A former Bermuda-based insurance officer is wanted by US authorities, according to the May issue of Web-based newsletter InsideBermuda.

InsideBermuda (IB) named Simon John Samuels, 46, as having been indicted by the US district court in Nevada on February 21 for 25 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. IB reported further: “The charges stem form a ‘cash-back' scheme Mr. Samuels allegedly operated with another ex-Bermuda insurance officer, Charles Gordon-Seymour, who has not been indicted.

“Hundreds of thousands of dollars raised in the scheme went into accounts at the Bank of Butterfield, according to the indictment.” The scheme reportedly operated through a shell corporation owned by Mr. Samuels, Intervest USA, from October 1996 through October, 1997.

The company was found to be a fraud but on the day the company was wound up, Samuels reportedly transferred $800,000 from the Bank of Butterfield to a Bank in Liechtenstein. Mr. Samuels, who is reportedly on the run and had not been served the warrant as of May 29, worked in Bermuda in the 1980s and formed Transatlantic Insurance. IB reported company was closed down by regulators after its capital was found to be “fake.”