David Marchant (journalist)

David E. Marchant (born 1965) is a US-based, British journalist who is the owner and editor of OffshoreAlert, a news service and conference organizer that specialises in exposing financial crime while in progress. Marchant and/or OffshoreAlert have received several death threats and have been sued in several countries and jurisdictions, including state and federal court in the USA, Vancouver, Toronto, London, Panama, Grenada, and the Cayman Islands.

David Marchant
Born1965 (age 55–56)
NationalityBritish
OccupationJournalist
Known forInvestigative reporting
Websitewww.offshorealert.com

Early life and career

Marchant was born in 1965.[1] His first journalistic job was 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 (1989–1990) of Bristol. From 1990 to 1993 he was a business reporter for The Royal Gazette in Bermuda and from 1994 to 1996 he was business editor at the Bermuda Sun.[2]

OffshoreAlert

In 1997,[3] Marchant founded OffshoreAlert, a newsletter that specialises in the exposure of international financial crime.[4] In the course of his work he has been sued in the United States, the Cayman Islands, Canada and Panama. He was sued in Grenada by the former Prime Minister Keith Mitchell. Marchant says he does not have insurance against libel cases in order not to have to approve his stories with lawyers before publishing them, and claims 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."[5]

Among the stories that Marchant has covered have been the Ponzi scheme at First International Bank of Grenada,[6] fraud at the Cayman Islands-based Axiom Legal Financing Fund,[7] and alleged irregularities at Belvedere Management group and a Spain-based investment group operating as Privilege Wealth. In 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that 11 people had been charged with crimes as a result of his work of which five had been jailed.[1] The first person to sue Marchant was Marc Harris who was subsequently sentenced to 17 years in jail for money laundering and tax evasion.[8] According to Marchant, he has received more than one death threat and the subject of one of his investigations had a T-shirt that read "David Marchant is only alive because killing him would be a crime".[3]

Marchant also runs annual conferences on financial intelligence and investigations.[1]

References
  1. Under Florida Sun, Tax Avoiders, Enforcers Trade Notes, Schmooze. Jesse Drucker, The Wall Street Journal, 2 May 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  2. David Marchant. LinkedIn. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  3. Meet Belvedere Ponzi buster David Marchant – Kellermann's nemesis. Alec Hogg, BizNews.com, 25 March 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  4. Editor's Blog. OffshoreAlert. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  5. Alth INDEX INTERVIEW: 'I've never published a correction or apology'. Miren Gutierrez, Index on Censorship, 20 November 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  6. Post-Ponzi scheme, Grenada to reopen for offshore banking. Colin Woodard, The Christian Science Monitor, 31 May 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  7. Journalist investigating £100m investment fraud given 'absurd' harassment warning by Met Police. Archived 6 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine Dominic Ponsford, Press Gazette, 25 April 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  8. Marc Harris Faces 17 Year Jail Sentence. Glen Shapiro, Tax-News, 2 June 2004. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
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