A foreign investor is sounding the alarm about the danger The Bahamas’ offshore banking industry could face due to the unscrupulous conduct of an investment institution operating in the country.

The investor, who spoke exclusively to the Bahama Journal on the basis of anonymity, claimed that he and his partner had been the victims of a scam that caused them more than $100,000.

The investor, who was recently in The Bahamas meeting with his attorneys, said that he and his partner are prepared to go the distance to ensure that the perpetrators of this alleged international fraud ring are brought to justice.

He claimed that the scam was carried out by a private investment banker, who is employed with an international investment firm based in The Bahamas.

He said that on at least two occasions, the banker had large sums of the couple’s money transferred to foreign accounts that did not belong to them.

In one instance, he said that at least $55,000 was transferred to an account in New Zealand and in another instance $45,000 was wired to an account in Croatia.

The couple, who live in Florida, but frequent The Bahamas, said their money is normally wired to an account at Morgan Stanley.

The investor said that when they alerted the locally-based investment banker to the suspicious activity with their account, they were told that the transaction had been approved by them via an email confirmation.

However, the couple insisted that this was never the way they conducted business.

“We built up a relationship with this firm and with this [banker],” the investor said. “We never conduct business of this nature through email.”

The couple also claimed that their signatures were forged on documents that allegedly waive the firm’s responsibility against liability in the event something happens to their account.

He produced a document that showed his partner’s signature but said that on the date shown on the document, his partner was hospitalised undergoing treatment for a serious illness.

When the couple heard from their banker, they were eventually informed that they had been scammed, but the investor insists that all the evidence he has obtained thus far prove that the scam was perpetrated by the banker.

“We have decided to take legal action if need be,” he said. “We have decided to take this story to the media because we don’t want to see this happen to anyone else. If this has happened to us, there is no doubt that other investors have also been scammed.”

The investor said that so far he and his partner have received $38,000 of their money and they are still owed $62,000.
He said they will file a writ in the Supreme Court if they do not receive all of the money owed to them.

“This is really not about the money,” he said. “We have enjoyed long ties with The Bahamas. The actions of this banker are not good for the country and they are not good for the country’s financial services industry.”