CARIBBEAN ISLAND OF ANTIGUA SEEKS TO REPAIR ITS IMAGE AFTER CHOKSI SCANDAL, BUT FAILS

The Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda, Gaston Browne, has now publicly stated that Mehul Choksi, the billionaire diamond fraudster, who has used his Antigua CBI passport and citizenship to delay his extradition to his native India for one year, will have his Antigua citizenship revoked after the extradition process is completed. Unfortunately, what PM Browne has failed to mention is the well-known fact that Choksi's extradition, to face justice, may never occur.

We call it Antigua's "Leroy King Rule, " named for the former banking regulator, who was Allen Stanford's Blood Brother [we mean that literally] who has now evaded extradition to the United States for more than a decade. Choksi, like King, may never run out of bogus "appeals," judicial reassignments, court delays, motions for rehearing, and similar dilatory actions, all of which delay any case indefinitely, as can only occur in Antigua's corrupt court system.

If Choksi is never extradited,  Browne never has to revoke his CBI passport and citizenship, although his standing offer to do so improves his status with Opposition leaders, and undecided voters, and wins the PM political points. Of course, Choksi may indeed grow old in Antigua, but that little detail has been conveniently left out. As an offer, Browne's efforts have been rebuffed from all quarters; the PR effort has failed.

Observers of the Antigua political scene have said that Browne's unusual offer, which runs against Antigua's longtime support of its CBI citizens, may have come due to what medical professionals fear is a decline in the Prime Minister's mental acuity, which is not age-related, but is reportedly occurring due to his family mental health history. It is time for a change in leadership. 
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Note: Readers who are not familiar with the Choksi or King cases will find that there has been ample prior coverage of both matters just by going to Google and typing in Leroy King or Mehul Choksi and you will find articles on WANTED SA. 

CANADA REVENUE AGENCY TAX EVASION SETTLEMENT WITH KPMG AND ITS CANADIAN CLIENTS WAS KEPT CONFIDENTIAL FROM THE PUBLIC

Our ongoing survey of cases involving the global accounting giant KPMG has turned up a dark chapter in the company's operations. It operated a scheme whereby high net worth Canadians, with assets that exceeded CAD$5m, were advised to secrete their funds in the Isle of Man, using shell companies. KPMG  received fees equal to fifteen per cent of the amount of the amount of taxes evaded by its clients. Over one hundred and thirty million dollars was placed into the scheme.

When Canada Revenue Agency regulators learned of the illicit program, it offered KPMG clients a sweetheart deal, involving no penalty, nor any jail time for the offenders. The agreements were made confidential, meaning that the public and the media were unaware that neither the investing public, nor the media, would learn of the arrangement. Furthermore, KPMG was NOT fined or sanctioned in any way. The entire settlement was kept out of the public eye, until it was leaked to the media by an anonymous whistle blower.

What we are seeing in a pattern whereby KMPG, and its officers, is repeatedly implicated, in case after case, of misconduct, verging at times as criminal, and due it its size, politics, or some other reason, is not held accountable for its misdeeds. This blog will continue to examine cases where KPMG's conduct has been found to be improper, unethical, amoral or criminal.   

NOTE: A respected Financial Crime Analyst in Canada advises that KPMG is a major financial supporter of Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party and that is why KPMG got a "sweetheart" for their clients and another criminal corporation in Canada is silenced.

Contributed by Kenneth Rijock - Financial Crime Consultant

Chronicles of Monte Friesner - Financial Crime Analyst 

GARY JAMES LUNDGREN OF PANAMA CONVICTED BY "FINRA" (FINANCIAL INDUSTRY REGULATORY AUTHORITY) & BANNED FOR LIFE IN TRADING SECURITIES

When FINRA ordered Gary James Lundgren to produce his accounts and records, he brazenly disobeyed five FINRA directives to open his books and records; the result was the ultimate loss of all his securities licenses, and a lifetime bar on any participation in the securities industry*. No legitimate trader of securities would ever allow that to occur.

His lawyer, Alcides Peña**, attempted to employ every single procedural roadblock, to delay the proceedings, asserting one bogus defense after another, until FINRA removed him, due to the simple fact that he was not admitted to practice law in any state. The final stunt: after asking for a hearing, Lundgren decided not to attend, probably because he fears a sealed Federal indictment exists, charging him with securities violations, and tax evasion.

Why would any licensed trader, with a lifetime of experience in the field, allow such a result, when he could have easily avoided such a disastrous outcome, by disclosing his finances. ? Read on.

If Gary Lundgren had turned over his bank account information, FINRA investigators would have seen these glaring violations:

(1) Lundgren took investment funds from US citizens, paid through his brokerage firm in the State of Washington, to his accounts in Panama, where he did not hold any securities licenses, and purchased local real estate, as well as unregistered securities, and took some of the investors' money into his personal accounts, so that he could make investments in his own name.

(2) Lundgren has a long and sordid history of accepting bulk cash from criminal clients located in Colombia, who sell narcotics, and engage in other illegal cash-producing businesses. He laundered the money, by using it to purchase real estate in Panama, from Panamanian builders who accepted the money, no questions asked. His connections with traffickers in Medellín are well known.

(3) Lundgren had a long history of accepting money for convicted Pyramind/Ponzi schemer, David Murcia Guzmán, and when Murcia was extradited, never to return, Lundgren reportedly retained millions of dollars, which he converted to his own use. Any close examination of his bank accounts would surely find deposits for which Source of Funds could never be established.

(4) Lundgren knew securities salesmen all over the United States, who steered investor funds to him, as he was paying high commissions to those who did. Lundgren promised double-digit returns, monthly, and his well-known high yield investment program, which was bogus, also constituted a security under US laws, meaning that SEC registration was required; it was never performed.

Therefore, had he followed the law, and timely delivered to FINRA the necessary records, he might have gone to prison in 2015, when the documents produced incriminated him. True, his dilatory tactics may have bought him some extra time, perhaps before any criminal charges were filed in the US, but his situation has now deteriorated further.

Two Panamanian law enforcement and regulatory agencies have now opened an investigation into Gary Lundgren's acts; one of them is a task force on organized crime. One US law enforcement agency is known to be conducting a new investigation, after Lundgren made repeated death threats to journalists reporting on his FINRA disbarment. He continues to illegally participate in the trading of US securities, using third parties, in a direct challenge to American regulators.

Due to his advanced age, Lundgren, should he be convicted in Panama, would be sentenced to home confinement, but in the United States, where the Bureau of Prisons maintains state-of-the-art medical care, and he will have to serve some serious prison time; Let justice be served.
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*FINRA permanently bars fraudster Gary Lundgren
**Alert: Fraudster Gary Lundgren has a new in-house Lawyer 

Contributed by Kenneth Rijock - Financial Crime Consultant

Chronicles of Monte Friesner - Financial Crime Analyst

ALBERTO DIAMOND PANAMA'S CORRUPT SUPERINTENDENT OF BANKING WAS BAD ACTOR IN KPMG CENTRAL AMERICA SCANDAL

 If you read our recent exposé about misconduct of KPMG in Latin America, CPA says KPMG  Shortchanged its Latin American Partners and then Fixed the Courts, denying them Access, you probably wondered which KPMG executives ordered the amoral, and obviously illegal, denial of partner compensation. At the center of the misconduct is someone whom you may be familiar with, if you follow financial crime in the Republic of Panama.

The bad actor is the former Panamanian Superintendent of Banking, Alberto Diamond Rodriguez. Diamond , while acting as president of KPMG Central America SA, presided over the slashing of partner compensation, at KPMG offices in the region, to only three per cent (3%), less than one tenth of what their contracts provided.  When the partners filed suit, in El Salvador, Diamond ordered that bribes be paid to not only members of the local judiciary, to delay the cases for many years, but he personally saw to it that the settlements forced upon the partners amounted to only pennies on the dollar, as to what they should have received.

There were also issues regarding covert payments, to US-based partners, made from accounts in offshore tax havens, which were not disclosed to American regulatory or tax authorities.   

It is believed the reason that Alberto Diamond hastily left Panama, when Martinelli's presidential term expired, because he feared that criminal charges would be filed against him should he remain. Appointed largely because he was related to Martinelli through marriage, he was totally unqualified to serve as Superintendent of Banking, While in office, he not only failed to indict a single Panamanian bank on money laundering charges, be openly bragged that he facilitated deposits of approximately seventeen billion ($17b) US Dollars [known as Balboas in Panama], coming in, largely in the form of bulk cash, from Venezuela.

