Sat, Mar 22, 2014

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/03/21/canadian-arrested-in-miami-for-money-laundering

MONTREAL — A Canadian businessman who lives in the Cayman Islands now sits in a Miami jail cell, accused of money laundering.

QMI Agency has learned that Eric St-Cyr, originally from the Quebec City area, is one of three people recently nabbed by undercover agents.

St-Cyr, 50, owns Clover Asset Management, a private wealth management firm based in the Caymans, a Caribbean island nation that's known as a tax haven.

Also charged are lawyer Patrick Poulin, 41, who works in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and an American employee of St. Cyr named Vandyk Joshua, 34.

Court documents obtained by QMI say the men are accused of helping three American investors launder US$2 million from a bogus bank.

The investors were actually undercover U.S. agents.

Two of the agents met Patrick Poulin in Quebec in September 2013, say court documents.

At the meeting, the undercover officers were allegedly told they could park their money in an offshore foundation while keeping their identities a secret.

The agents were told the foundation was a good place to launder money, say the documents.

Agents were told they would have to pay a higher fee if they wanted to launder proceeds of crime.

QMI met Eric St-Cyr in the Cayman Islands in May 2013 as part of a report on tax havens.

Tanned and relaxed, he assured QMI that everything he did was legal.

"There is corruption here, but at least you keep what you earn," he said at the time. "It's much easier to get rich because of the tax (system)."