business@tribunemedia.net
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
$ 5.30
$ 4.92
$ 5.34
Bahamian trustee battles DOJ on $27m ‘repatriation’ demand BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN financial provider is battling the US Justice Department’s demand that it surrender assets held in two trusts it administers to cover $27m in unpaid federal income tax arrears owed by their settlor/beneficiary. Equity Trust Bahamas, part of the Bahamas-based Equity Group that has $2bn in assets under custody and administration, is fighting efforts by US federal prosecutors to persuade the south Florida federal court to issue an order that it “must take all necessary steps to repatriate the remaining assets held by” the trusts within 30 days. At the heart of the clash is whether Bahamian or US and Florida state laws govern the Kroner Family Tust 20004 and Kroner Family 2007 Trust Settlement B trusts, both of which are domiciled in this nation and overseen by Equity in its capacity as trustee. US prosecutors are demanding that the assets held in these trusts be released, and returned to the US, to settle federal income tax debts owned by family patriarch, Burt Kroner. They alleged, in February 27, 2026, legal filings obtained by Tribune Business, that Mr Kroner is “living a lavish lifestyle” funded by trust assets he has kept offshore in The Bahamas
US wants trust assets surrendered to cover unpaid income tax But Equity Trust asserts Bahamian, not Florida or US law, applies Can’t be ‘compelled’ as IRS target no out of reach of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) “while not displaying any intention of voluntarily paying his tax debt”. However, Equity Trust Bahamas has hit back in its March 4, 2026, response by urging the south Florida federal court to issue a summary judgment in its favour and “reject” repatriation of the trusts’ assets on the basis that Mr Kroner has no ownership interest in them. It also urged the court to rule that the US federal government’s “tax liens” cannot attach to the trust property. Settlors typically relinquish control of all the assets they inject into a trust when it is created or settled. As a result, Equity Trust Bahamas is arguing that Mr Kroner no longer has any ownership rights or interests in the assets held in the two trusts
Prolonged Iran conflict increases tourism risk BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE risk that The Bahamas will suffer a slowdown in tourist arrivals and spending is increasing with every day that the conflict between the US, Israel and Iran continues, an academic warned yesterday. Rupert Pinder, assistant professor of economics at the University of The Bahamas (UoB), told Tribune Business that - apart from the likely increase in pump gasoline prices and energy costs - the Middle East war could also threaten the performance and well-being of this nation’s largest industry if it becomes a protracted conflict with no end in sight. Even as Donald Trump, the US president, sought to reassure that many of his military objectives have been completed, thereby easing tension on Wall Street and global stock markets as well as crude oil price pressures, Mr Pinder warned: “There’s reason to be cautious about a number of things. “If there is a prolonged impact, you can rest assured there will be an impact on tourism spending where you have these uncertainties and people perceive their jobs in the long-run may be threatened. People will be more cautious on spending, particularly discretionary spending, and tourism is largely discretionary spending.” Mr Pinder, noting that Middle Eastern wars have previously plunged the world into economic downturns and recessions, particularly the so-called ‘oil price shock’ of the 1970s after Arab countries cut-off oil supplies to the west in the aftermath of conflict with Israel, added that “it’s not just the pockets but the willingness of Americans to travel potentially from a security standpoint”. Besides an increase in transportation costs due to surging oil prices, which could be passed on to Bahamian families via increased imports and goods costs that threaten to trigger a new ‘cost of living’ crisis, access costs for tourists to The Bahamas may also increase as a result of higher aviation fuel costs.
