Apparently there was an application under this previously unused 1996 law. Where the Trump Administration is headed with this is anybody's guess.
YES, SEALED OF COURSE.
Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Financial Crime
Apparently there was an application under this previously unused 1996 law. Where the Trump Administration is headed with this is anybody's guess.
I correctly predicted that the United States would, if sufficiently threatened by ANTIGUA and DOMINICA's improperly administered Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) programs, block visas for all passport holders from those jurisdictions, not just CBI passports. Given that Prime Minister GASTON BROWNE has very publicly told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, (and the EU), that he will not cancel CIP, I have repeatedly warned that there will be additional measures implemented.
The CBI states of the Eastern Caribbean all have economies focused on the cash flow generated by American tourism; that is an achilles heel, Mister Browne, which you failed to remember, when making your nationalistic public statements. Americans arrive via airlines and cruise ships. We see that JET BLUE, one of the principal American flag airlines serving Antigua, has now abruptly cancelled its scheduled service; alleging restructuring. We wonder, though, whether there was American Governmental pressure behind this corporate move, and whether cruise lines will now also rearrange their ports of call to avoid Antigua?
BTW, Secretary Rubio is now being touted as the frontrunner for Republican candidate as President of the United States. What will he do to get the nomination, we ask?
The Third World Immigration Moratorium Act, which was introduced by Representative Nancy Mace, and is pending before the United States Congress, specifically states that, in the Caribbean, citizens of ANTIGUA, DOMINICA and HAITI are to be permanently blocked from obtaining visas to enter the U.S., except under specific, and very limited and stringent circumstances. This new proposed American legislation, if passed, operates to make the present restrictions against Antigua permanent. The stated reason, that ANTIGUA is a country of Identified Concern, tracks the previous U.S. State Department Policy Statement, that the country's Citizenship by Investment (CIP) represents a National Security threat to the United States.
Ambassador Ronald Sanders has already take steps to thwart the intentions of American legislators, by writing directly to the Members of the US Congress, claiming that official statements concerning Antigua contain factual errors, especially regarding its CIP program. Given the European Union's policy statement against economic passports, and declaring that there will be NO visa free entry to any country that has a Citizenship by Investment, these programs need to be terminated, and all the Gaston Browne-inspired workarounds notwithstanding, by 2028, or else.
As we have repeatedly warned our readers, things are about to get much worse for Antiguans and Dominicans, and they only have their shortsighted leadership, and themselves as voters, to blame. They had years to reform CBI and now it is surely too late.
Remember Saint Lucia attorney and notorious Labour Party bagman THADDEUS M. ANTOINE? We published his photograph, giving out cash on election day, bribing voters to vote Labour. That's Antoine, driving around his staff, who were handing out cash from his truck, thereby committing organized election fraud.
Now, Antoine has been accused of paying bribes each month (USD$15,000), to one specific government officials at the agency that processes CIP passports. Several Citizenship by Investment (CIP) sales agents have complained that they are experienced lengthy delays in the processing of Saint Lucia passport applications. Antoine appears to be the reason; his law firm is receiving passports significantly faster than other consultants, and his competitors are publicly calling for an investigation and greater transparency in the processing of applications, so that all sales agent are treated fairly and consistently.
There are also allegations regarding the conduct of the officer assigned to investigate the matter. It has been alleged that the officer is accepting money or gifts in relation to passport processing while using government resources. These allegations have not been substantiated, and those raising the concerns are calling for an independent and impartial investigation. They are also questioning whether the investigating officer should continue in that role while the allegations are being examined, given that the Ministry of Home Affairs relies on the officer's reports. One officer, identified as Lionel, is allegedly receiving USD$15k a month from attorney Antoine to place his firm's applications ahead of all others.
Whether Antoine is ever charged with all the crimes he is known to have committed in Saint Lucia is extremely doubtful, as he is a faithful member of the Saint Lucia Labour Party and Prime Minister Philip J.Pierre. He should be barred from entering the United States, however, as he allegedly is moving the proceeds of crime into bank accounts in the United States, and facilitating the Labour Party's fraud, money laundering and corruption, and illicit partnership with companies controlled by the People's Republic of China. Additionally, all of Antoine's processed applications generate an illegal kickback to Minister of Investment ERNEST HILAIRE, so he is immune from criminal prosecution in Saint Lucia.
The massive $314m default judgment entered yesterday, in US District Court in Miami, on behalf of three Americans unjustly imprisoned and tortured by the Government of Venezuela, against several defendants, including NICOLAS MADURO MOROS and ALEX NAIN SAAB MORAN, increases the probability that both of these criminal defendants will be forced to cooperate with the Department of Justice. This is bad news for Antigua PM GASTON BROWNE and his ruling Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party government officials, as Moran's criminal profits were laundered through Antigua's financial structure, with the assistance and facilitation of Browne's government.
