A Bahamas registered company was used to facilitate a “multi-million dollar” Prime Bank investment fraud after its perpetrators were forced by US securities regulators to switch their operations offshore, court documents have revealed.
Documents filed in Nevada district court, copies of which have been seen by The Tribune revealed that defendant James Williams and his alleged co-conspirators, Trudy Anson and Rande Hersh, operated Trans-World Investments and Trans-World International, two Nevada-registered companies, to commit the alleged fraud between September 1998 and May 1999.
After a cease and desist order was filed against the Trans-World entities by the Nevada State Securities Division for allegedly operating a fraudulent investment programme, court documents claim the three defendants moved operations to Listro Holdings, a Bahamian-registered entity.
Nevada court documents alleged: “The defendants continued, through January 2000, to offer investors access to the fraudulent investment programme through a new company called Listro Holdings, which they registered in Nassau, Bahamas.”
“The only disbursements ever made to the investors were monthly dividend payments to appease investor concern and to promote the fraudulent activity. All other investments were transferred to interests controlled by the defendants. A large portion of the proceeds was moved to an offshore account in The Bahamas.”
The documents alleged that the defendants, through Listro Holdings and Trans-World, offered investors “access to a non-existent High Yield Investment programme, which promised profits of 30 per cent per month, compounded over ten months.
“Most of the investors were told that the monies were invested in a trading programme which consisted of the buying and selling of international bank notes issued by European banks such as Rothschild’s in Luxembourg. This is what is commonly known as a “Prime Bank” scheme.
Court documents alleged that minimum investments in the fictitious trading programme were $100,000, with investors told that their principal was insured by Lloyd’s of London. Fictitious assignments of interest, on an insurance policy that did not exist, were allegedly prepared by the defendants.
The Nevada district court last month sentenced Williams, 54, from Sacramento California to four years and three months imprisonment for his role in the scheme. He was also ordered to pay a $5.64 million fine and serve three years supervised release after his sentence ended.
Williams, who previously pleaded guilty to money laundering charges on September 6, 2002, allegedly concealed the source of the funds through buying high-end motorcycles for a Las Vegas-based business, Xotix Motors, that he operated with Hersh, his co-defendant.
Williams also admitted to $150,000 in income tax evasion for 1999 and 2000 and failing to file individual income tax returns. Anson, the other defendant, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and wire fraud on December 16, 2002 but has yet to be sentenced. Hersh killed himself and his girlfriend in September 2002 in Los Angeles.
By Neil Hartnell, The Tribune
