MEHUL CHOKSI, ANTIGUA'S POSTER BOY FOR CIP CORRUPTION, MOVES EVER CLOSER TO JUSTICE WITH APPEALS COURT NOW ADVISING BELGIAN GOVERNMENT TO EXTRADITE THE $2bn FRAUDSTER TO INDIA

Resignation 1 by ALEX CEPPI www.alexcepppi.com

Time is running out for MEHUL CHOKSI, the Indian diamond dealer who defrauded PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK out of the equivalent of more than two billion dollars, then was protected by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, who sold him a Citizenship by Investment (CIP) passport while under criminal investigation, and thereafter allowed him to artfully delay extradition for several years in the country's corrupt court system, through judicial rulings in his favor alleged to have been secured through the payment of significant bribes.

The case exposed the corrupt role of Prime Minister GASTON BROWNE's Labour government in directly facilitating the denial of justice, which has not gone unnoticed amongst potential foreign investors, who require that the Rule of Law be adhered to in jurisdictions where they consider investing. The Choksi scandal is but the latest example of how the current Labour government has used frequent changes in assigned judges, repeated appearance of new counsel, and the acceptance of frivolous and dilatory appeals to delay justice in extradition cases for as long as a decade, under circumstances that suggest corruption, malfeasance, and undue executive influence over assigned judiciary. The Court of Appeal in Belgium, which denied Choksi's legal efforts against extradition to his native India, to face the music, notified the Interior Ministry of Belgium on April 3, 2026 to process him for extradition, on six charges that include criminal conspiracy, forgery and embezzlement. There are now no legal impediments to his extradition, which is currently projected to occur sometime in May.

WILL THE UNITED STATES RAISE THE TRAVEL ADVISORY ON SAINT LUCIA TO A LEVEL WHICH WILL DISCOURAGE AMERICANS FROM VISITING THE COUNTRY?

The serious concerns that the US Department of State has reportedly had regarding the Eastern Caribbean country of SAINT LUCIA, after a national election seriously flawed by widespread vote buying, and alleged vote tabulation manipulation by government officials, on top of other major reasons, the result of which may manifest itself in a pronounced elevation of the official US DOS Travel Advisory to a level that would, in essence, soundly discourage Americans from leisure travel there. A rumor to that effect has been received.

We have seen punitive measures implemented of late, by the State Department, against other Eastern Caribbean states whose actions the United States Government has found to be contrary to its national security interests, and Saint Lucia's rogue Citizenship by Investment (CIP) has sold passports to a reported tens of thousands of Chinese national, all without being previously qualified through sufficient due diligence investigation in advance, which the U.S. considers a clear and present danger to its security. Additionally, the skyrocketing number of homicides taking place annually in Saint Lucia, attributed to gang violence, the presence of firearms shipped in the U.S, narcotics shipments transiting the island, and cooperation between elected politicians and gangs, all concern American officials, and could easily serve as the excuse for raising the Threat Advisor to Three, which is a recommendation not to travel there. Such an act would have a serious effect, not only on tourist arrivals, hotel stays and extended visits, but it could have the knock-on effect of causing scheduled travels by American flag airlines there, if business drops off significantly in rapid order. Given what has become of late the rather brusque way that the US has conducted international relations with the Eastern Caribbean states that issue economic citizenships & passports, Saint Lucians may indeed be in for a rough ride, and a shock to their tourism-centric economy. While we have no actual confirmation that this is in the cards, the risk that this will occur must be recognized.

ANTIGUA AT THE CROSSROADS

With a snap election having been called by its Prime Minister for the end of the month, Antigua and Barbuda has come to a fork in the road of future economic and political development: it can elect Opposition (UPP) candidates, who have promised to reverse the dependence on China, and strengthen ties with the United States, would result in increased tourism, agriculture and infrastructure construction, meaning more jobs, or it can elect to remain with the existing Labour Party, which means status quo on low standards of living for much of the population, and increased isolation from the US, due to CIP issues, and because of continued alignment with the Peoples' Republic of China.

