FOREIGN INVESTORS SHOULD STEER CLEAR OF BARBADOS, AS RAMPANT MONEY LAUNDERING AND FRAUD RAGES UNCHECKED

We have written extensively on this blog regarding the systemic corruption in the Republic of Barbados, whereby many of the island's senior attorneys routinely engage in probate fraud, real estate fraud and money laundering, to steal and acquire valuable land, which they then convey to third parties, including European and American companies involved in building resorts. The victims are usually uneducated Bajans who are unaware that their deceased relative owned extensive real estate at the time of their death, and these lawyers illegally transfer title, using co-conspirators, and receive huge fees as the result. It is a dirty business, in part created by the surplus of licensed attorneys which exceeds the amount of legal work available for them to perform, and what amounts to moral bankruptcy among them.

Most legal experts believe that their actions regarding transfer of illegal sale proceeds and fees constitute money laundering, and that some of those payments being in US Dollars, confers extraterritorial jurisdiction under the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986, and case law construing that Act.

When some of victims became aware of the fraud, their efforts to obtain justice have been repeatedly foiled by the local bar association, the corrupt judiciary, and uncooperative government officials. The cases of JERRY NURSE and JOHN SCANTLEBURY, both of whom were cheated out of their rightful inheritance, are typical of the scams perpetrated against Bajans by unscrupulous local lawyers. The Government of Barbados ignores their plight, because in truth and in fact many of these same senior government officials have previously themselves been engaged in this illegal activity, and after becoming wealthy in this illicit manner, ran for office to acquire still more power, as well as impunity against any enforcement activities that might be brought against them by their victims. The jurisdiction is a legal nightmare of any victim of this fraud who seeks legal redress in any quarter, for the majority of judges are themselves guilty of committing these crimes when in private practice, or their close relatives fleeced the uneducated public in this amoral manner.

Inasmuch as neither the embassies of the United States nor the United Kingdom have assisted the victims in recovering their rightful patrimony, and there is no indication that foreign actors will ever involve themselves in internal Bajan politics, continued exposure to truth to power may be the only avenue to obtain justice. Meanwhile, foreign investors should not acquire any real estate, whether improved or not, for the status of real estate title will most likely not be valid, as it was acquired through fraud committed by lawyers probating the estates of local property owners.  This also means do not acquire any businesses, as they may have also been secured through fraud; caveat emptor.