A-Power’s shareholders asked to move for appointment as lead plaintiff in the lawsuit

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Mike

All persons or entities who purchased the securities of the British Virgin Islands-registered company A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd. between March 31, 2008 and June 27, 2011, have until August 31, 2011 to move the Court to serve as Lead Plaintiff in the securities fraud class action lawsuit. The case of the company is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The Complaint alleges that during the Class Period A-Power issued a series of materially false and misleading statements concerning BVI company’s business and financial performance. Specifically, defendants failed to dislose that the company improperly accounted for its related-party transactions, BVI company’s revenues and income were misstated in violation of GAAP, revenue and income reported in the company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission were overstated, as the company reported materially lower revenue and net income in its filings with China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce. Also, the company lacked adequate internal and financial controls, and as a result of all this the financial results of the BVI company were materially false and misleading.

In this case, the Court is required to appoint a “Lead Plaintiff”. Any person or group who suffered a loss as a result of purchasing A-Power securities between March 31, 2008 and June 27, 2011, may ask the Court to be appointed as Lead Plaintiff, but must file a motion no later than the August 31, 2011.

Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP is the law firm that represents A-Power shareholders in this litigation.

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Madoff Trustee to file new lawsuit against BVI-based feeder funds

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Mike

The trustee Irving Picard, who is trying to recover money invested by victims of Madoff’s affair into his feeder funds, among which there were BVI-registered funds, was authorized by the U.S. Bankruptcy Judge to file a $975.5 million lawsuit against the BVI-based Kingate Global Fund, the Kingate Euro Fund and some others.

The trustee alleged that in the period from 1994 to 2008 there worked a scheme to funnel US$1.7 billion to Madoff from the Kingate funds, which invested all their money in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. According to Picard, there were two men behind this scheme, who owned the BVI funds and had long-lasting relationships with Madoff, collecting “hundreds of millions of dollars in fees” from Kingate investors. He said that $975.5 million is actually the sum that the BVI-domiciled funds redeemed from Madoff, and it must be returned.

The first lawsuit against the BVI-based Kingate funds was initiated in April 2009, seeking to recover $255 million. Then, the joint provisional liquidators of the Kingate funds were appointed, among them the firm Zolfo Cooper.

Posted in BVI Investment Funds, Court decisions, Frauds, Illegal actions, Investigation, Offshore investment schemes, Ponzi scheme | Leave a comment

Investigation initiated on A-Power Energy Generation systems

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Mike

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. is investigating potential securities claims against A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd., the British Virgin Islands-incorporated company, providing distributed power generation systems in China. The claims resulted from allegations that the BVI company issued materially misleading financial statements and business information to the investors.

An article published on Seeking Alpha some days ago raised a number of questions concerning the BVI company, including allegations that the 2009 financial statements filed by A-Power’s main subsidiaries with Chinese regulators showed less than one-tenth of revenue and cash balances that appear in the financial statements of A-Power Energy.

The Rosen Law Firm is preparing a securities class action lawsuit on behalf of A-Power Energy Generation Systems securities in order to recover their investment losses.

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Businessman won dispute on BVI-registered property

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Mike

The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of businessman James Stanley, the former chairman of the company Bula Resources, in a dispute over the ownership of a property, which, as he claimed, was bought in 1989 for IR£235,000 and moved to the British Virgin Islands-incorporated company River Properties Ltd. The property – Brownsbarn House, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny – was held by a company in trust for Mr Stanley.

This dispute decided in the three-judge court follows a long-running legal dispute between Mr Stanley and his ex-girlfriend Ms Kieran. The Moscow-based executive claimed that the share capital of the BVI company, which was the owner of Brownsbarn House where they lived together in 1983-1994, was registered in the name of Ms Kieran and held in trust for him.

Ms Kieran denied that Mr Stanley purchased the house either in her name, or the company’s, in trust for him.

Four years ago, High Court judge dismissed businessman’s claim on the ground that he had produced no documentary evidence of the legal or beneficial ownership of the company. She also found there was a 10-year delay in registering the lands, and that the amount of control he gave Ms Kieran over the property was not consistent with his claim to be the beneficial owner. Mr Stanley appealed that ruling and claimed that in 2000 he asked Ms Kieran to join with him in steps to mortgage the property but Ms Kieran refused.

The judge said that Mr Stanley gave “unchallenged evidence” that he bought the property with his own money in 1989 as a holiday home or for development, to be held by the company.

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Genting Singapore bought BVI company stake in strange deal

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Mike

Genting Singapore, a 51.7% subsidiary of Genting Bhd, announced that it had entered into an agreement for the acquisition of a 69% stake in Goldnature Investments Ltd., a British Virgin Islands-incorporated company having portfolio of interests in natural resource operations through its subsidiary Montbella Ltd.

However, the acquisition of the BVI company by Genting Singapore did not arise any reaction from investors’ side, and next day upon the announcement of the transaction the stock ended flat at S$2.07 in Singapore trade.

Financial analysts were actually puzzled by the acquisition, saying that it was not in line with the group’s main gaming business. In their opinion, the Singapore company did not work on the rationale of the purchase. While Goldnature has a net asset value of US$16mln., Genting Singapore would be paying about five times book value for the stake, prompting analysts to say it was an expensive deal.

Genting Singapore is the company that stays behind the development of Resorts World, which was recently fined S$530,000 by the Casino Regulatory Authority of Singapore for breaches of the Casino Control Act and its rules.

