business@tribunemedia.net
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
$5.25 $4.90
$5.28
$5.34
$5.28
Top realty firm seeks escape in ‘Bahamas national interest’ case By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A LEADING real estate brokerage yesterday joined the bid to dismiss an “improper” lawsuit stemming from a dispute that “The Bahamas has a national interest” in resolving through the Supreme Court because of the potential consequences for this country’s investment policies. Corcoran CA Christie Bahamas has teamed with Julian ‘Shaq’ Gibson, its Harbour Island agent and operator of the Conch & Coconut tourism business, in an effort to dismiss claims by the latter’s ex-US partner that the real estate firm
• CA Christie blasts ‘improper’ inclusion in Briland dispute • Joins Bahamian Conch & Coconut operator’s dismiss bid • Investment policy, IP mean Bahamas must resolve claim was “unjustly enriched” and benefited from violations of his trademarks. Pablo Conde, in his original complaint lodged with the south Florida federal court, claimed that Corcoran CA Christie Bahamas gained financially from Mr Gibson using Conch & Coconut’s “trade secret
customer lists” to generate real estate business for the firm. However, the Bahamian realtor has hit back by asserting - along with other defendants named by Mr Conde - that their inclusion as parties in his September 5, 2025, lawsuit is “improper” because no evidence has been provided
to show they “directly participated” in the Conch & Coconut business or any of the conduct complained of. Instead, they argued that they were only included because of relationships or connections to Mr Gibson. Together with the Bahamian Conch & Coconut operator, all defendants are arguing that the Florida lawsuit should be dismissed in favour of litigating the dispute in The Bahamas through the separate actions already filed in the Supreme Court by Mr Gibson and Mr Conde against the other. They said the fact that the subject business and assets are located in The Bahamas, along with most witnesses, makes this nation the best judicial forum,
And Mr Gibson, Corcoran CA Christie Bahamas and others also asserted that The Bahamas “has a national interest” in resolving the dispute with Mr Conde through its own judicial system because it involves a National Investment Policy that reserves businesses such as Conch & Coconut for 100 percent exclusive ownership only. Mr Gibson’s ex-US partner is non-Bahamian, which would violate this policy, and the former has previously admitted to ‘fronting’ for Mr Conde. Now, in the defendants’ joint dismissal bid, they also argue that The Bahamas has “a paramount interest” in safeguarding Conch & Coconut’s trademarks, patents and
Fisheries fear on ‘Close to capacity’ year-end ‘wide disconnect’ won’t get Baha Mar to target with Bahamas Trade Commission By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
• Multi-million exports exposed to Trump tariffs • Alliance chief says: ‘We should be first in line’ • Commission chair: Ministry trade unit in lead By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN fisheries group is voicing concerns that the “wide disconnect” between itself and the country’s Trade Commission is leaving multi-million dollar crawfish exports exposed to Donald Trump’s US import tariffs and potential loss of access to other markets. Adrian LaRoda, the Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance’s president, told Tribune Business that efforts by himself and other fisheries executives to “reach out” to the Bahamas Trade Commission and collaborate on a strategy to protect the industry’s exports have so far produced no results and ended in frustration. Arguing that fisheries should be the priority, as it is now The Bahamas’ most valuable physical goods export (Polymers International excepted), he asserted that the sector “should be first in line” over trade-related consultations and expressed fears about
the impact once Mr Trump’s take effect “full force”. Mr LaRoda told this newspaper that, while no Bahamian fisheries exporter has reported any negative fall-out thus far from the US tariff uncertainty, collaboration with the Bahamas Trade Commission is vital “to get ahead of it” and “ensure we can buffer against the headwinds that are going to come” so as to protect a lucrative source of local jobs and foreign exchange earnings. “I’m going to say this,” he told Tribune Business. “The disconnect between the industry, the fisheries sector, and the Bahamas Trade Commission, the disconnect and gap is wide. “I’ve reached out. I’ve tried. There seems to be no willingness to consult on what should happen on the US tariffs and the potential effect on Bahamian industries. We’ve been trying to work with the Trade Commission to try and get an understanding on how, or
EXPORT - See Page B5
BAHA Mar’s anticipated “close to capacity” finish for 2025 will recover some but not all of ground lost to the Trump tariffs and Hurricane Melissa “headwinds”, it was disclosed yesterday, with the mega resort set to come in “slightly behind” its full-year targets and 2024 performance. Robert Sands, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president of government and external affairs, told Tribune Business that the economic uncertainty created by the US president’s constantly-changing tariff
policies, as well as Melissa’s temporary impact on travel confidence, had “created a drag on the booking pace” that the multi-billion dollar Cable Beach development will be unable to completely make-up from a “strong” Christmas and New Year period. However, he asserted that finishing close to 2024’s full-year numbers will “not be a disrespectable feat for us”, adding that the anticipated robust Thanksgiving start to the peak winter tourism season, as well as the festive period, will leave Baha Mar well-placed for the 2026 first quarter. “This should be a very robust time period for
Regulators pledge Code standards enforced on Arawak Cay rebuilding By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net GOVERNMENT regulators yesterday confirmed that Arawak Cay restaurants destroyed by Sunday’s fire will have to comply with strict Bahamas Building Code requirements in rebuilding their properties to ensure safety standards are met. Craig Delancey, building controls officer at the Ministry of Works, told Tribune Business that the Government will ensure all businesses impacted by the blaze adhere to Building Code requirements during reconstruction.
