Tuesday, July 14, 2015

DODGY NEW MANAGER OF CAYMAN INVESTMENT COMPANY MISLEADS INVESTORS SEEKING WITHDRAWALS


If you were disturbed by our earlier article*, about the fugitive Canadian financier, Ryan Bateman, who fled not only pending criminal charges in the Cayman Islands, but was under investigation by government regulators, it gets worse. Replacing Bateman at the helm of the (unlicensed) B & C Capital Ltd., is Fernando Moto Mendes, whose sordid record on Grand Cayman should have disqualified him from that position, and Mendes has started right off, by misleading foreign clients who have sought to withdraw portions of their holdings.

Mendes has a "colorful" history, in his residence in the Cayman Islands:

(1) In 2010, he failed to pay large debts when due,  which is the textbook definition of insolvency, and a final judgment for USD$ 513,638.78 was entered,  after which the judgment creditors took him into involuntary bankruptcy, in the Financial Services Division of the Grand Court. The Court heard his case in 2011, and he, and his counsel delayed the proceedings a number of times, claiming that payment of the debit was imminent, but no proof was offered for the truth of his assertion.**.

(2) In 2011, Mendes was arrested, and charged with Theft, Attempted Theft, False Accounting, and the Making of a False Statement by a Company Director, in the Finab Ltd. case. Mendes had been the Managing Director of Finab. At his 2014 trial, the Court found that the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service had failed to obtain and retain material evidence, which made it impossible for the defendant to have a fair trial, and stayed the proceedings, discharging Mendes. Rumors swirled around Grand Cayman that an illegal payment had been made to certain police officers, which resulted in their failure to secure vital evidence.

Canadian investors seeking, at this time, to withdraw portions of the assets placed with B & C have been told, by Mendes, that there will have to be certain funds withheld, for Canadian taxation. The truth is that there is no withholding agreement, nor any reciprocal tax agreement, between Cayman & Canada. Given that Bateman is said to have co-mingled investor money with his own, and that some  money may be missing, whether lost, due to Bateman's negligence, or stolen by him, it is likely that B & C, which was recommended by prominent Canadian law firms, does not have the investors' funds.

Is Fernando Mendes a part of Bateman's illegal actions ? In any event, why is he lying about the withholding to clients ? Where is the investors' money, and how did Mendes ever get the position he holds at B & C Capital, with his record ?
_____________________________________________________________________
*Alert for fugitive fraudster from Cayman company hiding out in Miami
**In the Matter of Fernando Mendes, Debtor, Case No.: FRD 243 of 2010; available on the Internet.

1 comment:

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.