Stake Bank Receiver Responds to Feinstein Group

On Monday, we reported on an application being filed on behalf of Stake Bank Enterprise Limited in which the company is seeking to recover almost three point nine million dollars in assets from businessman Michael Feinstein, the former principal of the company that is presently in receivership.  Earlier today, the Feinstein Group issued a statement in which it is requesting the appointment of an independent inspector for an investigation into the Atlantic Bank Limited.  The statement goes on to read, “the Feinstein Group hereby formally requests that the Governor of the Central Bank of Belize, Kareem Michael, designate an independent inspector or team of inspectors in accordance with a set of publicly disclosed terms of reference to conduct the ongoing investigation into Atlantic Bank Limited regarding alleged violations of Belize’s banking regulations”.  In a statement issued by receiver Marlowe Neal this evening, he responded to several statements that have been made by the Feinstein Group.  Neal is on record stating that the original project cost present to the lenders was eighty million US dollars.  He says that under Feinstein’s stewardship, the company exceeded that estimate by roughly forty million US dollars.  Elsewhere in the statement, Neal says, “SBEL has been saddled with over one hundred and fourteen million dollars in debt, with no income to repay either interest or principal.  The title to the land surrounding the island is the subject of fraud.  The buildings, pier and dredging are incomplete.  And the project, by some estimates, will require another seventy million US dollars for basic completion”.