iNews Briefs
2 Weavering Cayman Islands fund directors have judgement overturned on Appeal
Directors, Stefan Peterson and Hans Ekstrom, of the Cayman Islands Weavering Macro Fixed Income fund have had their judgement overturned by the Court of Appeal.
The fund collapsed in March 2009 and Magnus Peterson, who was the former manager of the hedge fund, was sentenced in January to 13 years in prison after being found guilty of eight counts of fraud, forgery, false accounting and fraudulent trading.
The fund operated for six years in which Magnus Peterson used fictitious interest rate swap trades to cover up losses and inflate the fund’s investment performance. It cost investors $536 million.
Judgement was also made against Stefan Peterson and Hans Ekstrom making them personally liable for $111 million worth of losses to the fund because of willful neglect on their part by not discovering the fraud. Stefan Peterson is the brother of Magnus and Hans Ekstrom is Magnus’ brother-in-law.
However, the Appeals Court found the judge had not provided any reasons for disproving the evidence the two directors had provided that said they had believed they were complying with their duties.
The directors were protected by a clause in the fund’s articles of association from personal liability unless they acted “with willful neglect or default” when carrying out their duties.
Appeals Court judge Justice John Chadwick wrote that in order to establish willful neglect or default it is necessary to prove “the director made a deliberate and conscious decision to act or to fail to act in knowing breach of his duty: negligence, however gross, is not enough.”
Anti-Defamation League ‘Shocked and Outraged’ at Copenhagen attacks
By Sandy Fitzgerald From Newsmax
This weekend’s terror attacks on a Copenhagen synagogue and at an event promoting free speech should serve “as another wake-up call to all of Europe” to the clear dangers posed by radical terrorists, Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman said Sunday.
“This latest attack, apparently motivated by anti-Semitism and radical Islamic extremist ideology, is another assault on democracy and free society,” Foxman said in a statement. “With Jews in the crosshairs, there is an urgent need for European leaders to act quickly and effectively to ensure their safety.”
Police killed a lone gunman Sunday suspected in the two separate attacks that claimed the lives of Dan Uzan, 37, who was a member of the Copenhagen Jewish community serving as a guard at a celebration at a Jewish community building near the synagogue, and of filmmaker Finn Norgaard. Five police officers were also killed in the attacks.
Foxman said the ADL is “deeply shocked and outraged” by the attacks.
“What kind of madness is this when a Jewish community cannot celebrate a bat mitzvah without fear of attack?” said Foxman. “The attacks in Copenhagen are tragic reminders that Islamic extremists target Jews and democratic freedoms together.”
And as with the terror attacks in Paris, said Foxman, “once again we see that anti-Semitism is at the core of Islamic extremist ideology. This link has not been sufficiently understood throughout Europe, despite the Paris attacks.”
According to an ADL survey in 2013 and early 2014, just nine percent of adults in Denmark have anti-Semitic attitudes, the ADL statement said, marking the same levels found in the United States and one of the lowest levels in Western Europe.
Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS)
By Luxury Hoteliers
The Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS) takes place April 27 – 28, at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Miami. CHRIS is the Caribbean’s leading hotel investment conference, with informative sessions on the latest topics and trends, as well as high-powered networking sessions. CHRIS immediately precedes the HOLA conference, an annual gathering of hospitality and related industry professionals interested in doing deals in the Latin American market, offering attendees an effective way to do business in two regions. CHRIS is a well-organized, hotel investment conference with a thought provoking program and leading industry speakers. Hosting the conferences in an industry hub like Miami, as well as their back-to-back nature, makes it easy for attendees in both markets to conduct business. Register here: http://chrisconference.com
For more: http://www.luxuryhotelassociation.org/2015/02/caribbean-hotel-resort-investment-summit-chris/
RCC selects DocuSphere (Tungsten) for AP automation
From E-Invoicing
On its journey to greater control of its accounts payable processes, Royal Caribbean Cruises [RCC] has selected Tungsten Corporation to streamline its invoice-to-pay process. This should lead to benefits like: reducing the time it takes to process invoices, cutting costs associated with invoice processing, and improving visibility on its spend with suppliers.
