WE TAKE A DEEP DIVE INTO THE PEPS OF ANTIGUA WHO USE DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS FOR MONEY LAUNDERING, FRAUD AND CORRUPTION ON BEHALF OF PM GASTON BROWNE AND HIS LABOUR PARTY

If you remember that ALEX SAAB MORAN, the Colombian money launderer had a diplomatic passport from Antigua and Barbuda, designating him an "Economic Envoy" without an assignment, posting or  any responsibilities or official duties, which he used to launder for Venezuela's President NICOLAS  MADURO and the drug trafficking CARTEL DEL SOL, then you know that in Antigua, Diplomatic credentials are handed out like candy to Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) affiliated with Prime Minister GASTON BROWNE. You may have even read our article ANTIGUA, WHERE EVEN THE DOGCATCHER HAS A DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT.

Taken verbatim from an exhibit in the §1782 Discovery proceeding, IN RE GASTON BROWN CORRUPTION DISCOVERY APPLICATION, Case No.; 24-mc-00098-JMF (SDNY),  is a somewhat dated official list of all active diplomatic passports issued and outstanding by Antigua and Barbuda. Many of these PEPs, who are closely linked to PM Browne's corrupt government, use them to evade customs and immigration controls, launder money, facilitate transnational fraud, and promote official corruption involving China, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, Iran, North Korea and other countries. 

Compliance officers might want to check these names against your client, customer and counterparty lists, and to act accordingly, if you find any confirmed matches, as many PEPs conceal that status when opening accounts. Happy hunting, ladies and gentlemen.

OFAC SANCTION OF IRANIAN MONEY LAUNDERER REMINDS US OF DOMINICA PM ROOSEVELT SKERRIT'S ILLICIT SALE OF DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS TO HIS PARTNER

                           

We note that the latest round of US Treasury OFAC  sanctions against Iranians supporting the regime included BABAK MORTEZA ZANJANI, the Iranian world-class criminal who once stole USD$2bn from the regime's illicit oil revenues, which earned him a Death Sentence in Tehran for Corruption on Earth. Zanjani, whose execution was later stayed, and converted to a twenty year sentence, was released last year, after swerving eleven years, so he could, under close government supervision, return to money laundering for Iran, hence the US Treasury action against him.

Babak Zanjani  (in prison uniform for condemned inmates)

Zanjani did not act alone regarding the embezzlement of the two million; his crew included REZA ZARRAB, who exchanged sanctioned oil for gold from Turkey. Zarrab, who was arrested at MIA when he and his family arrived to visit Disney World, and who escaped a major SDNY indictment by throwing his lot in with the CIA, (who sprung him from jail for G-d knows what level of covert cooperation); he currently owns a ranch in sunny South Florida. BTW Zarrab also had a handful of different passports.

Reza Zarrab, with some of his cash.

Zanjani's other senior partner, career criminal ALIREZA MONFARED, bought a number of diplomatic passports, for cash of course, from the one individual in the Caribbean who is in a class of his own when it comes to official  corruption, Dominica's longest-serving Prime Minister, ROOSEVELT SKERRIT. Skerrit, who once flew frantically to London to deliver yet another diplomatic passport to a career criminal who was a former Nigerian oil minister that was a fleeing fugitive from justice, is still selling instant diplomatic status for a bucket of greenbacks. His clients use their newly-acquired "diplomatic status" to evade customs and immigration kiosks at airports of entry in the developing world, allowing them to smuggle financial instruments, cash, precious gems, fine art and all sorts of other contraband. 

Roosevelt Skerrit and Alireza Monfared

The United Nations has studiously ignored the corrupt sale of diplomatic passports by greedy Caribbean leaders for decades, so unless President Trump  decides that Skerrit is the next national leader to sit in the dock in Federal District Court in New York for his many sins and transgressions, he will continue to violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, notwithstanding that Dominica is a signatory.However, the odds of whether he enjoys his sunset years, with all his filthy lucre, in Dubai, depends upon factors outside his control. There are generally few happy endings in tales such as his.

