An American music promoter facing extradition to the island over an unpaid $800,000 government loan described meeting with Bermuda Police Service officers at the FBI headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, in a recent, self-published memoir.

Savvy Entertainment founder Anthony Blakey wrote that the questions put to him by the two detectives “seemed to come out of left field, completely detached from reality” in Invictus: Dark Faith, which was released last month.

The meeting in the summer of 2022 was part of a criminal inquiry into why the 2018 loan to Savvy from the former Ministry of Economic Development and Tourism for a recording studio at Dockyard was not repaid.

Mr Blakey was charged in October 2022 in Magistrates’ Court, in his absence, with obtaining a money transfer by deception. Prosecutors are still trying to extradite him to Bermuda from the United States to face trial.

In Invictus, he wrote that claims about the “alleged misuse of $800,000 in funding” were “baseless” and that he left the island because of a “smear campaign” against him.

Mr Blakey told The Royal Gazette in February this year, in response to an interview request: “I have addressed the events of the past several years in detail in my upcoming memoir … I believe it will provide comprehensive insights into my perspective.”

Four chapters of the book, which carries the author name William Blakey, focus solely on the island, beginning with a description of how he met former Savvy chief operating officer Danilee Trott at the Bermuda Fashion Festival.

The pair decided to work together, “putting on small events for brand recognition”, before winning a contract to “handle the festival and show series” for the 2017 America’s Cup sailing contest.

Mr Blakey wrote that the international event was a “game-changer, giving us more worldwide recognition”.

He detailed meeting David Burt, the Premier, soon after the Progressive Labour Party came to power in July 2017 and how they “hit it off immediately, sharing stories of our paths and even laughing about the fact that we shared the exact same birthday”.

Mr Blakey claimed in the 120-page memoir that Savvy was aiming to create an “entertainment district” in Dockyard, but that, eventually, it lost the support of the Government.

He wrote in a chapter titled “A Storm of Controversy” that the “political climate” made it impossible for Savvy to succeed, adding later that he “wasn’t involved in the politics of it at all, yet I’ve been used as a political football, to be punted and kicked and run through the gambit every political cycle”.

In the final chapter of the book, he described being “crucified in the court of public opinion”, adding that he “ … won’t divulge in more specifics about Bermuda at the behest of my attorneys”.

• On occasion The Royal Gazette may decide to not allow comments on a story that we deem may inflame sensitivities. As we are legally liable for any libellous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers