EU BANKERS; IS YOUR NEW AFFLUENT LEBANESE CUSTOMER REALLY A WANTED SYRIAN WAR CRIMINAL OR FINANCIER LIVING IN LEBANON WITH HEZBOLLAH SUPPORT?

One of the major challenges facing the government in Lebanon in 2026 will be to respond to the demands from the new Syrian government to turn over approximately three hundred former military leaders and financiers who fled to Lebanon when the Assad dictatorship fell in December 2024. many of those individual are wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, are the subject of sanctions, have French arrest warrants or INTERPOL Red Notices outstanding against them. They should be removed to Syria, or to those countries seeking them, to be tried for their crimes.

Complicating the Lebanese process is that some of these Syrian military and civilian leaders are living under the physical and legal protection of Hezbollah, and live in areas under de facto Hezbollah control, especially in HERMEL. Their removal is a problem that demands a solution, if Lebanon is ever to free itself from the influence of both Iran and Hezbollah.Compliance officers at EU financial institution should be on special alert for new bank clients, claiming to be refugees from Lebanon, who in truth and in fact are indeed Syrian bad actors wanted for their crimes.

 Some fugitive Syrian financiers now resident inside Lebanon pose a direct threat to the new Syrian government, as they are said to be funding actions designed to disrupt the new administration, and they as well might appear at your bank, seeking to open accounts.

These individuals will of course have legitimate Lebanese identification, even showing them as lawful residents, but their Arabic will not have the slang, cultural expressions, vocabulary and grammar of native Lebanese Levantine Arabic, which is distinct from that of Syria. Your Arabic speakers working in New Accounts should be briefed on assessing whether your new "Lebanese" customer is actually something entirely; watch for them.

SAINT KITTS AND THE BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS; RAMADA CLOSED AND ABANDONED BY CARIBBEAN GALAXY, WHICH TOOK PASSPORTS AND CASH AND LEFT

Kittitians are reporting that the RAMADA BY WYNDHAM ST. KITTS RESORT, a Caribbean Galaxy Group property, has been abandoned, and is closed and deserted. Travel websites describe "PERMANENTLY CLOSED." Galaxy, which diverted an estimated two billion (USD$2bn) dollars out of the SKN Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passport sales program, sold thousands of passports, without due diligence qualification, to dodgy Chinese buyers, some of whom have been arrested in the United States and elsewhere, for fraud, money laundering and industrial espionage, after liberally spreading bribes and kickbacks among Saint Kitts most senior politicians. 

The promised extensive employment of locals never materialized, and hotel guests stopped coming when water was turned off, and hotel services disappeared.There are areas of the country dotted with the corpses of incomplete building construction shells, some showing no more than the foundation, all failed CBI projects that were supposed to bring prosperity to the Eastern Caribbean state. In some districts, they resemble bombed-out remnants of some forgotten war. The local Labour government, satiated with the proceeds of corruption, will do nothing to bring the executives from the now absent Chinese-owned CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP to justice.

The losers here are clearly the people of Saint Kitts, who were promised that the CBI program would increase their standard of living, bring a rush of foreign tourists to the island, and make the place a favored destination, due to the completion of upscale resorts and hotels. Instead, infected from the start by millions in bribes and kickbacks paid to local leaders, it has been an utter failure, and an abject lesson for all jurisdictions that believe that CBI will be the answer to funding their dysfunctional, bloated economies, by delivering the proverbial pot of gold to their treasuries.

Here, CBI = fraud, money laundering and corruption, and constitutes an utter failure for the people it was intended to benefit, thanks to Chinese companies stealing its funding, providing passports for international criminals, and taking the money to Hong Kong, all facilitated by the national leadership.

WHAT EFFECT WILL THE NEW FALL 2026 EU ETIAS PROGRAM HAVE ON SUPPRESSING MONEY LAUNDERING AND FINANCIAL CRIME BY CBI PASSPORT HOLDERS, OR IS THERE ANOTHER TARGET?

The new EUROPEAN TRAVEL INFORMATION AND AUTHORISATION SYSTEM, or ETIAS for short, comes into being in late 2026. Its impact upon travelers from outside the EU who have previously been enjoying visa-free entry depends upon whether they are ordinary leisure visitors, holders of Citizenship by Investment (CBI or CIP) passports., or financial criminals.

(1) Most leisure travelers will not be affected, unless they have something in their background that warrants exclusion, like a major criminal record.

