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MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2021
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Fox eyes $100m hotel after New York go-free By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net ISLAND Luck’s cofounder yesterday said “a weight has been taken off my shoulders” after a federal New York judge allowed him to walk free rather than impose a minor jail sentence. Adrian Fox, now back in The Bahamas, told Tribune Business he felt “very bad” and “very remorseful” over the role he played in a human trafficking scheme some 13 years ago but said the outcome of Friday’s hearing in the southern New York federal court confirmed his “second chance” in life. Revealing that he wanted to “clear my head” before focusing on possible business opportunities, he added that the immediate focus will be the
• Island Luck co-founder: ‘Weight off my shoulders’ • ‘Very remorseful’ over ‘dumb’ human trafficking • Past decade ‘imprisonment’ with bank cut-off philanthropic and charitable activities carried out through his Fox Foundation and other avenues. Nevertheless, Mr Fox disclosed ambitions to enter the hotel business via a potential $100m investment at the former Cable Beach Manor site he has acquired next to Sandals Royal Bahamian on Cable Beach. While plans for the project are still being drawn up, he added that he was looking at a
European-style boutique hotel that could employ up to 300 Bahamians. And, with the 11-year US pursuit now ended, the Island Luck co-founder voiced optimism that commercial banks would be willing to work with him once again and allow him to open accounts, as he likened the last decade to “imprisonment” that stifled numerous commercial ventures he wanted to launch.
BAIC HEADQUARTERS
ADRIAN FOX “It’s a second chance. I’m very grateful. It worked in my favour,” Mr Fox said of Friday’s hearing, where Judge Denise Cote sentenced him to “time served”, a $5,000 penalty and one year of supervised release after he formally pled guilty to “to aiding and abetting the
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Ex-PM signed off $40m loan day before election By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A CABINET minister yesterday said he had no problem with Dr Hubert Minnis committing The Bahamas to a $40m loan one day before the general election as it has secured vital health funding. Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness, told Tribune Business he would have been forced to seek “supplementary Budget funding” for the COVID-decimated public healthcare system had the former administration not signed the loan agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The loan contract, which has been seen by this newspaper, shows that Dr Minnis signed in his
then-capacity as prime minister and minister of finance on September 15, 2021, just one day before his Free National Movement (FNM) administration was voted out of office. The timing again raises questions about whether an outgoing administration should seek to bind the hands of its successor in such a manner by agreeing to such hefty financial commitments, but others will argue that the move was timely regardless given the overwhelming pressure the surge in COVID-19 infections has imposed on the overburdened public healthcare system. The $40m loan, which will finance efforts to strengthen critical aspects of the Bahamian healthcare
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Bahamas broker: $440m action out in under four days By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FOUR Ukrainians yesterday withdrew a lawsuit alleging a $440m fraud against a Bahamasbased broker/dealer just four days after it was filed in the southern New York federal district court. The move by Oxsana and Volodymyr Hryn, together with Elizabeth Lata, Ihor Ushenko and
their corporate vehicles, to “voluntarily dismiss without prejudice” the claims against Weiser Global Capital Markets and its senior executives also occurred just three days after a New York judge declined to hear their bid for an injunction and restraining order. Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, in an October 14 notation, ruled that she lacked “subject matter
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Ex-BAIC manager’s $134k win over ‘radio show’ firing By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A FORMER Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) manager has won more than $134,000 after he was fired for allegedly sitting in his vehicle and joining in radio talk shows. Anthon Thompson, who in February 2018 demanded that former prime minister, Hubert Minnis, intervene over what he slammed as a “travesty” of a termination,
was found by the Supreme Court to have been both unfairly and wrongfully dismissed by the government agency. Justice Diane Stewart, in a September 22 ruling, awarded Mr Thompson $60,122 for wrongful dismissal - a sum equivalent to what BAIC offered when he was terminated. And, on the unfair dismissal, she gave him a “basic” $41,495 plus $32,700 in “compensatory” damages.
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