By Lilla Zuill
An Oregon-based currency trader has been indicted on numerous counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering after allegations that his company swindled investors and funnelled funds, that should have been invested, through numerous offshore bank accounts – some in Bermuda.
A news report from Oregon Live.com last Thursday reported that a federal grand jury in Portland had charged the head of now-defunct Orion International, Russell Cline, with 39 charges after he allegedly misled investors with false promises that their money would be invested in foreign currency trades netting them returns of up to 200 percent a year. Others associated with the company have also been charged.
The indictment against Mr. Cline said that Orion, contrary to its promises, only invested one-quarter of the funds it had taken in. Federal investigators reported the company held $27 million in assets under management from about 600 different investors.
A civil case was previously launched against Mr. Cline by out-of-pocket investors, with one saying that he had encouraged his son and friends to invest in the now exposed Ponzi scheme, because of the promised returns.
The criminal indictment said that only $6.4 million was actually invested, while the balance of the $27 million in assets was transferred through a network of accounts in offshore banks in Samoa, Estonia, St. Kitts and Bermuda.
Orion reportedly transferred some of its funds through Bermuda Commercial Bank, according to information in court records reported on in the web-based newsletter OffshoreAlert.
Source: The Royal Gazette
