NIGERIA CONSIDERS A CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT PROGRAM; WITHOUT UK AND EU VISA-FREE ACCESS, WHO WILL BUY IT?

The Government of Nigeria is reportedly considering creating an economic passport (second passport) program, but is it destined to fail? To be clear, the attraction of the five Caribbean Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) programs that currently exist is their visa-free access to the UK, the EU and the Commonwealth of Nations states. Nigeria offers none of those benefits; while the second passport industry, which styles itself "Investment Migration,"although few of its passport-purchasing clients would ever choose to move to their new country, attempts to color its clients as potential migrants for residence, operation of a business, and to leave a country with possible or potential negative issues, the lack of an EU visa will, in our humble opinion, be a deal breaker for Middle Eastern and Asian purchasers.

Additionally, given Nigeria's less than stellar reputation, especially regarding financial crime perpetrated by its nationals upon victims abroad, could actually expose a new Nigerian passport holder to interrogation, and possibly detention, upon arrival in a Western country, due to the general perception that the country has unchecked corruption, on top of the large amount of financial crime originating there. Perhaps the Government of Nigeria might want to take a hard look at the potential market for a possible CBI program. Outside of individuals who hold passports from sanctioned states, and in State Sponsors of Terrorism, we wonder who will constitute the client base. Definitely not an idea which has been thoroughly considered.

THE DARK ORIGINS OF THE FIRST CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT PROGRAM IN SAINT KITTS WILL BE EXPOSED ON LIVE PROGRAM, THURSDAY AT 8 P.M.

If you ever wanted to know the real truth about how, and why, the Saint Kitts & Nevis Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program was created in 1983, by the late Ambassador William V. Herbert, Jr., you will want to tune in Thursday's edition of STRAIGHT TALK, on Facebook or YouTube, to learn the true story behind its hidden origin. I was there at its inception, and will share the inside story with Ian "Patches" Liburd on his program. Please be advised that you may find some of it disturbing.

SAINT LUCIA IS ON THE EVE OF DESTRUCTION, WITH A USD$3bn CIP FRAUD AND CARIBBEAN GALAXY THREATENING LEGAL ACTION FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT

Ernest Hilaire; on the edge of a cliff

The dire situation in Citizenship by Investment (CIP) passport seller SAINT LUCIA has gone from bad to worse, with evidence now confirming that the total amount of payments by applicants, at illegally-discounted pricing, has now been calculated at $3bn US Dollars, which is in the possession of Chinese-owned CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP. The Caribbean nation's Minister for Investment, ERNEST HILAIRE, has now ruefully admitted that the government has "suspended" (read: cancelled) its contractual relationship with Caribbean Galaxy, and there are rumours that the company, unhappy with this turn of events, is actively contemplating serious legal action. Whether this will be breach of contract or some other remedy at law or in equity is unknown, but the consequences for Saint Lucia could be extremely serious.

Hilaire also disclosed publicly that Saint Lucia privately sought an exemption from the Memorandum of Agreement, signed by all five CBI and CIP states, to allow it to continue to sell passports at illicit prices, but was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, Galaxy continued to break CIP laws and regulations, and Saint Lucia facilitated that continuing fraud by approving the applications, and issuing passports. There are a possible 90,000 Saint Lucia passports sold by Galaxy in circulation; think about how that figure could impact the future of Saint Lucia, and the world.

There have been calls for Hilaire to resign the portfolio for Investment forthwith, as well as his elected office, as the massive fraud, money laundering and corruption scandal keeps getting worse each time additional evidence is brought to light. While Haiti is currently the only Caribbean nation that qualifies as a Failed State, Saint Lucia appears to be on track to join it shortly.

HAVING SERVED HIS NINE YEAR SENTENCE FOR MONEY LAUNDERING, THE U.S. DEPORTS A FORMER MEXICAN STATE GOVERNOR WHO WAS A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

Tomas Yarrington Rubalcaba

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) turned over to the Mexican Government, at the border, TOMAS YARRINGTON RUBALCABA, after he served a nine year Federal Prison sentence for money laundering. Tomas Yarrington, who now faces pending charges in Mexico, was a state governor who used the proceeds of bribes to invest in real estate in the United States, using nominees and third parties.

