CARIBBEAN TODAY


T AFKN C aG & I N VESTI

 ~ A Caribbean Today advertising feature


Seek new opportunities, Miller tells Caribbean


BRIDGETOWN, Barbados,
CMC Caribbean countries
have been advised to seek
new and creative business
opportunities, in order to sur-
vive in an ever-changing busi-
ness environment.
 The call came from
Barbados's Minister for
Foreign Affairs and Foreign
Trade Dame Billie Miller at
the fifth U.K./CARICOM
Forum, which ended here late
last month.
 Dame Billie told the
meeting that many countries
would face serious challenges
against the background of
trade liberalization and
reformed international rules,
and they would need to
change.
 "This new dispensation is


going to impose new economic
obligations on the Caribbean
and investment promotion
would be the key drivers of
the economy in the future,"
she said.
 "We must now effectively
manage this new relationship
with Europe. We must now
reallocate our resources,
sometimes away from and
sometimes around some
of the traditional sectors, to
sectors of growth, potential
and areas capable of earning
foreign exchange."

NOT ALL BAD
 With the pending changes
to Europe's sugar regime, St.
Lucia's Foreign Affairs
Minister Petrus Compton said
it was not all bad news for the


region, and Mu.L.lLd a
greater focus on services as a
means of dealing with the
anticipated fall out.
 "We recognize that with
the virtual demolition of the
old trading pattern and the
trade in goods and commodi-
ties that has come about as a
result of the banana issue and
the sugar, we have to look to
services and we're talking
specifically tourism services,
financial services and we have
to develop our capacity in
those areas," Compton said.
 Compton noted that the
region has a competitive
advantage in the two sectors,
and countries therefore need
to strengthen their market
outreach.
0


U.S.-based firm to invest


in Guyana's energy sector


GEORGETOWN, Guyana,
CMC Guyana and Delta
Energy and Petroleum
Company, a United States-
based firm, are close to sealing
a $500 million deal to estab-
lish a refinery in Berbice, east
of here, according to an offi-
cial statement issued late last
month.
 The Office of the Prime
Minister said the facility would
have the capacity to handle
some 100,000 barrels of crude
per day and create 1,000 new
jobs. It said the Guyana gov-
ernment and Crab Island
Refineries Incorporated
signed a Memorandum of


Understanding (MOU) for
establishing and operating the
refinery.
 The refinery could help
reduce fuel price on the local
market. Construction is
expected to begin early next
year. The statement said that
construction would be done in
stages "with actual production
being realized within a further
15 months". It said that other
foreign companies were keen
to set up more petroleum
refineries in Berbice based on
the proximity to the Berbice
River and the Atlantic Ocean.
0


* Prepare for free trade, U.S. tells
Caribbean
 A United States diplomat is telling
Caribbean counties that they need to
prepare for a world of free trade.
 John Maisto, the U.S. ambassa-
dor to the Organization of American
States said that while his government
is committed to assisting Caribbean
countries with trade capacity building,
the region must embrace change.

* World Bank to cancel Guyana's
debt
 The World Bank last month said
Guyana is among a number of the
world's poorest countries entitled to full
debt cancellation.
 The bank said this has become
possible because of approval of the
Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.
 "We have secured the total votes
necessary to enact the Multilateral


(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25)
the S corporation.
 Although the LLC is a
 very flexible business and
 investment vehicle, anyone
 considering it must under-
 stand the different tax forms it
 may take. For example, a for-
 eign individual for U.S.
 income tax purposes consider-
 ing whether to become a
 member of an LLC engaged
 in the conduct of a U.S. trade
 or business must be aware
 that by being a member of
 such LLC, he or she will be
 considered to be so engaged
 and this would require him or
 her among other things to file
 a U.S. income tax returns on
 an annual basis. and likely
 expose his or her estate to the
 U.S. estate tax upon death.
 Similarly, a foreign corpo-


Debt Relief initiative," said World Bank
President Paul Wolfowitz.

* Grenada confident in cricket
investment
 Grenada Prime Minister Dr. Keith
Mitchell says his country will benefit
tremendously from staging World Cup
cricket matches next year.
 Mitchell expressed such confi-
dence even as Jamaica's Finance
Minister Omar Davies said last month
that his country will not reap immedi-
ate financial reward from the event.
 "I can't speak for Jamaica, but I
feel confident that, relative to the invest-
ment, we're going to benefit tremen-
dously," Mitchell said.

