By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

An ex-MP and former Supreme Court judge is now being pursued by US federal law enforcement after he was charged with perpetrating a $3.568m fraud, Tribune Business can reveal.

Elliott Lockhart KC, whose former Bahamas-based law offices and other assets are in the process of being seized and auctioned off by a Supreme Court-appointed receiver to recover funds for other victims, was recently indicted by a US federal grand jury for wire fraud and the alleged “misappropriation” of investor monies.

The May 15, 2025, indictment which has just been unsealed and obtained by this newspaper, accuses the prominent attorney of using investor monies intended to finance real estate acquisitions in The Bahamas for the “personal enrichment” of himself and Patricia Bullard, the interim administration director for his now-former law firm. She has also been charged.

The duo, instead of using the funds as designed, allegedly diverted them to purchase two residential properties in Orlando, high-end watches and a gold bracelet for their own gain. They sent $525,151 towards the purchase of one property just a single day after receiving almost exactly the same amount from the victim, who thought the monies were being applied to his Bahamas property deals.

Court documents reviewed by Tribune Business confirm a live arrest warrant has been issued for Mr Lockhart, whose current whereabouts are unknown, with the details now entered in the US National Crime Information Centre (NCIC) base. This means the former chairman of Nassau Flight Services, the Gaming Board of The Bahamas and the Police Inspectorate is a fugitive from US justice.

Ms Bullard, meanwhile, has appeared before the US federal court for the middle district of Florida and placed on conditional release from custody with the stipulation that she attend all required court hearings and “surrender for service of any sentence imposed as directed”. There is no suggestion that she has pled guilty or been convicted by a jury trial.

The US grand jury indictment alleges that Mr Lockhart and Ms Bullard conspired to commit fraud through “obtaining money and property by means of materially false and fraudulent pretences, representations and promises”. 

It added: “It was part of the conspiracy that defendants Lockhart and Bullard represented that Lockhart & Company would hold victim one’s funds in escrow in furtherance of purchases of real property in The Bahamas. It was a further part of the conspiracy that defendants Lockhart and Bullard entered into an agreement with victim one to close on identified real properties in The Bahamas.

“It was a further part of the conspiracy that defendants Lockhart and Bullard, in order to conceal the fact they had fraudulently converted and misappropriated monies belonging to victim one for their own purposes, would and did make materially false, fraudulent and misleading representations to victim.

“It was a further part of the conspiracy that defendants Lockhart and Bullard misappropriated and converted to their own uses, and for personal enrichment, approximately $3.568m belonging to victim one.” Victim one is not identified in the indictment.

However, court documents identify three separate wire transfers - totalling $820,000 - that were made from the victim’s FineMark Bank account to Lockhart & Company’s CIBC Caribbean (Bahamas) account between May 3, 2022, and April 3, 2023. 

The $300,000 transferred between May 3, 2022, and September 12, 2022, was similar in amount to the $305,000 that Mr Lockhart allegedly used to acquire a property at 7704 Nemours Parkway in Orlando - the very residence where Ms Bullard is now staying under the terms of her release.

And the $520,000 transfer by the victim on April 3, 2023, is just short of the $525,151 that was purportedly paid by the duo towards the purchase of another Orlando home at 12354 Koshiba Alley just one day later on April 4, 2023.

The US grand jury indictment is now seeking the forfeiture of both Orlando properties in a bid to recover the victim’s $3.568m outlay. The Nemours Parkway property is in the names of Kandi Bullard and Gabrielle Turnquest, in their capacity as trustees, while the other residence is in the names of Patrice Bullard and Ms Turnquest.

Also targeted for seizure by the US Justice Department and federal law enforcement are two Cartier Santos-Dumont watches, valued at $4,000 and $6,000 apiece, plus an $11,700 yellow gold bracelet also said to have been acquired using the victim’s funds.

The US indictment merely represents another headache for Mr Lockhart with Darron Cash, the Supreme Court-appointed receiver for Bahamian assets identified as owned by the ex-KC, presently attempting to sell-off the former offices of Lockhart & Company, located at 35 Buen Retiro Road off Shirley Street, plus Goat Cay in the Exumas.

The Supreme Court previously approved a ‘fieri facias’ application brought on behalf of US investor, Dr Paul Fuchs, which authorises officials to seize assets from persons who fail to pay court judgments.

Dr Fuchs is asserting that Mr Lockhart owes him $3.033m over a real estate deal that fell through. Following an October 11, 2023, hearing, the Supreme Court ordered that Mr Lockhart and Lockhart & Co were “jointly and severally liable” to return the $3.033m to Dr Fuchs, although it is not known whether he is “victim one” in the US indictment.

Interest was to be added at an annual rate of three percent from September 8, 2023, and this subsequently rose to 6.25 percent per annum until full payment. Mr Lockhart’s whereabouts are currently unknown, with some sources saying he is still in The Bahamas and others suggesting he may have fled abroad.

Back in June 2024, Mr Lockhart was the subject of an Interpol ‘red notice’, which is a worldwide alert issued to all law enforcement authorities, asking them to help locate, and provisionally arrest, the former MP and ex-Supreme Court judge who was once chairman of Nassau Flight Services, the Gaming Board and the Police Inspectorate.

Prior to the Interpol action, the Royal Bahamas Police Force in early 2024 had issued a ‘wanted poster’ for Mr Lockhart after Dr Fuchs lodged a criminal complaint against him. The Interpol action also revealed that other aggrieved investors were making similar allegations to those asserted by Dr Fuchs.

Daniel Clay Smith Jnr was revealed to have made a separate but similar complaint to the police force’s Financial Crimes Investigation Branch on August 18, 2023. He alleged that, between May 2022 and November 2022, he paid some $3.205m to Mr Lockhart and his law firm to assist with Crown Land on Staniel Cay, Exuma, that he wanted to convert to commercial use.

“In addition, some of the funds were to assist in applying to The Bahamas’ Immigration Department for citizenship (likely permanent residency) for Mr Smith and his family,” the Interpol alert alleged. “By November 2022, nothing had materialised and Mr Smith requested his monies to be returned...The funds have not been received to date.”