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READ THE COMPLETE TEXT OF THE SUCCESSFUL LAWSUIT AGAINST THE SINT MAARTEN ATTORNEY-FRAUDSTER IN OUR INVESTIGATION

 

Given that there have been reports that some readers, particularly those in the Government of Anguilla, have voiced doubts regarding the truth and accuracy of our investigative articles, we herewith append, both above and below, the complete text of the court decision, rendered in favor of our whistleblower, when litigation was brought against him by the  Sint Maarten attorney & fraudster, ELVIA MOENIR-ALAM. There, a court of competent jurisdiction entered as judgment completely in the whistleblower's favor.

Please note that we are now identifying our whistleblower; he is the well-known Anguilla CPA LYNDON WEBSTER, whose bona fides and credibility speak for itself. Readers should review the judgment prior to reading the next installment in our continuing series on Corruption in Anguilla.

 

SAINT KITTS, BRING BACK LES KHAN

SKN CIU Chairman Calvin St. Juste

For several years, we have chronicled the corrupt activities of LESLIE "LES" KHAN the former Chairman of the Saint Kitts & Nevis Citizenship by Investment CIU, the agency that administers the country's economic Passport program. Khan, who stole millions from the people of Saint Kitts for personal greed and avarice, symbolizes all that has gone wrong with Caribbean CBI, when corruption rears its angry head. But now, we must speak out about the troubling conduct of CALVIN ST. JUSTE, the current serving CIU Chairman, whose unbridled arrogance and unethical behavior have fatally damaged not only Saint Kitts' reputation, but the integrity of  the Citizenship by Investment program. 

Ex- Chairman Leslie "Les" Khan

A number of CBI sales agents involved in the program have openly complained about Chairman St. Juste; he has demanded commissions from agents as a precondition just to process them. Worse, he has not just limited his misconduct to agents; he is presently demanding outright bribes from developers who are bringing vital CBI projects to Saint Kitts. He makes it perfectly clear that, without an illegal advance payment to him, he will refuse to process or advance any CBI application files.

Agents based in the Middle East, the epicenter of CBI sales, have gone so far as to label him "worse than Les Khan," which speaks volumes about St. Juste's corrupt conduct. One of our sources have revealed that a senior executive one of the major players in the investment migration industry, speaking under condition of anonymity, disclosed that he is demanding commissions from their company, as a condition precedent for processing citizenship applications. 

St. Juste seems to hold the opinion that he is intellectually superior to everyone. including SKN Prime Minister TERRANCE DREW, whom he arrogantly considers beneath him. Alarmingly, he is known to have kept his prime minister in the dark, regarding key aspects of the CBI program. In truth and in fact, however, he knows nothing of substance, lacks professionalism, ethics, good conduct, and most importantly, honesty.

Saint Kitts & Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew

The situation at the CIU is deeply concerning, and demands immediate attention from the leaders of Saint Kitts, to restore trust in the program, which is already facing what amounts to an existential threat to its future viability, for a host of reasons. That is why the sales agents say, with a straight face,  Bring Back Les Khan, Saint Kitts.

MARK BRANTLEY: THE NEW POWERHOUSE OF THE CARIBBEAN

Nevis Premier Mark Brantley

For more than twenty years, I have exposed the corruption and fraud surrounding Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programs across the Caribbean. When leaders fail, they should be called out. But when one breaks from the mold, that too must be recognized. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis, stands alone. He is the only Caribbean leader to publicly state that CBI is dead, and he was the first to denounce the fraudulent Galaxy Jail project in Saint Kitts—while others remained silent.

Brantley is not managing decline; he is building a future for the Nevis economy. He has secured a major luxury real-estate development, “Destiny,” led by a Belgian developer, a project capable of transforming the Nevis economy and adding an estimated 20,000 new residents through real investment and job creation. He has also positioned Nevis as a future energy powerhouse by securing geothermal development, ensuring long-term energy independence and regional leadership.

In parallel, Brantley has obtained financing to modernize Nevis’s airport to attract private jets and high-net-worth visitors, while launching a regulated online gambling industry to diversify the Nevis economy.Mark Brantley understands a truth others refuse to face: CBI is finished. Nevis must become a new model—closer to Monaco or Dubai than a passport-for-sale economy. If Brantley succeeds with this vision, he will not only transform Nevis. He will emerge as the new economic power of the Caribbean—and the political visionary the Caribbean has been waiting for.

THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF AMERICA'S DEPORTATION OF ILLEGAL ALIENS TO THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN STATES

The United States has entered into formal agreements with the Eastern Caribbean states of Antigua & Barbuda, and the Commonwealth of Dominica,, whereby illegal immigrants being deported from America, whose countries of origin have refused to accept them, will be accepted by these two Caribbean signatories; the U.S. will reportedly pay for their housing and sustenance. Not coincidentally, these two nations have been recently targeted by America for their corrupt Citizenship by Investment programs, which have been deemed to facilitate a national security threat from China.

The citizens of these two Caribbean nations have expressed their unhappiness with the agreements, but nevertheless they are expected to be honored by their leaders. Information we have received from insiders in Antigua indicates that the country's Prime Minister, GASTON BROWNE, has a trick up his sleeve for the administration of the program, which will actually work to increase, not decrease, China's influence in the Caribbean.

Our sources have disclosed that the deportees, upon arrival in Antigua, will be placed in housing constructed by China, using Chinese workers imported for that task, and not local Antiguans. It gets worse; a substantial portion of the millions of dollars that America will be paying to Browne's government will be promptly handed over to China, which is owned a huge sum by Antigua for its capital improvements on the island nation, as well as outstanding debt previously incurred. Kickbacks will then be paid to several senior Caribbean politicians, for allowing this arrangement, which will only serve to further the dependence of these states on China.

These Chinese workers will enter without proper visas, due to China's undue influence in Antigua. It is expected that Dominica's government, led by the openly pro-Chinese Prime Minister ROOSEVELT SKERRIT, will follow suit. Dominica, with its 900-man Chinese Embassy and Chinese advisors to its Labour government, is also bound to pay China with American taxpayer dollars for housing our deportees. China will pay no taxes in Antigua on this substantial cash flow, which will most likely continue for years.

The United States must immediately make it clear to the leadership of both these countries that local contractors must be engaged to build the necessary structures to house and sustain the deportees; payment must be made directly to them to insure that China is not enriched at American expense and The U.S. must supervise the process to avoid the usual corruption that infects every major construction project in the Caribbean where local government is involved.

ANGUILLA CONTINUES TO IGNORE FRAUD AND CORRUPTION IN ITS OFFSHORE INDUSTRY

Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory in the Eastern Caribbean, is an offshore financial center whose operation heavily supports the local economy. There is no tax in offshore entities, regarding corporate income, capital gains, estate, and gift taxes. One can easily and quickly incorporate there from a remote location, first using the online facility known as ACORN, and now Commercial Registry Electronic System (CRES) the subsequent platform; note that beneficial owner information is not publicly available.

While there is supposedly regulatory oversight, from the Anguilla Financial Services Commission (AFSC), we found in our investigation, as we have demonstrated in our continuing series of articles, that fraud and corruption are allowed to occur, and that complaints and inquiries from parties who suffer damages as the direct result of such misconduct are summarily ignored, or excused.

In the case that we have been analyzing of late, complaints of obvious misconduct verging on negligence, on the part of the Registrar of Companies, was rejected, not only by the AFSC, but by the Governor's Office itself. There is substantial correspondence to and from both to support this conclusion. The fact that the Governor, Her Excellency JULIA CROUCH, chooses to ignore the matter is significant, as all offshore schemes are by definition fragile, and their continued attraction to users is dependent upon confidence that crimes will be promptly and aggressively addressed.

Governor Crouch

We accuse the Governor's Office of pointedly ignoring what is a valid complaint, supported by a judicial determination of its validity, of misconduct of agencies under its command, and in the private sector, and where questions of corruption and mismanagement were completely ignored. If Anguilla's government is unable or unwilling to supervise its offshore financial scheme, and that status becomes public knowledge in the financial world, clients will correctly choose to do business elsewhere, and the local economy, which is dependent upon such business, could suffer a serious loss in necessary income.

IS THE UK'S NEW 2026 RULE ON ENTERING DUAL NATIONALS EXPRESSLY DESIGNED TO FOIL BRITAIN'S RESIDENT MONEY LAUNDERERS?

