CAYMAN REGULATOR REPEATEDLY FAILS TO ASSIST VICTIMS OF FRAUD

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, known as CIMA, has repeatedly failed to stop financial fraud occurring within its jurisdiction, and has not assisted victims to recover assets that have been stolen from them by Cayman-based financial fraudsters. Complaints of losses, due to fraud in the Caymans, have flooded into the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in Canada.

Cayman financial professionals advise that there are at least a dozen open and pending investigations, into major frauds, at CIMA, and not one has reportedly resulted in a criminal referral to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service. Some of these investigations have been open for a number of years A search of recent Cayman news articles has failed to turn up a single case of money laundering, prosecuted in Grand Cayman; the only convictions I found, of several Cayman fraudsters, were obtained in United States courts, by American Federal prosecutors. All the others have never been charged, and many still pose a clear and present danger to the investing public, due to what can only be described as regulatory malpractice.

More recently, CIMA was informed six months ago, of the massive $450m trading scheme at B & C Capital, Ltd., a Cayman shell company that illegally held itself out, in writing, to be a financial institution, yet the agency has never shut down the company, or even called in its officers and agents for interviews. It has totally ignored the most prominent Cayman financial fraud to hit the island in many years, eliminating all hope that the sixty Canadian & American retirees, whose money is missing, will ever be able to achieve a recovery of even a small portion of their life savings. The fraudsters, known as the Cayman Gang of Four, appear to have evaded justice, and many victims are demanding answers from CIMA.

When a regulatory agency, located in the British Overseas Territories, fails to properly discharge its obligations and duties, with the result being widespread damage and loss, the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, which has jurisdiction and oversight, can enter, and take over administration of the agency, to properly carry out the mission of the agency. We saw the UK take over in the Turks & Caicos, when corruption required strong action, and in the case of CIMA, many who have observed its chronic, dysfunctional operation, are calling for it to hereafter managed by the United Kingdom.

Ms. Cindy Scotland, Managing Director, CIMA