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BVI-registered Eurotex Finanz Inc. delists its shares

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Mike

Eurotex Finanz Inc., the financial services company registered in the British Virgin Islands, has delisted its shares from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as of May 19, 2011.

According to BVI company’s announcement, the decision to delist was based on several factors. One of them is the low volume of shares traded on the exchange. In the time since Eurotex listed in 2010, the overall volume has not improved and shows no indication of improvement for the future.

Another factor is the difficulty for investors to buy and sell securities from their respective countries because of a lack of domestic brokers with international trade desks. Recent technological and regulatory developments stand to cost the company a substantial amount of money each year to stay listed, with only minor foreseeable gains.

The company also said that maintaining a listing comes with real costs, and concentrating on business growth and development is in line with Eurotex’s ongoing focus on cost efficiency.

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Dispute between TNK-BP and British Petroleum to be solved in the BVI court

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Mike

It was stated by international media sources that the lawsuit against British Petroleum, filed by TNK-BP, the Russian-based company owned by BP, will come to the British Virgin Islands court in a short time.

This matter which will be probably heard is said to be part of TNK-BP’s opposition to the approximately $16 billion agreement between its parent company BP, and Russian oil company Rosneft. TNK-BP accused the companies that it was excluded from the BP/Rosneft agreement. According to TNK-BP, this action represents a breach of the contract it has with the British oil company. The issue was taken before a Court in London, and an injunction was issued against BP and Rosneft.

So far, the legal action by TNK-BP has delayed the agreement with Rosneft. It is said that TNK-BP will be suing BP for losses up to $10 million. After the BVI court, the matter will come to another court in the UK.

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Litigation firm to start investigation on Fuqi International

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Mike

Shareholder rights litigation firm Robbins Umeda LLP, which is interested in helping shareholders of Fuqi International, has started an investigation into possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of the law by certain officers and directors of the company. The investigation focuses on whether the directors and officers of Fuqi harmed the company by engaging in self-dealing and issuing false and misleading statements about the company’s financial results. Formal non-public investigation related to company’s failure to timely file required periodic reports has been initiated by the Securities Exchange Commission in September 2010. Before this, in March 2010, the company announced that it was unable to timely file its annual report for 2009 with SEC due to accounting errors.

Fuqi International is headquartered in Shenzhen, China, and incorporated in Delaware. The company is conducting its business through British Virgin Islands-registered subsidiary FUQI International Holdings Co., Ltd. Through its subsidiaries, Fuqi International is engaged in design, development, promotion and sale of precious metal jewelry in the PRC.

Despite announcements that the company has been working toward completing its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, and amendments to its Quarterly Reports for each period previously called into question, Fuqi has yet to file its financial statements. In March 2011, the company had been delisted from NASDAQ and would trade instead on Pink OTC Markets, Inc.

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BVI holding announces stock drop

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Mike

викAdvanced Battery Technologies, the New York-based holding company for a British Virgin Islands-registered holding company that in its turn owns rechargeable battery making facilities and executive offices in Shuangcheng in northern China, expressed great concern about the company’s stock price sharp drop, which was not related to any changes in the company’s financial condition or outlook, or any other significant event for the company.

On Wednesday, March 30, the shares of Advanced Battery Technologies decreased 42.7% and closed at US$2.01. Next day the shares closed at US$1.94, while last year they have traded between US$3.07 and US$4.28.

The company Advanced Battery Technologies makes batteries for products ranging from electric cars and motorcycles to notebook computers and lamps used in mines. According to the company, in the year that ended December 31, 2010, the company had net income of US$36.7 million on revenue of US$97.1 million. Also it had about 76 million shares outstanding.

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Dispute over Turkcell to be resolved in the BVI Court

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Mike

The dispute over the ownership of Turkcell between Russian Alfa Group and Turkey’s conglomerate Cukurova Holding, which is owned by one of Turkey’s most powerful businessmen, is close to resolution. The appeals court is expected to say its final verdict on this long-running litigation case.

The case has its roots in a dispute between Cukurova and Alfa in 2005, when the Turkish company was close to defaulting on a US$3 billion loan to the Turkish State Savings Deposit Fund. Alfa purchased shares from Cukurova, giving it an indirect 13% stake in Turkcell, and also loaned it US$1.7 billion, secured with a further 13.7% interest in the firm. After this deal, the Swedish telecommunications giant TeliaSonera claimed Cukurova had already promised it the same shares. In January 2007, the Swedish company won an arbitration award upholding its right to purchase the Turkcell shares.

In its turn, Alfa said that award amounted to an “event of default”, and demanded Cukurova pay back the US$1.7 billion loan. After a series of legal actions in London, the case was referred to the High Court of the British Virgin Islands, which ruled that Alfa wasn’t entitled to demand Cukurova repay its loan. Alfa appealed that decision in the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.

By words of James Hildson, an expert on the British Virgin Islands law who has followed the Alfa-Cukurova case, Alfa is in a strong position, and it has very reasonable prospects for a successful appeal.
However, this might not be the end. If this time Cukurova loses, it can appeal to the London-based Privy Council Office, the highest court of appeal.

Winning the case would allow Altimo and TeliaSonera to pursue their long-term goal of merging their interests in Turkcell and the Russian mobile operator MegaFon into a single mobile-phone company.

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