David E. Marchant (born 1965) is a journalist, editor and owner of ''OffshoreAlert'', a news service and conference organizer that specializes in exposing financial crimes before they occur.

Early life and career

Marchant was born in 1965,Under Florida Sun, Tax Avoiders, Enforcers Trade Notes, Schmooze.
Jesse Drucker, ''The Wall Street Journal'', 2 May 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2015. started as a news reporter for ''The Gwent Gazette'' (1985–1987) in Ebbw Vale, Wales. He then worked as a reporter for the '' Bournemouth Evening Echo'' (1987–1989) and the ''

Western Daily Press The ''Western Daily Press'' is a regional newspaper covering parts of South West England, mainly Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset as well as the metropolitan areas of Bath and North East Somerset and the Bristol area. It is published Mon ...

'' (1989–1990). From 1990 to 1993, he was a business reporter for '' The Royal Gazette'' in Bermuda. From 1994 to 1996, he was business editor at the ''

Bermuda Sun The ''Bermuda Sun'' was a Bermudian newspaper, published on Wednesdays and Fridays. Covering a wide range of topics including news, sports, business and lifestyle, it also published the Government of Bermuda's legal notices. Foundation The ...

''.

''OffshoreAlert''

In 1997, Marchant established KYC News Inc, doing business as OffshoreAlert. Since its founding, he has faced legal action in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. Additionally, former Prime Minister

Keith Mitchell Keith Claudius Mitchell (born 12 November 1946) is a Grenadian politician who served as Prime Minister of Grenada from 1995 to 2008 and from 2013 to 2022. He is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Grenadian history, holding the office for mo ...

sued him in Grenada. Marchant has said that all of his stories are approved by a lawyer before publishing. Marchant's stories have covered a

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

First International Bank of Grenada The First International Bank of Grenada (FIBG) was an offshore bank that operated between 1996 and 2000, duping thousands of people in a Ponzi scheme. Four people were indicted, the result of a collaborative effort between the FBI and the Internal ...

, a fraud case at the

based Axiom Legal Financing Fund, and alleged irregularities at Belvedere Management Group and a Spain-based investment group operating as Privilege Wealth. In 2009, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' reported that 11 people had been charged with crimes as a result of his work, of whom five have been jailed. Marchant was sued by

Marc Harris Marc Matthew Harris (born c. 1965) is an accountant who was formerly active in the field of offshore financial services. At one time he claimed that his firm, The Harris Organisation, had funds under management of $1 billion and $35 million in cap ...

, who was subsequently sentenced to 17 years in jail for money laundering and tax evasion.

Legal issues

In 2004, ''OffshoreAlert'' published a report alleging that Prime Minister Keith Mitchell had accepted $500,000 for appointing a U.S. national to a diplomatic position. Mitchell denied the report, saying he had done nothing improper. Later, the opposition National Democratic Congress held a press conference denouncing the alleged corruption of the government, as reported in ''OffshoreAlert''. The Grenadian's Government Information Service then issued a warning that media outlets that broadcast or published the content of the press conference could face legal action. Within a few days, the government had filed a criminal libel lawsuit in Grenada brought by the prime minister against ''OffshoreAlert'' and its publisher, Marchant, a British national. In 2011, Roland Frank Bleyer filed a defamation complaint against him and his company. This lawsuit was similarly dismissed due to a failure to prosecute (FWOP). In 2016, Fedor Sannikov filed a defamation lawsuit against him and his company, which was subsequently dismissed at a FWOP (failure to prosecute) hearing. Marchant boasts that "We’ve never lost a libel action, never published a correction or apology to any plaintiffs and never paid — or been required to pay — them one cent in costs or damages".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marchant, David Living people British male journalists British investigative journalists Money laundering 1965 births