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| Forms and Instructions - Recent Status - Chapter 11 Trustee Reports - Creditor's Comm. Updates - Contact Information |
March 17, 2005 Press Release Evergreen Security, Ltd. R.W. (Bill) Cuthill, Jr. Trustee 341 N. Maitland Ave., Ste. 210 Maitland, FL 32751 Telephone: 407-644-3781 Ext. 235 Facsimile: 407-644-3943 Email: rcuthill@msn.com PRESS RELEASE March 17, 2005 For additional information contact R. W. (Bill) Cuthill, Jr. R. W. (Bill) Cuthill, Jr., President of Evergreen Security, Ltd., announces Evergreen's recovery of funds from Surety Bank & Trust and its second distribution of $4 million to creditors.
Evergreen recovered $3.7 million from the liquidation of Surety Bank & Trust Ltd, a bank in Nassau, Bahamas, which was liquidated by government appointed liquidators. Evergreen filed a claim for funds received by Surety, amounting to $3.6 million, which was stolen to make investments in shares in the bank for Thomas Spencer and Robert Boyd, two of Evergreen founders.
The Steering Committee authorized the second distribution. Evergreen mailed this distribution to its almost 1900 creditors today. The $4 million distribution to holders almost $185 million of claims represented a 2.18% distribution for each approved claim. This brings the total distributions to creditors to date to $17 million or approximately 9.2% of approved claims. Future distributions will depend on the success in recovering assets of Evergreen. These recovery efforts have been mainly through litigation with the owners, managers, brokers, consultants and others involved with the Company.
Evergreen was formed primarily to operate as an offshore mutual fund. Like a mutual fund, investor dollars were pooled to purchase various investment vehicles denominated as certificates. Evergreen began selling certificates sometime in the early 1990's. Evergreen sold certificates through a variety of lawyers, brokers, and financial advisors. Although most of the marketing material indicated that the investments were in U.S. mortgage-backed securities, in fact, almost all funds were placed in mortgage-backed securities derivatives ("MBS Derivatives"). MBS Derivatives are highly risky, and, over time, Evergreen did not make enough profit on its investments to pay the interest on the certificates, much less other operating expenses. In addition to the financial problems of Evergreen caused by the poor return from the MBS Derivatives, additional serious problems were created by the direct withdrawal of investors money by or for the benefit of the various managers and owners. By the end of 1995, the liability for investments within Evergreen totaled approximately $45,000,000. As of December 30, 2000, the liability for investments within Evergreen totaled approximately $214,000,000. By the end of 1995, the cash and investment assets in the Evergreen Trust totaled approximately $26,000,000. As of December 30, 2000, the cash and investment assets in the Evergreen Trust totaled less than $3,000,000. Eight of the owners, managers, investment advisors, brokers, and attorneys have pled guilty or been convicted to federal or New York State crimes for their part in the Evergreen fraud, which has been called, "The largest Ponzi scheme in Floridas history". Additional background information on Evergreen can be found at www.evergreencreditorscommittee.com.
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| Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors for Evergreen Security, Ltd. |