If you read the recent report that now requires British citizens who are dual nationals to produce their UK passport at Border Control when entering, it may be for more than statistics or processing convenience. When I was a career money launderer, I always used different forms of identification, when leaving and later entering the United States. Basically, it's Confusion to the Enemy.

British laundrymen, who have heretofore been able to deploy one of their trusty Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passports at entry, which of course do not correspond with their previous exist with a UK passport, to foil tracking, ongoing criminal investigations, and to minimize the chances that they will be detained, searched and arrested when entering Britain, will no longer be able to utilize their CBI passport to pose as an ever-so-slightly different individual, with say a difference middle name or confusing DOB or Place of Birth.

if this was the intent of the British Government in enacting this new regulation, my hat is off to them.

REPEATED SCANDALS OVER CRIMINALS ABUSING SAINT KITTS & NEVIS CBI PASSPORTS HAVE STIGMATIZED THEM, RESULTING A MAJOR DECREASE IN BOTH CONSUMER INTEREST, AND ACTUAL SALES

The horror stores in the press are endless; a sanctioned billionaire linked to the IRGC; an Asian fraudster who stole billions; Chinese criminals arrested in the United States; an Iranian oil sanctions evader who diverted billions with his crew; the list goes on and on and on. It has now resulted in a massive reduction in the number of individuals who are interested in purchasing a Citizenship by Investment passport from Saint Kitts & Nevis. When wealthy consumers heard about the major scandal involving illegal discounts of the sales price, fraud, money laundering and corruption, they sought the citizenship programs of other jurisdictions.

While the leadership in Basseterre tries to say it is business as usual, internal political dissent, regarding how the Drew administration is handling CBI, has become open and hostile, consumers reading local media are turned off, notwithstanding the expensive, glossy media campaign, passing off SKN passports as the "Gold Standard." Consumers aren't buying it, and holders of those expensive identity documents fear that their investment is in jeopardy.
They have a right to be concerned. Will they themselves now be interrogated upon arrival at immigration? Will those SKN passports become useless? Stay tuned.

DO SPONSOR BANKS HAVE A DUTY TO BUILD AN EFFECTIVE AML COMPLIANCE PROGRAM FOR THEIR FINTECH PARTNERS?

Given the fact that regulators seem to be moving in the direction of holding sponsor banks strictly liable for the money failures of their sponsor bank partners, it would seem logical, from a risk management point of view, that they take the initiative, and actually have their director of compliance assist with the set up of fintech compliance departments. This would mean locating staff talent who can be effective on AML/CFT, and seeing that the software that is installed there and in active use, (with adequate training) attains that favored banking best practices level.

I know this sound like a budget-buster, but it there really any choice, in what is becoming a strict regulatory world, as to be honest, fintech business at a bank enlarges it business volume, results in additional accounts and new consumer clients, and is, in essence, lucrative.

Therefore, from a purely risk standpoint, it is the right thing to do, even if the sponsor bank must pay for the essential software, which it itself is already using in-house. Money launderers most certainly are aware of the AML deficiencies fintechs, especially the startup variety, possess, and go right for those obvious vulnerabilities; don't give them the opportunity to use the fintechs to launder the proceeds of crime through them, and into your bank.

THE GOVERNMENT OF ANGUILLA HAS FAILED TO RESPOND TO CORRUPTION, EVEN THOUGH IT HAS BEEN REDUCED TO A JUDGEMENT IN COURT

In advance of our next segment in the continuing series detailing fraud and corruption in Anguilla, I want to be perfectly clear about the validity of the allegations being detailed; the whistleblower's claims has already been adjudicated in a court of competent jurisdiction. A final judgment has been entered in his favour, and this information has been conveyed to the Government of Anguilla. There is sufficient correspondence to confirm that requests that government take action to insure that justice will prevail, and accountability, at both the official, as well as the private level, have been timely made.

Unfortunately, the relevant government officials in Anguilla have failed to assist the whistleblower in any way, forcing him to disclose the matter to journalists, to seek redress in this public forum. Rest assured that the matter has been litigated, and the results obtained are therefore Res Judicata. The entities and agencies I have named are therefore estopped from claiming that proof is lacking, or that the claims are bogus.

