The Editor Speaks: Ryan Bateman finally gets directorship registration cancelled
Please see our story published to day “Cayman Islands fugitive from Justice has director registration cancelled”.
We have published a number of articles, mainly written by Kenneth Rijack – banking lawyer turned-career money launderer (10 years), turned-compliance officer specialising in enhanced due diligence, and a financial crime consultant who publishes a Financial Crime Blog. The Laundry Man, his autobiography, was published in the UK on 5 July 2012.
Rijack has been seemingly on a personal crusade against Ryan Bateman, a Canadian national, and others allegedly involved with him.
One of these is Fernando Moto Mendes who is resident in the Cayman Islands and a story we published about him promptly got me a warning not only from his lawyer to cease and desist plus a call from the RCIPS saying I could be charged with blackmail.
In my profession as a journalist I had asked Mendes through his lawyer a number of questions giving the gentleman a number of days in which to answer them. I said if I got no response I would publish the list of questions I had asked. One of these was querying if he had replaced Bateman as the man in charge now of one of Bateman’s companies. All he had to do was say “Yes” or “No”!
Mendes, who has been accused of having “friends” in the RCIPS (not by me) went straight to the George Town Police Station and I got the call to stop or else.
According to Rijack Bateman through his companies 1) Bateman & Company Ltd
(2) Bateman Financial Ltd and (3) B & C Capital Ltd were carrying on brokerage services in the Cayman Islands that neither he nor his firms are licenced to perform.
Bateman is accused of financial malpractice in the Cayman Islands that includes deducting exorbitant charges from clients funds, of co-mingling client funds with his own, and of using client funds for his own purposes.
In a story in the Cayman Compass published on July 5th 2016 it also gave more information on Bateman’s dubious practices:
“Last year, Highgate Securities Ltd., a company incorporated in Belize, sued Bateman’s B&C Capital Ltd. for not returning assets the Cayman company held in an account for Highgate, according to the June 2015 writ published in full on the Offshore Alert website.
“In March of this year, Triathlon Ltd., a Bermuda company, filed a winding up petition against B&C Capital Ltd. in Cayman’s Grand Court. Triathlon accused B&C of not paying back US$610,000 that Triathlon held in an account with Bateman’s company, according to the petition.”
SOURCE: https://www.caymancompass.com/2016/07/05/cima-cancels-fugitives-director-registration/
The article finishes by saying the Compass had received an email from our fugitive saying he (Bateman) was “consulting professional advisers, will consider their advice and take such action as I may be advised.”
This was in response to the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) who finally has cancelled Bateman’s director registration.
Why it has taken so long is another mystery. But finally it has happened.
PS. Ryan Bateman is not a fugitive from justice here in the Cayman Islands due to his business dealings. He fled after being charged with unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on his partner at their home in the Cayman Islands in early 2014. He travelled to Canada in September 2014 while on bail, and is now believed to be living in Florida, USA.
The following is from Ripoff Report:
George Town, Cayman Islands, January 9, 2015 – Cayman Islands based Bateman Financial Ltd, and Bateman & Company Ltd. are owned by Canadian born Ryan Bateman. He is said to operate these firms alongside salesperson Colin Travers. Bateman has been accused by some of his clients of having mishandled their investment funds. According to its website, Bateman Financial Ltd offers asset management, brokerage and investment banking services to individuals and corporations. Under the investment banking tab, the site states:
‘We provide a full range of corporate finance services to clients seeking financial advice, transaction support or funding. Our staff have extensive experience and can offer objective financial advice and expert transaction execution.’
Although seemingly legitimate, Bateman Financial is actually an unlicensed and unregistered financial services firm that initially started out as an ‘Excluded Person’, Entity. According to the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), ‘Excluded Person’ entities do not require a license to operate, but must have a licensed broker on hand to undertake the actual investment services being offered. Neither Bateman nor Travers is a licensed broker, calling into question how they are actually making any trades and investments on behalf of clients.
The firm has also roused suspicion for its poor handling of client funds. A common ruse Bateman is known for is falsely claiming that clients cannot access their funds because they are frozen at the clearing firm. It is believed that during this period of inaccessibility, Bateman is using the monies for other purposes. By the time money is eventually released to the client, exorbitant charges have been applied.
For those who try to learn from the clearing firm why their monies are being held up, their enquiries cannot be answered as the funds are identified as belonging to Bateman, rather than to the individual clients concerned. Legitimate brokers establish customer accounts so as to segregate the funds from their own. Bateman places all money under their custody under the corporation accounts.
Furthermore, the company is alleged to not provide any accounting for financial transactions. Brokers are meant to notify clients of transactions through sales confirmations. These notifications are to be sent out immediately they are done. Bateman however does not send out any such notifications.
According to CIMA because Bateman’s registration lapsed in 2013, they are no longer obligated to submit any financials. This includes sales confirmations on client accounts. Their unregistered status also means that the authorities are unable to carry out any inspection of the firm and cannot protect its customers.