Using GLOBAL BANK OF COMMERCE, CARIBBEAN UNION BANK, and two of Saab's offshore Antiguan banks, Alex Saab Moran moved and cleaned millions of dollars of Maduro's narcotics profits, and the profits of his "Sun"(Sol) Cartel. This huge civil judgment will only cause additional pressure upon these defendants to seek a settlement that results in a short sentence, followed by transfer to Venezuela. Such an arrangement will require both Maduro and Saab to implicate a broad spectrum of government officials and bankers in Antigua. We wonder whether Gaston Browne is himself considering offering cooperation, to save him from what could be a lengthy or lifetime sentence in an American prison.
In a detailed presentation discussing the challenges facing Grenada in a future without Citizenship by Investment program revenue, Nevis Premier Mark Brantley called for diversification in its economy, notwithstanding what he described as a small national population with insufficient human capital to support economic development. He would best look to his own nation, which with a population of approximately only 13,000, even with that of Federation partner Saint Kitts, still ends up at less than the 60,000 residents he deems necessary for proper expansion of a domestic economy.
Therefore, Nevis, which has like the others only applied CBI funds to covering a substantial part of the island's budget, and did not use it to develop a diversified economy, must now focus on its growing financial sector, especially its offshore banking, to ensure that there will be sufficient funding each year to pay government salaries and necessary expenses. The problem is that the island's troubled financial sector's issues are not being addressed, neither by Brantley, nor by the FSRC, the regulatory agency. Until and unless those important issues are addressed, Nevis' economic future is clouded.
If, as some observers have predicted, the gathering storm over Citizenship by Investment fraud, money laundering and corruption in Saint Kitts results in American criminal indictments of senior Kittitian government officials, clearing the way for Brantley to become Prime Minister of the Federation, but he must first extricate Nevis, and himself personally, from the offshore bank quagmire he faces.
As we have often explained, one of the fastest ways for the United States to signal to a government in the Eastern Caribbean that it policies meet with American disapproval, or worse, are a direct threat, is to start to reduce the country's only lucrative industry, American tourism. The recent Travel Advisory, issued by the U.S. State Department, raising the Threat Level on Saint Lucia to Level 2, "Exercise Increased Caution," may be part of such a plan. Whether Saint Lucia's crime status has justified this increase, or whether this is simply Secretary Rubio wielding a Big Stick, we cannot say, but what if the latter is true?
Are things going to get worse in Saint Lucia? Will cruise ships cancel visits? Will American flag airlines cut back on flights, when reservations drop off? We will be watching for other signs America is moving against the economies of Eastern Caribbean states where corruption and financial crime, supported by government officials, or foreign policy allied with America's autocratic enemies, threatens National Security.
In a curious development originating in the Eastern Caribbean, some senior government officials in Saint Lucia have reached out to American law enforcement, identifying both Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre and leaders in the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLLP) in a major money laundering operation that reportedly employed a CIP and drug trafficking scheme to launder criminal profits to themselves, in cash. These officials are said to possess incriminating evidence in support of their statements.
The stated reason for their proffered cooperation is a genuine concern that they will themselves now be identified as involved in a specific type of despicable criminal conduct, and their strong desire to stop this from being publicly exposed, which would seriously damage their reputations in the community. Knowledge of their commission of heinous crimes would taint and mark them in the small Caribbean island state, whose total population is only 180,000.
The fact that this first-hand information and evidence was offered up at a location outside Saint Lucia speaks volumes regarding their fears that their betrayal will not leak back to their leaders, as political homicide is no stranger to that island state. We decline to name which government agency the individuals who are seeking to parlay their inside information for immunity and anonymity, as they. might then be identified by longtime residents familiar with government staff.
The FTC Act monetary judgment against her, which was affirmed in appeal by the 4th Circuit, has never been paid, even in part, because Ross, who has been reviled in the Internet software industry for more than a decade, evaded justice by skipping out to Nevis, where she keeps close company with a cast of dodgy offshore characters who use the island's abusive tax haven laws to operate a bank which has reportedly been closely linked to the Chinese-owned CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP.
Ross's associates in Nevis include China-born bank investor BENJAMIN WEY, and a local banker, HOWARD A. LEWIS. Both are affiliated with HAMILTON RESERVE BANK, headquartered in Nevis, which should not be confused with other similarly named financial institutions in the United States. The Nevis-based Hamilton Bank has no offices in America; its only other offices are in Kuala Lumpur and Dubai.
The five CBI-issuing states of the East Caribbean, which includes Saint Kitts & Nevis, rarely if ever permit extradition of those individuals who have purchased CBI/CIP passports, so we must assume that any efforts to return Kristi Ross to the United States, to face any pending criminal charges, have been unsuccessful, but justice demands that she make restitution to American consumers for her fraudulent acts. Unfortunately, we cannot rely upon government officials in Nevis, who have allowed and permitted her to remain there on an indefinite basis, to obtain justice for the victims. Ask Nevis Premier MARK BRANTLEY why she is allowed to live there, given the circumstances of her massive consumer fraud.
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| Robert Tonge |
Further to our last on this developing case, kindly note the correct spelling of the defendant is TONGE, and not tongue, and he is known around Dominica as Robbie. He was processed and released, and evidence was taken from his personal automobile.