The leading Miami-based global cruise brand has joined Tungsten through DocuSphere, a provider of accounts payable (AP) automation services that was acquired by Tungsten in 2014.
Following its acquisition of DocuSphere, Tungsten can now offer customers who use AP automation software from JD Edwards, Oracle and SAP a better tailored solution to their AP needs. Tungsten’s workflow product integrates seamlessly with the JD Edwards Accounts Payable software that Royal Caribbean currently uses.
Rick Hurwitz, Tungsten’s CEO, Americas:
“Tungsten was the logical choice for Royal Caribbean, and we are delighted to work with them now that DocuSphere is fully integrated into Tungsten Corporation,” said. “Royal Caribbean receives invoices from suppliers based all over the world, so it was important for them to work with a provider that is tax compliant in multiple countries and legal jurisdictions, and offers support in multiple languages.”
For more: http://eeiplatform.com/15532/royal-caribbean-cruises-selects-docusphere-tungsten-ap-automation/
Antigua and Barbuda Triathlon attracts Caribbean top athletes
From Caribbean Times
The region’s best triathletes are expected to go head to head once again when they meet in the twin-island paradise of Antigua and Barbuda, for the fourth annual non-profit AUA Tinman Rohr Triathlon slated for Saturday March 28.
The first half-iron distance triathlon to be held in the English-speaking independent Caribbean now enters its fourth year with Guadeloupe having retained the title for the past two years.
Participants are lured by this race taking place in one of the most picturesque islands in the Caribbean. Temperatures are welcoming with a cooling sea breeze, the waters of Antigua’s Morris Bay are calm and crystal clear, the bike course takes you through the rolling hills of the island’s spectacular southern coastline and ends with a challenging run through the lush rain-forest in Fig Tree Drive. A grueling 2 kilometer swim, 90 kilometer bike and 21 kilometer run makes this race though, one of the toughest tests for Caribbean athletes in the region.
Twelve-time Guadeloupe national champion is the reigning Tinman Rohr Champion having followed up his 2013 success last year by securing the title ahead of Cuba’s national athlete Vincente Sanabria in 2nd place. Six-time Trinidad and Tobago national champion Ancil Greene in 2014 secured third for the second year running after Antigua & Barbuda took second place on home soil in 2013. Former world champion swimmer turned triathlete Benjamin Sanson won the inaugural event in 2012 which also attracted his colleague Stephane Poulat and Argentinian national triathlete Claudio Delpueche.
The event, which attracts competitors from across the region and the wider world, will have a cap of 200 entrants in 2015 to ensure ideal race conditions for all participants. Registration is open to amateurs and professionals alike via www.antiguatinmantriathlon.com. Special accommodation rates are available.
Young athletes will also compete in a host of shorter distances to include a mini triathlon of a 500 meter swim, 10 kilometer bike and 2 kilometer run or a sprint distance of a 1 kilometer swim, 18 kilometer bike and 5 kilometer run. Age group awards will be given for 6 & under, 10 & under, 14 & under and 18 & under.
SME development in Bio & Renewable Energy in the Caribbean
From ICWE GmbH
Energy in the Caribbean is reported to be among the most expensive in the world, with around 90% of all Caribbean countries being dependent on imported fossil fuels. Abundant natural resources in the Caribbean indicate strong potential to develop wind, solar, biomass and other forms of renewable energy, however with more capital needed for sustainable energy projects in the Caribbean, experts claim that another key barrier to diversification of the energy market also includes the lack of a regulatory framework.
A video has been launched following a two-day forum that was held in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, organised by the Caribbean Export Development Agency together with the ACP Business Climate Facility (BizClim), on the 20th and 21st of January, 2015.
