Search Results for: Antigua

US prosecutors have secured their first conviction in a case involving widespread corruption at the United Nations. Last Thursday (January 14), Heidi Hong Piao, a Chinese-American national pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, money laundering, bribery and failure to disclose foreign bank accounts to tax authorities.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission may block or impose conditions on a planned acquisition by US-based Cargill of the industrial chocolate business of its American rival Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). The European Union (EU) executive’s directorate general for competition has opened an in-depth investigation into the deal, to assess whether it could damage the availability of reasonably priced supplies of this key confectionery input.…

Antigua-based accountant Laura Lyn, who trained as a CPA in Florida and has 20 years’ experience in finance, said accounting and auditing standards had seen much improvement in the region in recent years. Better skilled accountants, she said, were having a positive impact on the financial management standards of Caribbean public bodies and government departments generally.…

Caribbean jurisdictions may be increasingly signing up to the requirements of America’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) but there is no great enthusiasm about it. Indeed, some bankers fear it could lead to a sharp fall in the region’s charms for investors.…

THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has concluded that five jurisdictions need to improve their tax information exchange standards – Andorra, Anguilla (a UK dependent territory), Antigua & Barbuda, Indonesia and Saint Lucia. The OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes said these jurisdictions were “partially compliant” with its standards.…

THE CARIBBEAN is maybe the most culturally diverse region in the world and this has been reflected in its colourful, tasty and varied cuisine. So it is no surprise that the region’s confectionery sector is innovative, drawing on unusual combinations of ingredients that create tasty products that could serve as inspiration for companies around the world.…

The Caribbean island state of Antigua & Barbuda has needed to demonstrate its thriving online gaming sector is protected against money laundering, to gather diplomatic support for its campaign against US bans on Americans gambling on its websites.

Faced with evidence that criminals can exploit the sector to transfer dirty cash between players’ accounts, before investing it in assets such as shares or real estate, Antigua in 1994 became one of the first countries to provide licences for online gambling operators.…

BY ROBERT STOKES

CARIBBEAN jurisdictions are stereotypically seen as information black-holes whose minimal filing requirements for companies and trusts facilitate fraud.

Think Stanford International Bank and Westbond International Bank, two Antigua based vehicles for high-profile Ponzi schemes. Also, the Madoff scandal in the USA led to the liquidators of Fairfield Sentry – a British Virgin Islands (BVI) domiciled hedge fund that was among Madoff’s main victims – unsuccessfully trying to claim back money from investors who had legally withdrawn money from Sentry.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

SWINDLER, liar, bully and briber, R. Allen Stanford was once one of the world’s wealthiest men. With a net worth of USD 2 billion, the Texas-born financier lived a life of lavish luxury, with yachts, airplanes and an international bank to call his own.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

WITH what was once an estimated net worth of over USD2 billion, R. Allen Stanford was once revered as one of the wealthiest men in America. Yet a Texas court has now heard in detail that his wealth, which he displayed in both opulent and lavish ways, was derived from ill-gotten gains.…