TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FIRES THE DIRECTOR OF OCDETF, WHICH WILL HURT PROSECUTIONS OF MONEY LAUNDERERS IN THE UNITED STATES

The number two official at the Department of Justice, Todd Blanche, a Trump political appointee, abruptly fired ADAM COHEN, who is the Director of the ORGANIZED CRIME DRUG ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE, more commonly known as OCDETF, a move which will definitely affect the DOJ efforts to convict money launderers for narcotics traffickers. OCDETF targets drug trafficking organizations, including the laundrymen that clean the millions of dollars these groups each each month within the Continental United States, and their prosecution is key to suppressing their sophisticated money laundering operations.

I know this because, many decades ago, my own narcotics trafficking money laundering operation was targeted, and taken down by, OCDETF. It is a totally apolitical branch of the DOJ, with a superior crime suppression capability, and to summarily remove its Director, a key component, only to replace him with a less qualified political appointee, which is what will obviously now happen. Effective prosecutions of experienced money launderers, who are adept at concealing their operations inside legitimate industries, and using methods who often defy identification and exposure, require the type of investigatory skills that OCDETF possesses. I am not optimistic that the future appointee, who will get the job in large part because of his political views and statements, not his competency, will be able to do the job the position demands.

THE CAMPAIGN TO EXPOSE FRAUD AND CORRUPTION IN THE CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT INDUSTRY SHIFTS TO DOMINICA

If you have been following the news, regarding the unfolding scandal of fraud, money laundering and corruption that pervades the economic passport (CBI/CIP) industry in the East Caribbean, you must know that first, Saint Kitts & Nevis, and then Saint Lucia were exposed to the billion dollar fraud, perpetrated by the Chinese-owned consultancy, CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP, in those two island states.

Then, we learned of the operation of a massive illegally-discounted passport sale fraud in Grenada, by the new Dubai-based HENGSHENG GROUP, also under Chinese ownership. This second phase of the scandal is about to further stain an industry that prefers to label itself "Investment Migration," although its primary focus is selling passports facilitating visa-free access to the UK & EU, for individuals from countries of elevated or high risk.

Now, given that we know that a large number of incriminating documents, have been produced in an unrelated legal proceeding, constituting evidence that passport agents licensed by the Commonwealth of Dominica have sold a very large number of illegal citizenships to that country, you can expect that the scandal will expand to that state. In fact, the most popular article on the subject happens to be:

DOMINICA CONTINUES TO SELL CBI PASSPORTS AT AN ILLEGAL DISCOUNTED RATE, IN VIOLATION OF THE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT IT SIGNED LAST YEAR

Therefore, we can fully expect civil litigation over Dominica's illicit program during 2025; the big question is, of course, whether those deposits of CBI payments by the country's banks, into correspondent accounts in the United States, which by definition constitute money laundering under The Money Laundering Control Act of 1986, will result in indictments of the Dominican players this year. Caribbean insiders are watching for it, and the impact it will have on the future of the economic passport industry in general; Stay tuned.

TRUMP PLAYS DIPLOMATIC HARDBALL; HE TELLS CARIBBEAN LEADERS: IT'S THE UNITED STATES OR CHINA, AND YOU MUST NOW CHOOSE. HE ALSO THREATENS LOSS OF VISAS FOR ITS LEADERS TO VISIT AMERICA, IF THEY DON'T CEASE MEDICAL COOPERATION WITH CUBA

American President Donald Trump, in what has been reported in local media as a direct challenge to Caribbean leaders, is forcing them to choose the United States over the Peoples' Republic of China, in what is fast becoming a new Cold War between the world's greatest economic & military powers. The Caribbean states are being told to disengage with China, and to render unqualified allegiance to the U.S. upon pain of diplomatic and economic sanctions, if they decline.

And in an even more direct statement, Trump has advised the most senior Caribbean leaders to either cancel all medical cooperation with Cuba, or face the loss of visas for politicians and government leaders to visit the United States. The Caribbean states are now faced with a hard choice, for China has freely extended credit for vital infrastructure, but the U.S. wants the region to be free from becoming part of China's sphere of influence, and is demanding that the Caribbean unmoor itself from China, and firmly support America, or face painful economic and political consequences. 

We will be watching to see which choice the EC states now make. Will the region's left-leaning Caribbean leaders defy President Trump, and risk crippling sanctions from their largest trading partner and source of remittances from Expats, by retaining their financial ties with China and Cuba? These are hard choices; will these leaders make the correct one?

SOUTH AFRICA'S RECOGNITION OF HAMAS POSES A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER OF TERRORIST FINANCING RISK TO THE COUNTRY'S FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

The love affair between the African National Congress (ANC) and HAMAS, which is a designated (and sanctioned) global terrorist organization in several Western countries, notably the United States, raises risk levels in South Africa's financial sector and requires increased sensitivity to possible unwitting exposure to terrorist financing, when matters of international banking are concerned.

