Good day,
I am Michael Leyden,a staff of Private Banking Services at the Bank of
China (BOC) United Kingdom. I am contacting you concerning our customer
and, an investment placed under our banks management 4 years ago.
I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail
confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a
result of this mail. I contacted you independently of our investigation
and no one is informed of this communication. I would like to intimate you
with certain facts that I believe would be of interest to you.
In 2002, the subject matter; ref: bb/boc/bank/0012 came to our bank to
engage in business discussions with our Private Banking Services
Department. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of 8.35
million United States Dollars, which he wished to have us turn over
(invest) on his behalf.
I was the officer assigned to his case; I made numerous suggestions in
line with my duties as the de-facto chief operations officer of the
Private Banking Services Department, especially given the volume of funds
he wished to put into our bank. We met on numerous occasions prior to any
investments being placed. I encouraged him to consider various growth
funds with prime ratings. The favored route in my advice to customers is
to start by assessing data on 6000 traditional stocks and bond managers
and 2000 managers of alternative investments. Based on my advice, we spun
the money around various opportunities and made attractive margins for our
first months of operation, the accrued profit and interest stood at this
point at over 10 million United States Dollars, this margin was not the
full potential of the fund but he desired low risk guaranteed returns on
investments. In mid 2004, he asked that the money be liquidated because he
needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Europe. He
directed that I liquidate the funds and had it deposited with a firm. I
informed him that the bank would have to make special arrangements to have
this done and in order not to circumvent due process, the bank would have
to make a 9.5 % deduction from the funds to cater for banking and
statutory charges. He complained about the charges but later came around
when I explained to him the complexities of the task he was asking of us.
Cash movement across borders has become especially strict since the
incidents of 9/11. I contacted my affiliate in and had the funds
available. I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his
precise instructions to the letter and had the funds deposited in a
security consultancy firm, the firm is a specialist private firm that
accepts deposits from high net worth individuals and blue chip
corporations that handle valuable products or undertake transactions that
need immediate access to cash. This small and highly private organization
is familiar especially to the highly placed and well-connected
organizations. In line with instructions, the money was deposited . He
told me he wanted the money there in anticipation of his arrival from
Norway later that week. This was the last communication we had, this
transpired around 9th October, 2004.
In January last year, we got a call from the security firm informing us
that the inactivity of that particular portfolio. This was an astounding
position as far as I was concerned, given the fact that I managed the
private banking sector I was the only one who knew about the deposit , and
I could not understand why he had not come forward to claim his deposit. I
made futile efforts to locate him I immediately passed the task of
locating him to the internal investigations department of the bank of
china. Four days later, information started to trickle in, apparently he
was dead. A person who suited his description was declared dead of a heart
attack in Canne, South of France. We were soon enough able to identify the
body and cause of death was confirmed. The bank immediately launched an
investigation into possible surviving next of kin to alert about the
situation and also to come forward to claim his estate. If you are
familiar with private banking affairs, those who patronize our services
usually prefer anonymity, but also some levels of detachment from
conventional processes. In his bio-data form, he listed no next of kin. In
the field of private banking, opening an account with us means no one will
know of its existence, accounts are rarely held under a name; depositors
use numbers and codes to make the accounts anonymous. This bank also gives
the choice to depositors of having their mail sent to them or held at the
bank itself, ensuring that there are no traces of the account and as I
said, rarely do they nominate next of kin. Private banking clients apart
from not nominating next of kin also usually in most cases leave wills in
our care, in this case; he died intestate.
In line with our internal processes for account holders who have passed
away, we instituted our own investigations in good faith to determine who
should have right to claim the estate. This investigation has for the past
months been unfruitful. We have scanned every continent and used our
private investigation affiliate companies to get to the root of the
problem. The investigation did not ever yield any result My official
capacity dictates that I am the only party to supervise the investigation
and the only party to receive the results of the investigation. This
leaves me as the only person with the full picture of what the prevailing
situation is in relation to the deposit and the late beneficiary of the
deposit. According to practice, the firm will by the end of this financial
year broadcast a request for statements of claim to BOC, failing to
receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back to
BOC. This will result in the money entering the BOC accounting system and
the portfolio will be out of my hands and out of the Private Banking
Services Department. This will not happen if I have my way.
