SURVEILLANCE CAPTURES FORMER SAINT KITTS PRIME MINISTER TIMOTHY HARRIS ACCEPTING CASH PAYOFF FROM HIS CHINESE MASTERS IN PUBLIC IN SAINT LUCIA

The arrogance of the central figures in the USD$2.5bn dollar Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) fraud, money laundering and corruption scandal on Saint Kitts and Nevis apparently knows no bounds. Here's former Saint Kitts & Nevis Prime Minister TIMOTHY HARRIS, accepting a cash kickback in public, all caught on a surveillance video after he arrived in Saint Lucia, on a flight from Saint Kitts. He was met and greeted at the airport by a representative of CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP, and immediately handed a briefcase. The contents of that briefcase I choose not to disclose in this article, but I am sure that our readers have a pretty good idea, given the allegations of corruptions made against Harris.

Harris' then departed with his Galaxy escort; according to Saint Lucia government records, they departed in a vehicle owned by CARIBBEAN GALAXY REAL ESTATE LTD. Given that Harris had a local banking destination on his schedule yesterday, remember that all deposits of US Dollars must transit the American financial structure when being wired abroad, irrespective of their final destination. When the proceeds of crime are sent to a correspondent account in the United States, not only does a violation of the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986 occurs,regarding Mr. Harris, but the American bank also incurs liability.

For those who wonder how we were able to obtain this illicit exchange from yesterday, when law enforcement typically never allows their surveillance of targets of a criminal investigation to be released until the trial, law enforcement is not the only party having Mr. Harris under constant surveillance. We obtained the tape from our own source, and it is damning. The world is watching, Mr. Harris; we trust that you have engaged a competent criminal defense attorney in the United States. You will probably need one, sooner rather than later.

POLITICAL OPERATIVE HARTLEY HENRY'S ROLE IN AN INCOMPLETE AND ABANDONED CHINESE PROJECT IN BARBADOS WHERE MILLIONS DISAPPEARED

In a recent article, we detailed the close relationship between Barbados political consultant HARTLEY HENRY and the Chinese company CARIBBEAN GALAXY, and took you through how he provided campaign funding for Galaxy to politicians in St.Kitts and in Saint Lucia, in exchange for Galaxy receiving a virtual monopoly on lucrative Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) programs in both countries. THE MAN BEHIND CHINA'S PLAN TO DOMINATE EAST CARIBBEAN POLITICS AND CREATE A SPHERE OF INFLUENCE FOR THE PRC

Now, let's look at what Henry did in his native Barbados. After Hurricane Elsa in 2021, the Barbados government announced plans to construct 150 climate-resilient steel single-family residences. Henry introduced a Chinese company to handle the project, securing an initial contract of USD$23.64m. The cost later was increased to $52.72m, without any clear explanation. Then, the Chinese company abandoned the project altogether, without completing it, and disappeared with the construction funds. Henry's relationship with Barbados PM MIA MOTTLEY, to whom he was acting as political advisor, deteriorated when it was revealed that he had reportedly received substantial commissions from the Chinese company for securing the contract.

An inquiry into his finances failed to find any evidence of corruption in his local bank accounts, but the government later learned from a Chinese company insider that Henry had received funds into his Miami bank accounts, and that there were other transactions made with BITCOIN. Henry then left Barbados, and relocated to Miami, where it is reported that he enjoys a lavish lifestyle. It is believed that PM Mottley terminated his status as her advisor.

THE 50 CBI FRAUDSTERS: PHILIPPE MARTINEZ SPELLS IT ALL OUT ON SAINT KITTS & SAINT LUCIA CBI FRAUD, MONEY LAUNDERING & CORRUPTION

                                        HERE'S THE LINK TO THIS 2 HOUR 15 MIN PODCAST:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11_u9W5dnaU

THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL LITERACY IN AML/CFT COMPLIANCE

A long time ago, as a young criminal defense lawyer primarily representing those drug trafficking clients for whom I laundered money, and who sometimes had the misfortune of being caught in the act, and arrested, I had a client detained with an associate, after a large amount of cocaine was found inside architectural plans in the back seat of the car his partner was driving.

My efforts to extricate my client from his situation revolved around taking the position that he was merely an innocent passenger in the vehicle, who had obtained a casual ride from the driver, and had no knowledge of the presence of the contraband. We had him submit to giving a statement, to prove up our version of the facts. As he did not speak English, there was a Spanish interpreter, from a traditional background.

