IFSA denies SVG’s involvement in fraud

The International Financial Services Authority has disassociated itself from all fraudulent activities committed by international business company Preferred Group Ltd.{{more}}

In an article published on August 11, 2008, Caribbean Net News said that Preferred Trust & Management Ltd (PTM) and Preferred Group Ltd (PGL) of Grenada and St. Vincent were implicated in fraudulent activity that is now the centre of an on-going US court case. IFSA Executive Director Sharda Bollers on Wednesday circulated a press release disassociating her organization from any such activity.

The release said that although the PGL was registered in 1999 under St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ International business Companies Act 1996, it was struck off the register in 2006 in the exercise of the IFSA’s regulatory functions. Furthermore, the PTM, which operated out of Grenada, does not appear on IFSA records and was never granted license to operate in St. Vincent & the Grenadines, the release says.

Bollers stated that through the Attorney General’s Office and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), SVG has provided important assistance to US authorities investigating the matter. Moreover, due to major legislative and administrative changes – including the anti money-laundering legislation of 2001, SVG, in 2003, was taken off the international ‘Black List’ of Non Cooperating Countries and Territories, compiled by the Financial Action Task Force. According to the IFSA: “St. Vincent and the Grenadines presently has in place a strong regulatory framework for its international financial services, in accordance with best international practices. SVG also remains committed to international cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of suspected money laundering offences and other financial crimes.”

Arrested in Texas in June 2008, 66-year-old Verlin Swartzendruber is alleged to have fraudulently obtained between US$12 and 16 million from approximately 500 investors through ‘high yield’ investment schemes operated under the PTM umbrella. Also known as Joseph Severin, Swartzendruber’s son Byron and Frederick Keiser Jr. have been cited as accomplices. All US citizens, the trio are also alleged to have been involved, in the past, in fraudulent schemes not only in SVG and Grenada, but also in North Dakota, USA, Switzerland and Spain.(JSV)