The two-day “Stakeholder Forum to support SME development in Bio & Renewable Energy in the Caribbean” was attended by over one hundred public & private sector participants from Europe, the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific who identified opportunities for development and addressed barriers to sustainable growth in the sector, particularly for small and medium enterprises.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK7t3sXNThM
Source: www.icwe.net
Morgan spurs U.S. women past England
Alex Morgan scored in the 25th minute to lift the United States to a 1-0 victory over England in a women’s international friendly on Friday in front of a crowd of 14,369 at Milton Keynes Stadium.
Bank of America can’t dodge $1.27b countrywide verdict
By Scott Flaherty, From The Litigation Daily
Never one to mince words, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan had a few harsh ones for Bank of America Corp. on Tuesday, ruling that it “utterly failed” to offer a compelling reason to retry a mortgage fraud case that put the bank on the hook for $1.27 billion.
In a 15-page decision, Rakoff rejected a motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial lodged by Bank of America’s lawyers at Williams & Connolly.
“The jury’s conclusion that this was a massive and intentional fraud was amply supported by the evidence,” Rakoff wrote.
The ruling marks the latest win for U.S. Department of Justice in the civil fraud case, which accuses the bank’s Countrywide Financial unit and former Countrywide executive Rebecca Mairone of duping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into buying shoddy mortgages. The case was first brought in 2012 by whistleblower Edward O’Donnell, a former Countrywide Home Loans vice president.
A jury found against the bank in October 2013, determining that Countrywide misrepresented to Fannie and Freddie the quality of mortgages it originated through a program known internally as high-speed swim lane (HSSL), or “hustle.” In July, Rakoff leveled a fine of $1.27 billion against BofA and hit Mairone with a $1 million penalty for her role in the scheme. (O’Donnell, a key witness in the government’s case, eventually raked in a $57.7 million whistleblower award.)
In the wake of Rakoff’s July decision, the bank asked for a new trial and asserted that there wasn’t enough evidence of a “material misrepresentation” on Countrywide’s part to support the jury’s fraud findings. Rakoff sniped at that argument in Tuesday’s ruling, writing that it “borders on the frivolous.”
A BofA spokesman confirmed Tuesday that the company will appeal. The bank’s legal team includes Williams & Connolly’s Brendan Sullivan and Enu Maingini. Marc Mukasey of Bracewell & Giuliani, who represents Mairone, said he was “quite optimistic” about the prospects for a successful appeal.
“Remember, the government’s case was built on the testimony of a witness who was a willing participant in the High Speed Swim Lane process and whom, unbeknownst to us during trial, will recover $58 million dollars for turning on his former colleagues,” Mukasey said.
Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/NLJ
For more on this story go to: http://www.litigationdaily.com/id=1202716946354/Bank-of-America-Cant-Dodge-127B-Countrywide-Verdict#ixzz3Qmmt9PVz
Jamaica: Tourist arrivals increased by 3.6 % in 2014
By Marlon Tingling From Jamaica Information Service
The tourism sector continues to experience steady growth in arrivals, with final figures for the 2014 calendar year indicating a 3.6 per cent over the similar period in 2013.
Making the disclosure, Tourism and Entertainment Minister, Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill, told a special media briefing at the western office of the Prime Minister in Montego Bay, today (February 5), that the country welcomed more than 2 million stopover visitors during last year, which is unprecedented.
“This surpassed the 2 million we did in 2013. Between January and December 2014, we welcomed 2,080,181stopover visitors, which represents an increase of 3.6 per cent over the 2,008,004 stop over visitors recorded for 2013,” he said.
The Minister said overall, Jamaica welcomed over 71,000 more visitors during 2014, than in 2013.
