Tag: money laundering
Blake denies laundering Watson’s ‘stolen’ cash
(CNS): Bruce Blake, a former football executive with both CIFA and CONCACAF, has denied money laundering and false accounting in relation to a scheme where, prosecutors say, he helped his colleague Canover Watson hide more than $1.5 million, the proceeds of scam invoices for football kit. Blake claimed the work he did for Canover Watson […]
‘I’m innocent’ claims Watson after week on stand
(CNS): Former local business leader and regional football executive Canover Watson told a jury that he was the innocent party in the prosecution’s $1.5 million football fraud case against him and his former CIFA and CONCACAF colleague, Bruce Blake. After a week giving evidence on his own behalf, Watson accused anti-corruption investigators of bias and […]
Auditors flagged $1.2M unsecured CIFA ‘loans’
(CNS): A director with Rankin Berkower, which conducted the Cayman Islands Football Association’s audits, explained to a jury this week how he spotted red flags in the 2014 annual review of CIFA’s books and reported his concerns to the Anti-Corruption Commission. As the trial of Canover Watson and Bruce Blake on charges of fraud and […]
Two men arrested by anti-corruption cops
(CNS): Two public officers were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of corruption and criminal offences, according to a release from the Cayman Islands Anti-Corruption Commission. Both men are 44 years old; one is from George Town and the other is from Prospect. However, the ACC investigators did not provide any details relating to the allegations or […]
Watson’s sports company partner denies taking cash
(CNS): A football equipment salesman involved in a complex business partnership with Canover Watson between 2013 and 2015 denied wrongfully taking money from the sale of sports equipment or being involved in any of the fraud that Watson is accused of perpetrating on the regional football body, CONCACAF. Shakeel Khawaja, a representative for Forward Sports, […]
Watson’s lawyer challenges fake invoice allegation
(CNS): The attorney representing Canover Watson challenged the false invoice claims at the heart of the crown’s case against his client as he cross examined the prosecution’s first witness on Tuesday. David Cruz, CONCACAF’s financial chief, had confirmed the accusation that three invoices from Forward Sports for over $1.5 million worth of sports kit that […]
Blake points finger at Watson and Webb over CONCACAF fraud
(CNS): Bruce Blake told investigators after he was arrested for money laundering in 2017 that he knew nothing about any dishonesty in relation to the alleged theft from the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) of $1.5 million by his colleague, Canover Watson. In interviews, Blake, a former Cayman Islands Football […]
Crown: Watson stole $1.54M in football invoice fraud
(CNS): Canover Watson, the former treasurer of the Cayman Island Football Association (CITA), stole US$1.54 million from CONCACAF, the regional football body, using false and massively overinflated invoices, prosecutors alleged as they opened the decade-long case against Watson and Bruce Blake on Friday. They accused Blake, the former VP of CIFA and at the time […]
Real estate still poses high risk of money laundering
(CNS): More than 40% of property developers and real estate agents selected last year by the Department of Commerce and Investment for inspection for their anti-money laundering processes were found to be non-compliant with the regulations. According to both the DCI’s 2021 Supervisory Report and the National Risk Assessment 2021, which have both been made […]
BVI premier waiting release on bond from US jail
(CNS): A Miami judge has ruled that British Virgin Islands Premier Andrew Fahie (51) can be released on U$500,000 bail following his arrest on drug-smuggling and money laundering charges in a DEA sting in South Florida last week. According to news reports in the US following Fahie’s scheduled court appearance on Wednesday, Judge Alicia Otazo-Reyes […]
Fahie planning return to work as premier of BVI
(CNS): The premier of the British Virgin Islands, Andrew Fahie, has said he will not resign from his job leading the overseas territory and that he was “framed” by the BVI’s “colonial masters”. In a social media message, which he asked to be circulated, sent from jail after his arrest last week on drug trafficking […]