There are multiple issues that compliance officers at the country's major banks must be constantly aware of:
(1) Are exports to the Middle East really a supporter of Hamas or the ANC providing material support to a sanctioned terrorist organization?
(2) Is the movement of funds abroad by a Politically Exposed Person (PEP) the transfer of bribes payments made by Hamas to a government official or politician, now finding their way into a Western bank?
(3) Is that obscure small company, opening an account at your bank, in truth and in fact really a front for a terrorist operation?
(4) Could compliance malpractice in interdicting funds connected to Hamas result in an OFAC sanction to your bank, blocking all access to the American financial structure, with the resulting loss of competitiveness threatening its long-term existence?

Compliance officers at banks in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban, whose clients are engaged in substantial international trade and commerce, must defend daly against these threats, the failure of which to do so could prove fatal when exposed by Western regulatory bodies or law enforcement agencies. They require special practical training on advanced money laundering techniques to be able to identify and interdict those methods in real-time, and to coordinate with law enforcement so that the laundrymen are arrested and convicted, reducing the banks' risk to terrorist financing charges abroad to acceptable levels. Presently, such education and training is not being conducted, but if such steps are not taken, there will be, sooner or later, consequences imposed from abroad.

GRENADA'S CANCELLATION OF A HALF DOZEN ILLEGAL CBI PASSPORTS, WHEN THOUSANDS EXIST, DOES NOT IMPRESS THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL COMMUNITY

Grenada's much-quoted CIRCULAR NO.2, which is obviously intended to demonstrate the determination of the country's CBI regulator, IMA, to clean up the problem of thousands of passports illegally sold and issued, fails to impress anyone. Revoking a handful of passports, when there are literally thousands of them out there, all subject to cancellation, is but a drop in the proverbial bucket.

What is needed is: (1) the cancellation of Dubai-based, Chinese-owned CBI consultancy HANGSHENG GROUP's license to sell Grenada CBI, together with those of all its sub-agents, which we have previously identified on these pages, and (2) initiating a notice campaign, similar to that started by Saint Kitts & Nevis, requiring the investors to make full payment or have their passports publicly and officially revoked.

Please, Grenada, you do not honestly think that anyone accepts your token move to clean up the industry's biggest problem in the forty years that economic citizenships have been offered and sold. It's time to make major changes in the way that your CBI business is run, unless you want to have your visa-free privileges for the UK and EU terminated, as well as your valued, and unique to the Caribbean, US E-2 Treaty Investor Visa rights also terminated.

MORE CBI CONSULTANCIES SELLING ILLEGALLY DISCOUNTED GRENADA PASSPORTS FOR HENGSHENG GROUP IDENTIFIED

Following up on our recent article, GOVERNMENT OF GRENADA ADMITS ITS DUBAI AGENTS ARE ILLEGALLY SELLING DISCOUNTED PASSPORTS, https://lnkd.in/eiVv6QwJ there are additional Asia-based sub-agents of HENGSHENG GROUP that have been reportedly identified as having sold Grenada citizenships for illegal discounts as high as 60%, which violate the country's laws and regulations regarding minimum pricing. The information was obtained from our sources, including but not limited to bank records ordered released in connection with a court proceeding. It is by no means a complete list; as our investigation continues, we intend to release the identities of other CBI consultancies that are also engaged in these illegal practises:

1. SAVORY AND PARTNERS (Dubai)

2. GLOBE VISA GROUP (Singapore)

3.NTL TRUST (Dubai & Saint Lucia)

4. REACH IMMIGRATION (Amman)

5. HURIYA PRIVATE FZE LEE (Dubai)[closed]

Investors who purchased Citizenship By Investment (CBI) issued by Grenada, or for that matter any other East Caribbean state, are urged to consult with competent legal counsel at their earliest opportunity,and to be prepared to present their sales contracts, invoices, proof of payment, and all relevant communications sent or received so that their lawyer can properly advise them on their legal rights, obligations and potential remedies.

We note that some CBI consultancies are now warning potential clients, regarding the dangers of purchasing any economic citizenship at what appears to be a discounted rate.Prudent investors may wish to have an investigation completed by a company experienced in due diligence, in advance, for any potential economic citizenship purchase, given the disclosure that the illegal sales practice has been seen throughout the five East Caribbean states that offer Citizenship by Investment, or refraining from any purchase at this time, due to the current level of risk of total loss of one's entire investment through revocation by government administrative actiion.

GRENADA'S BOGUS OWNER FINANCING OF CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT PURCHASES WAS EXPOSED IN THE COUNTRY'S PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT AS A MAJOR COMPONENT OF THE FRAUD

If you closely read Grenada's CIRCULAR NO.2 OF 2025, you would have noticed that what is referred to as "Owner Financing" is a central part of the organized fraud that CBI consultancies play on the country's Investment Migration Agency (IMA), the department that administered the economic passport program. It allows the stakeholder or developer to create a fiction, to the effect that the full authorized legal price is being paid for the citizenship.

In truth and in fact, there is absolutely no expectation that the "loan" of more than 50% of the purchase price will ever be repaid, and no money ever actually is "lent" to the transaction; it's all an accounting entry, all smoke & mirrors, having all the indicia of fraud. It allows the consultancy to fast close the transaction for 40-50% of the legally allowed minimum purchase price for the citizenship. Yes, the developer/builder makes damn sure that the IMA gets all the required fees. In some cases, the construction project is never completed, and some never even break ground, like the unbuilt GSA sustainable aquaculture shrimp farm aquaculture project of SOREN DAWODY, which took USD$18m out of Grenada, and literally ran away with it. He has never been prosecuted for such a massive fraud.