He added that major contributors to Jamaica’s arrival growth were increased arrivals from the source markets, with stopover arrivals out of Europe growing by 10.7 per cent; arrivals from Canada moved up by 5.2 per cent; the United States increased by 2 per cent, with Western US showing a 5.4 per cent increase and an additional 5.6 per cent from the Southern United States; and a 9.2 per cent increase from the Asian market.
Turning to arrivals in the cruise shipping sector, Minister McNeill announced that for the year, Jamaica recorded a 12.5 per cent growth over 2013.
“In 2014, the island welcomed 1,423, 797 cruise visitors, which represents an increase of 12.5 per cent over 2013. In other words, Jamaica welcomed over 158,000 more cruise ship visitors in 2014 than we did in 2013,” he said.
“So, in total, Jamaica welcomed some 3.5 million visitors to the island in 2014,” the Minister added.
The Minister informed that for December 2014, the first month of the current Winter Tourist season, arrivals recorded an increase of 5.9 per cent over 2013, with 213,129, and that cruise ship was also up 12.6 per cent.
Turning to earnings from the tourism sector, Dr. McNeill reported that Jamaica raked in some US$2.2 billion between January and December 2014, which translates to a 5.8 per cent increase over the similar period in 2013.
The Minister also pointed out that preliminary arrival figures for January 2015 are very promising and from all indications, Jamaica should experience a very strong (rest of) the winter season, and that things are shaping up for the summer.
Am Law 100 Firms Tune In For RadioShack Bankruptcy
By Brian Baxter, From The Am Law Daily
The music finally stopped at RadioShack late Thursday, as the 94-year-old consumer electronics retailer began bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware, listing $1.2 billion in assets against nearly $1.39 billion in liabilities. The Fort Worth-based company has turned to Jones Day, a frequent legal adviser to RadioShack over the years, to handle its Chapter 11 case.
David Heiman, the Cleveland-based founder of Jones Day’s restructuring group and a lead lawyer for the city of Detroit in its recently concluded bankruptcy proceedings, and global M&A chair and veteran dealmaker Robert Profusek are part of a team from the firm representing RadioShack. Other Jones Day lawyers counseling the debtor include bankruptcy partners Gregory Gordon and Thomas Howley, corporate partners James O’Bannon, John Kane and Mark Betzen, finance partner John Mazey and associates Jonathan Fisher, Paul Green and Amanda Suzuki.
Pepper Hamilton bankruptcy partners David Fournier and Evelyn Meltzer in Wilmington are serving as local Delaware counsel to RadioShack in its Chapter 11 case, along with associate John Schanne II. Robert Donohoo serves as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for RadioShack, which filed a consolidated creditors list with the bankruptcy court in Wilmington that includes 43 Am Law 200 firms. None of the firms are among RadioShack’s 50 largest unsecured creditors.
RadioShack plans to sell up to 2,400 of its 4,300 stores in bankruptcy to wireless services provider Sprint and General Wireless, a subsidiary of its largest shareholder Standard General L.P., which last fall stepped in to provide key financing for the struggling retailer ahead of the holiday shopping season. Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint is listed as RadioShack’s second-largest unsecured creditor with a nearly $6.1 million claim. Charles Wunsch, Sprint’s general counsel, did not respond to a request for comment about the company’s legal advisers on its agreement with RadioShack and Standard General, the latter a New York-based hedge fund that specializes in distressed assets.
Debevoise & Plimpton finance partner Craig Bowman, business restructuring and workouts cochair Richard Hahn and corporate partner Jonathan Levitsky, a member of the firm’s M&A, technology, media and telecommunications practice, are leading a team from the firm advising New York-based Standard General. David Glazek, a former Weil, Gotshal & Manges lawyer-turned-Lazard Freres investment banker, is a partner at Standard General. (Lazard is currently advising RadioShack.)
