NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Two Companies, Cooperhill Investments Limited and Kazou BV, recently filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking to recover $10.8 million that the companies allege the Republic of Seychelles illegally seized from them in 2010. As alleged in the complaint, this seizure is the latest in a campaign of financial piracy by the Republic of Seychelles, which has seized over 100 bank accounts of foreign individuals and companies since 2008. Following a consistent pattern of behavior that has been exposed in two previous lawsuits alleging financial piracy, the Seychelles’ Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), who took the money, has offered no explanation at all for its seizure of the assets. One of these prior lawsuits, according to the Complaint, alleged that Seychelles even kidnapped foreign nationals, threatened them with false drug charges and harassed a teenage girl to meet its goal of stealing money from the plaintiffs in that case.
The Complaint alleges that this program of state-sponsored financial piracy is being undertaken by the Republic of Seychelles in order to rebuild its foreign reserves as the result of an acute financial crisis stemming to 2008. Furthermore, as the Complaint pleads, Seychelles is obtaining financial assistance from both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank, while, at the same time, stealing money from Seychelles’ banking customers. This conduct, the Complaint alleges, is consistent with findings of the U.S. State Department that Seychelles officials sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.
As alleged in the Complaint, in this most recent example of financial piracy, a BMI Bank manager lured Cooperhill’s patronage from another bank and then helped the FIU illegally take Cooperhill’s funds. The Complaint also alleges that BMI Bank then helped the FIU actually increase the amount of money in the account by surreptitiously blocking withdrawals while at the same time allowing numerous further deposits. The Complaint further alleges that Barclays Bank, as it has done in the past, conspired with the FIU to illegally seize Kazou’s funds. To accomplish this goal, the Complaint alleges, Barclays Bank stalled and asked unnecessary questions in order to prevent funds from transferring out of the account. The net effect, according to the Complaint, was that Barclays helped the FIU to grow the funds that it stole.
Craig Weiner, Esq. of Hofheimer, Gartlir, Gross, LLP, a New York based law firm and lead counsel for the plaintiffs stated: “Few people would believe that in this day and age that their bank assets could be seized by a foreign government without regard to due process of law, banking regulation, or standard business practice. Our complaint alleges that this very condition has existed since at least 2008 in the Seychelles, and we strongly advise investors to be wary of depositing any assets there for that very reason."
The Complaint also pleads that the FIU carried out their illegal actions at the direction of Irish nationals Barry Galvin, Liam Hogan, Declan Barber and Joe Cully (aka Niall Scully), who act as subcontractors to Seychelles, and each have been individually named in prior lawsuit(s) and in this recent Complaint. According to the complaint, Galvin and Hogan are former members of the Irish national police force and secret police and Barber and Cully were members of a secret Irish military unit. According to the Complaint, these rogue subcontractors reportedly receive substantial commissions based on the amount of funds they seize and are compensated far in excess of their Seychelles counterparts, which according to the Seychelles press has resulted in significant discord.
The Complaint alleges that the Seychelles government has continued its policy of financial piracy, even in the face of heightened scrutiny from the prior lawsuits and media attention. This time, as alleged in the Complaint, Seychelles has not even bothered to offer an excuse for why its agents have stolen the funds -- it merely took the money.
Clients are represented by Craig Weiner at Hofheimer, Gartlir, Gross and Avi Pawar in the UK.
Dr. George Xiao sued #DPP solicitor Barry Galvin. Senior #Garda Liam Hogan & Declan Barber for $8.5 million
Xiao said that Garda Hogan & Barber had committed perjury & had brazenly & routinely ignored court orders
Irish Media cover #rte? serious #coverup
http://www.seychellesweekly.com/November%2029,%202009/p43_lawsuit.html
Lawsuit Charges Seychelles Government With Financial Piracy
Complaint Charges that Government Illegally Seized $8.5 Million from Solar Energy Company With Help From Barclays Bank and Three Irish Subcontractors
(December 1, 2009, New York, NY) – Dr. George Xiao today filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking to recover $8.5 million that he alleges the Republic of Seychelles illegally seized from his solar energy company in 2008. The complaint also seeks over $30 million in consequential damages. The Seychelles Government has offered no credible explanation or formal justification for its seizure of the assets deposited in the Barclays Bank branch in Seychelles and refuses to return the money.
