David Smith, the former OLINT boss
St. Lucians who may have lost money from investments in companies operated by businessman David A. Smith, doing business as Overseas Locket International Corporation (OLINT), and related companies, may be eligible to receive compensation from the United States government.
The forfeited funds will be returned to victims of the scheme through a process called remission.
Smith claimed that the companies were private investment clubs that purportedly traded in foreign currency on investors’ behalf. Smith made false and fraudulent statements indicating that members could expect high returns on their investment with low risk to principal.
Rather than investing the funds as promised, Smith used them for personal gain and paid returns using new investors’ money, in a classic Ponzi scheme.
Smith was convicted in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida in September 2011 on multiple counts of wire fraud and money laundering.
As part of his criminal sentence, Smith was ordered to forfeit assets seized by federal authorities.
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