Jersey: Treasure Island – Script

Produced by RTS

Ref.7945

RTS TEAM:
CecileTran-Tien
Dimitri Zufferey
Aviva Fried
Monique Preiswerk
Laurent Eggly
Olivier Larue

00:00:02,484 --> 00:00:39,763

VO: It all starts with a wedding. A fairy-tale, carriage, fireworks in one of the most beautiful

Jersey residences. But this wedding is going to cause a tsunami in this small independent island just a stone's throw

from France. Tanya, an American lawyer multimillionaire is about to marry Darrin Stock... when she makes a discovery.

She was looking for a place to store the wedding stuff. She's thought about the mansion's old squash court

that she thought was abandoned.

 

00:00:40,909  --> 00:01:05,216

TANYA:

So, I got the key, I went there I opened the door. There were over 300 boxes

stacked everywhere, big banker's boxes. I wondered what it was, I needed the space! They were heavy

I looked at them and they were full of old papers.

 

00:01:06,852 --> 00:02:02,400

VO:

Tanya and her future husband are far from imagining that they got their hands on thousands of files

of confidential information. Lots of old files explosives for Jersey. It's in a quiet suburb of Texas

that the couple resides in. She's a lawyer, him a businessman. We are meeting

them at their house, immersed in the famous documents. By moving the boxes, Tanya finds out

some strange numbers and documents with her name on them. She now understands

it's about her trusts. The trust is a tool which does not exist in Swiss law, but which allows to transmit

part of one's heritage to their children, for example. Tanya's trusts were home to millions of dollars

from her parents' divorce.  A fortune that vanished into thin air.

 

00:02:04,553--> 00:02:38,287

TANYA:

-In 2010, my father told me that my trusts were empty, and my money was gone. There were hundreds

of millions of dollars. I never received them, so where is the money? All of a sudden,

I remembered the boxes. I should take a look to see if there is something there that would give me a clue.

So I started looking. And what a treasure!

 

00:02:40,475 --> 00:03:04,921

VO:

-Two years follow during which Tanya and her husband go through these boxes and

scan the documents one by one to try to understand. They discover thousands of confidential notes

and banking transactions from the La Hougue company officiating in the family mansion.

Darrin Stock is convinced that these documents reveal fraud on a large scale.

 

00:03:05,396 --> 00:03:28,760

DARRIN STOCK:

We didn't realize that we were sitting on evidence of a huge bank robbery.

There are people whose business is solely to produce false documents. Minutes of the board of directors,

contracts of sale, money transfers, bank statements, dummy accounts. Someone has to

produce these documents and no one thinks about who is. That's what La Hougue was doing.

 

00:03:28,785 --> 00:03:32,545

VO:

-Pretty soon, the couple goes to Jersey Central Police. They fill out a report of suspicious activity

against the society La Hougue.

 

00:03:39,315 --> 00:04:24,453

TANYA:

-They sent us an investigator. He's looking at the boxes and pulls a leaf

out of one of them. On it, it says: "Take care to destroy and burn this document."

You can't destroy evidence! It's against the law. That night, they put ribbon police yellow on the door

and the police seized the boxes. We figured:  "Phew, the police will take care of it."

 

00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:40,676

VO:

-But after months of waiting, it's a cold shower. The couple is sending

the inspectors analysis and offers to help, but nothing. The investigation is stalled.

Tanya and Darrin Stock are bewildered.

 

00:04:41,340 --> 00:05:11,431

TANYA:

-I've called many times, filed motions, sent letters and e-mails.

I have binders filled with evidence, sorted by date, which I brought to them

when asking for help because I was being robbed. But they didn't do anything.

 

00:05:12,023 --> 00:05:25,385

DARRIN STOCK:

-What we didn't know, is that the people we brought the boxes to,

were in the boxes themselves! It's just like in the movies. I bring the fraudulent information

directly to the crooks.

 

00:05:29,200 --> 00:06:27,085

VO:

-They didn't know at the time that Tanya's father was directly linked to La Hougue

and that Tim Le Cocq, who became chief of the Jersey police, had been his lawyer.

The couple denounces the conflicts of interest, but Jersey denies it.

The judges of the royal court carry out a lot of business each year so Tim le Cocq

claimed it would be impossible to recollect if there were any conflicts of interest.

At 82, Tanya's father is still in business. Physics and impressive career, Today he sits on the board of

directors of Liberty Global, the mastodon which owns UPC, Virgin Media and is about to buy out Sunrise,

in Switzerland. So it was a total shock to Tanya.

 

00:06:29,045--> 00:07:05,742

TANYA:

It's horrible to find out that my father is the bad guy. My head was spinning, I couldn't understand

the words anymore:I thought,  "This can't be happening." My father's a sociopath. He can look you

right in the eyes and lie to you shamelessly.

 

00:07:10,680 --> 00:08:00,791

VO Tough words that she would have  liked to submit to her father, but they don't talk to

each other anymore unless through legal representation. Spending over $6 million in a court battle to no avail.

Exhausted, they decide to  contact the press in late 2019. This is how RTS and the European consortium

EIC Investigation Department received this important data leakage. For six months, we've been going through

with journalists from around ten countries the 370,000 confidential  documents of La Hougue.

Everyone needs to detect fraud and contact clients in his country. A document

has caught our attention. Here it is. This letter explains the 11 methods proposed by La Hougue.

Never before seen by this reporter from Spiegel ,an expert in these kind of data leaks.