(2) CBI passport holders, who generally purchased their economic citizenship expressly to avoid the expense and delays of securing a visa from their high-risk or even sanctioned countries of login, may now find they will be directed to secure a difficult to obtain visa. For many, although they will not admit it, visa-free entry into the EU was the primary reason they invested in a CBI passport in the first place. They now may have invested six figures with nothing to show for it. Will they now sue the company that sold them the citizenship?

(3) The money launderers, transnational financial criminals, and terrorist financiers may be identified during the ETIAS qualification process, and blocked as well, even under aliases, due to the employment of facial recognition software, but they have other, covert, means of gaining access, and the financial means to achieve it, so the effectiveness of ETIAS against them may be limited. I believe they will find adequate workarounds to gain entry.

So which group is the real target of ETIAS? Is it a thinly-disguised means for the European Commission to block those CBI passport holders it deems potentially high-risk? Or will denial of admission be limited to convicted felons who are serious criminals, and the most high-risk CBI passports only? We cannot say, but if there is widespread denial of CBI passport holders, the investment migration industry may face an existential moment; Stay tuned.

ON THE EVE OF HIS EXTRADITION, BRIBED JOURNALISTS PAID BY CHOKSI'S PR TEAM ARE WORKING OVERTIME TO SPIN HIS CLAIMS OF INNOCENCE TO THE PUBLIC IN INDIA AND THE UK

If you are following the Choksi case, you know that obscure, and heretofore unknown media from India are zealously advocating on behalf of the defendant, in advance of his imminent extradition to India. Don't believe any of the drivel that claims he won't leave Belgium for years; well-paid journalists, reportedly retained through a public relations firm, have been trying to mold public opinion, regarding their client. They are openly seeking sympathy for their  client. We call this checkbook journalism. 

A leading 2023 article exposed the questionable journalism, Mehul Choksi’s PR firm accused of bribing journalist to promote false narrative; MEHUL CHOKSI'S PR FIRM ACCUSED OF BRIBING JOURNALIST TO PROMOTE FALSE NARRATIVE  "There have also been claims that Choksi has infiltrate[d] major media houses and is getting them to write glowing pieces, painting him as a victim, which he is not by any means. He is also suspected of supplying large amounts of money through his PR company to get media houses to back him in such a manner.

The most amusing section of the article though, is where Choksi has been called a “jewel merchant” and not a fraudster who has escaped prosecutors in India with a mind boggling US $2 billion in his personal kitty."

We will continue to follow all developments in the UK civil case, as well as Choksi's pending transport to face justice in India.

DID INDIA PURSUE THE FUGITIVE BILLIONAIRE MEHUL CHOKSKI BECAUSE HE PLANNED TO CHEAT JUSTICE BY FLEEING TO EXTRADITION-PROOF CUBA, AND DID HIS UK LAWYER NOW VIOLATE PROFESSIONAL ETHICS?

If you read my original investigative report, entitled "The Disappearance of Mehul Choksi," and the accompanying Appendices, which attached the material that I collected during my investigation, you know that there was ample evidence that CHOKSI had planned, and was in the process of executing, covert travel to Cuba, to avoid extradition to face justice in India for his crimes. A Jamaican escape vessel and crew was laid on, and we believe Indian intelligence was alerted.

While he awaits extradition in a prison cell, having exhausted all his possible appellate remedies in Belgium, his UK lawyers are busy with a civil suit brought on his behalf, alleging that he was unlawfully kidnapped in Antigua, and that the bad actors who executed the act were acting on behalf of the Government of India.

I forwarded copies of my Report and Appendix to all parties, and the Court, in the pending civil case, as an Amicus Curie. I also attempted to extract information out of MICHAEL POLAK, Choksi's controversial British barrister, by offering to appear at trial as an expert witness, but he not only failed to respond, he filed an affidavit with the Court, seeking to challenge my credibility. The fact that I was a money launderer 45 years ago, and am now an expert witness,  and a consultant to law enforcement, seemed to be missing from his claims. I have testified three times before the United States Congress as an expert on financial crime.

In my opinion, he did this solely to try to discredit the investigative report and Appendix, whose information regarding Choksi' abortive efforts to flee to Cuba could benefit the defendants in the civil case. The last thing Choksi wants is for the trier of fact to get the full and complete story of Choksi's attempt to flee to avoid prosecution, but the truth must come out.

 Moreover, by filing that Affidavit, Attorney Polak exposed himself to being called as a witness at trial, and even a first-year law student knows that lawyers cannot be witnesses in a case where they are counsel. Mr. Polak must now RECUSE himself from any further involvement in the proceedings. His Affidavit has disqualified him from any further involvement in the UK civil case; He must withdraw.

