The blockbuster turn of Credit Suisse’s $17 billion additional Tier 1 writedown made headlines this week when mainFT revealed the following:
In a private letter aimed at saving debt-linked employee bonuses, Credit Suisse directly questioned the basis for the Swiss financial watchdog’s write-down of $17 billion in additional tier-one bonds.
We say “sort of” because, while the FT was the first major news organization to report the revelations contained in the second decree issued by FINMA, ordering Credit Suisse to zero out its AT1 bonds, But another little-known media organization actually get the scoop:
Last week, local news outlet Antigua News posted the full text of the second decree online. The FT separately obtained a copy of the decree and checked its authenticity with multiple people with direct knowledge of the situation.
If you’re new to Antigua news, you’re not alone.
The two-year-old site focuses on comings and goings in the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, and a recent story chronicled a robbery Roti King at local takeaway joint and high-profile criminal trial suspended by court “Mold Infestation”.
Even by the standards of local news startups, Antigua News twitter presence A paltry 15 followers before the Financial Times reported on Monday:
Antigua?we hardly know each other
Needless to say, big European banking news isn’t usually covered by obscure Caribbean sites.
A group of AT1 bondholders teamed up to sue Finma earlier this month, scoring early victories in what is expected to be a drawn-out court battle, but those not paying attention to the intricate ramifications of the Credit Suisse-UBS marriage people.
Disgruntled investors have forced Switzerland’s financial watchdog to hand over two hitherto classified documents: a decree by Finma ordering Credit Suisse to empty AT1 bonds, and a second decree related to debt-linked employee bonuses.
While certain aspects of the first decree were quickly leaked to the Swiss press, the world’s media went unnoticed and Finma had even issued a second decree before the Antiguan news hit the scene.
The content of this second decree is even more explosive. The document shows that Credit Suisse challenged Finma’s interpretation of the AT1 contract, arguing that the conditions to allow the write-down had not been met. This represents a coup for investors struggling to prove that Finma misbehaved.
On May 15, the Swiss financial blog Inside Paradeplatz published an article hours after the blacklist was revealed article Containing several photo excerpts of a copy of the first decree, Antigua News has quietly released digital versions of the first and second decrees all. It even subtly watermarks them:
FT Alphaville sets out to find out how this little-known Antiguan website gained Swiss corroboration and grabbed the global financial press.
The answer leads us to a pizza-loving lawyer and ambassador whose notable past clients include Vladimir Putin’s former son-in-law.
Caribbean Web Surfing Destinations
antigua news published two article Credit Suisse struggled in March, with the 167-year-old lender falling into the arms of longtime rival UBS. These earlier stories bear at least a byline (“Tata”), but lack the source of later jam-dropper dispatches.
While the owner of the antigua.news domain used a privacy protection service, online records also indicate it has ties to Switzerland:
the website itself yes. . . Not user friendly. Most of the screen space is covered by giant invisible link boxes, making right-clicking impossible.
Some gentle fiddling allowed Alphaville to bypass these barriers and access the original imagery of the Finma decree. Filenames like “FITMA 1.pdf.jpg” not only suggest a slight sloppiness due to the rush to get content online (which we can relate), but also suggest that the poster has a digital version of the document itself.
As much as we love online archaeology, at this point we thought it would be more efficient to make a phone call.
Unexpected item in luggage storage area
A Swiss lawyer, Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to Spain, and a budding media mogul walk into a bar.
His name is Dario Project.
“This is my article, I wrote it on Antigua News,” Im told FTAV. “I’m also the (owner) of Antigua News. I’m also a Swiss lawyer . . . I’m defending some investors, so I have this information.”
We happened to meet a rather accommodating man behind the scoop while grimly calling a number related to Antigua News (which was more successful than our previous exchange with a slightly confused ad sales rep who Haven’t heard of Credit Suisse, but have dutifully promised to pass on our info inquiries all the same).
Item, 50, is not only the ambassador of Antigua to Spain, but also the ambassadors of the small principalities of Monaco and Liechtenstein in Europe, as well as the United Nations World Tourism Organization. His embassy owns and operates Antigua News. He was also a lawyer in Lugano, Switzerland, representing undisclosed investors holding Credit Suisse AT1s that were emptied out during the sale to UBS.
“You know it’s a big scandal in Switzerland,” he told us. “We are all very upset because we sincerely believe that there is simply no legal basis for writing down AT1.”
(Item declined to name the investors he represented, citing “attorney-client privilege.”)
Has Decree and Antigua News (what he calls “the official channel of the government”) Antigua and Barbuda Embassy In Madrid”), Item decided to cut out the middleman: He effectively provided himself with the documents, publishing them along with an explanation of their significance on a news site he controlled through his diplomatic post.
