St. Maarten Private Eye

Ben Bot was in Curacao and assured Chavez that American carriers are no longer welcome to call in at Curacao’s port. Bot also said the following: “I have personally intervened with the United States to make sure that the American nuclear carriers do not make a stop over on the islands offshore the Venezuelan coast, like Curacao, but to have them go to St. Maarten instead.

Amigo - Curacao

Judge Throws Ouo T Key Evidence in $60 Million U.S. Virgin Islands Money-Laundering Case

By Mat Probasco Associated Press Writer
Published: Jun 20, 2005

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) - A federal judge threw out evidence against four men charged with laundering more than $60 million through their chain of U.S. Virgin Islands grocery stores, ruling that FBI agents acted in "reckless disregard for the truth."
The ruling, released Monday, found that the FBI's search warrant was obtained improperly. It said agents, who had claimed to have seen suspicious tax records from the men, admitted they had only seen a computer printout of the records and did not thoroughly verify the evidence with the U.S. Caribbean territory's Internal Revenue Bureau.

U.S. Attorney spokesman Azekah Jennings said he could not immediately comment on the ruling.

In September 2003, prosecutors indicted the four men on charges they evaded $60 million in taxes from their Plaza Extra grocery stores from 1996 to 2001, laundered the money and smuggled it to bank accounts in Amman, Jordan, and the nearby French Caribbean island of St. Martin.

The agents initially said the men claimed to have made just $270,000 in 1998. A review of the original tax records showed the men reported making more than $39 million, according to the June 16 order.

More here.