Hahn, recently named by The Deal as one of the nation’s busiest bankruptcy lawyers by volume last year, is also working with Debevoise business restructuring cochair M. Natasha Labovitz, restructuring partner George Maguire and litigation partner Shannon Selden in advising RadioShack. (Selden was one of 21 young female Debevoise associates that The New York Times profiled in 2001 and revisited more than a decade later in a video essay looking at the trajectory of their careers.)
The bankruptcy claims administrator for RadioShack is Prime Clerk, a New York-based outfit headed by Shai Waisman, a former Weil restructuring partner who left the firm nearly four years ago after working on the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Prime Clerk is also serving as claims administrator in the bankruptcy of Caesars Entertainment Corp., a case that also involves Jones Day, according to our previous reports.
Jones Day has been a key adviser to RadioShack in recent years. The firm helped its client line up an $835 million credit facility in late 2013 and has been representing the company in wage-and-hour class actions, one of which drew the ire of a California appellate judge in December, according to legal newswire Law360. RadioShack’s legal troubles are dwarfed by its business missteps, as despite some attempts at innovation, the retailer faced mounting quarterly loses and announced last year plans to close nearly 20 percent of its stores, leading some former employees to eulogize the company. (RadioShack reportedly closed another 200 stores last week.)
RadioShack’s lenders had a key role negotiating previous store closings, according to a report late last year by The Deal, which notes that Sullivan & Cromwell is representing company bondholders. Blank Rome took the lead last year for an investor group that teamed up with Standard General to acquire a $535 million asset-backed credit line facility for RadioShack.
The company is one of several retailers to find itself in bankruptcy court so far this year. Earlier this week women’s clothing retailer Cache filed for bankruptcy in Delaware. National bankruptcy boutique Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones is serving as lead debtor’s counsel, while Thompson Hine is providing corporate and securities counsel and Jackson Lewis employment law counsel to the Cleveland-based company.
For more on this story go to: http://www.americanlawyer.com/id=1202717165755/Am-Law-100-Firms-Tune-In-For-RadioShack-Bankruptcy#ixzz3R1GY84xW
Caribbean legal research information going digital
Access to regional legal information online is becoming a reality with funding from the Government of Canada, through the Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean Project (IMPACT Justice).
The funding is a boost to justice sector reform and goes towards developing online legal database resources. These databases will allow citizens in CARICOM member states easier access to finding legal information for governing their affairs.
Nineteen volumes of the Caribbean Law Review (CLR), over 41,000 regional judgments, 10,000 pages of the Laws of Barbados and updating the indexes to the laws from most CARICOM countries, form the plethora of information for digitization and placement in online, searchable data bases over the course of this year and into 2016.
Professor Velma Newton, regional project director, IMPACT Justice noted that technology must be incorporated into enhancing access to justice.
“Every citizen in the CARICOM region has the right to equal access to justice and the effective use of technology will better assist those who want to access legal information, whether they are from within or outside of the region,” she said.
She added that the Project’s baseline research found that the judiciary, attorneys-at-law, academics, students, government administrations, members of the business community and the public often encounter difficulty in obtaining up-to-date case law, treaties, legislation and other regional materials which would enable them to conduct research efficiently.
“A number of on-going activities at the UWI Cave Hill Campus, Faculty of Law already exist in relation to accessing legal research information, but they need to be improved to increase efficiency and effectiveness,” she said.
“Improvements for implementation under IMPACT Justice will translate into tangible benefits for the justice sector by making research on the law of individual countries easier and speedier both for justice sector actors and civil society.”
IMPACT Justice is working with Canadian based archival software company, And or not, to expand CariLaw’s digital database and upgrade its search engine to make it more user-friendly.
The Project is also establishing online databases for the CLR and the West Indies Legislative Indexing Project (WILIP) in addition to providing training for those responsible for updating the digital databases.
As part of IMPACT Justice’s activities to establish online databases, the office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel in Barbados, which launched a Legislative Information Management System (LIMS) a few years ago, is also receiving assistance with the final preparatory phase of proofing the Laws of Barbados before they are posted online.
