Two overseas firms are suing Bermudian businessman Andre Curtis and his company Harvest Investment Holdings.

In a further development, Bermuda's Department of Public Prosecutions has made an application for a restraint order against Mr. Curtis under the Proceeds of Crime Act as part of an ongoing investigation by the Bermuda Police Service.

The order would prevent Mr. Curtis selling any assets ahead of any impending court cases.

Sysix Technology, of Illinois, and TSC Holdings, of the Bahamas, have filed a joint writ following investments both companies made with Harvest Investment Holdings.

It is understood they invested cash while Harvest Investment Holdings' website was falsely claiming to be licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) to provide a range of services.

The website was removed last month after an investigation by Montana State Auditor's Office into Mr. Curtis and his company attracted news coverage across the globe.

BMA says it cannot say whether it has been investigating Harvest Investment Holdings for confidentiality reasons.

Lawyer Justin Williams is representing the overseas companies, but he declined to comment when approached by The Royal Gazette.

On its website, Sysix offers to "address mission-critical IT and business needs by offering a single point for bundled solutions including implementation services, financial services and hardware and software products from a variety of leading technology providers such as: Dell, Sun, IBM, EMC, Cisco, Oracle, Veritas, F5 and others".

Its headquarters is in Chicago and it has offices in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Texas, Georgia, Arizona and California.

Mr. Curtis – branch chairman of Premier Ewart Brown's Warwick South Central Progressive Labour Party constituency – is accused of 24 violations in the Montana auditor's probe, and Harvest Investment Holdings faces 23 violations.

The Premier and PLP Chairman David Burt have both repeatedly refused to comment when asked how the allegations affect his role within the party.

Since his involvement in the Montana investigation was reported a month ago, Mr. Curtis has refused to answer his telephone and ignored all voicemail messages and e-mails.

Yesterday, The Royal Gazette called at Harvest Investment Holdings' King Street office, but Mr. Curtis slammed the door shut when he realised it was a reporter.

Thirteen alleged victims are between them said to have been duped into spending close to $4 million in the Ponzi scheme run jointly by Mr. Curtis, convicted money launderer and fraudster Daniel Two Feathers, Shawn Swor, Terrence Paulin, Eric Schultz and five companies or trusts connected to them.

Investors were promised huge profits on their investment, but claim to have instead received no return.

Mr. Curtis is said to have made untrue statements to the investor "where there was no set of circumstances in which the investment could return this type of a rate".

He is also said to have failed to tell the investor the cash would be held in bank accounts controlled or owned by himself or Mr. Two Feathers, and that the money would be used for his benefit.

Mr. Curtis was arrested last month as part of a separate investigation by Bermuda Police and spent two days in custody.

This newspaper understands he was back at Hamilton Police Station again on Christmas Eve and must report there once a month.

The Bermuda Police Service has repeatedly refused to comment or even officially confirm he was arrested.

Mr. Curtis has come under strong criticism in Bermuda over his leadership of Government's faith-based tourism initiative, in which hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars were allocated to Harvest Investment Holdings.