Yesterday morning we released Part 1 of this story titled “Multi-Year Corporate Fraud and More During Time of Lorna Smith OBE”. We are now prepared to report a yet further deeply disturbing story directly involving Lorna Smith OBE while she was Chairman of Bank of Asia. We have all of the underlying detailed documents to support our reporting. In the interest of transparency, we will be sharing those with the rest of the media community in due course.
We can also stand behind our previous report that founding CEO of VIDIC, Ms Lisa Violet, has indeed tendered her resignation from her post. While we understand there was prior discomfort at the helm, the Bank of Asia fallout, plus alleged extreme pressure placed on her by powers higher up, made the decision easier. We will leave it to the public’s imagination, whom those persons might be.
Where does the corruption and chaos end?
Gambling With Unwitting Depositors’ Rather Than Investors’ Money
Beginning in 2022, Bank of Asia engaged in some further accounting shenanigans at the potential expense of its depositors. Whether these rise to the level of the corporate fraud reported by us in Part 1 of this series is for others to determine. But these events are part and parcel with the same type of behaviour: inflate the bank’s capital levels and its equity ratios to portray a distorted financial picture to the outside community.
By very early 2022, its now disgraced and bankrupt founder Mr Wen was NOT on the bank’s board of directors. Lorna Smith OBE, however, was well-entrenched since 2019 and became the bank’s Chairman in early 2022. This is the precise date when the following almost unthinkable began:-
Over the course of 2022, the bank took nearly $9 million of third-party customer deposits and lent that cash to shell companies with no apparent cash of their own. Importantly, the shell companies did not retain the cash associated with the borrowings. Rather, they placed the vast majority (pocketing 10% or so as a tip) into a funky security at the bank called ‘perpetual preferred equity’. The bank’s public corporate documents reveal that this equity instrument was only introduced in January 2022. So, on its face, the shell companies had absolutely no means to repay the loans absent the ‘perpetual preferred equity’ being redeemed.
The obvious objective of this little strategy of using depositor cash, was to boost the bank’s total equity capital (but not its common equity) and its capital ratios without going through customary capital raising steps. Knowingly putting equity investors’ money at risk. Those in charge of Bank of Asia were plainly gambling with depositors’ money, undoubtedly unbeknownst to those depositors, with none of that money insured at the time (and only now it is likely that a fraction is insured). Those depositors now include the BVI Government, with almost the entirety of its $5 million deposit being uninsured; and the only way for the ‘perpetual preferred equity’ to ever be redeemed was? You guessed it; a sale of the bank. Yet another means-to-an-end accounting gimmick that could pay no dividends to unwitting depositors if the plan worked, but would leave them completely holding the bag if it did not. The latter is precisely where depositors find themselves today.
All of the so-called ‘loans’ appear to have been repayable in one year. However, through the end of 2023 at least, not one single loan was ever repaid in part, or in full. That makes sense; the corporate shell borrowers had no cash to repay. Yet, on 5 September 2023, then Deputy Premier Smith proclaimed with great pride that Bank of Asia had no non-performing loans. For the reasons below that seems like threading the needle at its high point.
A Friends and Family Affair
Who were the borrowers in this little scheme?
For starters, one is a corporate shell associated with none other than the bankrupt Mr Carson Wen and his wife. Given how entangled the Smiths, and others have always been with the Wen family, particularly after the visit paid to Mr Wen in February 2025 we understand, this might come as little surprise.
Oddly as the quantum trial to assess damages owed by Mr Wen was set to progress in November 2024, he apparently had a ‘Massive Heart Attack’, as diagnosed by a ‘local doctor’ who further recommended by letter, that Mr Wen could not attend court for an extended time. This seemed to be a well-coordinated attempt by local medical professionals to get Mr Wen out of a multi-day damages trial where he would have to give evidence on a valuation report forced out of him under court order, and addressed to the board of Bank of Asia (then controlled by Chairman Lorna Smith), stating that the bank was then worth over $700 million. The trial adjournment was followed by Mr Wen’s remarkable recovery within days, and an appearance at the MVH Resorts and Hotels grand opening event at the new Cane Garden Bay Hotel. Mr Wen was photographed with the former Premier, Dr Orlando Smith, looking fit as a fiddle.
As it were, under Lorna Smith’s Chairmanship, Mr Wen and his wife received over $2 million through two separate loans, one in the first quarter of 2022 and the second in the first quarter of 2023. Absolutely shocking. What on earth was the board of Bank of Asia led by Lorna Smith OBE thinking? Mr Wen and his wife could not even pay their bills at the time, let alone have their corporate shells with zero cash on hand pay any bills. With Mr Wen and his wife now made bankrupt, there is next to no chance that money lent to their corporate shells will ever be returned. This means more losses to depositors, unless Bank of Asia can be salvaged.
Next up is a corporate vehicle associated with the young son of Mr Wen and his wife (Ian Wen), the same son whom the Court of Appeal judgment found had received over $10 million of dissipated assets from his parents. This entity was given nearly $2 million of depositor money. Documents show that the ‘perpetual preferred equity’ balance rose by a similar amount that quarter (2Q 2022). Will the bank be able to hunt down the corporate shell related to Ian Wen for that money? Time will tell, but, in any case, we now have no less than $4 million going to Wen-related corporate shells.
And, if you think the details of this little scheme to buy time under now Junior Minister Smith’s watch can’t get worse, you’d be quite wrong.
Meet a colourful character named Chan Choi Har Ivy (aka Ms Ivy Chan), a decades-long friend of Mr Wen, and her Hong Kong shell company named Dutfield Estates Limited (“Dutfield”). When the loan was made, Dutfield had the grand total of about US$1,200 in total paid-up equity capital ($10,000 in Hong Kong Dollars). Under the leadership of then Chairman Smith, Dutfield was handed a nearly $2 million ‘loan’. The ‘perpetual preferred equity’ balance rose by the same amount at such date (4Q 2022).
But here is the kicker – Ms Ivy Chan was declared bankrupt nearly six (6) months BEFORE the loan was made (the bankruptcy adjudged on 15 August 2022). This decades-long friend of Mr Wen’s was later held in contempt of court and sentenced to prison (with the term suspended pending appeal). These are all matters of public record.
In a creditworthiness sense, the loan to Ms Ivy Chan’s Dutfield is akin to lending money to a dead person. Plainly, it would be fanciful to believe that a loan to a bankrupt (and later a convict) was ever going to be repaid. But then the board led by Chairman Smith and the day-to-day management team would have been well aware of that, right?
The balance of the loans represent further entities tied to the Wens and/or unknown parties in the far reaches of Asia and Africa. Their identities are largely irrelevant save for the simple fact above – apparently none have paid back their so-called loans.
Depositors money VIDIC will have to return, but only up to $100k. Massive losses for depositors who we understand some to be Virgin Islander entities. BVI’s money down the drain in more ways than one (with Government likely having to bailout VIDIC).
The nearly $10 million in ‘loans’, and the similar amount placed back as ‘perpetual preferred equity’, were ALL made while now Junior Minister Smith was at the helm of Bank of Asia as its Chairman.
The Government’s Current Position
Whether this accounting shenanigan further exposing unwitting third-party depositors has continued through to today is unknown. For example, we have yet to learn whether the Government’s $5million deposit was in any way used in this bizarre capital boosting scheme, either with or without its knowledge and/or complicity? Premier Wheatley dodged the direct question put to him on Monday. But why?
Premier Wheatley is now calling for some narrow INTERNAL audit. He now claims to have had no knowledge of the $5 million deposit despite being the Minister of Finance. His response and an internal audit hardly suffice in the circumstances.
The BVI was placed on the FATF’s ‘grey list’ just a week or so ago, with Junior Minister Smith leading a delegation to France ahead of the FATF’s plenary session. She now contends that the grey list designation will have NO adverse impact, and result in NO lost business for the BVI. She is clearly in the strong minority on this one.
Confirmation that Founding CEO of VIDIC has Resigned
On 5 June 2025, we published an exclusive story that Ms Lisa Violet, founding CEO of VIDIC, had tendered her resignation following extreme pressure placed on her by those in positions of greater power. That pressure was said to escalate following Guavaberry’s 29 May 2025 reporting on the Bank of Asia fallout.
https://www.gbmediahouse.com/Articles/Article/3757/Head-of-VIDIC-Lisa-Violet-Resigns
It seems Ms Violet was having none of this. We can now validate the accuracy of our prior reporting, and confirm from sources close to Ms Violet that she has in fact resigned. Further, Ms Violet’s LinkedIn account now lists her ‘present’ roles as only being an independent director at Ford Credit Bank and an advisor to TRIYO. Her role as CEO of VIDIC is listed as ending this month.
We are unaware whether VIDIC’s Board of Directors has named a replacement, however, Ms Violet’s profile remains on the VIDIC website.
We find it utterly shocking that the individual responsible for shining light on the shenanigans at Bank of Asia would be resigning at a time when most would be applauding her interventionist actions.
Undoubtedly, there is MUCH more to this story than currently meets the eye. Stay tuned.
The Only Sensible Way Forward for Bank of Asia
With the reputation and the future of the Territory’s financial services sector on the line, how the Bank of Asia matter is handled is of tantamount importance. Abhorrent past actions, complicity, and unwillingness to uphold duties to inform without delay have now been brought to light, and clearly explain what went wrong to-date.
However, a digital bank proposition (with the bad actors largely removed) remains as bright, if not brighter today as it did in 2017 when Bank of Asia was valued by actual investors at nearly $400 million. As a reminder, Bank of Asia did not begin its operations until mid-2018. Digital assets (Crypto and the like) were nowhere on the Territory’s radar at the time. They are front and centre today.
We reiterate that it is high time for the Territory to give its full support for a bank sale process that may yield a positive solution, particularly for Government’s and depositors’ potential financial loss, but also saving a tool (bank) that brings value to financial services.
We wrote an extensive piece on this very matter on 18 June 2025, which we encourage all of our readers to properly consider. Those that engaged in misconduct can suffer the extreme consequences in parallel.
https://www.gbmediahouse.com/Articles/Article/3777/Bank-of-Asia-Can-It-Be-saved
We state in the strongest terms that the alternative of a failed bank is absolutely NOT an option for the BVI. It will prove catastrophic, and we will never recover.
The Premier casually said on Monday that ‘banks fail throughout the world all the time.’ Firstly, that is untrue; failures are a VERY rare occurrence. And second, it has been reported that no bank in the BVI has failed since the 1980s.
Ending on a happy note, we now understand that Bank of Asia has NOT yet been placed into full liquidation and therefore a so-called ‘wind-down’. On Monday, the Commercial Court maintained the provisional status for three-months at a minimum.
Stay tuned for more. How many times did we put $5 million on Bank of Asia and when. We are not done with this iceberg yet…