Antiguans are painfully aware that their PM called the election because he fears serious political and legal clouds on the horizon for their country, due to inevitable additional American measures to rein in the CIP dangers, to uncover corruption problems that impact the United States financial system, as well as issues involving Browne personally. There are external business entities, American as well as expat Antiguan, that have hesitated to bring investment to the two island nation, due to concerns over corruption and threats of governmental interference, but who have promised to bring jobs and new commerce, provided they are comforted by the installation of a new, clean government, without Labour's extensive baggage. The United States also seeks a reformed Citizenship by Investment (CIP) passport sales program, without the specter of corruption, properly and professionally administered, focusing upon improving the lives of Antiguans. A new government could instill American and European confidence in such a program, and make progress in the restoration of the American visa access privileges that Antiguans previously enjoyed.

Clearly, Antiguans have a clear choice to make at election time; partnership with the United States, in mutually beneficial expanded tourism, increased construction and agriculture projects, bringing additional employment, or remaining within China's orbit, insuring future problems with America, and continuing economic doldrums that only benefit the privileged few. Choose well, Antigua & Barbuda.

WHERE DID THAT PHOTO COME FROM?

Someone asked me where the original photograph was taken, by whom and why. Famed Miami portrait photographer Jeffrey Salter took it for an article that appeared in the Times of London, when my autobiography THE LAUNDRY MAN (Penguin Random House UK) was first published.  https://lnkd.in/ekjtqbxN

The location was underneath the Powell Bridge on Miami's Rickenbacker Causeway to Key Biscayne. You can see the Port of Miami in the background; on the far right, the high-rise buildings of South Beach peek out behind the gantry cranes at the port. Whether this isolated spot was the venue for my covert money laundering events during the tumultuous "Miami Vice" period of the 1980s must remain buried forever, I am afraid, especially since the city fathers have chosen to ignore that colorful part of Miami's history, but it has served as a rendezvous for those whose business must remain in the shadows.

AS AMERICA MOVES ITS ATTENTION TOWARDS CUBA, THAT REGIME'S EASTERN CARIBBEAN ALLIES SHOULD BE WORRIED

Resignation 2 by ALEX CEPPI

The President of the United States bluntly used the word "conquest," recently, when referring to his short-term political and military intentions post-Iran War, and given the close relationship that has existed for decades between Communist Cuba and the Eastern Caribbean states, they should be concerned that they face possible sanctions when America targets Cuba for regime change.

Donald Trump, when taking office in January 2025, reinstated Cuba's status as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, and his administration, led by Marco Rubio, the Cuban-American Secretary of State, has openly advocated regime change there. Whether we will see a naval blockade, or even military action, to topple the regime we cannot say, but given the unexpected American attack on Iran, which was a radical departure from decades of American foreign policy, something unusually aggressive could occur, after the Iran situation stabilizes. The terrorist designation can most certainly be used to justify offensive action against Cuba. Given the fact that some of the Eastern Caribbean states have soundly rebuffed America's request that they cancel their use of Cuban doctors and medical services, which the US has shown constitutes human trafficking, and the US also disapproves of the education of Caribbean nationals, including several of its current senior leaders, inside Cuba, given that individuals who have received this training often retain an open political association with the Communist regime after returning home, these can be cited as reasons for American action. All this could serve as a pretext for sanctions, or some other form of punitive actions against the Caribbean states, within an American broad-based campaign against the Cuban government. Given that, due to national security risks caused by the improper issuance of economic passports by several of the EC states, the region is already facing a form of sanctions, the imposition of additional economic, social, and political sanctions against the Eastern Caribbean states, as a component of an American move against Cuba, to further isolate it in the region, and facilitate regime change, is a foreseeable event. The fragile, tourism-centric economies of the Eastern Caribbean states would suffer greatly if the US, whose vacation visitors constitute the vast majority of tourists, and whose airlines and cruise ships keep Caribbean economies more or less afloat, were reined in by the American government. These countries would be well advised to transfer the affiliation of their pro-Cuba leadership to the United States, and break ties to Cuba now, to avoid a possible economic nightmare, caused by their longtime political love affair with a Communist regime in the region.