The Owner Financing scam is just one more example of how amoral developers break the CBI laws in Grenada with impunity, with the aid and assistance of both the IMA, and officials at the highest level. It is now high time that the United States cancels the ability of Grenadian citizens, which includes CBI passport holders, to obtain an E-2 Treaty Investor Visa, for it is one of the major selling points consultants selling grenada passports hawk stridently. America doesn't need any more people coming in by way of fraud and deceit.The Owner Financing scam just adds insult to injury. Cancel Grenada's eligibility for E-2 visas forthwith. There's just too much crime going on in the CBI program, and ignored by a government that is gleefully collecting too much in the way if lucrative fees to rein it in.

GOVERNMENT OF GRENADA ADMITS ITS DUBAI AGENTS ARE ILLEGALLY SELLING DISCOUNTED PASSPORTS BUT FAILS TO NAME AND SHAME THEM; WE IDENTIFY HANGSHENG AND TISORO GLOBAL AS THE BAD ACTORS

PM DICKON MITCHELL of Grenada with China's  XI JINPING

Grenada's INVESTMENT MIGRATION AGENCY (IMA), in a public Circular filed on March 5, 2025, and entitled ILLEGAL DISCOUNTING AND OWNER FINANCING ACTIVITIES RELATED TO GRENADA'S CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT PROGRAMME, has admitted that a marketing agent is directing its staff and sub-agents to sell Grenada citizenships at discounts that are illegal under the Grenadian law authorizing economic citizenship, and violated the Memorandum of Agreement on minimum pricing signed by Grenada and the other four East Caribbean states that sell CBI/CIP.

Grenada knows full well who that marketing agency is, but curiously fails to identify it by name in the Circular, leaving consumers, and the global financial community, completely in the dark about its identity. Our sources have named the Chinese-owned and Dubai-based HENGSHENG GROUP (HS) as the entity engaged in these illegal passport sales, both in its own name and in the alternate identity it is currently using to conceal itself from the public, TISORO GLOBAL, which we have previously named here:

SCANDAL-RIDDEN CHINESE CBI CONSULTANCY HENG SHENG RELOCATES TO DUBAI, FORMS VIRTUAL COMPANY UNDER ANOTHER NAME TO DECEIVE PURCHASERS AND REGULATORS https://lnkd.in/eJH5myfF

Government officials at the ministerial level are painfully aware that HENGSHENG GROUP is the entity engaged in the illegal and unauthorized deeply discounted sales, and is participating in the biggest fraud in the country's history, as HS orchestrated the recent meeting between the leader of the Peoples' Republic of China, and DICKON MITCHELL, the Prime Minister of Grenada; The Circular is therefore completely hypocritical on the part of the IMA. All those unwitting purchasers of discounted passports face the total loss of their investment, being publicly stigmatized as cheats and even criminals under Grenadian law when their names are published, and the revocation of their passports, making them useless for international travel.

PM MITCHELL and HS Vice President GALLI KHURELEE

News of Grenada's sordid CBI scandal is exploding in the international media, much as has previously occurred in Saint Kitts & Nevis, and in Saint Lucia, and as investors in Grenada become aware of their exposure to the fraud, you will be hearing much more on the subject in the near future.

SHAPE-SHIFTING SOUTH AFRICAN MONEY LAUNDERERS CONTINUE TO OPERATE WITH IMPUNITY IN A FINANCIAL ENVIRONMENT WITH CORRUPTION ISSUES

Company A becomes Company B, becomes Company C, etc.

We note that the low level of success of anti-money laundering compliance programmes in the Republic of South Africa is reportedly due in large part to a technique described there as "Shape-Shifting," which is the movement of money laundering operations from one corporate entity to another and then in turn to another, successively, to avoid establishing any pattern of deposits or wire transfers.from any one corporation or business organization. Apparently, the moment the laundrymen sense any monitoring of an account, or customer queries made or entered, entirely new business entities are activated, through other accounts, to continue to move criminal proceeds with impunity. The technique is said to be exceptionally successful in South Africa, where very few laundering operations result in discovery, interdiction, arrest and conviction.

The enterprising laundrymen make identification of the successor companies difficult by giving them deceptively similar name to legitimate businesses, by using names that appear to be subsidiaries of established companies abroad, and by making small changes or additions to the names of known businesses, to confuse and deceive compliance officers in passing them as low-risk.

South African banks are also often victims to corruption of low-level, underpaid frontline bank staff, who are susceptible to bribes and other illicit forms of compensation, to cause them to ignore suspicious transactions. This problem, which merely reflects South Africa's known high level of corruption, can only be combatted through increased monitoring of staff,and expense which most SA banks appear to be disinclined to do.

These issues have created a perfect storm for money laundering in South Africa's financial industry, and until increases in AML training, and staff video monitoring occur, we will continue to see that most money laundering operations through SA banks are not discovered in real-time.