Two defendants face lengthy prison
sentences in the United States after admitting their involvement
in an investment fraud perpetrated by the First International Bank
of Grenada (FIBG) under the rule of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell.
In the Spice Isle.
Both Robert Skirving and Rita Regale each pleaded guilty to one
count of conspiracy to commit money laundering regarding FIBG's
fraudulent proceeds at the U. S. District Court for the District
of Oregon on June 26, 2006.
They each face maximum sentences of 10 years in prison, a fine
of $250,000, and three years of supervised release, according to
a press release issued by prosecutors.
However, if District Court Judge Garr M. King accepts the terms
of the plea agreements, the prison-terms will be 97 months for
Skirving and between 57 and 71 months for Regale, it was stated.
Skirving's sentencing is set for October 2, 2006. Regale's
plea agreement requires her to "cooperate with the prosecution
of the two remaining defendants in the action, Laurent Barnabe
and Douglas Ferguson, and, as such, she will not be sentenced until
after their trial, which is scheduled to start in February, 2007,
stated prosecutors.
Skirving, Regale, Barnabe, Ferguson and a fifth defendant, Gilbert
Allen Ziegler, a.k.a. Van Arthur Brink, were arrested in 2004 after
being indicted several months earlier on multiple counts of mail
fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.
Brink died of a suspected heart attack in December, 2005 before
he could be tried and the action against him was later dismissed.
Brink has admitted that First Bank made funds available to Mitchell's
ruling New National Party (NNP) in its 15-0 victory in the 1999
general elections.
In the indictment, the defendants were accused of defrauding "thousands
of investors in the United States and around the world of at least
$206 million in principal by promising them guaranteed annual
returns of up to 300%.
Prosecutors appear to have downgraded their estimate of the total
amount lost by victims.
In their press release, the U. S. Attorney's Office in Oregon
stated that Skirving and Regale "agreed that the total funds
laundered throughout the scheme exceeded $100 million, and that
restitution owed to the depositors of FIBG could exceed $125 million.
Meanwhile, the Miami-based OffshoreAlert disclosed that on June
26, 2006, District Court Judge Garr granted a request from defendants
Ferguson and Barnabe that letters rogatory be issued requiring
the deposition testimony of Grenada's former chief offshore
regulator, Michael Creft; W. R. Agostini, a Grenada-based accountant;
Garvey Louison, Grenada-based former FIBG Receiver; Adrian Ball,
a British-based former FIBG auditor; Marion Suite, who is a former
FIBG insider; Lawrence Jones, a former FIBG CEO; John Taylor, Norm
Tarnow, Robert Palm, Edwina Bobocel, Dan Bobocel, Gerald Burton,
Curtis Liburd, Teddy St. Louis, Carla Thomas Ross, Pauline Radix,
Sandra James, Nigel Francis, Don Chance, Robert A. N. Branch, Joycelyn
Bernard, Gerald Beeman, and Debbie Antoine.
Similar requests concerning Jonathan Kremner, Marcus Wide, Daryl
Sands, Mark Kennedy, Richard Downes, Walder Wyss, Werner Stoffel,
and Arno Arndt were denied, while a request to take evidence from
John "Hans Zuercher was deferred.
The offshore banking industry
has virtually collapsed in Grenada with the island being blacklisted
internationally and Canada imposing visa restrictions on Grenadians
travelling to that North American country.
