The Royal Anguilla Police Force and the Attorney General’s Chambers have in recent days been instrumental in freezing assets worth over US$61,000 as part of an international effort… to tackle money laundering.
Over recent months, authorities within the United States have been carrying out an investigation into a large “Ponzi” fraud. This is suspected to be an illegal scheme in which victims were allegedly persuaded to invest large sums of money in non-existent investment schemes. The total value alleged to have been stolen from victims is in excess of US$2.7 million. During the course of this investigation, it was suspected that the alleged criminals used a bank account in Anguilla to launder the proceeds of their crimes.
Working with the US authorities, the RAPF and the AG’s Chambers applied to the High Court for an order – known as a Property Freezing Order – to freeze the account. This was granted on 11th November 2014 on the basis that there is a good arguable case that the balance of the account represents the proceeds of unlawful conduct. This is the first such order to be granted in Anguilla using the ‘Civil Recovery’ powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act. With this account now frozen there is US$61,500 which may be available for forfeiture in the future which would then be available to fund further measures to tackle crime.
(From Government House Facebook Page)
