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Saturday, May 3, 2008
A court in the British Virgin Islands has confiscated more than US$45 million from a Bermuda-based mutual fund which pleaded guilty to serious fraud-related crimes. Justice Indra Hariprashad-Charles of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in Road Town, BVI, ordered that $45.5 million be confiscated from IPOC International Growth Fund Ltd. Prosecutors say it may be the largest court order of its kind ever made in the Commonwealth. The order came after the four companies pleaded guilty on April 30 to furnishing false information and perverting the course of justice, both contrary to the Criminal Code, 1997. The court's order followed a 17-month investigation by authorities in the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda. It was alleged that between 2004 and 2005, the IPOC group lied about the source of $40 million which had been lodged with the court as part of a separate, civil matter.
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