The Association of Concerned Olint Members (ACOM) has begun to officially register Olint Depositors with the Victims Support Division of the US District Attorney’s Office, according to an ACOM release issued yesterday.

“ACOM has been formally granted representational status by the USDA to act on behalf of Olint Depositors in this critical operation,” said the release signed by Dr Godfrey E McAllister.

The release pointed depositors to www.ACOMAction.com for full details on the registration process.

At the same time, the release stated that “legal and diplomatic formalities are now in place for the imminent removal of Mr David Smith from the Turks and Caicos Islands prison to face criminal charges in the United States of America” while Smith’s legal representative, who already indicated that Smith would not fight extradition to the US, said extradition was imminent, according to the release.

“Without being specific, the US Assistant District Attorney has hinted at the presence of significant sums of Olint Depositors’ money having been identified in the US,” added the release. “In a documented commitment to ACOM, Mr Ambrose (the US assistant district attorney) has given the assurance that all identified funds will be made available to Olint Depositors who have registered with the Victims’ Co-ordinator in the District Attorney’s Office.”

David Smith was sentenced in September to six-and-a-half-years in prison after he pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to money laundering and two counts of conspiracy to the fraud in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In the US, Smith was indicted in a Florida court on 23 charges including wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud investors in his forex trading ventures.

In the indictment unsealed in an Orlando court in the Middle District of Florida, US prosecutors are contending that David Smith took monies amounting to approximately US$200 million from several clients with the understanding that the cash would be invested. However, prosecutors alleged that Smith used the money for his own benefit.

They also charged that Smith had been running a ponzi scheme.

Apart from Olint, the other firms integral to the alleged scheme, according to the indictment, are the Florida-based I-Trade FX, LLC or I-Trade, in which David Smith is the majority capital investor with an investment of over US$2 million, and JIJ Investments.

The scheme to defraud, according to the indictment, began before February 2005 and continued through to on or about July 15, 2008 in Orange County, Florida; in the Middle District of Florida; Jamaica; The Turks and Caicos Islands; and elsewhere.