INVESTMENT ADVISOR AND INSURANCE COMPANY OWNER WHO DIVERTED $75m IN COMPLEX FRAUD INVOLVING MALTA ENTITIES ENTERS A PLEA OF GUILTY IN U.S.

Reports have confirmed that CHRISTOPHER HERWIG, an investment advisor and owner of insurance companies another entities, has entered a plea of guilty to Conspiracy, in a complex $75m fraud committed through a Malta company, STANDARD ADVISORY SERVICES LIMITED (SASL) registered with the American Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). Herwig, and others, skimmed millions from clients through an elaborate scheme employing shell companies and bogus transactions.

A Criminal Information was filed on December 19 against the defendant in US District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, which is generally an indication of cooperation. One of the directors of SASL is prominent American insurance executive GREG LINDBERG, who reportedly owns SASL and a Maltese reinsurance company, STANDARD RE. Both entities are no longer engaged in business, and no longer are licensed.

 A Maltese national, JOSEPH GRIOLI, is also reportedly listed as a director of SASL; he is a prominent local Maltese businessman, the owner of a financial services firm, and a director in several companies. Groili has been linked to a number of prominent Maltese government and political figures.

The SEC filed a civil suit in Federal Court, on August 30, 2022 (1:22-cv-00715), against Herwig, Lindberg and SAS, in a 32-page Complaint asking for injunctive relief, disgorgement of illegal profits, and an unspecified civil monetary penalty. A number of other entities are named in that document.

There are reportedly over 100 shell companies linked to the massive fraud. No details have been made public yet regarding the circumstances surrounding precisely how the transactions were structured, and whether bribes or kickbacks were paid, or whether corrupt practices occurred in Malta, or elsewhere abroad. We shall be monitoring both cases, and update our readers on all developments as they occur.