Liquidators seeking return of $9 million from former consul’s Malta firms

United States prosecutors are awaiting a Maltese court's decision against the firms belonging to the former consul to Mauritius, in a bid to track down some $9.1 million invested in Maltese bank accounts that were the proceeds of a fraudulent hedge fund.

Keith Roberts-Sampson Bristol, who is now believed to be in France, is the registered shareholder of several firms alleged to have received millions from an American hedge fund, whose managers were sentenced last week on charges of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud on a total of $30 million (€22 million) in investments.

Thomas Repke, 58 of Salt Lake City, and James Jeffrey, 59 of Belleville, Ontario, of Coadum Advisors were sentenced by US District Judge Orinda Evans to serve 17 years between them in an Atlanta jail.

The Atlanta courts have now appointed Maltese lawyer Joseph Schembri to pursue the monies in a lawsuit against Bristol's firms Soleil Group Holdings, Exodus Equities and Exodus Capital.

The Maltese courts will decide in April whether they have competence to take charge of the case.

According to the United States courts, Coadum Advisors and Mansell Capital, which were controlled by Repke and Jeffrey, transferred the majority of some $30 million in funds to foreign bank accounts controlled by Exodus Equities, which in turn had to be invested in Exodus Platinum Fund and Soleil Group Holdings - all registered in Malta.

"The funds were never invested, so much so that the Exodus Platinum Fund, which is a mutual fund company registered in Bermuda, never operated and never made any profits, whilst the company Soleil Group Holdings not only never made any profit but never even had an investment programme," a court writ against Soleil reveals.

According to the writ, Bristol - the former consul to Mauritius with offices in Floriana and Valletta - managed the Maltese companies.

"From the said investigations that were carried out by the Malta Financial Services Authority it transpired that a large part of the funds that had been transferred to Malta, in part were spent and in part were transferred overseas."

The investigations by the United States securities and exchange commission reveal that escrow lawyers facilitated the efforts of Keith Roberts-Sampson Bristol to have Repke and Jeffrey raise money from Coadum, and wire a total of $21.8 million to entities in Malta and Switzerland, respectively $9.1 million (€6.9m) and $13 million (€9.8m).

In 2009, a lawyer for Bristol made contact with Pat Huddleston, the US liquidator entrusted to recoup the monies, proposing a settlement to return the vast majority of the frozen funds. But when it appeared that negotiations would conclude successfully, Bristol's lawyer demanded that Huddleston accept just $4.4 million frozen in Credit Suisse accounts, and release his claims for another $14.4 million invested overseas.

Huddleston is now pursuing the return of the money without Bristol's cooperation, through the Swiss authorities.

The investigations in Malta have so far only found a fraction of the sums allegedly siphoned from the United States into the Maltese firms, totalling some €60,000 cash held in Maltese bank accounts.

Consul's philanthropic work

While in Malta, Bristol also set up an NGO called GISED (Global Institute for Strategic Economic Development) in 1992, currying favour with local politicians and disbursing funds for charitable and social purposes.

Labour MP Noel Farrugia, who was knighted into the heraldic Order of St John of Jerusalem by Bristol, the Order's Grand Chancellor, told MaltaToday his involvement in GISED had been voluntary. "As Labour spokesperson on international development, my involvement with GISED was voluntary and I took part in it as part of my role in the field of development. We funded some programmes in Malta back in 2007 and I travelled to Mauritius for a philanthropic presentation and to develop a community project."

Farrugia said he had no contact with Bristol.

In other activities of GISED seen on its website, Bristol credits himself with fostering a twinning agreement between Birkirkara mayor Michael Fenech Adami and the mayor of Slovakian town Banska Stiavnica, Pavol Balzanka; while also hosting former minister John Dalli (today European Commissioner) to a GISED lunch in 2007.

According to credit registry records, Bristol's firms in Malta have also had several creditors' claims lodged against them, totalling over €290,000 in settled and pending claims.