Diamond also extorted large sums from Panamanian bankers, whose banks he often threatened to indict for money laundering, due to some phantom regulatory violation he would charge them with, unless $150,000 was paid to him. Diamond received millions of dollars in bribes from Money Service Firms in Panama which led to his downfall with the US Law Enforcement when a respectd Financial Analyst working with a US Agency in Panama filed a lengthy report on Diamond.

We shall be making further inquiries into Diamond's multiple criminal acts, while serving as president of KPMG Central America, and report back to our readers, as we further explore the scandal. 

Contributed by Kenneth Rijock - Financial Crime Consultant

Chronicles of Monte Friesner - Financial Crime Analyst  

IRAN MONEY LAUNDERING BANKS OFFERED MALTA "CITIZEN BY INVESTMENT" (CBI) PASSPORTS TO LATVIAN BANK

PILATUS BANK OF MALTA OFFERED CITIZEN BY INVESTMENT PASSPORTS FROM MALTA TO CLIENTS OF "ABLV BANK" BASED IN LATVIA|

Just when the dust was starting to settle over Malta's Pilatus Bank/Ali Sadr Hasheminejad scandal,  news about the link between Latvia's ABLV Bank and Pilatus, regarding joint money laundering activities, has again focused EU attention upon Malta. To make matters worse, ABLV was actively marketing Malta's CBI passports to its dodgy Azeri and Maltese PEP clients. Latvia is high-risk when its comes to Country Risk; did Malta and Pilatus miss that detail ?

Who was watching the store over in Malta, in its CBI as well as financial regulatory agency ? Or did just too much cash quietly change hands under the table ?

The fact that ABLV blatantly advertised Malta's CBI passport sales program on the bank's website, through its corporate services subsidiary, while engaged in money laundering operations for its clients, including designated State Sponsors of Terrorism, raises the possibility that terrorists, in addition to financial criminals, obtained Maltese CBI passports through ABLV. We are especially concerned about Iranian and North Korean agents inside the Schengen Zone, evading international sanctions.

For those who have opposed the EU's valid objections to ANY Member offering Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passports, we rest our case.

Contributed by Kenneth Rijock - Financial Crime Consultant

Chronicles of Monte Friesner - Financial Crime Analyst

MONTE FRIESNER EXPOSES PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY OFFICIALS EMBEZZLED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM THE PALESTINE PEOPLE TRANSFERRED TO HAMAS IN MALAYSIA TO FUND TERRORIST ACTIVITIES

Reports from Israel confirm that corrupt senior Palestinian Authority officials are moving PA funds to Malaysia, where they are used for Hamas terrorist training there. The money, obviously diverted from Authority accounts, is laundered through Dubai, and thereafter into Malaysia. 

The senior PA leaders named as players in the terrorist financing operation are:

(1) Dr. Mahmoud Al-Habash, the Supreme Sharia Judge of the Palestinian Authority; he also holds the titles of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas Adviser on Religious and Islamic Affairs, and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Sharia Justice. He is said to have formed shell companies for the movement of the proceeds of corruption  out of the West Bank, through Dubai and to Malaysia. His bureau chief is listed as Khaled Barude. Hamash is known to be display a violently anti-American perspective.

MAHMOUD AL - HABASH

(2) The Ambassador of the Palestinian Authority to Malaysia Anwar Al-Agha. His now ex-wife reportedly divorced him when she discovered he was using her as an officer in his shell companies without her knowledge and consent.

ANWAR AL-AGHA

(3) These two conspirators are linked to Hamas member Fatah Al-Nuri, a businessman now living in Algeria, and Yasser Abbas, the son of Mahmoud Abbas; these two individuals are also involved in terrorist financing. Another close associate is the PA Ambassador to the Sudan, Abed Al-FatahAl-Satri.

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, who is known to have close links to Hamas,is presumed to be facilitating Hamas operations, and providing material support to Hamas, which is a global terrorist organization.

We have previously reported on Hamas military training camps in Malaysia; we now know how they are financed. 

Contributed by Kenneth Rijock - Financial Crime Consultant

Chronicles of Monte Friesner - Financial Crime Analyst