Kuldip Singh

The recent collapse in suspicious circumstances of four investment funds in the Cayman Islands which were established by one of the island's leading local businessmen - Naul Bodden - highlights the absurd level of secrecy that exists in all offshore financial centers that are currently or formerly UK Overseas Territories and, for that matter, the UK itself; Meanwhile, as one of Cayman's worst local company collapses was unfolding, a much-accomplished regulator who would have inspired confidence among the international community that the liquidations would be handled properly, Tim Ridley, was being replaced, effective July 27, 2008, as Chairman of the supposedly-independent Cayman Islands Monetary Authority by Carlyle McLaughlin, who is a cousin of Alden McLaughlin, a senior member of the Cayman Islands Government; Continuing on a Cayman theme, OffshoreAlert noticed that a US-based entrepreneur, Uthman Villanueva, using a business name of 'Golden Crest Consulting' a 'hotmail' email address and a PO Box mailing address in New York, NY, registered the domain name 'uglandhouse.com' as recently as June 28, 2008 - just a few weeks before the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation was due to hold a hearing into tax avoidance and evasion in offshore financial centers; and Three founders of a fraudulent, offshore-focused outfit that was known first as the Global Prosperity Group and later as the Institute of Global Prosperity, received prison-terms for tax crimes at federal court in the USA on July 28, 2008.

Two husband-and-wife teams who specialized in selling sham offshore tax evasion vehicles to U. S. taxpayers via the Global Prosperity Group were dealt with by the criminal courts in December.

A fugitive international fraudster now living in Panama tried to impress potential victims by carrying around a "brown bag of cash" to buy a yacht and other expensive items, according to a court judgment. David Struckman, co-founder of the now-defunct Global Prosperity Group, obtained the money by emptying multiple ATMs of all their cash, it was claimed. Details of Struckman's purported spending habits were disclosed during proceedings at the U. S. District Court for the District of Oklahoma. Struckman was held in default for failing to comply with court rules and, on November 10, 2004, the court issued a judgment for $4.65 million against him and two of his firms, Pinnacle Quest International Inc., of Panama, and Synergy Productions International Inc., of Missouri, which he formed after abandoning GPG.

Daniel Andersen has become the latest member of the Global Prosperity Group - which specialized in investment and tax fraud - to be convicted in the United States.Andersen, of Leominster, Massachusetts, and Oxnard, California, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States at the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on July 15, 2004.