A lead figure in a fintech company that was the first to be approved to launch an initial coin offering in Bermuda under the island’s new regulatory regime, has a history of court judgments and tax liens against him in the US.

A new report by the OffshoreAlert website has highlighted the judgments dating back to 2007. In addition, the report features court judgment details relating to shareholders, officers and directors of Bermudian-based cryptocurrency exchange and coin company Arbitrade.

Oscar Garcia is the founder and chief executive officer of Uulala Ltd, which has stated its mission is to provide access to financial tools to the underbanked and unbanked. In October it was hailed as the first company to meet “the stringent Bermuda fintech standard to launch from the jurisdiction”.

Wayne Caines, Minister of National Security, at the time said: “For Bermuda to go from just the legislative concept nine months ago, to our first ICO now, with Uulala, is magnificent.”

Uulala aimed to raise $50 million from the sale of its crypto tokens during an initial coin offering that took place between November and the end of December. Its white paper also mentioned a private sale of tokens undertaken earlier last year.

The Royal Gazette yesterday attempted to contact the company to find out if the ICO had met expectations, and also for a response to the report that lists a number of court judgments and tax liens involving Mr Garcia and previous companies with which he has been associated.

These include judgments and tax liens against Market 2 Millions Direct Inc, where Mr Garcia was CEO between 1996 and 2008. While some of the judgments were made after he had left the company — as indicated by the timeline on his LinkedIn profile — he is named in a later 2010 judgment.

State and federal tax liens against Mr Garcia are also listed in the report, as is a 2013 failure to repay a loan judgment against 2GO Industries Inc and Mr Garcia, who was CEO of that business for three years.

Since 2007, the judgments and tax liens that reference Mr Garcia or companies he was associated with total $540,000.

Further tax liens and judgments were made against e-commerce business Lucrazon Global. Mr Garcia does not list this company in his LinkedIn profile, however he did appear in a Lucrazon promotional video where he introduced himself as its executive vice-president.

The report also mentions an ongoing court action brought by a former business partner against Mr Garcia and a company called Uulala Inc that was formed in Delaware.

Elsewhere, the report highlights Arbitrade, which established its global headquarters in Bermuda last year. Details are given of shareholders, officers and directors of the company who have been subject to lawsuits, judgments, liens and regulatory actions.