Bajan condo of US Ponzi accused may be seized

(Barbados Nation) United States investigators want to seize an expensive condo in Barbados that is owned by an Indiana investment advisor who is pleading guilty to a Ponzi scheme bilking clients of more than US$7 million.

And sometime this month Keenan R. Hauke, once described as an “honest all-American guy” who allegedly bought a US$400 000 property in Barbados out of his clients’ funds, will walk into a federal court in Indianapolis, cop a plea and may be slapped with a 14-17-year prison sentence for securities fraud, perpetrated through his Samex Capital Partners and Samex Capital Advisors.

The 40-year-old Hauke, who reportedly visited Barbados on several occasions, is entering a plea deal in Indianapolis, where he is admitting to running the fraudulent scheme which used money from new investors to pay returns to earlier investors. He has agreed to restitution, but it is not clear if he has sufficient funds to cover all of people’s losses.

Federal investigators and Indiana state officials have already succeeded in getting a Hamilton Superior Court to seize almost US$2 million in bank accounts controlled by Hauke and they are also going after more than 1 100 gold and silver coins, his home in Indiana and the condo in Barbados.