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US federal crime investigators are probing an alleged $100m fraud by an investment company that had its offices in the World Trade Center and exploited the September 11 terrorist attacks on the buildings to divert attention from the crime. The US Attorney-General's Office and the US Postal Inspection Service are looking into the disappearance of three or four managers from First Equity Enterprises, the sales and accounting arm of Evergreen International Spot Trading, a foreign exchange broker for private investors. First Equity offices in were destroyed on September 11 but no employees were killed, according to Evergreen. The company ceased operating on September 24. Investigators are trying to locate $106m held by Equity on behalf of investors. The US fraud agencies refused to comment on their findings so far but private investigators are understood to have tracked some of the missing money to Swiss bank accounts. Evergreen, a New York-based private company owned by Russian-born entrepreneur Andre Koudachev, has laid off 100 employees since September 11, following the closure of two offices damaged by the blasts. Several senior executives have disappeared. Albert Guglielmo, Evergreen president and one of only four remaining staff, said: "Lawyers are crawling all over this. There are banks involved and they don't want to be stung." JP Morgan Chase, Bank One, National Australia Bank and Bank of New Zealand were the main account intermediaries, handling clients' transactions, he said. Evergreen and First Equity have been operating for four years, selling foreign exchange investments around the world. The companies had 1,500 private investor clients in 14 countries. One British private investor said: "I invested £20,000 18 months ago and within a year it had generated 27 per cent growth. I was so encouraged, I put in a further £20,000. Now I've lost nearly £50,000." Other investors have been far harder hit. Evergreen said one individual had $12m invested. Additional reporting by Gary Silverman Source:
FT.com
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