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Allegations of investment fraud disputed Published on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 Email To Friend    Print Version By Tess Hennigan Caribbean Net News Staff Reporter Email: tess@caribbeannetnews.com TCI Net News has received a communication from John Phillips, an associate of the Venus Group, disputing what he referred to as “ludicrous accusations” levelled against him and his organisation by disgruntled investors and online fraud alert websites. On December 23, TCI Net News reported that allegations had been made of a possible high yield investment scam being operated in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), and Phillips, along with others, had been named by investors and fraud watchdogs as being involved in this operation. In that story, we reported that the individuals in question were said to be operating in the TCI under the name of Venus Equity France, Venus Ltd Hong Kong, or Venus Ltd Aps, among others, which had allegedly cost investors millions of dollars in losses. In a letter to TCI Net News, Phillips said, “We are a company involved in acquiring funding for worthwhile projects worldwide,” refuting the notion that any Venus company owned and managed by his organisation has received any moneys from the investor whom he believes levelled the initial allegations. However, TCI Net News is in possession of a copy of a letter from TCI attorneys at law Miller, Simons, and O’Sullivan, written specifically on behalf of Arturo Malave and the Venus Group, promising to repay millions of dollars to certain named investors, which appears to contradict the claim that no Venus company had received such funds. The Arturo Malave referred to in the attorney’s letter has surfaced before in connection with suspicious transactions in the TCI, as reported earlier by TCI Net News. At one time, Malave was said to have been placed on a TCI immigration “stop list” by a previous government, but his name was reportedly later removed by the current government. Phillips acknowledged that Malave may have received funds advanced by investors, but said that, to his knowledge, all of those funds have been repaid. However, the investors to whom repayment was promised by Malave and/or the Venus Group through their attorneys claim that no money was ever repaid to them. Malave’s connection with the Venus group of companies appears to be confirmed by a letter on Venus Equity letterhead, with an address in Providenciales, TCI, signed by Malave, purportedly as a director of the company, a copy of which has been obtained by TCI Net News. Concerning the issue of accommodations in the TCI, Phillips explained that his group had spent almost eight months in the TCI at the Washington Misick-owned Alexandra resort on Providenciales assessing several projects, adding, “To suggest that we ‘were put up at the Alexandra hotel on Providenciales’ implies we stayed there either free of charge, or at Mr Misick’s expense,” which Phillips said is not the case, claiming that their total bill was much larger than $200,000, and it was settled in full. Phillips said, “Washington Misick is an ex prime minister of TCI and a man of impeccable character, honourable and honest, and to implicate him in any ill-doing is monstrous.” In response to what Phillips called an allegation that Neil Coles, an attorney with Miller, Simons, and O’Sullivan, has been involved in any illegal activities, he said that any such allegation was “preposterous” and noted, “He has worked very professionally for us, and he is a lawyer of some renown on the island.” However, our original article merely referred to the letter from Coles, on behalf of Malave and/or Venus Equity, promising to repay moneys to investors. No suggestion was made of any impropriety in this respect on the part of Coles. As noted in our earlier article, Coles is Malave’s brother-in-law. Phillips said, “We have many satisfied clients who will gladly attest to our work,” and concluded his rebuttal with a demand for a retraction, and the threat of impending “action” against TCI Net News, claiming that the publication is appearing in newspapers in The Netherlands, France, Russia and Morocco, and has caused them “acute embarrassment with both our project clients and decent investors.”   Reads : 1623 Back... Comments: No comments on this topic yet. Be the first one to submit a comment. Back... Send us your comments!   Send us your comments on this article for publication in our Readers' Forum or as a Letter to the Editor. All fields are required and in the interest of openness and transparency we will no longer accept anonymous submissions. We therefore request that all submissions include a name for publication, regardless of content. 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