As set forth in the complaint, Seychelles embarked upon a course of action wherein it seized the funds without cause and only afterwards sought to “work backwards” and create a viable justification for the seizure. However, no justification exists. In the past year the Government of Seychelles has seized more than 100 bank accounts held by foreign individuals and companies.
Seychelles has been in an acute financial crisis since 2008. The International Monetary Fund has had to step in to save the country from the brink of disaster. Seychelles is also trying to renegotiate its foreign debt, and its foreign exchange reserves are depleted. Adding to its other financial woes Seychelles has recently been tied to the $10 billion Kazakh Bank scandal.
“Our complaint alleges that the Seychelles government is so desperate for money that it has resorted to what amounts to financial piracy, preying on unsuspecting foreign businesses and individuals,” said Craig Weiner, an attorney at Hofheimer Gartlir & Gross, LLP, which represents Dr. Xiao and his company. “Seychelles is using unfounded and unproven allegations of fraud and money laundering as a pretext to seize the bank accounts of non-citizens with no legal or logical justification,” Weiner added, summarizing the allegations made in the complaint.
“Seychelles positions itself as an offshore financial center in order to lure unsuspecting businesses and then misappropriate their funds,” Weiner added, describing the complaint. “Even the U.S. State Department has warned that Seychelles officials often engage in corruption with impunity. If you are thinking of doing business in Seychelles, beware,” Weiner added.
The complaint also alleges that the Seychelles Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has subcontracted its operations to three Irish nationals, Barry Galvin, Liam Hogan, and Declan Barber, each of whom is named individually as a defendant. According to the complaint, Galvin and Hogan are former members of the Irish national police force and secret police. According to the complaint, these rogue subcontractors have no background in banking or financial matters and reportedly receive substantial commissions based on the amount of funds they seize.
The complaint further alleges that Hogan and Barber have committed perjury and have brazenly and routinely ignored court orders. “Anyone who has been convicted of a crime in Ireland on the strength of their testimony should consider petitioning the court for a new trial,” Weiner said.
In December 2008, Dr. Xiao sought to establish a bank account for his company at Barclays Bank in Seychelles in order to receive wire transfers from a client in Asia. According to the complaint filed today, Barclays repeatedly delayed opening the account and failed to provide the necessary account documents and information. It turned out that at the same time, Barclays was working with the FIU to plan the seizure of the funds.
When the account was finally opened, Barclays and Seychelles officials immediately seized the assets. Neither Barclays nor the FIU has ever provided Dr. Xiao with a copy of FIU’s formal justification for seizing the company’s assets. The complaint also alleges that Barclays and Seychelles officials in 2009 engaged in a fraudulent scheme to seize additional deposits made by Dr. Xiao’s company.
An article in a local Seychelles newspaper severely criticized both Barclays and the Seychelles government for what it called “incompetence, a lack of understanding of normal banking procedures and protocol, and extreme arrogance and impunity in the application of the law.”
A copy of the complaint is available upon request. The case number is 09-9845.
About the Republic of Seychelles
The Republic of Seychelles is comprised of 115 islands located approximately 950 miles off the coast of Kenya. Dependent on tourism and fishing for revenue, the Seychelles government is increasingly promoting the country as an offshore business haven. In October 2008, facing the near-depletion of official foreign exchange reserves, Seychelles defaulted on its foreign debt payments, requiring the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to step in and help save the country from bankruptcy.
About Dr. George Xiao
Dr. George Xiao markets and sells proprietary technology used in solar energy production. He is a leading expert in the commercialization of process technology to the solar industry. Dr. Xiao works with a technical team comprised of experts in process design, polysilicon plant integration, plant commissioning and foundational work.
Contact: Jordan Stark, Levick Strategic Communications: (202) 973-1334 or jstark@levick.com.
https://lavwa-seychelles.blogspot.com/2010/05/news-flash-irish-cops-in-seychelles.html
https://starseychelles.blogspot.com/2011/02/eyewitness-news_17.html
US COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Alarming Allegations Against Barclays Bank
By DAN MCCUE MANHATTAN (CN) - The Republic of Seychelles and its Financial Intelligence Unit conspired with Barclays Bank, and "commandeered the world's financial system and ransacked the bank accounts of legitimate businesses and law-abiding citizens," two businesses claim in Federal Court. It is the third such complaint to be filed against Barclays and the tiny island nation off the northeast coast of Madagascar since 2009.