 

143

00:08:01,485 --> 00:08:06,602
VO:

What was your first reaction when you saw this document?

 

00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:08,800

CHRISTOPH WINTERBACH:

My first reaction was to step back and laugh really hard because it's so rare in this kind of business

to have someone explain methods of hiding money.

 

00:08:21,460 --> 00:08:22,717

VO:

Could you describe it?

 

00:08:22,950 --> 00:08:27,124

CHRISTOPH WINTERBACH:

For example, if you get divorced, it might be an idea to hide certain assets from your ex-wife

so that they are not divided in the proceedings. You could forge documents

for the purpose of implying that you took out a corporate loan and that this company

tells you that you haven't paid back your debts. She offers to give him valuable paintings or jewellery.

But in reality, the money moved is just hidden away somewhere. As soon as the

divorce is finalized, you get your belongings back or leave them on an offshore island.

 

00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:18,651

VO:

-To better understand the criminality of these methods, we have an appointment with the former President of

the Geneva Bar Association, an expert in money laundering issues. He states that he has no

sympathy for whistle-blowers but when you show him the documents, he had no doubts about what he is seeing.

 

00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:39,101

JEAN-MARC CARNICE:

-I see cards that describe a method proposed to optimize fiscally his situation

or, more often,  defrauding the IRS. Which is amazing, is to put it on files!

That's amazing. It's either very naïve or it denotes a sense of impunity.

 

00:10:07,671 --> 00:10:09,648

VO

-How bad is it, producing fakes?

 

00:10:10,055 --> 00:10:22,505

JEAN-MARC CARNICE:

-Tax evasion, we're looking at  three years in prison. If they're fakes for other purposes,

it's 5 years under Swiss law. This is a very serious offence.

 

 

00:10:24,252 --> 00:10:27,537

VO:

-We found out how these  forged documents were fabricated and backdated for years

in St. John's mansion, thanks to a very  artisanal method.

 

00:10:33,720 --> 00:11:28,901

TANYA:

-My father and his staff were so organized that they were stockpiling tons of

old paper, old ink, old typewriters, and old faxes. I even found these instructions:

"be careful when you write this loan note to use paper from the good old days,

the right ink and make sure you get type it on the right machine". I have a strange memory.

When I was little, I went into the offices to get a pen and paper. And my father

scolded me very hard... and told me never to touch the old papers and old pens.

Now I understand why! They were storing these to  make their fake documents!

 

00:11:30,862 --> 00:12:33,301

VO:

But then who are rich clients who have benefited from the very particular

services of La Hougue? To guarantee them total discretion, all were hidden

behind a secret code. Our investigation enabled us  to trace their identities.

Among them, the former president of the Russian Olympic Committee,

Alexander Zhukov,  who transferred over $75 million or the head of Glencore

in Russia, Igor Vishnevskiy. On the American side, Greg Wyler, the founder of the company

of O3B satellites,or Edward Wedelstedt, the former American porn king. A total of 300 customers

from 25 different countries. Switzerland is in a strong position in these documents.

We found 3 clients, all of them related to a former private investigator and his family

living in Hermance. Contacted, the latter refused to meet with us. On the phone,

a British client based in Bern agrees to talk to us on the condition of anonymity.

 

00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:37,320

ANONYMOUS CLIENT:

-I was a client of La Hougue, Yeah, but I'm not anymore.

 

00:12:39,170 --> 00:12:41,970

VO:

Were you aware

of this criminal activity?

 

 

00:12:43,191 --> 00:12:47,273

ANONYMOUS CLIENT:

No, this company was just billing for my consulting services and to pay me my salary.

Of course, it's a surprise to learn that my name is related to a business who did these things.

I had no reason to have suspicions.

 

00:13:09,115 --> 00:13:34,979

VO:
Several lawyers of a major Geneva study are also included in this survey just like a municipal

of a Geneva municipality and a notary from the Canton of Vaud. We've contacted them all,

with supporting documents, but everywhere the same radio silence. In Bern, this Ticino National Councillor has been fighting for years to register trusts

in Swiss law. The only solution according to him to avoid this kind of scandal.

 

 

00:13:35,984 --> 00:13:38,104

FABIO REGAZZI:
Foreign trusts,there have been problems.It brings to mind even more the urgency to introduce this instrument

in Switzerland, so that we can define our own rules and ensure transparency. That we can also

better control these activities.

 

00:13:56,240 --> 00:14:28,568

VO:

-John W. Dick sent us a lengthy denial through his lawyers, admitting fraud but disclaiming responsibility

on the director of La Hougue. John Dick refutes entirely any suggestion of wrong doing

He has no control or any involvement in the current affairs of La Houge.

In spite of these challenges, the couple continues to fight for reform in Jersey

 

00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:45,340

DARRIN STOCK: Our goal is not to get justice for Tanya, but to change the system.

If we don't do something,  it's just going to go on and on. The chains that Jersey

puts to Tanya today are those they'll put you in tomorrow.

 

00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:52,996

TANYA:
There's no easy way to fight fraud. It's expensive, complicated, stressful, and it eats away at you.

 

 

00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:03,710

-VO
Do you consider yourself

as brave, reckless?

 

00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:08,629

TANYA
No.I'm trying to do something with strength and firmness, but then I go to the bathroom

and I'm crying. I'm not strong. But I'm trying.

 

00:15:35,434 --> 00:15:40,626

VO:
Away from Jersey, Tanya’s father's trial is scheduled to open in mid-December in the United States.