OPPOSITION IN SAINT VINCENT & THE GRENADINES FAVORS ESTABLISHING A CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT PROGRAM IF ELECTED IN 2025; IS THAT WISE?

Although it is a full year until national elections in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the country's Opposition leaders are making the establishment of Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) passport sales programs the centerpiece of their election campaign. As the current SVG government, most notably its Prime Minister, has been vehemently against such a scheme, the response of the people to that issue will most likely generate the outcome of the next election in November 2025.

While the Opposition has extensively detailed the protective measures that it intends to install in such a program, should it be victorious, the fact that each and every one of the five East Caribbean states that offer such schemes have suffered from systemic corruption, unhealthy dependence upon the fees generated, their inability to control sales agents abroad, the granting of passports to unsuitable ( e.g. criminal) applicants, and many more political, social and economic problems than can be summarized here. The country's PM is a wise man; he has seen how lucrative CBI programs elsewhere have the propensity to corrupt government at its very core, and encourage dangerous foreign actors. The MSR Media RICO lawsuit is only one example of what can, and will, go wrong, with two programs that have been infected with greed and corruption (St. Kitts and St. Lucia), and refuse to engage in meaningful reform.

We humbly suggest that the voters of Saint Vincent choose wisdom over abject greed and promises of billions of dollars in potential revenue to their government. There are, at present, no clean programs, and unless that actually happens, they should not join the chaos, please. Of course, given the rapid movement in the East Caribbean this year to expose the rampant corruption, the situation a year hence may be radically different than it is today. Will some EC programs be terminated? Will others then be reformed, after bad actors are indicted? The future of CBI is not by any means assured; let Saint Vincent wait and see what happens in 2025.

CONVICTED FORMER BVI PREMIER ANDREW FAHIE'S APPELLATE ATTORNEY RESIGNS, COURT APPOINTS NEW COUNSEL

Appellate attorney Richard Della Fera, who assisted convicted former British Virgin Islands Premier ANDREW FAHIE, with sentencing, including travel to Tortola, BVI to obtain character references, and who later appeared in support of his client at his sentencing, has withdrawn from Fahie's appeal to the Eleventh Circuit. The stated reason was Fahie's inability to pay his fee, which might indicate that the former leader's broad BVI community support quickly evaporated after a jury found him guilty on multiple accounts. The BOP website has estimated his release date as July 24, 2033, just sort of a decade that he will be spending in Federal Prison, on money laundering and cocaine trafficking charges. More than two years ago, Fahie pledged to clean up the Caribbean archipelago’s reputation as a tax haven, by making its opaque corporate records public. He was sentenced to 135 months of incarceration for his crimes.

The Court has appointed an attorney to represent him, meaning that the United States will now be paying for his future legal representation. Fahie's arrest and conviction is known to have had a major impact upon senior government leaders in the Caribbean, who had previously thought that they were immune from being charged with corruption in the United States, due to international political considerations. The sting conducted upon Fahie has made many Caribbean leaders uneasy, and some are afraid to conduct their usual "Quid pro Quo" borderline business dealings, for fear that they will be next in the dock in a Miami courtroom. Only time will tell if they have reason to fear new threats from their Northern neighbor.

CHART OF HAMAS-AFFILIATES IN EUROPE BY ELNET

ELNET is the European leadership network . https://elnetwork.eu

TERRORIST FINANCING IN LEBANON UNDER SIEGE

Global media covering the war between Hezbollah and Israel is focusing mainly on the military aspects of the conflict, while those of us in the world of AML/CFT compliance are seeing little or no coverage of the financial side of the situation. Given that one of the participants is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organization (SDGT), we are required to have all the information available at our disposal, to discharge our responsibilities, which has become difficult, in what has become more or less a major gap in information from Lebanon. I assume that reporting these facts is not something that the Government of Lebanon wants to become widely known; their prized banking sector, already in dire straits, could implode, losing whatever luster it still has left.

