Court freezes accounts and appoints receivers following FIU probe |27 September 2011

The cases were lodged during the middle of this year and relate to Seychelles-registered offshore companies believed to be in use by international organised crime to launder money or finance crime.

An account in the name of Seymore Associated Limited, AAA Global gateway 1743, Rue de la Perle, Providence, Mahe, Seychelles and under the control of a UK national, currently believed to be resident in Boliva, and using the stolen passport identity of ‘Kevin Phur’, was  investigated by the FIU as part of a larger multinational investigation into an organised crime gang providing false identification and driving licence documents in a number of jurisdictions around the world. 

In two other cases, unrelated to each other, Fox Global Limited with an address of 2nd Floor, Capital City, Independence Avenue  and Sulieman Neal Sullivan S.A., Suite 9, Ansuya Estate Revolution Avenue were investigated as ‘boiler-room scams’. 

In the financial services industry, the term ‘boiler-room scam’ is used to describe the use of high-pressure sales techniques by unauthorised investment brokers to obtain investments in shares presented as being of high value, but of little or no realisable value.

In a fourth case, the Supreme Court froze the assets of a French owned Seychelles-registered offshore company involved in defrauding French investors using a pyramid or ponzi type fraud.

The value of the frozen assets ruled on by the Court this week is over 30 million SCR.  In all of these cases, the FIU have been conducting covert investigations for some time in conjunction with INTERPOL and a number of other national and international agencies.
 
The applications to the Courts were brought under the Proceeds of Crime (Civil Confiscation) Act 2008 and typically represent  between 6 and 12 months investigative work.

FIU communique