROM THE - CHRONICLES Of Andrei Slavenkov Netherlands – Analyst For Wanted SA ~ Contributed & Written By Kenneth Rijock ~

DUNDEE BANK - OPERATED ILLEGALLY BY FRAUDSTERS - ABRUPTLY CLEANED OUT WHEN SUIT FILED


Grand Cayman's Dundee Merchant Bank,* though ordered liquidated years ago, and which was operating illegally, was abruptly cleaned out, and its computers and bank records removed post haste yesterday, when the news broke that a major civil suit had been filed against it.

The bank has been a base for a $450m trading fraud, perpetrated by the Cayman Gang of Four, a quartet of financial scoundrels who stole from Canadian and American retirees and pensioners.

A review of Cayman Islands public records showed that no liquidation, nor receivership, nor any other permitted class of dissolution of the bank, has ever been initiated, let alone completed, notwithstanding that Canadian regulators has ordered it closed a long time ago. 

The bank has only a Class B banking license, which requires a full-service financial institution as a parent organization, and Canada's Dundee Corporation had sold off its banking arm years ago. Financial media, and even reputable reference materials, have listed Dundee as "in liquidation" for years, meaning that this disinformation was deliberately leaked to the financial press.

The bank had never been liquidated, though Dundee Corporation has claimed that it had completed the necessary actions, and handed off the liquidation to bank management, headed by President Derek Buntain. Mr. Buntain is missing, and is believed to be hiding somewhere in Canada's Atlantic Provinces, possibly Prince Edward Island, where his family resides.

Dundee President Buntain
Witnesses stated that Sharon Lexa Lamb, the Senior Vice President of Dundee Bank, ordered the bank's small Grand Cayman offices stripped, after she was notified by a staff member at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands that a Statement of Claim had been filed, against her, and the bank, alleging massive breaches of fiduciary duty to account holders**.

There are three unanswered questions that deserve attention:

(1) If the bank was in clear violation of Cayman banking laws, why was it allowed to remain in operation by CIMA, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, the relevant government agency charged with regulating the financial sector ? No liquidation was filed, yet media was declaring it as fact. Who was guilty of regulator malpractice at CIMA, and should they not be disciplined for this abject failure ? Also, why didn't CIMA catch Dundee's parent's sale ? Is this not gross negligence ?



(2) If Dundee Corporation did, as it claims, sign off on the liquidation, why was there never any on-site inspection and report, to confirm that it actually was accomplished ? That is basic due diligence, and the fact that a document was issued, under the bank's name, recently, showing Dundee Corporation's Toronto address for Dundee Merchant Bank, in a mailing to clients, suggests that it knew, or should have known, that the bank was still in operation.


(3) Where is Canada's financial regulator, the National Bank of Canada, in all this ? There is no publicly-available document that tells consumers and investors the details of the ordered liquidation, and the authority through which it was ordered. Investors were blindly following word of mouth. Should we not have regulatory filing transparency, especially regarding high-risk, and non-CDIC/FDIC, financial institutions located in offshore financial centers ?


One wonders where the bank's computers, and books & records are. Perhaps someone at the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service might want to step in here, and pay Ms. Lamb, and the rest of the Gang of Four,  a visit.

__________________________________________________________________________
* The bank was also trading under the name of Dundee Bank.
** This case shall be covered in a subsequent article.