American International Bank

The United States government has filed a forfeiture complaint against an offshore bank account that it claims contains some of the proceeds of an advance fee fraud that cheated more than 400 people out of at least $60 million.The action was filed on February 23, 2003 at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida against a bank account in the name of Nevis-registered Rosie Capital LLC at Euro Bank Corp. (in liquidation), of the Cayman Islands.

An application may be made to wind up Dominica based Overseas Development Bank & Trust in the first week of December if it does not honor a demand for payment from a creditor, we have been told.Attorney Michael Bruney told

In secret court hearings held in Antigua, the island's government has been trying to seize all or most of the $76 million of assets recovered so far in the liquidation of Eurofed Bank Ltd., we can reveal.The government is claiming the assets under its anti-money laundering laws on the grounds that they are the proceeds of criminal activity by former Ukraine Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, 48.

Regulators have applied to the High Court of Antigua to remove Edward St. Clair Smith as Receiver of American International Bank and change the bank's status from receivership to liquidation. St. Clair-Smith is opposing the action on the grounds that the bank can still be sold as a going concern and that there is a reputable Caribbean company interested in buying it, said a source.

Former Bermuda insurance boss John McGarrity resurfaces in the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos Islands regulators issue warning about Petro Funds, Bahamas resident Yank Barry goes on trial in Texas, default judgment entered in U. S. against American International Bank (in receivership), Bahamas union boss negotiates for employees of Suisse Security Bank & Trust, a private letter from FIBG principal Van Brink hints at corrupt payments to influential individuals in Grenada.

A civil lawsuit has been filed in the United States by victims of a failed Antigua-based investment scheme known as 'The Forum'.The lawsuit was filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas on January 24, 2001 by 64 individual plaintiffs.

Antigua continued its battle to clean up the image of its offshore financial services sector this month with the arrest of a notorious banker and an attempt to force another suspect bank into receivership. American-born William W. Cooper, aged 59, was arrested in Antigua on May 18 after a warrant was issued against him in the United States, where he has been criminally indicted for alleged money laundering and fraud.

Dominica-licensed Overseas Development Bank & Trust Ltd., which is run by John E. Greaves in Antigua, appears to be in financial trouble.Three separate judgments for a total of US$1.24 million were entered against the bank on January 29, 1999 by the High Court of Justice in Dominica.

If you ever needed proof as to how far the Russian mafia has infiltrated Antigua's government, you need look no further than Clare K. Roberts, who was Antigua's Attorney General until last year, and Steadroy Benjamin, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives; The Caribbean Bank of Commerce featured in an alert sent out by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to US banks and regulators on November 13, 1998 that advised that the bank was operating illegally from an address in the United States, namely 17 Chestnut Street, Ridgewood, New Jersey; Bermuda Supreme Court last month appointed the Official Receiver to take over the financial affairs of Bermuda attorney Julian Hall, who used to be an MP for the Progressive Labour Party when it was in Opposition; A French chateau hotel venture run by outspoken former Bermuda-based insurance boss Jonathan Crawley seems to be heading the way of several insurance companies he helped run; The name of Antigua-registered American International Bank, which is now in receivership after being mismanaged by its owner William Cooper and its CEO John E. Greaves, has cropped up in several official investigations into criminal activity involving money laundering; and The Cayman Islands government wasted yet more of the public's money by first obtaining a court injunction against the Cayman Free Press preventing its Caymanian Compass newspaper from reporting the contents of the government's agreement with telecommunications carrier Cable & Wireless and then inexplicably dropping the matter without any explanation just before a court hearing to hear the pros and cons of the case.

Further information has come our way this month that sheds more light on the collapse of American International Bank and the fiasco that ensued after the same people who caused its problems attempted to transfer the business into another entity they controlled. It seems that American businessman William W. Cooper and his wife, who co-owned AIB, closed down the bank at the end of December, 1997 and transferred its business on January 2 to a new Antigua-registered entity called Overseas Development Bank Ltd.

A proposal to buy American International Bank Ltd. that was put forward by a businessman with a history of operating shady schemes has fallen through, we have been told. AIB's receiver, Edward St. Clair Smith, is now believed to be trying to sell the insolvent bank to other interested parties for $3.5 million, according to a source.

A battle is taking place for control of the assets of American International Bank Ltd. of Antigua, which went into receivership earlier this year. The bank's demise happened after its principal, William Cooper, tried to set up a new bank called Overseas Development Bank Ltd. to buy AIB, said sources.