Readers are invited to watch as the tale of corruption continues to be told here, where we will display the terms of the judgment, and the relevant email correspondence showing the efforts by the whistleblower to bring the fraud and corruption to attention of the authorities, to no avail.

TO SOLVE FINTECH AML ISSUES IN REAL TIME, SPONSOR BANK PARTNERS MUST HAVE A DIRECT CONNECTION TO BOTH THEIR COMPLIANCE TEAM AND SOFTWARE PROVIDER

We have covered the unique disadvantages that plague fintech, when it comes to having effective AML compliance; there will always be inexperienced compliance officers, and a corporate culture that emphasizes growth and thereby profitability over good compliance gatekeeping procedures, so a workaround is not only good business, it is necessary, if sponsor banks are to protect themselves from money laundering problems that originate at their fintech partners.

It is time for sponsor bank partners to offer an effective and timely solution. We humbly suggest a two-part response:

(1) Set up a dedicated telephone line, and email address, within the sponsor bank's compliance department, whose sole mission is to respond to real-time AML or CFT queries from fintech frontline compliance officers. Incoming queries are to have immediate, priority attention, forthwith, with proper alerts to warn sponsor bank compliance that one exists. This way, they will get answered first. call it a "hotline" to solve problems.

(2) Arrange a specific contact act at the outside firm which provided the software products that the sponsor bank delivered to the fintech, to assist with compliance, so that technical issues, or the need for additional platforms, can be addressed when they arise.

This way, fintech compliance officers have a direct contact with someone experienced at frontline AML, who can answer specific questions about a problem, as well as software providers who can supply technical support, or suggest new products, where issues arise. Short of placing their own staff inside fintechs, we believe this is a way to answering the questions of active, frontline fintech compliance officers, on the spot, and without delay.

ANGUILLA CONTINUES TO ATTRACT DODGY FOREIGN LAWYERS,WHO ARE FACILITATED BY FINANCIAL SERVICE COMPANIES, AND POINTEDLY IGNORED BY GOVERNMENT REGULATORS

Elvia Moenir-Alam

Back in the day, the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla was known to be user-friendly to money launderers, white collar criminals looking for a place to park their proceeds of crime, and other individuals which we label the Usual Suspects, some of whom were actually arrested in Anguilla itself and removed by foreign law enforcement agencies. During the period of the 1980s, Scotland Yard had some of its detectives granted arrest powers in the British Caribbean possessions and they worked out of the Miami FBI headquarters during that period.

After 9/11, there was a flurry of activity that was supposed to result in reform of the most notorious Caribbean"tax havens," or offshore financial centers involved in laundering criminal profits, including Anguilla, and I was given to understand that financial misconduct was a thing of the past there. However, after recently receiving information from a whistleblower there, himself a noted professional, I have learned that,. at least in some quarters, it is still business as usual.

to illustrate the current situation, I present the first example; Sint Maarten attorney, ELVIA MOENIR-ALAM, pictured here, known to represent dodgy clients alleged to be involved in narcotics trafficking. Notwithstanding that reputation, she had no problem committing a major fraud in Anguilla, allegedly assisted by the financial services firm, VISTRA CORPORATE SERVICES (ANGUILLA) LIMITED, whose name you may be familiar with, due to its involvement with the massive $4bn cryptofraud that was BINANCE HOLDINGS, which resulted in a Federal indictment, and a new major civil suit, filed by the survivors of the Hamas attack on Israel.

Vistra accepted, and processed, an Anguilla shell company, that had a name deceptively similar to that of an existing company, and which therefore should never have been completed; any mandatory name search conducted would have revealed that it was not acceptable for filing. Furthermore, the existing name was the fee simple title holder and owner of real property in Sint Maarten, owned by an Anguilla International Business company, creating the possibility that the fraudster, Moenir, could illegally transfer title, and obtain an asset that was not hers. Without Vistra's negligence in creating this new deceptive entity, such a fraud would not be possible.

We will be further detailing this matter, but the reader should be aware that there is another bad actor that contributed to the fraud: the Anguilla Company Registry negligently created the new entity for Moenir, with a deceptively similar name, and whose continuing misconduct the subject of our next upcoming article; Stay tuned.