MALTA'S EMBATTLED PRIME MINISTER CALLS AN EARLY ELECTION, FEARING THAT THE SPECIAL WITNESS TO BE CALLED IN THE DAPHNE ASSASSINATION TRIAL WILL DRIVE LABOUR FROM POWER

Witness 4 by ALEX CEPPI www.alexceppi.com

ROBERT ABELA, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Malta, will reportedly soon call for a national election, one year early, due to his concerns about blistering witness testimony, expected at the upcoming trial of Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination defendant YORGEN FENECH, which could drive the sitting Malta Labour Party for office, if the election were to be held at the normal scheduled date in 2027. An individual scheduled to testify, having first-hand knowledge, who has been dubbed the Special Witness by the media, is expected to implicate a number of senior Labour Party leaders in the fatal terrorist bombing of the country's premier investigative journalist, including Prime Minister JOSEPH MUSCAT, who resigned in disgrace in 2020. We are aware of the identity of the Special Witness, but believe that to disclose that information, ahead of trial testimony, would not be in the best interests of justice, and may violate Maltese law.

Longtime readers of my Malta news coverage know that I have sources within the Labour Party unhappy with Abela's lack of leadership, and his complete lack of decision-making skills. As we have repeatedly reported, he routinely relies upon his father, former Maltese president GEORGE ABELA, with whom he frequently consults with, to make the hard decisions, and who truly runs the show in the OPM.

Our information is that PM ABELA will publicly announce the early election on May 1, during local festivities, with the election date to be set for June 11, due to the five week delay required by the Constitution. Whether JOSEPH MUSCAT will be indicted, as the direct result of the forthcoming testimony of the Special Witness, or instead be forced to flee into exile, with his wife, MICHELLE MUSCAT, we cannot say, but we will be paying close attention to the news of the Fenech trial testimony.

I WILL BE REVIEWING THE NEW BOOK "HOW TO LAUNDER MONEY," BY COTTRELL AND BURKE

 

I have just received my copy and will be reviewing the book for my readers; stay tuned.

THE PILATUS BANK SCANDAL STAINED MALTA'S LAW ENFORCEMENT REPUTATION, AND RAISED SERIOUS QUESTIONS IN THE U.S.A., AFTER A MAJOR CASE WAS DROPPED

Witness2 by AELX CEPPI. www.alexceppi.com

We have written extensively, regarding the scandal involving the Iranian-owned PILATUS BANK, a private bank, political corruption & money laundering scandal in the Republic of Malta. Maltese authorities failed charge any of the major players implicated; Caribbean Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passports, issued by Saint Kitts & Nevis, and the Commonwealth of Dominica, were used by the CEO, HAMIDREZA GHANBARI and owner ALI SADR HASHEMINEJAD, in lieu of their Iranian passports. As time marches on however, the Statute of Limitations looms large over any future criminal prosecution in Malta, and justice will most likely be denied.

While the story is too well known to repeat it here, there is still one pending matter of consequence; ALPENA LTD., Pilatus Bank's purported parent entity, sued the Republic of Malta in 2021, through the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).  That case, filed after the bank's license was revoked, and its fund frozen, remains pending after five years.

One other loose end: the criminal case against Hasheminejad in the United States was dismissed, even after a conviction was secured, ostensibly because the US Attorney's Office (SDNY) failed to disclose certain discovery favorable to the defense, which constituted a Brady violation (Brady vs. Maryland). I still have questions, regarding whether there was another, darker, reason the case was dismissed. Did the defendant evade justice, because he provided critical information, to our intelligence services, and why is he still living in the United States? Readers who are not familiar with this aspect should review my article, DOJ REPORT REQUIRED IN THE ALI SADR CASE REGARDING BRADY ISSUES IS RELEASED https://lnkd.in/egzitYrS

Perhaps the current war in Iran might cause a reexamination of the Pilatus Bank case; justice will be denied if it is swept under the rug.

