BVI-based Riqueza alleged to play the main role in Opes Prime operations
British Virgin Islands-registered company Riqueza operating in Singapore is probably involved in the activities of the director of the collapsed stockbroking firm Opes Prime, Anthony Blumberg, who may be linked to accounting irregularities and questionable loans at the failed firm. Some issues of Mr Blumberg’s role in the complex web of companies and transactions related to the Opes group are believed to have been referred by the Opes receiver Deloitte to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Until now, ASIC was focused on Opes former chief executive Laurie Emini, whose location is now unknown. Now Deloitte handed Mr Blumberg and his lawyer Graeme Efron a letter of demand seeking the Opes director’s files. It is alleged that Mr Blumberg was involved with a number of questionable loans made to companies, many of them being offshore.
Opes Prime Stockbroking had two arm’s-length companies called Leveraged Capital Pty Ltd and Hawkswood Pty Ltd. These companies allegedly dealt with Opes through the BVI-registered Riqueza, which has been considered central to the Opes operations. In April this year, Opes administrator John Lindholm of Ferrier Hodgson took possession of BVI company’s books and records, which were surrendered by the Singapore-based sole director and shareholder Jay Moghe. It was said that Riqueza had allegedly hosted the “irregular†transactions that had enabled six favoured customers to avoid margin calls.