By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas-based financier, Derek Guise Turner, claims he only pled guilty to fraud after being “terrified beyond measure by the barbaric conditions” that existed in his US prison.

The Cable Beach resident, who returned to the Bahamas in August 2011 after serving an 87-month sentence for wire fraud, alleged that he witnessed prisoner suicides and gang fights between the Bloods and the Crips during his incarceration.

The claims come in Court of Appeal documents filed by Mr Turner, in what appears to be an 11th hour attempt to reclaim more than $8 million generated by the sale of his Bahamian real estate and bank accounts.

The New Zealand-born financier is alleging that, while imprisoned in the US, his then-Bahamian attorney, Paul Knowles, failed to inform him that legal proceedings had been initiated against him in this nation by his Bahamas-based investors.

These included Peter Davis and the late Franklyn Butler’s family, who all obtained judgments against Mr Turner and his Bahamian companies.

His assets, including several Paradise Island properties and 700 Bay Street, plus several Scotiabank (Bahamas) accounts, were seized and sold, raising $8.106 million in the process.

However, Mr Turner is alleging that because he was ‘left in the dark’, he was unable to defend himself against these claims and subsequent default judgments. He is now understood be seeking the Court of Appeal’s leave to challenge those judgments.

And Mr Turner’s affidavit, filed with the Court of Appeal on June 20,2013, also embroils two current MPs sitting in the House of Assembly.

He alleges that:

• His then-attorney, and now minister of state for legal affairs, Damien Gomez, failed to file an appeal on his behalf because he was too busy campaigning for the 2012 general election.

• And FNM deputy leader, Loretta Butler-Turner, was also alleged to have demanded a $100,000 ‘brokerage fee’ from Mr Turner in return for introducing her uncle to him as an investor.

Many are likely to take such claims with ‘a pinch of salt’, and will view Mr Turner’s bid to regain his Bahamas-based assets as a ‘long shot’ at best.

Yet Mr Turner is also aiming to get the Court of Appeal to “expunge from the record” statements that he was charged with wire and mail fraud, plus money laundering.

He is arguing that he was never charged with these offences, but simply pled guilty “under extreme duress” to three wire fraud counts.

Setting out his personal history, Mr Turner alleged that over-zealous regulation in Australia pushed him into emigrating to the Bahamas, and he began his ‘hedge fund trading’ activities from this nation in March 2000.

But he was detained by the US federal authorities in Long Island on April 16, 2005, over an alleged money laundering complaint.

After being denied bail “for a few months”, Mr Turner alleged that he was offered several plea bargain deals by the US government, which were initially all rejected.

“To this I responded with words: ‘Hell will freeze over before I ever consider that’,” Mr Turner alleged.

However, prison conditions were soon to change his mind. “I was transferred to Nassau County jail, which is one of the worst county jails in America,” Mr Turner claimed in his affidavit.

“I was terrified beyond measure at being held in this particular jail, which was a horrifying experience for me.”

He alleged that “hardened criminals” had “repeatedly threatened to rape and kill me if I did not pay them, four individuals” sums ranging from $16,000 to $26,000.

Arguing that jail records would back up his assertions, Mr Turner alleged: “I was beyond terrified by the sub-culture that I existed in.

“On one particular evening an inmate jumped over the upstairs tier railings with a sheet around his neck and killed himself diagonally to my cell.

“The next day, a serious fight broke out between the rival gangs held on my floor, being the MS-13s, the Crips and the Bloods. As a result of this fight, there was blood everywhere.”

This wore down Mr Turner’s resistance, and offered a wire fraud plea bargain - amid warnings he was looking at a two-three year jail sentence - he took it,

“I was beside myself for such terrifying words,” he alleged. “If I executed this plea agreement I would be able to go home within a matter of months.

“The dream of going home, and getting away from the barbaric conditions upon which I was forced to live, overwhelmed me to sign the plea agreement for three counts of wire fraud.”

Mr Turner, who is now living at Ocean Place opposite Prime Minister Perry Christie’s residence, also blamed Mr Gomez for failing to appeal a 2011-2012 verdict by Justice Stephen Isaacs, which awarded his assets to the Bahamian investors and not the US Justice Department.

Alleging that Mr Gomez was off-island when the judgment was handed down, Mr Turner claimed: “It was my understanding that he was campaigning to secure a seat for the south Eleuthera constituency in the May 2012 general elections.”

Mr Gomez allegedly advised him that he had “good merits” to appeal Justice Isaacs’ ruling, but no application was filed with the Court of Appeal because the attorney was “deeply involved with his political activities”.

“It should be noted that at that particular time I had sunk into a serious depression,” Mr Turner alleged.

“I felt I had lost everything in my life, having worked relentlessly throughout the last four decades within the boundaries of lawful conduct, and I felt that I had nowhere and no one to turn to.”

As to the crux of his case, Mr Turner alleged that Paul Knowles, his former Bahamian attorney, never informed his US or Australian lawyers, or his family, about the actions launched in the Bahamas.

This, though, has been disputed by Mr Knowles, who has alleged that the relevant legal documents were passed on to Mr Turner’s other counsel.

Mr Knowles also alleged that he instructed former FNM Cabinet minister, Carl Bethel, to appear on Mr Turner’s behalf. While a Notice of Appearance was entered by Mr Bethel, the financier alleged he was unaware of this, and never approved Mr Bethel’s involvement.

The Butler family and their companies, Franklyn Holdings and Milo B. Butler & Sons Investments, alleged that they invested $2.75 million with Mr Turner, while Mr Davis placed $4.7 million with him.

However, Mr Turner disputed this. Alleging that there was never a contract between his companies and those of the Butlers, he claimed: “Mr Franklyn Butler presented to me a series of B$ cheques in various amounts totalling $2.8 million made out to Turning Properties, and expected financial returns in US dollars in spite of the fact no Central Bank approval was obtained.

“When I raised the issue, Mr Butler indicated to me: ‘Mr Turner, you are not Bahamian, I am, and I have that point covered’.”

Mr Turner further alleged that Mrs Butler-Turner’s $100,000 ‘brokerage fee’ request was unwarranted, and that she never placed funds with him.

As for Mr Davis, Mr Turner also denied executing a contract with him.