I accurately predicted, back in 2016, that the next Lebanon War involving the 2006 adversaries would directly impact the country's valuable financial sector. The reports which have emerged paint a bleak picture:

(1) Israel has attacked the branches of the principal (US sanctioned) Lebanese bank that directly services Hezbollah, effectively stopping salary payments to rank-and-file street level terrorists.

(2) Many of the owners of the principal Lebanese banks that indirectly provided financial support to Hezbollah have fled the country, fearing that they would be themselves targeted by Israel, and/or be pressured to assist a Hezbollah in desperate need of cash, now that Al-Qard al-Hasan (AQAH), is not operating. Remember that HAMAS looted the Gaza banks when israel invaded that Territory.

(3) There are reports that Israel has warned Lebanon that any aircraft suspected of engaging in bulk cash smuggling operations, and flying into Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport from Iran, will not be permitted to land, and will be attacked.

(4) There is a complete and total lack of information regarding which Beirut banks still remain open, due to the attacks launched by Israel into the capital's downtown area. Whether Hezbollah has physically co-opted any financial institutions is unknown, but prudent risk management requires that we assume the worst; take all funds transfer instructions from Lebanon as suspect, and possibly made under duress.

When more relevant information becomes available, we shall update our readers forthwith.

INDICTMENTS OF CORRUPT ANTIGUAN LEADERS IN REVIVAL OF AIR PEACE MONEY LAUNDERING CASE IN THE UNITED STATES APPEAR TO BE IMMINENT AFTER SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT FILED IN ATLANTA

PM Gaston Browne

While legal observers wait to see which former, or even current, senior government officials in Saint Kitts, and in Saint Lucia, end up being indicted in the United States for their role in the fraud, money laundering and corruption scandal involving Citizenship by Investment passport sales, it looks like other East Caribbean leaders may very well end up in the dock in an American courtroom first. Remember the 2019 Money laundering case against AIR PEACE CEO ALLEN ONYEMA, who was charged with laundering tens of millions of dollars into the US, employing a bogus airliner Letter of Credit purchasing scheme? There have been major new developments in Atlanta in that $20m money laundering and bank fraud case.

The US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia has just filed a Superseding indictment against Onyema and one other defendant, on greatly expanded charges, and all indications are that there will be defendants named in another criminal matter, due to Onyema's alleged close relationship to Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne and his Cabinet, a number of who are allegedly also implicated in major financial crimes. The role of Onyema in the rebirth of the troubled regional airline LIAT has potential implications not only Antigua's leaders, but certain other bad actors in positions of government in a number of the other East Caribbean states, who might also be named.

We wonder how many Caribbean leaders are having trouble sleeping this week?

CHINESE CENSORS BLOCKED PUBLICATION OF "THE LAUNDRY MAN" BUT YOU CAN STILL FIND A WAY TO READ IT, GENTLEMEN

When my autobiography "The Laundry Man" was first published in the UK, there were efforts made to make it available around the globe, so that compliance officers could take a unique look deep inside the dark and dangerous world of the career money launderer. As you may know, it is widely available in several European languages, through local publishers, but the Peoples' Republic of China's censors refused to allow it to be printed there in Simplified Chinese.

I am bringing this up in 2024, because there is now widespread interest in my story inside China, most likely due to my continuing coverage of the CBI/CIP scandals in the East Caribbean, and the MSR Media RICO lawsuit, which have focused attention on CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP and HENG SHENG DEVELOPMENT, two Chinese companies alleged to have been involved in a multi-billion dollar fraud in the Caribbean.

Not a problem; the Chinese language edition has long been available in electronic format, notwithstanding PRC efforts to keep it out of Mainland China and of course, there is always the English-language version. Those of you in Hong Kong and Chongqing, please take note.