Compiled from CMC and other
sources.
0


ration considering becoming a
member in the same LLC, will
also be considered engaged in
the conduct of a U.S. trade or
business and not only subject
to federal and possibly state
corporate income tax but also
to the "branch profits tax".
 In conclusion any foreign
person considering doing busi-
ness or holding investments in
the U.S. should seek the assis-
tance of competent U.S. tax
counsel to ascertain the U.S.
tax consequences of such busi-
ness or investment.

Michael Rosenberg and Jose
L. Nunez are shareholders
with the Coral Gables law
firm of Packman, Neuwahl &
Rosenberg and can be
reached at 305-665
0


(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25)
of San Francisco recently
agreed to pay $900,000 in civil
penalties for its FreeFlixTix
promotion that the Federal
Trade Commission said avert-
ed spam filters by disguising
commercial e-mails as person-
al messages and misled con-
sumers as to the terms
involved in the "free" movie
tickets promotion.
 We're offered money for
simple tasks. The Securities
and Exchange Commission
recently froze funds of the col-
lapsed "paid autosurf" site
12dailypro.com of Charlotte,
N.C., which promised mem-
bers a 44 percent profit in 12
days for viewing a series of
online advertisements. The
SEC alleged it was actually a
Ponzi scheme, with the catch
being a hefty fee running as
high as $6,000.

COMMON
 Scams are so common-
place that the Federal Bureau
of Investigation has made
Internet fraud a priority rank-
ing behind only counterterror-
ism and counterintelligence.
At the FTC, online incidents
accounted for nearly half of
all consumer fraud complaints
filed last year.
 Cell phone text messages
recently joined online bulletin
boards, e-mails, voice mails
and faxes as delivery vehicles
for unscrupulous stock pro-
moters. Messages are shorter,
such as: "Hot stock money
here!" and the stock name,
typically a smaller-cap stock
not traded on a major
exchange that is listed on the
so-called pink sheets.
 "The 'pump and dump'
scams pump up the price of a


specific pink sheet listing with
a spam message about how
great the stock is and then
dump it once it hits a high
on the hype," said Michael
Byrne, chief counsel for the
Pennsylvania Securities
Commission and chairman
of the Enforcement Trends
Project Group of the North
American Securities
Administrators Association.
Prime bank swindles high-
yield investment programs
promising to double your
money are prevalent, Byrne
said. Bold criminals make a
fast hit, then run off with your
money without giving any-
thing in return.
 "Fraud today has a tech-
nological twist but is really
old wine in new bottles," said
John Stark, chief of the SEC
Office of Internet
Enforcement in Washington,
D.C. "The Internet is a great
tool for the con artist, though
also a tool for law enforce-
ment because it provides a
trail."
 Nearly 600 Internet-relat-
ed cases have been brought by
Stark's office since he began
handling them in 1998. As
many as 5,000 Internet-related
complaints of suspicious con-
duct in financial accounts are
lodged daily (in the United
States).
 "The newest thing is fraud
that employs an electronic
1 I--i_-inii' program to monitor
your keystrokes so someone
can figure out your broker
account password and user
name," Stark said. "They then
go directly into your account
to remove your assets."

PREVENTION
 Take these steps to avoid
online theft in your brokerage


and other financial accounts:
* Check monthly account
statements to be sure balances
are what they should be.
* Make sure your computer
has the latest security patches,
and access accounts only on
secure web pages using
encryption. If a padlock icon
is shown, click on it to see if
the pop-up window shows a
certificate with the same site
name.
* Don't click on a link provid-
ed in an e-mail message, but
type the web address into
your browser to see whether it
represents the true sender.
* Never give others your pass-
words, and be aware that
wireless networks in public
places may not provide as
much security as wired
Internet connections.
* Log out your computer
when you're not around. Type
in user name and password
information each time, rather
than utilizing the "remember"
feature because anyone using
your computer could access
your financial accounts.
* Report "phishing" and other
cyber crime to the FBI at
www.ifccfbi.gov. Send your
investment-related fraud com-
plaints to the SEC by e-mail-
ing enforcement@sec.gov.
Forward deceptive spam you
receive to the FTC at
spam@uce.gov.
"Too often, hard-working
people want to believe there
are ways other people make
money to which they haven't
been privy."

 2006 Tribune Media
Services, Inc.
0


BRIEFS


Take action to fight Internet financial fraud


U.S. tax facts and other myths of a

 limited liability company


May 2006