A former IRP candidate for President of Mexico, Yarrington "laundered his illegally obtained bribe money in the United States by purchasing beachfront condominiums, large estates, commercial developments, airplanes and luxury vehicles," according to a USDOJ Press Release. He was captured in Italy, which traveling on a false passport, and extradited to the United States to stand trial.

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER MAJOR SUB-AGENT CONSULTANCIES ILLEGALLY SELLING CBI/CIP PASSPORTS? WHEN WILL THEY BE BLACKLISTED?

While we have reported, in detail, on the order handed down by the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis that effectively blacklisted the sub-agent consultancies, RIF TRUST LLC and LATITUDE CONSULTANCY LIMITED, due to their repeated illegal sale of SKN citizenships at rates below the minimum set by law, our investigation has uncovered evidence that at least a half dozen other major consultancies, also based mainly in Dubai, UAE, that also have sold citizenships at illegal prices. All the companies also worked through Chinese-owned and controlled CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP in processing the applications. We believe there are additional firms, both in the UAE, as well as in other countries in the Middle East, that also engaged in these illicit sales practises, which constitute criminal acts under the laws a of Saint Kitts.

The question becomes, given the ease in which we were able to identify the bad actors in the UAE, whether the Government of Saint Kitts, and Saint Lucia for that matter, given that its citizenships were also illegally sold, will now come down hard on these vendors, and their clients. Will these companies, who are among the most notorious violators of Kittitian law, also face blacklisting or other more serious sanctions, like passport revocation, and the filing of criminal charges in Saint Kitts?

Given the fact that Caribbean CBI/CIP programs have taken such a hit to their reputation of late, does Saint Kitts actually have a choice but to enforce it own laws, regarding these rogue agents?

WHAT DID CHINA HAVE TO DO WITH MEHUL CHOKSI'S SIX YEARS IN ANTIGUA, HELPING HIM EVADE EXTRADITION TO PAY FOR HIS CRIMES?

If you heard me being interviewed today, on India's NDTV News program, on the arrest of the country's billionaire fraudster and its Most Wanted Man MEHUL CHOKSI, in Belgium, where it is hoped he will be ultimately extradited to his country to face justice, you may have noted I mentioned that it has been asserted that CHINA had a hand in Choksi's ability to evade extradition from Antigua for six years, by the payment of bribes to government staff members and officials.

China, from its large enclave in Antigua, exerts a huge amount of influence in local Antigua government circles, including in its corrupt judiciary, and it is believed that its has been engaged in providing illegal payments, causing Choksi's case to languish in the local courts, for the court to repeatedly reassign judges who were overseeing the case, causing delays of several years as the direct result. Additionally, China was behind the filing of dilatory, and completely bogus, appeals devoid of any legal merit, so that Choksi could cheat Indian justice. We call upon the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to open an investigation into the Choksi case, to uncover China's illegal involvement in delaying his lawful extradition, ad infinitum.

MIAMI MONEY LAUNDERER MOVING BULK CASH MURDERED AFTER AUTO CHASE; MONEY TAKEN, HER CORPSE WAS BURNED

For those who think that money laundering is a safe, white collar crime, think again, as laundrymen can end up as victims of violent crime, due to the dangers of bulk cash smuggling, which can make them a tempting target. If this individual pictured, Miguel Aguasvivas Lazardo, originally from the Dominican Republic, doesn't look like the typical professional who engages in money laundering, it's because he's a barber shop owner who ran a bulk cash smuggling operation, moving the proceeds of Colombian drug sales, south through Florida into Miami, where it was converted to cryptocurrency, for his Cartel clients.

He recently entered a plea in U.S. District Court to Money Laundering Conspiracy, but that's not why the case is noteworthy. His wife, who was driving her vehicle, bringing bulk drug cash south, was chased down, shot and killed, and her car set afire with her corpse inside. Being a money launderer has, as you can see, involves certain occupational risks, which may not be foreseeable to those who wish to engage in it, and which should be considered by those who think it is a relatively safe activity.