When the Assistant States' Attorney asked him how he knew the driver, he replied that they both attended the same Santeria temple in Miami. Santeria is an exotic afro-Caribbean folk religion that combines Catholicism and African spiritual beliefs, and is associated by many with animal sacrifice, which is used to communicate with its deities. The translator explained his testimony as "he goes to my church." The prosecutor concluded that my client was an innocent passenger, and dropped all charges. It is notable to understand that this case took place not in Miami, but in the far more traditionally Florida city of Fort Lauderdale, where the prosecutor neither spoke any Spanish, nor was culturally aware of what the term "Santeria" meant, nor was the interpreter.

Cultural Literacy by a compliance officer means that one understands the AML/CFT industry's and therefore culture's signs and symbols, including its language, particular dialectic, stories, entertainment, idioms, history, idiosyncrasies, and so on. When a compliance officer sees a transaction that makes no economic sense, because he knows what his customer's business is all about, when he or she sees something that is inconsistent with what should be expected in the marketplace, or when something spied in a passport as account opening is spotted as out of place with an affluent customer, that is cultural literacy.

Whether that means a well-rounded knowledge of not only political geography, but the history of financial crime and associated money laundering tradecraft, so that transactions not otherwise deemed suspicious can be spotted in real-time, and interdicted, it is the application of knowledge, training and most of all hands-on experience, to frontline compliance tasks. Make very sure that you focus on engaging, and retaining, individuals who have that skill set, for they will find the bad actors every time.

HOLDERS OF SAINT KITTS CBI PASSPORT, PURCHASED AT AN ILLEGAL DISCOUNT, WHO HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO PAY THEIR BALANCE BY THE END OF DECEMBER, OR FACE REVOCATION - PAY ATTENTION; THIS IS NOT A BLUFF, GENTLEMEN

I have been receiving a number of queries from CBI consultancies and sales agents, acting on behalf of anxious holders of Saint Kitts & Nevis Citizenship by Investment passports that they acquired at a 60% discount. That discount has been declared by government to be illegal under applicable Kittitian laws and regulations, and such acts have also been designated a criminal act. Their failure to remit the full legal minimum amount at the time of purchase constitutes fraud, not only on the part of the agent, but on the purchasers as well. Seek competent professional advice if you doubt that this is a correct statement.

The attitude that I have heard appears to be that there is a genuine doubt whether government will actually begin to cancel the citizenships & passports at that time, and that it is merely a bluff or scare tactic. Please do not be misled; I have received assurances, from my sources close to SKN government officials, that the Prime Minister means what he says: revocations will commence at the beginning of the New Year. There are political forces at work there that will operate to insure that the Notice is enforced.

You may want to read the complete text of the Notice, dated 3 December, 2024, and consult with legal counsel, but be aware that it establishes a presumption that failure to respond timely, with the funds, is sufficient to commence revocation action; don't look to make any Due Process argument, as it will surely be rejected. Govern yourselves accordingly, please.

SAINT KITTS IS OFFERING A UNIQUE INCENTIVE TO ITS CBI PASSPORT HOLDERS WHO CHEATED ON THE PURCHASE PRICE THROUGH CARIBBEAN GALAXY TO PAY UP

If you were, as I have, wondering how the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis was going to get the thousands of CBI economic citizenship purchasers who only paid 40% of the legal minimum purchase price, through the CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP fraud, sources close to the country's diplomatic corps have advised that it has devised an interesting incentive for those cheats to pay up the balance. As you know, those individuals, regarded by SKN as deadbeats, must remit the funds by 31 December, or face citizenship (and passport) revocation, which we believe will cause problems with all subsequent international travel when publicly disclosed, irrespective of which passport one uses. We have previously discussed at length here the potential nightmare that could follow a passport revocation.

Anyway, to get back to the subject at hand, Saint Kitts is reportedly about to offer only to all the individuals who redeem themselves, by timely paying the legally-required balance, a benefit which is of particular interest to individuals who acquire economic citizenship. We won't disclose the details, because it has not been publicly released, but as a hint, we note that it has to do with yet another jurisdiction, as residency rights. it's not free of charge, but offered at a purely nominal price. It remains to be whether this will cause all those who right now owe something like USD$120,000 to wire their payment. watch for a public announcement on the subject.

SORRY EUROPEAN UNION, BUT MONEY LAUNDERING THROUGH LOTTERY TICKETS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A LOW-RISK, AND IT'S A MISTAKE TO CHARACTERIZE IT AS SUCH IN EU REGULATIONS

All the noise surrounding the investigation of the former EU Justice Commissioner on allegations of Money Laundering through Lottery Tickets brings up a valid point: why did the EU, in its regulations, making a finding of fact to the extent that such an activity was low risk, and therefore identity checks on winners was not necessary.

