3 June 2004
Kampala — On Friday May 28th, the police, in what appeared to be a daring operation, arrested and handed over to American Government, two fugitive fraud stars, Ziegler Van Arthur, a.k.a Van Brink and Ferguson Douglas Christie. The fugitives had defrauded thousands of unsuspecting investors of millions of dollars in fake bank and insurance investments.
However, who are these fugitives? Why were they so important to the American Government and to the international community and what kinds of crimes did they commit?
The Main fugitive was Ziegler Van Arthur, who changed names to Van A. Brink in a bid to disguise his identity. Brink, 6'1" in height and weighing 113Kg was born on fourth Feb. 1951, in Seattle, Washington, USA.
He also claimed 'economic citizenship' in Grenada and held Grenadine passport No.201869, issued on 15th Sept. 1998. It is alleged that between July 1996, and April 2000, Brink and others established and operated a series of sham off-shore banks in Grenada, Antigua, and Nevis, West Indies, using the names Fidelity International Bank (FIB), First International Bank of Grenada (FIBG), and subsidiary banks of FIBG.
Brink and his associates persuaded individual to invest in the banks by purchasing bank certificate of deposits that falsely promised returns on investments of between 3% and 300% per year. He told investors that the banks held assets valued at over $74b and that these assets would be used to generate the huge amounts of interest the banks were promising.
Brink also promised investors that their money was 100% insured against loss of invested funds and interest by an entity known as the international Depositors' Insurance Corporation (IDIC).
In reality, the banks had no substantial assets and made no meaningful investments. Brink and his associates were actually operating a 'Ponzi' scheme, whereby they paid the promised interest to some of the early bank investors, by either using the investors' own money, or by using money deposited by later investors. In April 2000, Brink and his associates could no longer pay interest to the investors, and the banks collapsed. The IDIC, created by Brink, failed to reimburse interest or invested funds to the investors as they had been promised.
In all, 4,000 investors world-wide lost approximately $206m in interest alone.
As part of the scheme, Brink and his associates instructed investors to mail or wire transfer their money to accounts he controlled in Grenada and other Caribbean countries. He and his associates sent the investment funds by courier to bank accounts he had established in the United States. Once the money was in the United States, Brink used some of it to pay out interest to early investors and to keep the scheme going.
However, he used the major portion of the investors' money for himself and his associates. He also instructed associates to send the bulk of funds to bank accounts or entities, which he and his associates controlled.
These bank accounts were located in the United States, Grenada, St. Vincent's and the Grenadines, Austria, United Kingdom(Isle of Man) and elsewhere. According to instruction from Brink, associates repeatedly made transfers of fraud proceeds in excess of $10,000 from one bank account to another.
For instance, he is alleged to have instructed his associates to make hundreds of electronic transfers from a bank account he controlled in Oregon to a bank account he controlled in Washington. Brink did this in an effort to perpetrate and conceal the fraud scheme, and to hide the proceeds so he could use them to finance a lavish lifestyle.
According to a red notice issued by Interpol, Brink and his associates used the fraud proceeds to acquire many luxury items including homes and a farm in Oregon, an executive home and furnishings in Nevada, a palace and beach-front resort property in Kampala, a Mercedes-Benz; band accounts in Vienna, Austria; and other goods valued at over $5m.
A source close to Brink, but preferring anonymity said, here in Kampala, Brink invested in huge shares in one of the International Banks located here, bought a heritage park in Kasese and did some businesses with the SPLA in Southern Sudan.
After changing his name to Brink, he seemed to have convinced himself that he was unidentifiable and started living an almost normal life, although he was suspicious all the time. He got close to some Uganda officials in the security circles, and was at one time being guarded by Military Police Guards.
He even legally married a Ugandan Woman only known as Asiimwe Brink, a Mukiga. He lived with her in a mansion located in Luzira, from where he was arrested.
"The government of United States now seeks to forfeit these assets for the benefit of the defrauded investors," the Red Note stated.
Van Brink was indicted by the District Court of Oregon, in Oregon, Portland USA and an international warrant of arrest No. CR 01-321-01(KI) was issued against him on 27th Oct. 2003.
He faces several criminal charges that include one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, 22 counts of Mail fraud, 19 counts of wire fraud, 103 counts of engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property and one count of money laundering conspiracy.
Brink faces a possible punishment of 730 years imprisonment if convicted of the crimes.
His associate, an elderly and grey-haired Ferguson Douglas Christie, standing at 6'3" tall and weighing 90kg, with receding hair on his head, was born on 20th Feb. 1933 in Albany, California, USA. He committed almost the same offenses with Brink and he stayed with Brink in Uganda since 1998 and also had a Uganda girlfriend.
A similar warrant of arrest was issued against him by the same authorities. He faces charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud (one count), Mail fraud(22counts), wire fraud (one count) and money laundering conspiracy (one count), all contrary to the United States Code. If convicted, Ferguson faces a possible jail term of 140 years.
Uganda does not have any extradition treaty with the US but under mutual legal assistance arrangement, the Uganda government cooperated and handed over the fugitives after the crimes in question were cleared by the DPP, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs not to be political crimes in any way.
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