There is confirmation that the case involves money laundering, through the use of cryptocurrency, for both narcotics trafficking clients, and reportedly some government funds. Other reports say he is wanted in the United States, and was arrested by Dominica Police through a request from US law enforcement, but we do not have independent confirmation on this detail.

"The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank's Monetary Council says the Eastern Caribbean Citizenship by Investment Regulatory Authority (ECCIRA) remains on track to begin operations in September 2026 as the region moves to strengthen oversight of its citizenship by investment programmes."
"The update came in a communiqué issued following the Council's 113th meeting in Dominica on Friday, where finance ministers and premiers from across the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union reviewed progress on regional initiatives."
The targeting of the Nevis Branch of the Federation's FINANCIAL SERVICES REGULATORY COMMISSION, its banking regulator, in the litigation by depositors of Hamilton Reserve Bank, may come as a surprise to many readers, but given the anger of the victims, who are being given weak excuses by the bank for the failure to return their money, it is understandable.
Granted that, under English Common Law, upon with St.Kitts laws are based, recovery of claims against financial institutions through regulators for negligence is rarely granted, but the argument that gross negligence was present, when the FSRC ignored solvency issued at Hamilton, and freely allowed it to continue to advertise for new clients, may prevail. Additionally, evidence surrounding the role that Nevis Premier MARK BRANTLEY played in the approval of the bank's charter could have a material impact upon the decisions in the litigation; there are a number of cases pending in the High Court in Nevis. We will be analyzing both the pending and completed cases in future articles, so that our readers can more fully understand the course of the litigation.
The biggest news out of the US Treasury last week was the imposition of sanctions upon ALI ANSARI, the Dubai-based Iranian bank fraudster and facilitator of global investments for that country's new Supreme Leader MOJTABA KHAMENEI. Ansari, alleged to have pulled millions from a US-sanctioned Iranian bank, AYANDEH BANK, thereby forcing it into insolvency, was reportedly protected from accountability by Khamenei, for whom he covertly placed investments around the globe, using a Nevis-based Saint Kitts corporation first named ZIBA LEISURE LIMIED, and later SMART GLOBAL LIMITED. Ansari allegedly invested huge sums for Khamenei and his family in CYPRUS, UAE, GERMANY, LUXEMBOURG and SPAIN.
Ansari facilitated his activities by using a Saint Kitts & Nevis Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passport, which, for all practical purposes he was completely unqualified to acquired, due to his well-know bank fraudster and Politically Exposed Person (PEP) status. Nevertheless, he employed the SKN passport and Nevis-based shell company to launder sanctioned Iranian capital, and quietly place Khamanei's money abroad, concentrating on properties located in Western democracies. Did Brantley personally facilitate the issuance of the passport to Ansari?
This raises the question: Given Ansari'sclose relationship with Nevis, over an extended period of time, and the fact that Nevis Premier MARK BRANTLEY also hold the portfolio of Minister for Investment that affects not only his future as possible Prime Minister of the Federation, but as a conspirator in any indictment handed down in the United States. We note for those readers who believe that America will not indict a foreign Head of State, remember well that both the leaders of the Republic of Panama and the Turks and Caicos Islands were convicted, and spent time in American. prisons, serving their sentences.
This is the latest installment in our continuing series on Nevis, which has now become the center of attention for American law enforcement, due to the central role it has played in the investments made for the Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, his immediate family, ad other senior leaders within the Iranian Government; Stay tuned.
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| ROBERT TONGUE, accused cryptolaunderer |
The reported arrest yesterday, of ROBERT T.L. TONGUE, a prominent businessman from the Commonwealth of Dominica, who is both a former Senator and ex-Minister of Tourism and Culture (2014-2019), on charges of money laundering, has raised serious concerns on the part of Dominicans; are more arrests forthcoming? Dominicans, who are now fully aware that there are Cooperating Individuals (CIs) in the Caribbean, know to be supplying incriminating evidence against present and former Dominican government officials, from our recent article
COOPERATION INVOLVING CRIMINAL ACTIVITY IN ANTIGUA AND DOMINICA, COMING FROM NEW SOURCES, FURTHER EXPOSES MONEY LAUNDERING OPERATIONS THERE
https://rijock.blogspot.com/2026/07/cooperation-involving-criminal-activity.html
are wondering aloud and on radio broadcasts who will be named next.
Tongue allegedly employed cryptocurrency transactions to transfer funds for criminal elements, and collected what are said to be huge fees for his money laundering services. Research reveals TUNER LIFESTYLE INC. , TONGUE FINANCIAL SERVICES and FREIGHTMASTER as corporate entities Tongue is affiliated with. He also claims to be the Coordinator of the Dominican Government Digital Economy Unit. When additional details about the pending case are available, we shall update our readers accordingly. We are especially interested in Tongue's connection to Dominica's crypto sector, some of which has been linked to organized crime.
Readers who have not read the above-mentioned article are urged to review it, in order to further understand why Dominicans fear additional arrests, coming at a time when the Commonwealth faces visa restrictions from the United States, the imminent loss of its CBI economic passport program, and further American sanctions connected to its secret relationship with Communist China that the United States considers a direct National Security threat.