WHAT ABOUT THE CARIBBEAN'S OTHER DEADLY SIN; THE SALE, FOR CASH, OF DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS TO MONEY LAUNDERERS AND TRANSNATIONAL FRAUDSTERS?

Long before the advent of Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passport sales programs, dodgy Prime Ministers from the five Eastern Caribbean CBI & CIP states sold diplomatic passports under the table, always for cash, to whomever had a need to pose as a diplomat, where they could evade customs & immigration officers in Europe. Money launderers and transnational fraudsters know that, if they want to move cash, bearer financial instruments, previous gems, valuable art and antiques, through national borders with impunity, a Caribbean state diplomatic passport will do the job.

While the holders of such bogus diplomatic credentials, who are totally unqualified under the Vienna Convention as bone fide envoys, are ignored by the United Nations, the financial crime threats posed by the abuse of diplomatic privileges needs to be curbed, as I can tell you as a reformed former money launderer that such a tool, in the wrong hands, gives the holder the ability to make an effective end run around anti-money laundering in the private sector.

Whether the new American foreign policy operations in the Eastern Caribbean will result in a change of governments that will end such policies, as part and parcel of anti-corruption reform, we cannot say, but we will be watching. The days when a career criminal can secure a diplomatic passport, no questions asked, need to come to an end.

ANTIGUA'S PRIME MINISTER GASTON BROWNE DEFINED: AS THICK AS A BRICK

After the American announcement of visa action against Antigua & Barbuda, the country's arrogant Prime Minister, GASTON BROWNE, already skating on extremely thin political ice, attempted spin control by claiming that that it was simply an error by the US Government, as Antigua has a residency requirement, totally missing the fact that the fatal fault stated was a historical lack of that provision in its CIP laws.

Browne's other issues, which are legion, include but are not limited to, the automobile scandal, his close relationship with the autocratic regimes in China, Cuba and Venezuela, his efforts to delay justice for the billionaire fraudster MEHUL CHOKSI, and now his promise to sue the lawyers in the ALPHA NERO case for Defamation, which has never been filed.

By the way, Browne's lawyers demanded ten million dollars in damages last month, alleging that the yacht claimant's attorneys, "infer[red] that our client in the discharge of his public officе as the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Corporate Governance dishonestly, corruptly and illegally appropriated millions of dollars from the sale of the vessel to and for his personal benefit, and therefore committed the criminal offences of corruption, breach of his fiduciary duties, fraud and misfeasance in public office contrary to law including the relevant anti-corruption Acts of Antigua and Barbuda.” Where's the promised lawsuit, Gaston? Or did someone advise you of the impact of 28 USC §1782?

Finally, and given the impact that President Trump's Proclamation has had on the citizens of Antigua, who are up in arms about losing their access to family, friends, business relationships and universities in the United States, will Browne now finally choose to disavow his love for Venezuela'a dictator, NICOLAS MADURO?

WAS ANTIGUA'S CONTINUED ABUSE OF ITS CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT (CIP) PROGRAM A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR FOR THIS WEEK'S UNITED STATES ACTION AGAINST IT?

While most observers believe the principal reason the current American administration has been taking assertive steps in the Caribbean not seen since the invasions of Grenada and Panama, it is important to understand that the continued abuse, by the five Eastern Caribbean states offering economic citizenships, has not gone unnoticed by the United States. While the open love affair with autocratic states that oppose America, being carried on by the leftist leaders of St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, Antigua and Grenada appears to have caused this sea change in American foreign policy in the Caribbean, the passport issue is also important to consider as a contributing factor.

Antigua has a long and sordid history of allowing holders of its CIP program to take commit transnational crime with impunity. We only need to look at the cases of the billionaire Indian fraudster MEHUL CHOKSI, and of the Colombian money launderer ALEX SAAB, among many others, to know that the government of Antigua & Barbuda has richly profited for years onboard the exploitation of its CIP program, and the US has most certainly noticed the abuse.

While at this point, many will point to other actions of Antigua's quintessentially arrogant Prime Minister, such as the Russian luxury yacht scandal, blatant corruption at the highest level, election fraud, his alliance with the Maduro regime in Venezuela, and the Hong Kong-style Chinese enclave being built in Antigua, as the principal reasons for the American action on visas, and the threatened designation as a "Concerned Country," we will find that the CIP was a contributing factor to American pushback against Antigua.

