bank rates credit cards insurance finance calculators

Pirates of the Caribbean

Posted in Investing by CrankySaver
April 5, 2009 01:45 PM - 5 Comments

Here’s why you should never trust your savings to offshore banks.

Millennium Bank, based in St. Vincent and the Grenandines, started advertising suspicously high CD rates back in 2004. And it wasn’t shy about going after the big money, placing ads in glossy magazines aimed at wealthy consumers.

Millennium typically offered 1.5 to 2 percentage points more than the best deals you’d find at FDIC-insured banks — a premium that’s seemed to be carefully calculated to be alluring but not alarming.

Its highest rates were reserved for big deposits ($25,000 or $100,000) put into “premium” long-term certificates of deposit — four or five years — that absolutely could not be redeemed until maturity.

Millennium claimed to be the subsidiary of a Swiss bank — something the secretive Swiss embassy in Washington wouldn’t discuss with us when we called to check and we could never find out who was behind the bank.

Until now.

The Justice Department has charged William Wise of Raleigh, N.C., and Kristi Hoegel of Napa, Calif., with running a $68 million Ponzi scheme and shut Millennium down.

“None of the investor funds were used for any investment purpose,” according to a Bloomberg News report on the closing. Instead, defendants took a “vast majority” of the money, while using a portion to pay purported returns.

One final thing. Don’t confuse this fraudulent bank with the Millennium Bank that has four branches in northern Virginia.

Its FDIC insured and offering CD specials — 2.70% APY for 14 months, 2.50% APY for 9 months — that are legit (but only available to customers in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia).

Comments (5)
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (5 votes, average: 3.80 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...
5 Existing Comments

Add New Comment

  1. frank wright said:
    on April 6th at 10:56 am

    St. Vincent is one of the most corrupt places in the Caribbean. Please do not do business here. Over 50% of the population are thieves. The offices in St. Vincent have subsequently been looted by local individuals, police, security guards, and even the landlord. The property should have been sold to recover investor money. Instead, it was stolen by these people. How sad!

  2. Vincy said:
    on April 7th at 04:41 pm

    “Pirates of the Caribbean” is the most appropriate name for it, quite literally.
    To a large degree, I agree with Frank’s statement but it must be understood very clearly that the level of criminality reached new heights under the current administration.
    Since 2001 we have seen an increase in crime like to other time in our history; except of course in those barbaric years when the early europeans arrived.
    The current administration thrives and survives on crime. Those bastards don’t have any time to manage the country at all because they are too busy looking for the next opportunity to fill their personal coffers. In fact it isn’t their concern to manage the Country at all. You can take it to the bank when I tell you that plenty of them at the top are well involved in this Millennium scam, and in a big way too.
    Sadly, we have a great deal of honest and hard working people who will suffer as a result. As matter of fact, the challenge is to actually operate honestly and in peace under the strain of the pressures that are handed down by those abusing positions of power.
    I born here and I live here.

  3. george and sharon said:
    on April 16th at 09:36 pm

    I couldn’t agree with you more, do you mind telling your story to the S.E.C.? The more stories that they here about the corruption in St. Vincent the more likely they will have to get the authorities involved. We know a person that lives there and is afraid for his live because he knows so much and he wants the SEC to know what is going on there he tried to tell them but power comes in numbers you know we are trying to help him. george is a victim of the recent millennium bank ponzi scam William Wise and his gang was running the scam with alot of American investors money and alot of the money was deposited in the Millennium Bank in St. Vincent from what we understand the PM and his croonies help WW move the bootie and WW is eluding the SEC we know that the PM can’t be trusted and that he is helping WW. Please share your post with the SEC email us at lickety@embarqmail.com and we can give you her information. thanks alot
    Sharon

  4. Paul Walker said:
    on April 28th at 05:32 pm

    I think public hanging is appropriate for these type of crimes…if it is done enough it will stop the crooks….or at least weed them all out eventually.

  5. Nanaimo Travel Guy said:
    on September 30th at 12:49 pm

    I have to agree with this for sure. Not only a public hanging for them, but peal their skin off and pour on the salt. This sounds like a typical ponzi scheme and I would have no problem sleeping at night after doing the above recommendation.

© 2010 Bankrate, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
privacy policy - terms of service - contact us - affiliates - press