All Eyes on King

Tuesday, 07 February 2012 02:30 caribarena news Antigua News - police

Antigua St John's - Former head of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) Leroy King is awaiting the final decision from the minister of External Affairs on whether he will stand trial in the United States for mail, wire, and securities fraud, among other offences.

High Court judge Justice Mario Michel dismissed King's judicial review application on Monday and upheld former chief magistrate Ivan Walters'
decision to commit King to be extradited.

The court also denied King's application to have the former chief magistrate's committal order quashed.

King was jointly charged with four others in 2009, including investor R Allen Stanford, and indicted by a US grand jury in Texas.

Michel, during his hour-and-a-half long judgment, said there had been ample evidence before the former chief magistrate to establish a prima facie case for wire fraud.

He pointed to the evidence of former Stanford business partner and associate James Davis, US district attorney Greg Costa, and other documentary evidence.

The judge disagreed with submissions by King's attorney, Dane Hamilton QC, that the case against the former head of the FSRC was unsupported hearsay.

Michel instead agreed with arguments from Director of Public Prosecutions
(DPP) Anthony Armstrong that there was independent evidence detailing King's participation in the alleged fraud.

King's involvement in the matter was evident, according to Michel, by King's own actions and words, in that he defended Stanford International Bank Limited (SIBL) in the face of mounting concerns from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Hamilton's claim that the US offences with which King is charged do not have similar offences in Antigua & Barbuda was also dismissed by the court.

Michel said wire fraud is equivalent to obtaining money by false pretence, and added that it is not the offence, but the conduct, that is equivalent.
He said the former chief magistrate did not err in finding that wire fraud and obtaining money by false pretence were extradition crimes.

Conspiracy to pervert the court of justice, as with the US charge, he said, is equivalent to perverting the course of justice in Antigua & Barbuda. Both offences have the same genus and have extra territorial application, Michel ruled. He said Walters' decision on these grounds could not be faulted.

Hamilton made application for bail on King's behalf on Monday, and his client was released on $500,000, with two sureties and a cash deposit of $110,000 required.

King has to report daily to the St John's Police Station, and must not leave his Marina Bay home unless he is accompanied by one of his two sureties.

These were the same terms originally set down by Walters when King first appeared before the court in June 2009.

King is to abide by these conditions until his surrender to US authorities, or further notice.

Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, as minister of External Affairs, will have the final say in relation to King being sent to the US to stand trial.