Based upon my experience whilst on the other side of the law for more than a decade in my youthful "professional" life, I can tell you that career criminals that I represented during that time routinely got the word out in the outlaw marketplace that they would pay a premium, in cash, no questions asked, for winning lottery tickets that paid off a large amount of money. The holders were extremely happy to evade the necessary taxes withheld at the source, and the fact that they did not have to declare all that cash to internal revenue.

Sometimes, traffickers who wanted to lateral from narcotics into a legitimate line of work used the purchase of a large payoff to crossover back into a normal, yet affluent and definitely kosher, life, without the usual stress of being discovered, arrested and convicted. Sometimes, they rewarded a subordinate in that manner, or moved him or her out of a life of crime, for what we call 'risk management" reasons, meaning that they had come to constitute a threat to their overall operation.

Therefore yes, EU, please tell your lottery agencies, as well as the financial sector, to perform enhanced due diligence identity checks on any and all mega-winners of a lottery;You may be surprised at who you find.

WILL AMERICA'S NEW FOREIGN EXTORTION PREVENTION ACT FINALLY PUT CORRUPT EAST CARIBBEAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHERE THEY BELONG, IN AN AMERICAN PRISON?

As most people know, the FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT (FCPA) has limitations; it targets Americans who offer illegal compensation to foreign officials, to establish or maintain business relationships with foreign governments. the problem is it doesn't attack the other end of the problem; the corrupt government official who SOLICITS a bribe, kickback or other form of illicit compensation, for the privilege of doing business.

Now, we have the FOREIGN EXTORTION PREVENTION ACT (FEPA), which became law in late 2023, and was recently amended, which proscribes demands for bribes coming from government officials. The penalties are steep: 15 years' maximum imprisonment, and a fine of $250,000, or three times the amount demanded. This is just what the doctor ordered.

All those amoral, and totally corrupt East Caribbean government officials that I have long opposed in print, and who routinely solicit bribes from Americans who do business in their jurisdiction, or who merely are residing there, can now be charged with FEPA violations. It couldn't happen to a nicer group of thieves. The FBI has been charged with enforcing FEPA, and we wish it well in its quest to clean up the Caribbean, and remove the worst offenders, forthwith. Go get 'em, ladies and gentlemen.

A NEW $300m CBI SCANDAL BREAKS IN SAINT KITTS, IMPLICATING PRIME MINISTER TERRANCE DREW, AFTER A LEAK EXPOSES HIS HIDDEN AGREEMENT WITH A BARBADOS CONTRACTOR, INCLUDING 4800 SKN PASSPORTS TO BE ISSUED

A leak, reportedly from an anonymous source within Saint Kitts & Nevis Government, has revealed that the country's Prime Minister, TERRANCE DREW, has quietly entered into a suspicious CBI agreement with a Barbados contractor, involving the Basseterre High School, in which the funds to be derived from passport sales will exceed construction costs by USD$260m. The matter, which has elements similar to the corrupt CARIBBEAN GALAXY Jail Project, and which potentially will result in the issuance of 4800 new SKN passports, has resulted in angry protests by Drew's Kittitian constituents, who have demanded that the complete text of the contract, with the Barbadian company, PRECONCO LTD, be made public, and what has been described as a fraud subject to close examination, and possible cancellation. Construction costs are estimated to be less than USD$40m. What's wrong with this picture?

Prime Minister Terrance Drew

To add to the public outcry, the awarding of the project to a company located outside Saint Kitts, rather than local contractors, has raised questions of corruption; were bribes and kickbacks promised to SKN government officials? Why did PM Drew conceal this matter from the public? The matter, which has been described as inciting a firestorm of controversy, could not only bring the entire CBI program into jeopardy, but threaten the viability of the present Drew administration. As soon as the contract is made public, which has been demanded, we intend to publish the relevant portion for our readers. Apparently, the Saint Kitts government has no shame, when it comes to defrauding the people it is supposed to serve.

ALERT: ARE THERE ILLEGALLY-DISCOUNTED TRANSACTIONS BEING COMPLETED FOR THE PORTUGAL GOLDEN VISA, LIKE THE ST. KITTS & ST. LUCIA FRAUD?