CRUDE - See Page B6
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Rosewood Exuma bid ‘did not initially meet sustainable standards’
THE Opposition’s leader has doubled down on concerns over the Government’s energy reforms by asserting it is “very likely” that Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) base tariff will be increased after the upcoming general election to ensure it remains financially viable. Michael Pintard told Tribune Business in a recent interview that the sums the
DEPP chief: Regulators brought project ‘into alignment’ Cites Nassau harbour as North Bay impact comparison Sparks challenge by ex-BNT chief, Turtlegrass adviser By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE $200m Rosewood Exuma project “did not initially meet standards for sustainable development”, the Government’s top environmental regulator has revealed, while also being challenged for citing Nassau Harbour and Arawak Cay as comparisons for its likely environmental impact. Dr Rihanna Neely-Murphy, the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection’s (DEPP)
FIGHT - See Page B4
Davis administration has agreed to pay Bahamas Utility Company (FOCOL Holdings) and Bahamas Grid Company/Island Grid for New Providence’s baseload generation and transmission and distribution grid overhaul, respectively, make it almost inevitable that BPL’s base tariff has increase for the latter to sustain its business. Bahamas Grid Company and its manager, Island Grid, have been given control of all New Providence electricity
THE Prime Minister last night accused the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) two owners of asset stripping by transferring its productive economic assets to an affiliated entity and leaving Freeport’s quasi-governmental authority a regulatory shell with minimal income. Philip Davis KC said that, by switching assets such as the Grand Bahama Development Company (DevCO) and Freeport Harbour Company to the control of Port Group Ltd, the Hayward and St George families had left the GBPA - the entity that signed the Hawksbill Creek Agreement - without sufficient income to uphold its governance and development responsibilities, and properly maintain Freeport, while still retaining the power to collect licence fees from Freeport businesses.
director, in a January 16, 2026, affidavit supporting her agency’s position against the Judicial Review challenge mounted to overturn Rosewood Exuma’s certificate of environmental clearance (CEC), argued that intervention by the regulators had brought the project “into alignment” with sustainable principles. In particular, she said the developer, Miamibased Yntegra Group, had “reduced the scope and overall footprint” of the
ASSESS - See Page B4
grid-related revecharge 4.625 cents nues, including a per kilowatt hour “first lien” or right (KWH) during of security over the first stage of this income plus a its baseload genminimum rate of eration project to 5.5 cents per kilocover some $50m watt hours (KWh) of fixed and varfor the first six iable operations years of their iniand maintenance tial 25-year deal. expenses, plus a MICHAEL PINTARD This will likely “capacity charge”. carry through to Adding the 5.5 around April 2031. cents and 4.625 Meanwhile, included cents charges together, as Mr among the 3,200-plus energy Pintard and the Opposition reform documents is a “gen- have done, totals 10.125 cents eration power purchase per kilowatt hour. The Free price build-up” showing that National Movement (FNM) Bahamas Utility Company, leader is thus arguing that a subsidiary of BISX-listed FOCOL Holdings, will need to ENERGY - See Page B5
PM: GBPA was asset stripped by its owners BY FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
$ 5.31
ROSEWOOD EXUMA
targeted by the US Department of Justice - meaning they cannot be used to cover the tax arrears. And, further, the Bahamian financial institution is also asserting that the two trusts are “discretionary” trusts. This means that the beneficiaries, who include Mr Kroner, have no automatic ability to access or obtain trust assets as the power to determine whether this occurs now rests with Equity Trust Bahamas as the trustee. This, the latter added, provides additional confirmation that the trust assets are no longer Mr Kroner’s property. And, as a result, the US Justice Department “cannot compel Equity to disburse all of the trusts’ assets to satisfy Burt Kroner’s tax debts”. And, while acknowledging that this may seem “unfair”, Equity Trust Bahamas argued that Mr Kroner will be unable to escape his $27m debt so long as the US Justice Department uses the tax liens it already possesses to attach to - and seize - and distributions from the two trusts whenever they are paid out to him. To support its position, Equity Trust Bahamas provided the south Florida court with a legal opinion from Peter Maynard, the former Bahamas Bar Association president and head of the Peter Maynard & Company law firm. However,
Pintard: BPL base rate rise ‘very likely’ after election
$ 5.30
Speaking at a town hall meeting in Grand PHILIP DAVIS KC Bahama, he said last week’s arbitration ruling represents a major shift in the balance of power between the Government and the GBPA. “After that ruling, make no mistake about it; the balance of power has shifted,” said Mr Davis. “The decades of licence fees with too few visible returns, those days are over.” Mr Davis argued that structural changes made over decades left the GBPA responsible for obligations under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement without the productive assets needed to fulfil them. “Starting in the 1990s, the productive assets of the Port Authority - the harbour company, the development company, the
SPEECH - See Page B6