What should be understood is that the visa blocks are only the first American step, to rein in what the US perceived as a Caribbean infected with corruption from Chinese actors, and en emerging National Security in its sphere of influence; Stay tuned, and the senior leadership in the Eastern Caribbean are advised to engage the services of competent criminal defense attorneys, who practice law in the United States.

US EMBASSY IN BARBADOS DENIES VISAS TO ALL SAINT LUCIANS APPLYING TODAY, INCLUDING RICHARD FREDERICK, A MINISTER AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, THE COUNTRY'S PARLIAMENT, AND ALL APPLICANTS FOR STUDENT VISAS

SLC Minister & MP Richard Frederick

As we predicted months ago, visas to enter the United States are today being denied across the board for citizens of Eastern Caribbean states that have Citizenship by Investment programs which sell passports through investment, and which the US Government considers a National Security threat.

Saint Lucia Member of Parliament, and Minister, Richard Frederick was denied a U.S. visa during a personal appearance at the U.S. Embassy this morning, according to confirmed information received by St Lucia media. At the embassy window, it was reported that Frederick informed the Consular Officer that he is a Minister of Government, only to be told directly: “We can’t issue you a visa at this time.” Further information reaching our sources indicates that all other Saint Lucian applicants were also denied visas during the same period, compounding concerns and intensifying public scrutiny over the morning’s developments. Applicants for student visas, for study in the United States, were also denied.

PM Philip J Pierre and Minister Frederick

No official explanation has been issued by U.S. authorities to Saint Lucians, but the reported exchange and the outcome have already sent shockwaves through political and diplomatic circles in the Caribbean, following on the from the White House that Antigua and Dominica have had major US visa restrictions placed upon their citizens. It is believed that al least four of the EC CBI states will soon be placed upon the Countries of Concern list, which will impose major economic restrictions upon them.

Given the public sympathy of Saint Lucia's most senior government officials for the autocratic regimes in China, Cuba and Venezuela, we wonder which leader with seek to enter the United States next, and be denied a visa and will their offshore bank accounts, especially those connected with Chinese corruption, be seized? We shall be updating our coverage of this developing story as additional facts become known. Saint Lucians are currently in a state of panic after the news broke, as they now understand entry into the United States has been blocked.

A WORD OF CAUTION, WHEN DEALING WITH INDIVIDUALS WHO LIST LLM. AFTER THEIR NAME; THEY MAY NOT BE WHAT YOU THINK THEY ARE

I have seen some individuals, when posting on Linkedin, attach the academic degree of LLM., which means Master of Laws, after their name. That is a specialized degree, which is offered on many topics, and which generally takes 1-2 years to complete.

An LLM. is NOT a J.D., or Juris Doctor, degree, which is the the three year full-time course of study, that is necessary for one to qualify to take the bar exam, to gain admission to the practice of law. One does not need to have a JD to be admitted to an LLM program; it is often obtained by lawyers with foreign maw degrees, or practicing attorneys who require advanced study in a specific subject or field. You cannot take the bar exam with only an LLM; only those who complete the comprehensive course of study and training and receive a JD are considered lawyers, due to the extensive subject matter covered in law school. Whether you have passed the bar exam somewhere or not, with a JD, you are a lawyer.

Here's the problem; I am seeing individuals who only have an LLM (and it may have been earned through partial, or sole, online study) but display it prominently, creating the impression, giving laymen the impression that they are duly educated and qualified lawyers, meaning that their advice should be taken seriously. Some even use the term "attorney," which I consider misleading, because they don't have the necessary education,, and that may be a misrepresentation relied upon by some when considering an investment, specifically a Citizenship by Investment passport purchase.

Given that I have seen this issue multiple times here on the pages of Linkedin, I thought it appropriate to bring it up. Of course those lawyers with BOTH degrees, JD & LLM, are not the individuals who trouble me. It's those who the investing public might consider to be lawyers but are not, that are cause for concern.

KENNETH RIJOCK JD (1973)

CONSTERNATION IN CARIBBEAN CBI STATES AFTER TRUMP PLACES VISA RESTRICTIONS ON ANTIGUA AND DOMINICA

After delivering numerous warnings that the Caribbean states selling economic citizenships through programs that permit dodgy and dangerous applicants to acquire passports are a National Security risk to the United States, president Donald Trump, in a Presidential Proclamation yesterday, imposed visa restrictions on Antigua & Barbuda, and on the Commonwealth of Dominica. The stated grounds are the historical failure of those countries to require actual residence of their economic passport holders, through there are other serious issues, such as lack of due diligence, illegal sales, diversion of funds to China, that have been on the table and will now have to addressed.