We have two reliable industry sources now claiming that the popular Golden Visa program being operated by Portugal is being abused in the same illegally-discounted manner as the unfolding scandal involving Saint Kitts and Saint Lucia CBI/CIP sales, meaning that there are agents reportedly manipulating contracts, pricing, and loan information. Given that we have not, as yet, seen any hard evidence that this is occurring, we caution all companies in the investment migration industry, local agents, independent lawyers representing applicants, and financial institutions that are accepting deposits to immediately initiate a due diligence inquiry, to confirm that all transactions to which they are a party, even indirectly, to insure that there is no fraud or deception, and it is strongly suggested that they obtain an Opinion of Counsel in confirmation.

We note that some of the companies that have been linked to the sale of illegally-discounted contracts of Saint Kitts and Saint Lucia CBI have now ceased to sell Caribbean region economic citizenships, and have now shifted their focus to Portugal's Golden Visa residency program, and any such transactions by these firms should be closely examined to determine whether they are in strict compliance with the laws and regulations governing Portugal's Residency by Investment program. We will be conducting our own investigation, and will report back forthwith.

COMPLIANCE OFFICERS, WHEN YOU HEAR THE WHISTLE, THE GAME IS AFOOT; CAN YOU RECOGNIZE INVISIBLE DANGERS IN REAL TIME?

When you walk down the street in Miami's financial district, Brickell Avenue, these days, you are apt to be distracted by the sound of whistles being blown by construction crew supervisors at a building site. The noise of the equipment drowns out mobile phones, so that managers signal their workers an old-fashioned way. Most people ignore the sound, but some of us, who came of age fighting an Asian war half a century ago, have that sound imprinted in our brains for eternity. You see, the leaders of the PAVN, the North Vietnamese Army, used whistles to signal an imminent attack to their soldiers. If you heard that in the jungle, things were about to get very, bad very quickly. How many battles did this old, but effective, weapon of war see, I wonder?

Compliance officers working Transaction Monitoring see the functional equivalent of those whistles tweeting, when they encounter a Red Flag of a specific known money laundering typology. It's a signal that some journeyman laundryman is employing a method which you should immediately recognize as suspect, hopefully before it is completed, at the expense of your bank. Learn to become so familiar with the indicia of specific money laundering techniques that you will immediately pull the information, and just maybe interdict a laundryman's work in progress.

The link to information about my upcoming three-part seminar on Advanced, Esoteric and Obscure Money Laundering Techniques:

https://rijock.blogspot.com/2024/12/heres-list-of-advanced-obscure-and.html

CONVICTED RUSSIAN MONEY LAUNDERER, USING A CBI PASSPORT IN THE UK, RAN A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR OPERATION THAT PROVIDED A SPECIAL SERVICE FOR HIS CRIMINAL CLIENTS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN TO COMPLIANCE OFFICERS

The use of Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) passports issued by former British territories, which afford the user visa-free entry to the UK, as well as the other Commonwealth countries, has been a favorite tactic of Russian criminals for decades. At one point, more than 50% of the economic citizenships sold in the Republic of Malta were to Russian nationals, most of whom are suspected of being involved in organized crime. Malta's CBI program, known as IIM, freely sold its country's identity documents, which also featured EU access, to hundreds of Russian career criminals. Those passports continue to facilitate European money laundering on a grand scale. No wonder the European Commission is seeking in court to have the program cancelled.

SEMEN KUKSOV, the son of a Russian oil executive, ran a clever operation, which I am familiar with, because back in the "Miami Vice" days (1980-1990) I supplied the same service to my narcotics trafficking clients. Call it Hawala for Criminals; clients would deliver criminal proceeds, and be able to subsequently pick up the cash equivalent abroad, often in local currencies. No international bulk cash smuggling, which often carried serious risks of interdiction, occurred. I used funds already located in overseas tax havens to pay off the clients' representatives. This afforded clients virtually risk-free movement of their criminal profits abroad. As a bonus, it also allowed me to pay off other clients within the Continental United States, who had previously moved their funds abroad, but for some reason, needed cash here locally.

Mr. Kuksov, employed what we call the Token method, to identify the cash courier who was picking up money abroad; the holder of a specific low denomination note (bill) would be identified by the serial number, and pass that note to the banker abroad. BTW, he received a five year sentence in the UK for his crimes; whether that punishment fits the crime, I leave for others to argue and dispute. I note that there actually was a dialogue in Malta as to whether to cancel his CBI passport; it appears that Maltese authorities feared that to do so might injure their Golden Goose, the cash cow that CBI represents, irrespective of the fact that the holders are often criminals.

