In today’s electronic world, there are several new instances of sophisticated financial fraud. Some cases are easier to detect, however, in an increasingly uncertain economic environment, mostly because of the unease of the US Dollar and the increasing strength and influence of the Euro. This has resulted in “banking instrument” fraud becoming increasingly common. I decided to write this article because as an international tax lawyer my offices have been receiving more than a dozen requests per month from honest clients looking to make money with a “sophisticated project” simply to discover that the “project” was on par with letters from Nigeria that promise unclaimed fortunes to appear on your doorstep because a dying uncle mentioned you in his will. I also compiled the list below with help from other credible sources I found on the internet.
In general, if you are approached to make a high yield income investment or to become involved in the prime bank investment fraud, then you should carefully look at the documentation that you are asked to sign and always use the advise of an experienced professional such as an accountant or a lawyer. Such documents are normally filled with meaningless legal gibberish that are relatively easy to spot if you are dealing with fraudsters.
Some of the typical phrases you should look for are set out below. Some of them are meaningless and have no legal definition, but they were inserted into the documents or proposal in order to impress unsuspecting investors:
· Ready Willing and Able
· Prime Bank Guarantees (PBGs)
· Prime Bank Notes (PBNs)
· Guaranteed by Top 100 World Prime Bank
· Unconditional S.W.I.F.T. Wire Transfer
· Freely negotiable, irrevocable, clear SWIFT wire transfers
· Callable Conditional Sight Drafts
· Closing Bank
· Issuing Bank
· Fiduciary Bank
· Bank Menu
· International Banking Days
· ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) 400
· UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) Form references
· Banking co-ordinates
· Fresh cut paper
· Seasoned paper
· Collateral Houses, Collateral Source, Collateral Supplier
· Collateral First Transaction
· Grand Master Collateral Commitment
· Validation of the MCC (Master Collateral Commitment)
· Collateral Purchase Orders
· Collateral Provider
· Instruments delivered free of all liens and/or encumbrances
· Non-circumvention and Non-disclosure agreements
· Irrevocable Pay Order
· Irrevocable, irretraceable commitment of funds to purchase instruments
· Lending Bank, Funding Bank, Closing Bank
· Good clean cleared funds of non-criminal origin
· With full corporate and legal responsibility
· Interest at seven and one half percent, payable annually in arrears
· 5, 10, 20 years etc. plus one week or one day
· Fully binding commercial letter contract
· Client Company Principals
· Transaction Trenches
· Millions or Billions of US dollars with rolls and extensions
· Emissions, remission, commissions and fallout
· Transaction parameters
· There is to be no communication with our bank other than through the normal bank channels, no phone call allowed
If you see two or three of the above all in one document, then you ought to seriously consider whether or not fraud is involved and take reputable independent legal advice.
In the next part we will describe more about the most common fraudulent transactions: “Bank Guarantees” and “Discounted Bank Instruments”.
NEOCLEOUS & NEOCLEOUS LAW FIRM WILL REPRESENT CYPRUS FAMILIES BEFORE THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN STRASBOURG
July 24, 2008
By John Neocleous
Nicosia, Cyprus, June 1, 2008 – The case of Onoufriou v Turkey is part of a number of pilot Cases brought upon by Greek-Cypriot refugees against the Turkish Government and will be presented by Mr. Andreas Neocleous and Mr. Ioannis John Neocleous before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
On April 23rd 2008, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decided that the applicant could not be deemed to have lost entitlement to his property.
Displaced Greek Cypriots such as the applicant may apply for compensation to the Court for losses due to the denial of access to and loss of control, use, and enjoyment of his property.
Thirty-two petitions of Greek Cypriot refugees against Turkey have been accepted by the European Court of Human Rights and will be examined soon.
Eight more applications will follow, which are considered pilot cases for determining the future of the so called compensation committee. This committee has been set up in the Turkish occupied areas of Cyprus, and it hopes to become an effective domestic remedy for Greek Cypriots, who must first apply with regards to claims on their property.
Apart from the above cases, 1.500 additional petitions are pending before the ECHR. The Court decided to freeze them in view of the decisions to be taken regarding the eight pilot cases.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.
At the present time, Neocleous & Neocleous Law Firm (NCI Law Group’s Cyprus Office) is handling over 15 cases which are currently under the consideration of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
John Neocleous expands presence on world wide web
July 15, 2008
John Neocleous, founder of NCI Law group has launched many blogs to keep public and clients informed of NCI Law group’s activities. Some of the blogs are:
http://john-neocleous.blogspot.com
http://johnneocleous.spaces.live.com/blog/
http://ncilaw.john.googlepages.com/home
http://www.journalhome.com/johnneocleous/
http://johnneocleous.wordpress.com/
http://johnneocleous.rediffblogs.com/
Neocleous & Neocleous and NCI Law Group (Cyprus) Announce Closure of its Bellevue Office Location
July 9, 2008
Bellevue, WA April 1, 2008
Due to overwhelming number of cases handled by the European offices as well as the relocation of managing partners to Europe, the USA office was officially closed on April 1, 2008, and the administration of its cases transferred to the European Offices in Cyprus and Switzerland.
The European Offices addresses for NCI Law Group are (as of July 1st, 2008):
Cyprus Office
Nikis Centre
11 Kyriakos Matsis Ave.
5th Floor
1086 Nicosia
Cyprus
Tel: +357-22-680-670
Fax: +357-22-426-921
E-mail: info@ncilawgroup.com
Swiss Office
16 Place St. Francois
1003 Lausanne
Switzerland
Tel: +41-21-643-1028
Fax: +41-21-643-1027
E-mail: info@ncilawgroup.com
NCI Law is an international law firm founded by Ioannis John Neocleous that serves the needs of businesses, governments, non-profit organizations and individual clients around the world. We provide a broad array of corporate legal services to a diverse client base that ranges from start-up ventures to large multinational companies since 1996.
NCI Law Group Launches its New Web Site
July 5, 2008
By Olga Kosareva, Marketing Director NCI Law Group
Nicosia, Cyprus, June 18, 2008 – NCI Law Group Ltd. announced today the launch of its new corporate Web site www.ncilawgroup.com, which is highlighting its legal and corporate services, worldwide.
The new web site provides its visitors with information ranging from business summaries, to services descriptions on each one of the NCI Law Group international office and its partners, “at-a-glance”.
Each service page of the site identifies services provided by our Group says Mr. Ioannis John Neocleous, Managing Director while our “Latest News” section will be monitoring updates not only on oncoming or ongoing events of the Group, but provide latest updates on any changes in legal, tax and other areas related to our businesses. We believe that it is of great benefit to our Clients to keep them up to date.
ABOUT NCI LAW GROUP
NCI Law is an international law firm founded by Ioannis John Neocleous that serves the needs of businesses, governments, non-profit organizations and individual clients around the world. We provide a broad array of corporate legal services to a diverse client base that ranges from start-up ventures to large multinational companies since 1996.
NCI limits its practice to the areas of international corporate law, tax planning, international criminal law, banking law, and related matters. This allows us to focus our skills and knowledge to better serve our clients.