WHY THE USE OF ADVANCED MONEY LAUNDERING TECHNIQUES IS SUCCESSFUL MORE OFTEN THAN NOT

                    

There's a reason why the vast majority of money laundering activities are rarely, if ever, uncovered and discovered by bank compliance departments while in progress; Laundrymen, who know well the personal cost of failure (remember who their clients are; drug traffickers, etc.) employ what can only be described as advanced techniques, tradecraft that is on a level above what most compliance officers can recognize and suppress. They know that the garden-variety methods are not only well known to the compliance world, there are software programs specifically designed to ferret out such pedestrian techniques.

However, if they are anything, money launderers are all about innovation, to overcome whatever hurdles compliance trainings programs, and the software platforms they rely upon, can throw up against them.  They instinctively know to abandon tried-and-true mainstream conventional methods, which may have been successful in the past, but are now being regularly spotted during Transaction Monitoring.

So what do they do? To survive, and thrive, they step up their game to advanced money laundering methods, which either employ obscure tradecraft, or generally unknown as vehicles for cleaning the proceeds of crime, or actually feature something involving information that compliance officers cannot normally access.   

Some advanced techniques are not so mysterious; they are just artful permutations of something ordinary, but which have been rendered into new iterations not easily understood as money laundering typologies. For example, most compliance officers are familiar with typical trade-based money laundering methods, whereby the proceeds of crime are folded into legitimate international trade payments, in order to move the abroad, when payment is needed from North American sales of narcotics. TBML generally features a wide variety of trick used to push narco-profits into Latin America and the tax havens of the world. That's a prime example of traditional money laundering, allowing laundrymen to repatriate drug sales profits back to kingpins and traffickers, usually with a large degree of success, although there have been a number of interdictions, as the techniques are not a deep and dark secret.

Remember how we stated that some advanced techniques are nothing more than opaque improvements upon generic methods? Some laundrymen, who are charged solely with the Integration aspect of their illicit profession, take TBML and turn it inside out. Instead of using the technique to export funds with impunity, they set up pairs of bogus international manufacturing facilities, one onshore and one offshore. Their team creates plausible transactions showing exports of hi tec products, such as computer chips, the value of which cannot be ascertained unless they were actually examined by industry experts, using wildly inflated pricing showing them to be high-value products. They export these goods abroad, all properly documented and invoiced, although they are close to worthless in truth and in fact.

This ficticious cover allows them to bill their overseas "partner," who remits large sums to a company in the Continental United States. These payments, which compliance has no reason to suspect, are entered by the company, for accounting purposes, as net profits, and income taxes are duly paid. The amount that remains is the invested in purchasing that office building in a major American city or a fully leased shopping center in suburbia located on the East Coast. 

The entire transaction appears to be nothing more than a domestic US company diversifying itself with its lucrative corporate profits through a building purchase. Only if there was a mole planted inside the bogis manufacturing or export process would the entire scheme be exposed, and that's outside the scope of the compliance department at the bank for the corporation. The building is subsequently sold for a significant profit, and reinvested elsewhere in the legitimate economy.  My former  trafficking clients were involved in shopping center purchases in Canada, if you want a real example of this technique.

That is just one example of creative advanced money laundering; there many more. These techniques all need to see the light of day; for further information: miamicompliance@gmail.com.