ANGRY COMMENTS FROM PROFESSIONALS TO THE DISCLOSURES WE REPORTED REGARDING THE CHRISTIAN NESHEIM STATEMENTS ON THE ILLEGALLY-DISCOUNTED CBI SCHEME OF CARIBBEAN GALAXY AND SOLD BY LATITUDE/RIF TRUST

We have received a large number of responses to our recent article entitled CHRISTIAN NESHEIM, PRESIDENT OF LEADING CBI INDUSTRY PUBLICATION, DISMISSES GALAXY'S ILLEGALLY-DISCOUNTED PASSPORT SALES, STATES EVERYBODY BENEFITTED FROM THE "SCAM"*, and we wish to share them here, so that the truth can come out.

Most came from industry professionals, and there was a large amount of anger directed at Mr. Nesheim for what was referred to as his "jaded' attitude towards Galaxy's illicit operation, as well as his erroneous conclusion that "nobody is owned anything." What about the other developers, who invested substantial amounts of money in their projects, and were unable to compete with Galaxy's 60% discount on pricing, they asked. Didn't they end up suffering a loss? Most certainly, Mr. Nesheim.

The other projects were expected to result in a large amount of funds invested in Saint Kitts, employ Kittitians, and purchase supplies, plus bringing in a substantial amount of additional and subsequent investment, all of which did not occur due to the extremely low price offered by Galaxy through LATITUDE/RIF TRUST. Also, Saint Kitts suffered the direct loss of a never built, but sorely needed Jail, which Galaxy had promised to construct, at a cost of USD$30m. Galaxy took in close to $1bn on that project, and never even started the structure. We call that fraud.

Finally, there were reader complaints about the recent IMI Miami conference, where they have advised us that the same sales entities which were selling the discounted Galaxy contracts were welcomed to market their wares by Nesheim's company, even though it was well known in the industry that such sales were illegal, and the Government of Saint Kitts had publicly announced that fact. Their questions: wasn't that a promotion of companies already accused of Fraud? And were there violations of the Securities Act of 1933, or other U.S. laws, at that sales conference?

Those questions, and others we have received but which we are not including here, deserve straight answers, but it is feared that they will not be forthcoming in a public forum. Nevertheless,those answers will eventually surface, in one venue or another; Stay tuned.

_______________________________

*https://rijock.blogspot.com/2024/12/christian-nesheim-president-of-leading.html

CHRISTIAN NESHEIM, PRESIDENT OF LEADING CBI INDUSTRY PUBLICATION, DISMISSES GALAXY'S ILLEGALLY-DISCOUNTED PASSPORT SALES, STATES EVERYBODY BENEFITTED FROM THE 'SCAM"

 

CHRISTIAN NESHEIM, the founder and President of industry-leading IMI DAILY, has candidly admitted that the entire illegally-discounted Saint Kitts passport sales operation, conducted by the Chinese-owned company CARIBBEAN GALAXY, which collected close to USD$1 Billion, and never built the jail that was the sole purpose of the project, amounted to a scam. He made this astonishing admission in an IMI Internet chat room for industry insiders who are IMI clients and supporters which was obviously not intended for release to the public, who will be shocked by his hubris. The legal import of the statements will most certainly be discussed in certain quarters. No doubt it is a gift for MSR Media in the RICO case.

Let us detail the important points from the chat, which has been reprinted verbatim above:

(1) He excuses the fact that the entire Galaxy operation was a fraud by saying that all the parties were paid; government fees, commission salesmen,and agents, and they were all aware of the situation.

(2) That Galaxy agreed to accept the lower price; in fact, it wanted that financial arrangement.

(3) Therefore, "nobody is [technically] owed anything."

He completely forgets the little matter that discounting the listed minimum price violates the laws that created the CBI program is a criminal act under Saint Kitts & Nevis law, and asserts that the government is not entitled to recover the balance of the minimum fee, which he claims would have to go to Galaxy. Is the fraud, money laundering and corruption committed by both Galaxy and the purchasers to be ignored, and what about the fact that the other SKN Stakeholders who charged the legal rate lost business?

What we are seeing in this chat discussion is a cynical viewpoint, by someone prominent in the Investment Migration (passport sales) industry, asserting that since all the interested parties were paid, there's no harm, and no foul. We beg to differ. Whether IMI's support of Galaxy's program, as well as its relationship with RIF TRUST and LATITUDE, the agents who reportedly sold the most of the illegal CBI contracts, creates legal liability we will leave to the legal professionals to sort out, but we must ask this question: has Mr. Nesheim mislaid his moral compass?