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FOUR OFFSHORE INSURERS NAMED BY COLORADO

Posted On: May. 25, 1997 12:00 AM CST

DENVER-A Colorado Insurance Department cease and desist order names three offshore insurers in addition to American International Sureties Ltd. They are:

Trans International Insurance Co. Ltd. of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In a Dec. 6, 1995, financial statement, Trans International reported assets of $7.3 million, consisting entirely of over-the-counter stock in two companies, Nighthawk Capital Inc. and Venture Tech Inc.

The insurer's directors included Bernard J. Cutts and Geoff Waterhouse, who also heads The Finsure House Inc., a Stone Mountain, Ga., broker. Mr. Cutts formerly worked for Montgomery & Collins International in Bermuda, but was fired in 1990 for placing reinsurance with companies run by convicted swindler Alan Teale (BI, July 29, 1991).

Mr. Waterhouse said that he resigned as a director last October and that Trans International has since been sold. Mr. Cutts could not be reached.

Stephen B. Allison confirmed that Trans International was acquired last year by an Antigua holding company he manages through Kansiana Consultants of Wichita, Kan.

The insurer has canceled its Colorado business, according to Mr. Allison, who said the Colorado controversy "came as a complete surprise to us."

A former Kansas insurance agent, Mr. Allison confirmed that his license was revoked in 1993 for failure to comply with continuing education requirements.

Paramount Reinsurance Ltd. of Barbados. Paramount was formerly known as First Reinsurance Ltd. and was managed in the Bahamas by H. Wayne Hayes, who was later jailed in Hawaii for securities law violations.

The company was taken over by its Bahamas-based auditor, Michael Hepburn, and moved to Barbados in 1993, changing its name to Paramount Re.

Mr. Hepburn-who could not be reached-was also the auditor for Alpine Assurance Ltd., a Turks & Caicos Islands insurer barred in California after regulators disallowed most of its assets; and Savoy Reinsurance Co. Ltd., also of the Turks & Caicos, which reported $50 million in worthless assets in a 1988 financial statement (BI, Aug. 16, 1993; June 19, 1989).

Underwriters Reserve Insurance Co., which the Colorado order says is based in St. Kitts, British West Indies.

In 1993, the California Insurance Department moved to shut down a St. Kitts insurer called Underwriters Reserve Ltd. after finding it had sold millions of dollars of worthless auto insurance.

The insurer has apparently continued to operate, though: In a year-end 1995 financial statement, Underwriters Reserve Ltd. reports $114.2 million in assets, including a $100 million "equitable interest in corporate bonds" backed by an "interest in precious metal."

Representatives of the insurer could not be reached.