  

 

A MIAMI MONEY LAUNDERING LANDMARK MAKES WAY FOR PROGRESS

Witness 4 by ALEX CEPPI

                                    

We note that the Denny's Restaurant, on Miami's Biscayne Boulevard at 36th Street, has been sold for $24m, and the site will become yet another new Miami high-rise building. The land, adjacent to the city's expanding pricey Design District, had become just too valuable to continue as merely a 24-hour eatery. Back in the day, this Denny's was a central part of the 1980s Miami Vice era; cocaine dealers would consummate sales late at night over coffee; drug shipments would be left in vans in the parking lot, with the keys turned over when the cash was produced, and the members of the "white powder bar," criminal defense attorneys who handled major narcotics cases, would meet with prospective clients, to arrange representation. Law enforcement agencies always gave the place their focused attention for these reasons. The place was also a prime spot for bulk cash to be delivered, having come in from other cities in America, the proceeds of drug sales in a period of major consumption during our national love affair with cocaine. The restaurant's location near the principal freeways in Miami, and its late night accessibility, made it a perfect venue to transfer cash to the Miami crew of money launderers. who would either move the funds directly into Caribbean offshore banks, as I did, sending some of it south, to sunny Latin American Cartels as payment, or clean them locally, and then make direct investments in the United States. As the city fathers prefer that this dark chapter in the economic life of Miami remain buried, these details won't appear on any historic building marker at the site, but we old Miami former laundrymen remember it somewhat fondly, as time moves on, and the scene changes once again, for progress.

GIVEN THAT CHINA PROHIBITS DUAL CITIZENSHIP, SHOULD COMPLIANCE OFFICERS CONSIDER CARIBBEAN CBI PASSPORTS HELD BY CHINESE NATIONALS VOID AB INITIO FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES?

Chismosa by ALEX CEPPI

The Nationality Law of the Peoples' Republic of China (https://lnkd.in/en7tr_MJ ) clearly states, at Article 3: The People's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national." Given that the Citizenship by Investment (CBI & CIP) programs of SAINT KITTS & NEVIS, SAINT LUCIA and GRENADA have issued tens of thousands of economic passports to Chinese nationals, the matter of the validity of those identity documents, for compliance purposes at account opening, or for any other transactional purpose, continues to be of concern. Is this a disqualifying factor?

We bring this up, because it is a known fact that the due diligence firm used by the firm CARIBBEAN GALAXY REAL ESTATE LIMITED to approve Chinese applicants for Caribbean CBI passports was owned by a senior officer employed by Galaxy, and is suspected for failing to conduct any effective inquiry whatsoever, in addition to being a clear conflict of interest. Does the fact that the Chinese holder of a CBI economic passport violated the laws of China, by using it as identification, and failing to properly renounce his Chinese nationality, make these individuals an unacceptable high risk, as part of a risk-based AML compliance program, when taking these two issues together?

Furthermore, what is the legal status of these CBI passports, held by Chinese nationals, for law enforcement purposes? Should they be declined when presented for visa applications, for visa-free use at international ports of entry, for work or study applications, or for any other purpose? They have been used to gain entry into the United States, and the holders then went on to commit financial crimes. Should they no longer be considered valid?

Until and unless these issue are resolved, compliance officers charged with administering their AML/CFT programs are well advised to consider rejecting, as identification, any and all CBI passports presented abroad by Chinese nationals, lest a court of competent jurisdiction subsequently decree that such passports are voidable, or invalid, as a prudent risk management decision.

MALTA'S PRIME MINISTER ENDS PUBLIC FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE FOR HIS CABINET AND THEIR SPOUSES

Witness 2 by ALEX CEPPI

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Malta, ROBERT ABELA, has unilaterally terminated the traditional annual individual financial asset declaration reporting, of Ministers and their wives, in the Maltese Cabinet, which were previously submitted to the Speaker of the country's Parliament, and therefore publicly accessible.

The Standards Commissioner, JOSEPH AZZOPARDI, had inquired of the Prime Minister, regarding the failure of the Cabinet to submit Declarations for 2024 and 2025 in January, and was subsequently informed that a single statement, to the effect that all Members of Parliament were in compliance, would be submitted. In essence, this means that there is no public reporting by sitting Cabinet Ministers. It also results in a complete lack of disclosure, by the spouses of the Ministers, of their income, financial investments and bank accounts. Given Malta's reputation amongst the Members of the European Union as its most corrupt government (the prior PM, JOSEPH MUSCAT, actually was named the most corrupt EU leader), compliance officers should govern themselves accordingly, regarding Source of Funds and Source of Wealth of Maltese Ministers, and their immediate families, all of whom should be regarded as Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) in any risk-based compliance program.

