Needless to say, I kept faraway from the ensuing court proceedings, engaging only a low-profile attorney to observe the action, and choosing to let the principal former client's lawyers to fight it out with Crown Counsel. Times were bleak, because not only was I facing the forfeiture case, and my angry clients has begun to distance themselves from me, pending the outcome, but I felt that local counsel (who I later learned had effectively sold us out to save his own skin) had failed to give us any early warning of potential problems.

Remember, though, sometimes lady luck favours you with her light. One day, I received a call from the president of the offshore bank where I had secreted client assets. We had developed a close relationship over the years, mainly because I had, single-handedly, doubled the bank's deposits.

He asked me for instructions, for a fortuitous event had occurred. The local magistrate, who had originally frozen my clients' drug cash in several front company accounts, had just as swiftly lifted the freeze order. Why? The reason proffered was that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) had failed to timely send in proof that the source of funds was in fact narcotics trafficking, and the magistrate had deemed that failure to be sufficient reason to lift the stay on the funds. 

All the funds were now available. Without hesitation, I ordered that the cash be wired to one of the lawyers over in neighboring St. Kitts who was involved in defending the case. This was all done by telephone, without written confirmation of any sort, because the "special relationship" that exists between offshore bankers and the clients' advisors is often so personal and intimate that no documentary verification is needed, nor is any requested.

I understand that the magistrate was fired immediately after this incident. It was later claimed by US law enforcement that he was bribed, but I frankly do not believe it for a minute. If this was true, I certainly would have learned of it from one or more clients, especially later when they were with me in Federal prison. Those individuals actually supplied the narcotics that the kingpin distributed throughout the US and Canada. I am more inclined to believe that it was negligence on the part of US law enforcement.

Next, I made plans to travel south to collect the released funds, and to make arrangements for their safe return to the clients. Fees for the lawyers who participated in the case were, of course, an issue. I negotiated a reasonable fee to settlement the dispute. The attorneys actually believed that it was their work that resulted in the release of the funds, and since they might actually be right, who was I to dispute that. Besides, they were holding my clients' cash, and how do you think I would fare in a Caribbean court ? So,  I paid a fair fee and took the funds.  

Of course, the clients were in a hurry to get their money back, and I had a few tricks up my sleeve. 

Next Week: Moving illicit cash INTO the United States.