Cooperhill Investments, an international securities trading platform, and Kazou BV, an energy-efficiency business, claim the defendants, including BMI Offshore Bank of Bahrain, cost them $10.7 million - and that they were helped by a renegade band of Irish mercenaries.
In the earliest of the three cases, a small solar energy company accused the two entities of seizing $8.5 million from its accounts.
In the second case, two English businessmen claimed they paid the Republic of Seychelles a $460,000 ransom after being held hostage for 4 months by the Irish mercenaries.
"As noted in two previous lawsuits filed in this Court, rather than trolling the world's oceans for prey, the Seychelles government, in cooperation and conspiracy with Barclays Bank - and now BMI Bank of Bahrain - has commandeered the world's financial system and ransacked the bank accounts of legitimate businesses and law abiding citizens," the latest complaint charges.
"The Seychelles Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), rather than brandish machine guns or grenade launchers has, by offering significant compensation, lured former Irish Gardai and former members of a secret Irish military unit to act as its mercenaries," the lawsuit continues.
"These former Irish Gardai [defendants Barry Galvin and Laim Hogan], and former members of a secret Irish military unit [defendants Declan Barber and Neil Scully], appear all too eager to disregard due process, engage in perjury, suborn perjury, encourage false official statements, and run amuck.
"These Irish subcontractors engage in these activities with little or no conscience as to the damage that they are causing their victims - and with no foresight as to the crippling blow they are dealing to the reputation of the Seychelles banking industry. They have gone so far that the plaintiffs in one of the previous lawsuits alleged that the FIU and its Irish subcontractors kidnapped the plaintiffs and held them for ransom.
"Unfortunately, plaintiffs here also have fallen victim to this rapacity. As with other businesses and individuals, they had the misfortune of depositing money into Barclays and BMI banks accounts in Seychelles, where the funds were subject to theft by Seychelles and the FIU - with assistance from these two banks."
Both plaintiffs say they opened accounts with the defendant banks, Barclays Bank (Seychelles) Ltd., and BMI Offshore Bank (Seychelles) in 2008.
"Although Barclays and BMI knew that the FIU intended to seize the funds in plaintiff's Barclays and BMI accounts, they hid this information from plaintiffs," the complaint states. "It is apparent that Barclays and BMI determined to conspire with Seychelles authorities to assist them in the seizure of the plaintiffs' funds."
As a result, the plaintiffs say, Cooperhill had to reimburse its clients for the $10.3 million in losses they suffered at the hands of the conspirators, while Kazou has found it increasingly difficult to conduct business without the $426,000 that was stolen from its accounts.
"Plaintiffs can have no expectations of fair legal proceedings in Seychelles; nor may they safely travel to Seychelles in order to avail themselves of the Seychelles court system that the U.S. State Department has found to be corrupt," the complaint states.
The companies want their money back, with interest, and costs, and damages for violations of the Alien Tort Claims Act, conversion, unjust enrichment, fraud, fraudulent omission, abuse of process, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, and aiding and abetting intentional tortious conduct.
They are represented by Craig Weiner with Hofheimer Gartlir & Gross.
Lawsuit Charges Seychelles With Intimidating Children and Kidnapping In Furtherance of Financial Piracy
https://starseychelles.blogspot.com/2010/05/breaking-news_06.html
NEW YORK - (Business Wire) Stephen Scholes and Terence Stewart today filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking to recover $460,000 that they allege the Republic of Seychelles illegally seized from them and $5 million in damages for their three-month kidnapping at the hands of Seychelles agents.
Stephen Scholes and Terence Stewart, two small businessmen, live in the Canary Islands. According to the Complaint, Messrs. Scholes and Stewart sought funding for local projects from two entities, InProgramme SAS and Fast Trading Group that turned out – unbeknownst to Messrs. Scholes and Stewart – to be international fraudsters. As the Complaint contends, these two fraudulent companies had contracted with Mr. Scholes and two of his companies to conduct securities trades on two bank guaranties, splitting the trade profits with Mr. Scholes’ companies. The Complaint also alleges that under the contracts, Mr. Scholes, in January 2009, caused his two companies to pay a total of €700,000 (approximately USD $1 million) to the criminal entities, each of which claimed to be linked to the Qatari Royal Family. Mr. Scholes established a bank account at Barclays Bank in the Republic of Seychelles (“Barclays”) for these business ventures.
