CHINESE COMPANY IN FLORIDA RICO CASE SUED BRITISH JOURNALIST IN 2019 OVER HIS ALLEGATIONS OF CBI FRAUD AND MISAPPROPRIATION; THE CAUSE OF HIS DEATH DURING THE PROCEEDINGS HAS NEVER BEEN BEEN RESOLVED

As St. Kitts and St. Lucia react to the filing of a RICO Complaint in MSR MEDIA v.s LES KHAN ( Case No.: 24-cv-01248 MD FL), we have uncovered prior civil litigation, involving the principal defendant in that case, CARIBBEAN GALAXY REAL ESTATE CORPORATION, filed back in 2019, against a British journalist known for his investigations of Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programs, BARRY RANDALL, who passed away during that action, under unusual circumstances. 

Randall, who was well known for his hard-hitting articles on Caribbean corruption and crime, which he published on his online news site, CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW, was named as a defendant by Caribbean Galaxy in a state court civil action styled CARIBBEAN GALAXY REAL ESTATE CORPORATION vs. BARRY RANDALL and CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW, filed in Florida's 19th Judicial Circuit, which is located in St. Lucie County, where Randall then resided.

The Florida case, which was filed as a Compliant for Pure Bill of Discovery, alleged that the defendants falsely accused Galaxy "of misappropriating funds, defrauding investors, and misleading the government and people of the federation of St. Kitts and Nevis in connection with a real estate project that will bring a 273-suite luxury resort to the island of St. Kitts. It sought, in its Prayer for Relief, to take the deposition of Randall and others with personal knowledge, and a response to Discovery requests.

Barry Randall died, after a trip to acquire information in Montenegro, during which time he was incommunicado for a period. He returned to the United States, upset, and passed away from a still undetermined cause. He reportedly undertook the Montenegro trip based upon information that he originally received, regarding a potential source located there, from DAPHNE CARUANA GALIZIA, Malta's most prominent investigative journalist, and who was assassinated by a car bomb, which is the only known political killing of a journalist in the European Union in recent memory.  

After Randall's untimely death, Caribbean News Now, if which he was reportedly the owner, closed permanently, and Caribbean Galaxy eventually filed a Voluntary Dismissal without Prejudice, an act which, under the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, allows the case to be refiled at a later date.

The most curious aspect of this case is the fact that counsel of record for both sides were prominent law firms that concentrate in Defamation actions, and that the case was both vigorously litigated, and defended. It raises the question: Did Barry Randall have evidence of CBI fraud and misappropriation in St. Kitts, which caused him to publish articles alleging it, and what were the circumstances of his unanticipated and untimely death? Given the allegations in the recently filed MSR Media case, we believe that they require further inquiry.