CRUCIAL EVIDENCE OF FRAUD AND MONEY LAUNDERING IN SAINT LUCIA'S CIP PROGRAM SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE NEXT WEEK

Readers who have been following the unfolding developments in the Saint Lucia Citizenship by Investment (CIP) passport sales scandal, can take advantage of advance warning that crucial damaging evidence of fraud and money laundering in that program is scheduled to be disclosed next week on DBS Saint Lucia Television, during Lissa Joseph's upcoming weekly interview program..That evidence is also scheduled to be delivered to the European Union and the United States Treasury. Damning incriminating information, implicating CIU head McClaude Emmanuel, Deputy PM Ernest Hilaire, and Prime Minister Philip Pierre, is to be presented at her interview program. A senior government minister has contributed and provided significant information about the PM, DPM Hilaire and CIU leader Emmanuel. We note that CIU insiders also provided information about the misconduct of these named senior SLC government leaders.

 A substantial amount of this important information will corroborate the fact that McClaude, Hilaire and even Prime Minister Pierre, had full knowledge of, and participated in, the fraudulent conduct wherein illegally-discounted citizenships were offered, sold, processed and issued, complete with passports.

PM Pierre openly admitted that he will continue to support both Caribbean Galaxy and Bemax, and stated that he intends to protect the actions of Deputy PM Hilaire, who leads the CIU, and allows the agency to process and approve the illegal applications. He has full knowledge of the situation. The Prime Minister is saying that so long at the Government gets government fees, he will ignore the fact that Galaxy is receiving passport sales funds outside the country, effectively breaking the requirements of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) that he signed. So long as the Government gets its $20,000 fee, he ignores the fact that Galaxy sells under the legal price of $200,000, as specified in the Memorandum of Agreement, with the other Caribbean nations. The senior minister who has supplied substantial information, and who has confirmed that the PM tacitly supports the illegal passport sales operation,  has stated that he is shocked by his conduct; the Cabinet is reportedly seeking to learn his identity.

 The Prime Minister has a sworn fiduciary duty to his constituents. His refusal to protect the integrity of the banking system will be fully exposed next week. A senior minister has confirmed that the general policy of the Pierre Administration is to get cash quickly, and that it doesn't matter if the CIP program, crashes later. The release of this evidence will create a shakeup in the country's financial system next weekend, including in the Cabinet, and at the Bank of Saint Lucia,  eventually crashing the CIP and exposing the role of the bank in the Chinese money laundering scandal. BOSL's correspondent bank, TD Bank, was recently sanctioned and heavily fined by regulators

A final note: today on Spin News, Rick Wayne, Saint Lucia's most prominent journalist,  warned that he already had access to key information that will have a devastating effect, when released next week. 

WILL NEW EUROPEAN BORDER POLICE NOW SNARE CHINESE MONEY LAUNDERERS HOLDING ST. KITTS & ST. LUCIA CBI PASSPORTS, TOTALLY BY ACCIDENT?

Several EU members states have hurriedly instituted internal border checks at their national frontiers this year, with their adjacent Schengen Zone neighbors, due primarily to domestic political pressure.They are seeking to control illegal immigration, the arrival of Islamic terrorists, transnational organized crime, increased risks due to wars in the Ukraine and the Middle East, and other emerging threats to domestic stability. Temporary measures are authorized, for national security reasons, as exceptions to the Schengen Agreement. Germany and seven other Schengen signatories are currently operating border controls.

Given that a significant number of arrests have been made, in the United States and elsewhere, of Chinese money launderers, financial criminals, and suspected intelligence agents and industrial spies, all holding Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) passports issued by East Caribbean states, especially Saint Kitts & Nevis, and Saint Lucia, sold at illegal discounts by two Chinese companies, you must assume that a number of these career criminals have used these identity documents to enter the EU, visa-free, and are currently working inside Europe.

When they cross national borders within the Schengen Zone, they will now find themselves subject to border checks, Remember, many of them are not fluent in English, which will raise suspicions among the border police. What about that load of dirty cash or suspicious financial instruments concealed in their automobile? If they are barred from entry, border guards noting that they have just been refused admission next door, and are being returned, may choose to detain them and their transport. You can venture a guess about what will eventually happen.

