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THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2023
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Bahamian whistleblower accused of ‘fabrication’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
• Broker chief says no truth to core SEC claim A BAHAMIAN whistleblower has this week been accused of “fabricating” • Asserts key February evidence critical to a case brought by US federal reg2012 meeting made up ulators against a former Nassau-based broker/dealer. • New bid to dismiss Guy Gentile, principal of Swiss America Securities, compliance chief evidence which subsequently operated under the names SureTrader and Mintbroker International, is alleging that Philip Dorsett, its ex-chief compliance officer, simply made up a February 2012 meeting that purportedly devised a scheme to evade US securities laws and regulations. Striking back against the Securities & Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ‘star’ witness, following testimony given by Mr Dorsett on February 27-28, he argued that the Bahamian executive’s testimony had exposed numerous flaws plus instances where he
had to correct himself under examination by Mr Gentile’s attorneys. Tuesday’s legal filings represent the latest bid by Mr Gentile to dismiss Mr Dorsett’s ‘whistleblower’ evidence, which allegedly includes some 15,000 e-mails from his time at Mintbroker, and appears vital to the US capital markets regulator’s allegations that he and Mintbroker violated US securities laws by actively soliciting American clients while failing to register as
required as a broker/dealer with the SEC. Previous attempts have been rejected by the south Florida court, but Mr Dorsett’s deposition has encouraged Mr Gentile to try again and, in so doing, seek dismissal of most of the SEC’s case against him and Mintbroker. The latter has already been placed into a Supreme Court-supervised windingup in The Bahamas with Igal Wizman and Eleanor Fisher, the EY accountants
TOBY Smith with Philip Davis KC.
PI entrepreneur makes PM ‘betrayal’ retraction GUY GENTILE and partners, appointed as co-liquidators. “The SEC’s case is founded on the demonstrably false premise that, months after SureTrader commenced operations in November 2011, Gentile and his ex-wife devised a scheme to purposefully evade US regulations at a February 2012 meeting after, according to the SEC, it became clear SureTrader could not survive without
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Airlines dispute threatened ‘huge’ $43m consequences By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE US airline industry’s challenge to The Bahamas’ air navigation services fee regime had potentially “huge consequences” by putting close to $43m in annual revenues at risk, it was revealed yesterday, Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and
aviation, told the House of Assembly that the situation not only threatened to curtail the ability of Bahamian carriers to access to the US market but also endangered “funding stability” for local aviation regulators. But, with the US Department of Transportation having dismissed the Airlines4America consortium’s complaint that The Bahamas’ fees were “discriminatory,
unjust, anti-competitive and unreasonable”, the Davis administration is seeking to resolve all concerns at the diplomatic or government-togovernment level using the provisions of this nation’s Air Transport Agreement with Washington D. C. Mr Cooper yesterday confirmed that both sides are scheduled to have their first
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CHESTER COOPER
FTX chief’s $460m deal with Bahamas fund firm By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FTX’s US chief yesterday unveiled a $460m settlement with a Bahamas-based fund manager that received hundreds of millions of dollars in the months leading up to the crypto currency exchange’s collapse. John Ray, who heads the 134 FTX-related entities in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, confirmed via legal filings he has struck a deal with the principals of Modulo Capital that will recover more than $404m in cash for the benefit of investors and creditors. The settlement deal, which awaits the approval of the Delaware
JOHN RAY Bankruptcy Court, will claw back some $475m that was transferred to Modulo Capital in the seven months immediately prior to FTX’s November 2022 failure. The monies came from Alameda Research, the private trading vehicle owned
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GB to Abaco power cable ‘fraught with complications’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net GRAND Bahama Power Company’s top executive says running an electricity cable to Abaco is “fraught with complications” and remains a “longer-term opportunity” it plans to explore. Dave McGregor, Caribbean chief operating officer for Emera, GB Power’s 100 percent owner, told Tribune Business that its priority is the continued roll-out of solar power via agreements with independent power producers (IPPs) and development of associated battery storage capacity.
The possibility of constructing a power cable between east Grand Bahama and Abaco was floated at the recent Grand Bahama Business Outlook conference by Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) president, Ian Rolle. However, Mr McGregor said of the concept: “It hasn’t gone very far. “We see that as a possible opportunity, but it’s fraught with complications. We’ll continue to look at that as an opportunity, but our focus is really on getting solar under our belt and getting battery storage on the island. This is a
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• Toby Smith in ‘humble apology’ for 11year ‘frustration’ • PM says ‘no Crown Land lease’ verdict caused change • And ‘deeply disturbed’ over entrepreneur’s assertions By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN entrepreneur yesterday made a “humble apology” after the Prime Minister reacted furiously to assertions he had “betrayed” him by failing to honour earlier pledges to approve his $3m Paradise Island project. Toby Smith, the Paradise Island Lighthouse and Beach Club principal, told Philip Davis KC his assertions were born out of “frustration” from working on the project for 11 years without being granted all the necessary approvals to proceed. His climb down came after the Prime Minister revealed he was “deeply disturbed” by the remarks, and hit back by saying he himself felt “betrayed” by Mr Smith. In a letter that was shared with the media, he both retracted the “betrayal” suggestion and requested that the two work together to “resolve” the situation through good faith negotiations. Responding to a Nassau Guardian headline, he told Mr Davis: “I feel it
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