Titans Awarded Millions in Damages or Unlawful Raid

The Government of Belize has been ordered to shell out a total of four and a half million U.S. dollars to Titan International Securities after losing a major case in court last Friday.  As we’ve reported, a massive raid on the offshore company’s Coney Drive office in September 2014 was ruled unconstitutional by Justice Courtney Abel.  After hearing submissions from the Attorney General’s Ministry and Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay who represented Bahamians Kelvin Leach and Rohn Knowles, it was decided that the entire operation overseen by the Financial Intelligence Unit was unlawful.  The sweep which saw police and FIU officials confiscate dozens boxes of files, purportedly related to a multimillion dollar securities fraud in the United States, was illegal since the authorities took more than what was needed to prosecute the company on the charges.  Government, through the FIU and local authorities, executed a warrant on behalf of the United States.  Their failure to do their due diligence will cost taxpayers almost nine million dollars in damages.  The Supreme Court issued its written ruling today saying that damages for breach of Titan’s constitutional rights amount to four point four six million U.S. dollars since Titan’s operations seized on September ninth, 2014.