I am reminded of the time, stepping down after making a money laundering technique presentation at a Miami conference, when a DEA agent asked me if I had known a certain civil lawyer, recently deceased. I replied that we had, back in the early 1970s, worked at the same large downtown Miami law firm. Apparently, the agent said, he had not drowned in a boating accident, as the public had been lead to believe, but murdered by his client after a money laundering operation gone bad. I had no clue that he had ever been a laundryman. As you can see, this business has its share of danger. he was found, floating face down, in Biscayne Bay; think about that for a moment.

This was not the first time that someone in law enforcement has told me about how a money launderer met an early end, nor would it be the last time.

WHAT WILL THE EFFECT OF UPCOMING EUROPEAN ACTIONS TO CONTROL VISITORS HAVE ON THE CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT INDUSTRY?

Europe is fast moving towards asserting more control of who enters the Continent from abroad, apparently following in the footsteps of the United States. The United Kingdom has already instituted the UK Electronic Travel Authorisation, ETA system, which requires online application and approval in advance of UK travel.

Regarding the Member States of the European Union, EES, the Entry/Exit System, will track foreign arrivals and link them to departures, to get a handle on who precisely has left the EU, and who is still within its borders. It is anticipated that the much-delayed European Travel Information and Authorization System, ETIAS, will finally be implemented in late 2026. That will directly block the approval of unqualified visitors.

The net effect will be to precheck and thereby vett all potential foreign travelers to Europe. We are, however currently not aware of the level of inquiry which will be instituted, how data entered will be confirmed, and whether the programs will be able to catch undisclosed incriminating personal information in real-time.

Will deceptive information pass muster? Will the failure to disclose critical information that is disqualifying be exposed? There are so many questions presently unanswered, but we are also asking what effect these programs will have on travelers holding Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) passports from other than their country of birth, especially if it happens to be high risk, a designated State Sponsor of Terrorism, or if they are identified as white collar criminals, sanctions evaders, fraudsters, terrorist financiers, or suspected of other types of criminal activity, who happened to have acquired a CBI passport, notwithstanding their dodgy background, from a notable corrupt jurisdiction.

And the question is also whether affluent individuals who have secured CBI passports strictly for visa-free entry into Europe, which are frankly a large percentage of the second passport purchasers, will now be far more selective and careful as to which country's passport they choose to buy. will the industry undergo reform as the direct consequence of ETA and ETIAS? We cannot say this early on, but the net result could be that many of these programs will be forced to clean themselves up, or lose future business. Is CBI reform to be an unintended consequence of ETIAS, we wonder?

WE LEFT OUT THE MOST PROLIFIC MONEY LAUNDERER IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE FROM THE ROGUES GALLERY OF GASTON BROWNE PEPS NAMED IN THE DECLARATION; ALEX SAAB MORAN

The GASTON BROWNE CORRUPTION DISCOVERY APPLICATION has the Antigua money laundering activities of ALEX SAAB MORAN, the Colombian laundryman who worked directly for the MADURO regime in Venezuela, and who only escaped conviction and sentencing in the United States because he was exchanged for American businessmen who were held hostage there. Saab, who had money laundering offshore banks in both Antigua and Dominica, and who was an "Economic Envoy" for Browne, is prominently discussed in the declaration, was a close criminal associate of Gaston Browne. We have previously published his Antiguan CBI passport; he also held a diplomatic passport from Antigua.

SAINT KITTS GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL WARNED SENIOR LEADERS IN 2022 THAT THE ILLEGALLY-DISCOUNTED PASSPORT SALES AMOUNT TO A GOVERNMENTAL FRAUD ON A MASSIVE SCALE, BUT WAS IGNORED BY THE PRIME MINISTER

MARK BRANTLEY, who is now the Premier of Nevis, but who back in 2022 was the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Saint Kitts & Nevis, made a public statement to the press at that time, wherein he made what amounted to a full confession that his government was engaged in a conspiracy to commit fraud. Brantley, then part of the government, stated that he directly told then-PM Harris and other officials about the problem, but Harris refused to act. Brantley stated that the SKN government knew what they were doing was a fraud, and continued nevertheless.

Readers should also refer to the prior article on the subject;

IF THE GOVERNMENT CONSPIRES WITH YOU TO COMMIT FRAUD ON A GRAND SCALE, IS THAT AN AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE UNDER THE LAWS OF SAINT KITTS & NEVIS

IF THE GOVERNMENT CONSPIRES WITH YOU TO COMMIT FRAUD ON A GRAND SCALE, IS THAT AN AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE UNDER THE LAWS OF SAINT KITTS & NEVIS?

I must admit that it has been a while since I have consulted Halsbury's Laws of England on any research topic, and I am certainly neither qualified nor interested in rendering an opinion on the conduct of RIF TRUST and LATITUDE CONSULTANCY, whom the evidence appears to confirm were engaged in the widespread sale of illegally-discounted Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passports, but there is an issue of law which I feel that I must raise in this case.

Of the thirty-one established Affirmative Defenses in English Common Law, The conduct of the SKN Government, whose former Prime Minister TIMOTHY HARRIS and current Attorney General GARTH WILKIN not only permitted, but reportedly even encouraged, the illicit sales, which constitute a criminal act by statute, I find that RATIFICATION, which is the act of giving consent to, or sanctioning the prior acts of a defendant, such that a plaintiff cannot complaint about the act later, to be relevant based upon the facts and the evidence presented. Could the government be estopped from charging these two companies, based upon that principle?

Defrocked ex-Prime Minister Timothy Harris

    Former SKN Foreign Minister, and now the present Premier of Nevis, MARK BRANTLEY, publicly called out both PM Harris and AG Wilkin in 2022, for a national conspiracy to commit fraud, asserting that they had intentionally closed their eyes to the problem. They never took any action in response to his statement.

Inasmuch as there are media reports of threatened litigation, on both sides, as an objective and longtime observer of the Caribbean CBI industry, and to be fair and impartial on reporting the news, I am obligated to raise this issue. I cordially invite attorneys admitted to the practise of law in the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis to weigh in with an Opinion of Counsel. Are any claims against these two consultancies, or any other CBI vendors similarly situated, barred at Common Law?

Current Attorney General Garth Wilkin

HERE IS THE DISTRICT COURT ORDER GRANTING §782 DISCOVERY AGAINST ANTIGUA PRIME MINISTER GASTON BROWNE

Here is US District Judge JESSE FURMAN's ORDER granting the plaintiff the right to subpoena GASTON BROWNE's financial records.

POLITICALLY EXPOSED PERSONS (PEPS) FOUND IN THE GASTON BROWNE ANTIGUA CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF §782 DISCOVERY APPLICATION IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT

A number of readers indicated that they wanted to know the identities of the individuals named in the Declaration for the Discovery Application that, because of their connections to Antigua's Prime Minister, GASTON BROWNE, are considered to be Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) for compliance purposes, according to the generally accepted industry definition. Where relevant and known, I have further identified them by their family relationship, occupation or profession. They are all named in the Discovery request, filed in both SDNY and SDFL courts, in what has been captioned by the Applicant as IN RE: GASTON BROWNE CORRUPTION DISCOVERY APPLICATION.

1. RASONA DAVIS-CRUMP - Antigua Ministry of Finance.
2. DARWIN TELEMAQUE - CEO, Antigua Port Authority.
3.BRIAN STUART-YOUNG -Banker, Global Bank of Commerce,Caribbean Union Bank.
4. DAVID DORSETT, Esq, - personal attorney for GASTON BROWNE.
5. ALLEN ONEYANA - CEO Air Peace, LIAT 2020. ( under US Indictment).
6. GASTON ANDRON BROWNE III - son of Prime Minister.
7.MARIA VANESSA BIRD-BROWNE -wife of Prime Minister; member of Parliament and Minister of Housing.
8. MARY CLARE HURST - Director, Cove Head Development Limited; politician.
9.AUSTIN SMITH - Director, Cove Head Development Limited
10. XIAO JIANHUA - Chinese billionaire now serving 13 years in prison for corruption.

We shall continue to report on the developments in this case, as they unfold. Given that the Court in SDNY granted the Application, the evidence ultimately produced could be potentially as revealing for corruption, fraud and money laundering in Antigua as the §782 proceeding in the MSR Media case was for Saint Kitts & Nevis, and other states in the East Caribbean; Stay tuned.