When, as alleged in the Complaint, the fraudsters failed to perform on the contracts, Mr. Scholes began to complain to the authorities. The fraudsters responded in August 2009, by returning Mr. Scholes’ funds plus apparent interest to his Barclays account. According to the Complaint, without basis and in furtherance of Seychelles’ financial piracy, Barclays already had identified the Barclays bank account as a target for the Seychelles Financial Intelligence Unit (“FIU”). As alleged, Mr. Scholes traveled to Seychelles in September 2009, to meet with Barclays employees. As portrayed in the Complaint, Seychelles then, prompted and assisted by a local Barclays employee, imprisoned Mr. Scholes based on false charges. Seychelles also imprisoned Mr. Scholes’ business associate, Terence Stewart, who had traveled to Seychelles merely to open a bank account. As the Complaint charges Barclays prompted and assisted these actions even though Barclays itself had concluded that Scholes had been the victim of fraud.
As the Complaint pleads, Seychelles imprisoned Messrs. Stewart and Scholes for 28 days and then continued their confinement on the island of Mahe for another two and a half months. Mr. Scholes had made the mistake of bringing his wife and daughters on the trip. As pleaded, the Seychelles authorities interrogated his older child, Jessica Scholes (a minor), on multiple occasions when they found her unaccompanied by a parent. According to the Complaint, during one of these interrogations, Seychelles agents threatened to arrest her mother and take the children into care by Seychelles authorities.
“Our Complaint alleges that the Seychelles government is so hungry for funds, that it has resorted to kidnapping and the threat of false drug and money-laundering charges, to extort money from people who have the misfortune of choosing to deposit funds with Barclays Bank in the Seychelles,” said Craig Weiner, an attorney at Hofheimer Gartlir & Gross, LLP in New York City, which represents Messrs. Scholes and Stewart, together with the other Plaintiffs. “As set forth in the Complaint, Seychelles and its hired henchmen of the FIU are now strong-arming little girls and holding people hostage with fear of imprisonment on fabricated drug and money-laundering charges, all in a quest to fill its coffers by almost any means necessary.” Mr. Weiner added, summarizing the allegations made in the Complaint.
As the Complaint also charges, Seychelles went through various machinations to create phony evidence and bring false charges against Messrs. Scholes and Stewart. For example, the Complaint alleges that Seychelles agents used Mr. Scholes’ e-mail account to send bogus e-mails to his contacts in an effort to create some indicia of wrongdoing. As also alleged in the Complaint, a Barclays employee submitted false accusatory statements at the request of the FIU to justify the false imprisonment of Messrs. Scholes and Stewart.
As set forth in the Complaint, the agents of Seychelles indicated that they would plant illegal drugs upon Messrs. Scholes and Stewart if they refused to plead guilty to false charges. Unable to return home and facing manufactured drug charges, Messrs. Scholes and Stewart, under extreme duress, each plead guilty to a Seychelles misdemeanor, and paid the aggregate of $460,000 in ransom. The Complaint pleads that Seychelles punished Mr. Scholes and his companies “for having been gullible victims of fraudsters” and Mr. Stewart for very little reason at all.
The Complaint also alleges that the FIU has subcontracted its operations to Barry Galvin, Liam Hogan, Declan Barber, Joe Cully and John Heelan, who are former members of the Irish national police force, Irish secret police and/or a secret Irish military unit. This is not the first time that Messrs. Galvin, Hogan and Barber have been sued for the actions they have undertaken in the Seychelles.
Keating & Co.
Rick Keating |
Innocent gentleman Ted Cunningham who helped so many people throughout his life was framed by senior gardai & DPP solicitors for a crime he never committed
The same gardai & DPP solicitors have been exposed & named in very serious crimes both in Ireland & in the Caymen Island
#gardacorruption
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/irish-daily-mail/20230911/281612424991141
13,000 people accused of sexual offences not prosecuted by DPP in last 10 years?
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/13000-people-accused-of-sexual-offences-not-prosecuted-by-dpp-in-last-10-years-1787933.html
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