Whether the Schengen Agreement is itself in jeopardy in the Europe has been a matter of debate in recent months. Should it be abolished, Money laundering through the smuggling of bulk cash or financial instruments will become more difficult, as well as dangerous, as I can testify to from personal experience during the pre-Schengen period, but that's a discussion to be had if and only if Europe decides to turn turn the clock back, for national security reasons. Right now, I am looking to see just how many Chinese money launderers are caught in the act, at some obscure border, where they least expected it to happen.

THE EUROPEAN UNION CONSIDERS TERMINATING VISA-FREE SCHENGEN ACCESS FOR ALL FIVE EAST CARIBBEAN CBI/CIP STATES, AFTER SEEING REPEATED CHINA MONEY LAUNDERING SCANDALS IN 2024

Regulators in the United States may be pointedly ignoring the money laundering, fraud and corruption scandals publicly exposed by the filing of the MSR Media RICO case in Federal Court in Florida, but across the Pond, in the European Union, they are not only paying close attention, but they are actively pondering whether to terminate the visa-free access to the Schengen Zone currently enjoyed by St. Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia and Grenada, all of which offer Citizenship by Investment programs. 

We have observed a significant expansion of the EU's monitoring of the unfolding CBI/CIP scandal, which originated in St. Kitts and St. Lucia, and has now further spread to Dominica and the remaining EC states, involving the illegally-discounted sale of passports by two Chinese companies, the CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP and HENG SHENG DEVELOPMENT, and the diversion of billions of dollars from CBI sales to Mainland China, funds which by law were required to be delivered to the treasuries of the countries sponsoring the passport sales program. An additional scandal, involving an Eastern European criminal enterprise known as BEMAX, linked to Saint Lucia, has caused further concern bordering on alarm.  

Readers who are following the EU's present court action, seeking to cancel the CBI program of the sole remaining Member state that has such a program, Malta, know that the European Commission position is that applicants for passport sales programs must have a direct connection to their adopted jurisdiction, and they cannot represent a national security threat to the EU. The thousands of sales of Chinese nationals, who neither speak English, nor ever settle or even visit their new Caribbean home. Add to the problem the number of Chinese CBI passport holders found to have been engaged in global criminal activity, it is not difficult to understand the growing EU concerns, and the likely response. Those concerns have been confirmed by multiple reliable sources in Europe.

The complete lack of any significant corrective action by either Saint Kitts or Saint Lucia governments, to respond to an out-of-control situation through reform, which is contributing to the problem, may very well have hastened an EU decision to end Schengen access to those EC passport-selling states, such as the UK did last year for Dominica. Many observers believe that there will be a decision by the European Union sooner, rather than later; we will be watching.

WILL MALTA'S TERRORIST FINANCING OF HAMAS THROUGH BITCOIN NOW BE EXPOSED, AND WILL THERE BE ARRESTS IN VALLETTA?

If you are a regular reader of my articles, you may recall my 2021 article,MALTA'S MONEY LAUNDERING PILATUS BANK WAS SENDING BITCOIN TO HAMAS IN THE MIDDLE EAST, in which I discussed an organized terrorist financing operation, after Hamas publicly solicited Bitcoin, after traditional avenues for funding were blocked. Although there has been little information released by the Israel Defense Forces, we know it has seized a huge amount of Hamas' financial records.

The question becomes whether sufficient details regarding the reportedly massive amounts of cyber currency transferred from Malta to Hamas will become public knowledge after the Gaza War ends, and whether Maltese prosecutors have the political will to charge the bad actors involved? While we have regrettably accepted that the directors of Pilatus Bank will never be charged with money laundering, is their terrorist financing activity so damn egregious that Malta's current Attorney General (or the next one) has no choice but to indict? This will provide a golden opportunity for the EU to see whether the Republic of Malta actually follows the Rule of Law, or is merely a criminal organization, masquerading as a Member state of the EU.

Here is the original 2021 article mentioned above:

The Attorney General: The current Malta Attorney General is Dr Victoria Buttigieg B.A.,