What I wish to relate to you will smack of unethical practice but I want
you to understand something. It is only an outsider to the banking world
who finds the internal politics of the banking world aberrational. The
world of private banking especially is fraught with huge rewards for those
who occupy certain offices and oversee certain portfolios. You should have
begun by now to put together the general direction of what I propose.
There is US$ 8,370,000.00 deposited , I alone have the deposit details and
they will release the deposit to no one unless I instruct them to do so. I
alone know of the existence of this deposit for as far as BOC is
concerned, the transaction with our deceased customer concluded when I
sent the funds to the firm, all outstanding interactions in relation to
the file are just customer services and due process. They are simply
awaiting instructions to release the deposit to any party that comes
forward. This is the situation. This bank has spent great amounts of money
trying to track this man's family; they have investigated for months and
have found no family. The investigation has come to an end.
My proposal; I am prepared to place you in a position to give instruction
for the release of the deposit to you as the closest surviving relation.
Upon receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the money with you in
half. That is: I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have them
release the deposit to you. We share the proceeds 50/50.
I would have gone ahead to ask the funds be released to me, but that would
have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the
deposit. I assure you that I could have the deposit released to you within
a few days. I will simply inform the bank of the final closing of the file
relating to the customer I will then officially communicate with firm
and instruct them to release the deposit to you. With these two things:
all is done. The alternative would be for us to have firm direct the funds
to another bank with you as account holder. This way there will be no need
for you to think of receiving the money from the firm. We can fine-tune
this based on our interactions.
I am aware of the consequences of this proposal. I ask that if you find no
interest in this project that you should discard this mail. I ask that you
do not be vindictive and destructive. If my offer is of no appeal to you,
delete this message and forget I ever contacted you. Do not destroy my
career because you do not approve of my proposal. You may not know this
but people like myself who have made tidy sums out of comparable
situations run the whole private banking sector. I am not a criminal and
what I do, I do not find against good conscience, this may be hard for you
to understand, but the dynamics of my industry dictates that I make this
move. Such opportunities only come ones' way once in a lifetime. I cannot
let this chance pass me by, for once I find myself in total control of my
destiny. These chances won't pass me by. I ask that you do not destroy my
chance, if you will not work with me let me know and let me move on with
my life but do not destroy me. I am a family man and this is an
opportunity to provide them with new opportunities. There is a reward for
this project and it is a task well worth undertaking. I have evaluated the
risks and the only risk I have here is from you refusing to work with me
and alerting my bank. I am the only one who knows of this situation, good
fortune has blessed you with a name that has planted you into the center
of relevance in my life. Let's share the blessing.
If you find yourself able to work with me, contact me through this same
email account. If you give me positive signals, I will initiate this
process towards a conclusion. I wish to inform you that should you contact
me via official channels; I will deny knowing you and about this project.
I repeat, I do not want you contacting me through my official phone lines
nor do I want you contacting me through my official email account. Contact
me only through through this email address. I do not want any direct link
between you and me. My official lines are not secure lines as they are
periodically monitored to assess our level of customer care in line with
our Total Quality Management Policy. Please observe this instruction
religiously. Please, again, note I am a family man; I have a wife and
children. I send you this mail not without a measure of fear as to what
the consequences, but I know within me that nothing ventured is nothing
gained and that success and riches never come easy or on a platter of
gold. This is the one truth I have learned from my private banking
clients. Do not betray my confidence. If we can be of one accord, send me
your response on this email immediately to enable us commence this line of
discussion.
I await your response.
Michael Leyden
