BVI Offshore Business: Grey Area

On May 8, 2009, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the British Virgin Islands made an order appointing William Tacon and Richard Fogerty of Zolfo Cooper as Joint Provisional Liquidators of the British Virgin Islands-registered funds Kingate Global Fund Limited and Kingate Euro Fund Limited, the funds which are sued as the feeder funds which were fully invested in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Both BVI funds have investors in many parts of the world. The legal action against the funds was recently started by the court-appointed trustee for the liquidation of Madoff’s fund, Mr. Irving Picard in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Their function as Joint Provisional Liquidators is to identify, manage, secure and preserve the underlying assets of the funds, in accordance with the terms of the BVI Court order and the provisions of the BVI Insolvency Act of 2003. The Joint Provisional Liquidators also said that they were not asking investors to submit details of their interests or claims in the BVI funds. One of the provisional liquidators, Mr. Tacon, added that the lawsuits against the funds which have been filed by Mr. Picard will also be an immediate priority for the Joint Provisional Liquidators.

In order to assist investors and creditors, the Joint Provisional Liquidators have established special websites - www. kingateglobal-liquidation .vg and www. kingateeuro-liquidation .vg, where information updates will be posted periodically. The Joint Provisional Liquidators hope to receive full co-operation and support of directors of the BVI funds. They are also going to communicate with investors and any creditors in the near future.