IS THERE A HIDDEN REASON WHY ANTIGUA'S PM GASTON BROWNE HAS CALLED A SNAP ELECTION?

If you are following unfolding events in Venezuela of late, you know that the Caribbean's most notorious money launderer, the Colombian ALEX NAIN SAAB MORAN, been in the news, due to several stories about his detention, under austere conditions by the country's premier intelligence service, and his reported imminent extradition to face the music, again, in the United States. Old Caribbean hands are aware of Saab's prior relationship with Antigua's dodgy Prime Minister, GASTON BROWNE, who appointed him Economic Envoy, know about the two offshore banks Saab owned in Antigua, and his extensive dealings with the former insolvent GLOBAL BANK OF COMMERCE. If Saab, who has a history of being an artful negotiator, finds himself in a Miami Federal courtroom, and looking at Life Imprisonment Without the Possibility of Parole, (as the U.S. has abolished it), most observers believe he will throw PM Browne, and a number of his senior officials under the proverbial bus, if push comes to shove. Would that be one of the reasons why Browne is now being so hasty in seeking a Snap Election, the other being he fears that even more restrictions are in store for Antigua, courtesy U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Is Browne nervously trying to insure that he remains in office, and seemingly immune from imminent indictment by the US Attorney in the Southern District of Florida, as a sitting national leader, due to a well-placed fear of what Alex Saab might choose to deliver, regarding evidence of money laundering, fraud and corruption, on a grand scale? The clock is ticking.

HOW CONSUMERS CAN REDUCE RISK IN THE ACQUISITION OF ECONOMIC CITIZENSHIPS & PASSPORTS

Elementary by ALEX CEPPI

As a wise businessman in Miami once said, " an Educated Consumer is the Best Customer." More often than not, we see that High Net Worth Individuals (HNI) often fail to retain the services of a competent attorney, experienced in the investment migration, or economic citizenship, field, when shopping for a second passport. These are individuals who would not ever fail to secure legal counsel, in real estate transaction, or the acquisition of a going business, but for some reason, they neglect this important step on reducing risk with such a major purchase. Who is reviewing the contact for purchase, if there's no lawyer? I do recommend that they find a lawyer who knows his way around the economic passport industry, for these important reasons: (1) Due Diligence on your passport sales agent: have you chosen a company, or individual, with a record of assisting customers, not only pre-closing, but in the future if and as necessary, and who will steer you away from problem jurisdictions. (2) Letter of Opinion from a local lawyer admitted to practice in that passport's jurisdiction, so you are aware of the terms of revocation, or cancellation, and under what conditions, so there no surprises down the road. (3) Responding to any possible documentary requests of the agency that approves and issues the citizenship and passport. You may not be familiar with obtaining documents properly authenticated. (4) Reacting to any post-closing issues that may require litigation: What if your passport is cancelled, or some other issues arise? You need counsel on a continuing basis, in my humble opinion. In short, having competent legal counsel ( and NOT your business lawyer) who knows the subject, may save you from some real problems in the future.

TODAY IS ALSO NATIONAL GOLD STAR SPOUSE DAY IN THE UNITED STATES, WHEN WE HONOR THOSE WHO CARRY ON AFTER THEIR FALLEN HEROES

If you are old enough to have lost friends in wartime, you know that their young spouses are left behind, who must carry on to raise their families, under sometimes difficult circumstances. Today happens to be national Gold Star Spouse Day in America, where we honor those men and women, and draw attention to their sacrifice. This is especially relevant today, after we have seen American aircrews shot down over Iran rescued and returned safe. Let us today remember the spouses of our fallen military, whose husbands and wives bear the burden of loss.