The unnamed reporter who oversees the Antigua news WhatsApp group confirmed his account of the big news, also saying their hands-on boss had a similar philosophy of direct editorialism to that claimed by London’s Evening Standard Lord Lebedev:
(The anonymous reporter also saw our scathing tweet Insignificant Twitter followers on Antigua News, happy to point them out facebook account Even more popular is “Islanders barely use Twitter”. Makes sense! )
Item explained that he was the right person for the job when it came to writing about the complexities of the legal case regarding Credit Suisse AT1 because it was “a very sensitive issue”.
“I am capable of writing such an article,” he said. “I decided to do it because I think it’s very important.”
This is certainly a novel approach to journalism. Other FT sources close to the case have been more cautious in sharing documents from the ongoing proceedings. Project has no such qualms.
“These documents are absolutely not secret,” he told us, adding that the Swiss courts that compelled Finma to disclose the decree to bondholders did not impose “any restrictions” on their release. “It’s very, very important. People have to know. There are all the details.”
Mr. Universe
1 minute 31 second clip titled “daario project“, one of three videos on the YouTube channel “Dario Item”. The other two are called “Dario Item” and “Dario Item”.
It shows Felipe VI of Spain standing in the vestibule of Charles III, part of the Royal Palace of Madrid. Item entered through the far door and formally handed Felipe his credentials.
scene too Documented on Item’s Instagramwhere he mainly posts beach photos and has over 800,000 followers.
These are just a few examples of Item’s vast web presence which, along with Antigua News, also includes personal website, another personal website, another personal websiteA personal news siteother personal news siteand a Medium image. He’s here Facilitating Blockchain Regulation in Antigua and Barbuda. He’s here Local Scottish media mourn Queen Elizabeth II’s death. He’s here Write about money laundering in Switzerland.
Item also makes several references to Antigua’s “Nomad Digital Residence” program, which allows foreigners to live and work remotely in Antigua and Barbuda for up to two years.
Last summer, Item announced that the program had “cautiously reopened” for “non-sanctioned Russians and Belarusians” based on “strict criteria.” We also noticed that Russian is one of the few language options on many sites. Project’s myriad of sites.
The ambassador confirmed to us that his Russian website is his way of promoting citizenship in Antigua through investment programs in and around the country. He added that “unfortunately” the window for Russian and Belarusian applicants closed again just a month after his big announcement.
Clients Adjacent to Putin
There are other Russian-related items around as well.
In 2020, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project of the Consortium of Investigative Journalists, named project Linked to a network of offshore companies owned by Kirill Shamarov, former son-in-law of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It flagged Item as “prime custodian of Shamalov’s offshore secrets.”
Item called the claims “absurd,” noting that he was one of several lawyers working for Shamalov.
“Every lawyer is a custodian of secrets,” he told us. “By the way, this case is about a Swiss bank, and it’s just ridiculous to think of Switzerland as (a) offshore country. I’m just a lawyer, but that was five years ago.”
That’s not the only Putin-adjacent story we’ve found.
Here’s a 2014 Reuters report Included are documents from a company called Medea Investment, which supplied material to the infamous property known as “Putin’s Palace” next to the Black Sea.this document Named “Dr. Dario Item of Lugano, Switzerland” as representative of Medea. Reuters reports that the company’s shareholder is Italian architect Lanfranco Cirillo, known for designing the mansion, which is said to have been built for the pleasure of the Russian president.
Item said his work for Cirillo was “in the past,” and again claimed client-attorney privilege prevented him from discussing details.
Then there was his clash with financial authorities in the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan in 2019 delist Item serves as a director of two financial services companies.Due to regulatory sanctions, Antigua also revoke A banking license for his company. Following a judicial review, Malaysian regulators later overturned the individual sanctions against Item.
“I was — believe it or not — a victim of a liar,” Em said. “I won in court and there is nothing left of that country (Malaysia). All measures against me have been withdrawn, it’s public.”
Scab Advisor
We thought the story was weird and wonderful. Then we found the Pizza Forum.
Among his other interests, Item has Pizza Lovers Message Board, La Verace, who posts as an admin at Napoli72. One of the other pizza lovers even affectionately called him “Zio Dario” (“Uncle Dario”).
Zio Dario has been posted 4,635 times. Here is his signature (translated by Google):
“It’s my passion. It’s my passion. Absolutely. It’s definitely my passion. I love cooking. I love cooking,” Item told FTAV.
He added: “I have pizza ovens in all my houses, and it’s the same in Antigua. I’m kind of crazy, to be honest.”
Committing to making high-quality homemade pizza doesn’t seem easy for the wealthy folks at Item. But he then began to detail the delicate logistics involved.
“You can’t imagine how difficult it is to get an oven from Naples,” Item continued, laughing, explaining that he had to use a crane to install a traditional oven. oven“If you saw what I did here, you could definitely tell I was crazy.”
While FTAV won’t go that far, it certainly illustrates the same can-do approach that leads international lawyers and diplomats to take matters into their own hands when the world’s financial media misses the true story of Credit Suisse.