The Golden Key scam
By Terrance Rey
When I think I have read and written everything about Mullet Bay, I read something new that makes me fall off my chair and force me to pick up the pen to write about it again. In the Antilliaans Dagblad I read about the lawsuit in which the Central Bank CBCS is waging a legal battle against Hushang Ansary and his associates for Sun Resort, the holding company of the heavily overvalued Mullet Bay site. In the edition of Saturday, September 10, I read that Ansary argues that the shares of Sun Resorts were never transferred to ENNIA at the time. His lawyer, acting on behalf of his now resigned directors, argues that the case revolves around the question of who has shares in their name in the capital of Sun Resorts. According to the lawyer, Ennia has not been able to provide any evidence that it has shares in its name in the capital of Sun Resorts. According to the Antilliaans Dagblad, the lawyer says that Ennia claims that they can only deduce from all kinds of circumstances that they have become a shareholder of Sun Resorts.
Do I understand correctly what is being said here?
The thought pops into my head that if this is true, that Ennia does not legally own the shares of Sun Resorts, and thus does not own Mullet Bay, then this is a scandal of unprecedented proportions. A total of more than one billion guilders was withdrawn from Ennia purely on the basis that Mullet Bay is owned by Ennia. If not, then this is Charles Ponzi level scam. Even Bernie Madoff would be deeply impressed by this.
Charles Ponzi once said of his infamous ‘Ponzi Scheme’, “You know you’re an accomplished con man when they name an entire crime after you.” In the 1920s, Ponzi defrauded investors of an estimated $32 million dollars (about $475 million today; roughly the appraised value of Mullet Bay) using the infamous “scheme” that now bears his name.
When I lived in the Netherlands it was Heer Olivier who was known as a master con man. Ari Olivier first ran into trouble when he – crazy about publicity as he was – informed a newspaper that he had defrauded a Dutch notary for a whopping 3 million guilders.
I find it particularly remarkable that Ansary, through his lawyer, has now announced that he has never really transferred the shares of Sun Resorts to Ennia. This is an outright confession of a scam. And as far as I know, scamming is a criminal offense.
Unfortunately, I fear that Ansary, at the age of 96, will never be prosecuted for these self-admitted criminal acts.
As Revu magazine quoted a quote from Lord Olivier in an article at the time: whoever does not steal or inherit, must work until he dies. So must Ansary. He will have to work on his defense against the Central Bank and Ennia for the rest of his life. Until he dies.
John D. Rockefeller said in one of his famous quotes that people should not work after their fifties because money does not let you know yourself. Unfortunately, Ansary showed off with someone else’s money. Even at a later age where most people would have retired long ago.
For years he let politicians on Sint Maarten dance to his tune by throwing money around. He even led some to believe they had the golden key to reopen Mullet Bay. All with one goal: to make everyone inside and outside Ennia think that Mullet Bay was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In this way he could always quietly withdraw millions from Ennia without arousing suspicion.
I’ve even asked some lawyer friends of mine if they’ve ever come across a similar scam in their legal careers here in St. Maarten. I’m still waiting for an answer. Most people are not impressed with this case. People just don’t understand what it’s about. But that’s the trick of scammers: making people believe they haven’t been scammed. That is the art of an accomplished con artist and only master scammers like Lord Olivier will be impressed by this master scam that will likely go down in history as the Golden Key scam.
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Originally published in Dutch on DossierKoninkrijksrelaties.nl as “De Golden Key-zwendel”
Related article: Ansary puts ownership Mullet Bay into question