He confirmed that while no definite decisions have been made on the timeline for reconstruction, any new structures must meet updated safety standards. “We will be looking at the building codes for any future reconstruction,” said Mr Delancey. “No definite decisions have been made on how or when it's going to happen. But we definitely will be looking at how any new structures are rebuilt.” Mr Delancey said while the reconstructed structures will meet Building Code requirements, it is “a bit impossible” to upgrade the remaining businesses that were not damaged by the fire to meet modern
Cloudfare outage: ‘Don’t put all eggs in one basket’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN technology specialists yesterday warned businesses not to “put all your eggs in one basket” after an outage impacting a key infrastructure provider prevented access to websites such as X (Twitter), OpenAI and Chat GPT for several hours, Scott MacKenzie, chief executive of Cloud Carib,
told Tribune Business that - while the Bahamas-headquartered provider “didn’t notice anything” and the Cloudfare interruption “didn’t affect any of our customers” - the disruption again highlighted the need tor local companies, especially those that are digitally-based, to have a back-up plan and not rely on just one infrastructure or cloud services operator. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” he
most of the hotels in The Bahamas, including ourselves, and I think we should end the year with a strong festive season as well,” Mr Sands told this newspaper. “Forward bookings for the first quarter of 2026 are very positive and that is holding firm.” Baha Mar, together with Atlantis, typically use sporting and other events to drive bookings, occupancies and tourism demand around Thanksgiving to ensure a strong start to the peak winter period. “We have Baha Mar Hoops, we have a special golf tournament going on for a foundation, the Baha Mar Tennis Cup from December 11-14, we have the Derek Jeter event later in the year,
reiterated.”Diversification of infrastructure is important for any business, especially in technology. That will be the lesson to learn.” Cloudfare provides services that include defending millions of websites against malicious attacks, but it yesterday experienced an unidentified problem that meant Internet users could not access some of its customers’ websites for up to three hours.
Keith Roye II, Plato Alpha Design's chief operating officer, echoed Mr MacKenzie in telling this newspaper that Bahamian businesses must ensure they have a business continuity or mitigation plan that enables them to use alternative Internet and related infrastructure providers should a Cloudfare-type incident occur. Otherwise they stand to potentially lose
CONTINUITY - See Page B3
building or fire-safety codes. He explained that the layout of Arawak Cay vendors makes proper improvements practically unworkable, as the structures are tightly packed
intellectual property - rights which Mr Conde claims he owns - because the operations are located in this nation. The joint Florida dismissal motion, which was filed this week and been obtained by Tribune Business, asserts: “This dispute stems from the messy break-up of a working relationship between plaintiffs Conch & Coconut LLC and Pink Sand Spirits Company (owned by Mr Conde) on the one hand, and defendants Julian ‘Shaq’ Gibson and his company, Conch & Coconut, and, collectively, the defendants, on the other.
JUDICIAL - See Page B4
ROBERT SANDS and a headliner confirmed for New Year,” the Baha Mar senior vice-president added. “We have a pretty solid set of events that will assist in driving business in the last quarter of the year. During this particular period, especially New Year and more so than Christmas, I think we are very, very high [for occupancy]; close to capacity during this period. There’s no question that we should match
TRAVEL - See Page B5 with almost no space between them, making it difficult to add the separation, exits, fire buffers or other safety features that the code requires. “It's a bit impossible to bring the others up to code or to improve what they have now because they're so close to each other,” said Mr Delancey.
CODE - See Page B4