Though Saint Kitts & Nevis. Saint Lucia and Grenada, the other three CBI and CIP jurisdictions, have not been named, it is expected, given the rhetoric we have seen from American officials, that they are all expected to receive attention shortly. Caribbean leaders, who have falsely assured their constituents that no adverse US action will occur, now hasten to spin their power to reverse this action, which has caused panic among West Indians, who correctly fear being shut out of travel to the US, for any purpose.

THE UNITED STATES RESTRICTS AND LIMITS THE ENTRY OF FOREIGN NATIONALS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY PURPOSES, INCLUDING ANTIGUA AND DOMINICA

President Donald Trump today signed a Presidential Proclamation expanding existing entry restrictions on nationals from several countries, including the Commonwealth of Dominica and Antigua & Barbuda, two of the Caribbean states selling Citizenship by Investment passports. These two jurisdictions were added, according to the language of the Proclamation, because their CBI programs have historically never had residency requirements.

What the reaction of native-born Antiguan and Dominican citizens will be to these restrictions on their ability to visit the United States will be we cannot predict, but public pressure to reform the CBI/CBI programs will most certainly be swift and politically effective, as this is the first time that there have been such restrictions or outright blocking of visiting rights. Whether they pose an existential threat to the passport sales programs themselves we cannot yet determine, but we will be closely watching political developments inn these two Eastern Caribbean states.

NORWAY CONTINUES TO BLOCK THE ENTRY OF CARIBBEAN CBI PASSPORT HOLDERS, AND DEPORT THEM, PURSUANT TO LOCAL LAW PROHIBITING REMOTE ACQUISITION OF PASSPORTS

Investment migration media is reporting that the Government of Norway has been blocking the entry of individuals holding economic citizenships from Eastern Caribbean CBI and CIP states, due to the local statutory requirement that individuals must apply in person to obtain passports, meaning the remote purchasers of CBI passports do not have valid documents for entry into the country. There are National Security issues that concern Norway, which are similar to those previously expressed by government officials in the United States, regarding the potential threats posed by CBI passports purchased remotely by foreign intelligence agents, terrorists and terrorist financiers.

Apparently this has been going on for several months, but has not been public knowledge, although a number of Saint Kitts & Nevis and Dominica CBI passport holders have been refused entry. The latest series of removals by Norwegian authorities have generated sufficient publicity in the economic citizenship industry to result in media coverage.

While Norway is bound by the EU Schengen Zone policy of visa-free entry from the five EC CBI states, St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia and Grenada, Norway is relying upon local law to bar them from entering. What effect this will have upon the suitability and marketability of CBI passports, should other EU jurisdictions begin to follow similar national laws we cannot say, but we will be following unfolding developments regarding this issue.

To add to the unease, the US is believed to intend to add all the above CBI-issuing states, except Grenada, to the existing list slated to impose serious visa restrictions, known as "Countries of Concern," or even a total ban, on all nationals. This action could result in a groundswell of opposition to CBI, if visas to the US are no longer available for any purpo

IS IT PROFESSIONAL NEGLIGENCE TO IGNORE BANK ACCOUNTS IN AN AUDIT?

Buried in Saint Lucia media recently is an article extolling a recent audit of the country's CIU, the agency operating the Citizenship by Investment (CIP) programme, and giving it a passing grade. I am attaching the article for ready reference. There's just one glaring problem with the methodology used by the firm conducting the audit, Deloitte. By definition, an audit is a thorough verification of all the financial records, transactions and operations of an organization. it is typically conducted by accounting professionals holding the appropriate licensed or certified status.

According to our information, the Deloitte firm failed to audit the accounts in Hong Kong, Macau and China of CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP, which reportedly hold, or held, at least two billion dollars of CIP funds. That is where the audits needs to be conducted, not on the money of the government fees reaching Saint Lucia.  All they audit is the Saint Lucia government fees account, but in truth and in fact, the lions' share of the CIP funds went directly to the Galaxy accounts in China.

Given that the facts of the illegal diversion of the CIP funding was public knowledge, the question remains, was it accounting malpractice for Deloitte to fail to demand to see those financial records, and failing that, to refuse to conduct the audit, let alone certify the results. We leave the issue of whether Deloitte is liable for damages to all the subsequent purchasers of Saint Lucia CIP citizenships and passports, when the program's failures to adhere to the statutory requirements of the enabling CIP legislation, and is terminated or cancelled, concerning all the passport buyers who relied upon the audit when making their purchasers, to lawyers competent to render opinions on professional negligence on this set of facts.