By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian bank is accusing a global payments provider of converting more than $20m “misappropriated” from itself and its clients into crypto currency and transferring the funds to its own account.

Deltec Bank & Trust, in a statement to Tribune Business last night, also asserted that it “categorically rejects” allegations in a report commissioned by Ibanera and its principal, Michael Carbonara, which claimed the Bahamian institution “misrepresented” that all the $410.206m sent to them were its own monies.

And the Lyford Cay-based operator dismissed the report’s suggestion that there were “undue delays” in its response to Ibanera’s requests for information, which the latter alleged left it exposed to Singapore financial institutions shutting down its bank accounts.

Deltec, though, told this newspaper that it has supplied the south Florida federal court with evidence proving its average response time to Ibanera’s requests was just 1.5 days. And Lanecia Darville, its in-house attorney, in court-filed documents accused the payments provider of “gamesmanship” and seeking to place Deltec “under duress” with requests that were vague and featured tight deadlines.

The spat is the latest exchange in the two sides’ escalating legal battle over Deltec’s accusations that Ibanera has effectively stolen - or “unlawfully withheld” - more than $20m belonging to the Bahamian bank and trust company and its clients. Ibanera has cited several justifications for retaining the monies, which have all been rejected with Deltec claiming it is constantly shifting to new reasons and excuses.

And Deltec, in filings with the south Florida court on Tuesday, has renewed its bid to obtain an emergency freeze and injunction to prevent Ibanera from moving or dissipating the disputed $20m following revelations that emerged during a court hearing last week.

“Defendants Michael Carbonara, Ibanera LLC, and Ibanera Private Limited have misappropriated over $20m in funds that Ibanera was supposed to be holding in trust for Deltec. Deltec requested immediate injunctive relief to maintain the status quo pending the outcome of this litigation,” Deltec asserted.

“In its response to Deltec’s motion, Ibanera claimed that Deltec was not entitled to injunctive relief because such relief was prohibited by the existence of the processing services agreement (PSA) between the parties. For the reasons set forth below, Ibanera’s newly raised arguments fail......

“Ibanera agreed to hold separate identifiable funds in trust for Deltec. Instead, Ibanera has refused to turn over the funds as instructed and has converted them from standard fiat to crypto currency in an account under Ibanera’s name. Injunctive relief is necessary to prevent Ibanera from further actions disbursing the specific, identified funds that it was bound by agreement to hold in trust for Deltec’s benefit.”

The Bahamian institution continued: “The evidence presented at the hearing established that Ibanera has converted the funds in addition to breaching the contract. Ibanera promised to hold the trust funds in a segregated account for Deltec’s exclusive use, and took possession of the trust funds. Ibanera ceased performing under the contract by failing to follow Deltec’s payment instructions.

“But Ibanera also removed the trust funds from a segregated account in Deltec’s name, converted the various fiat currencies into crypto currency, and placed the new tokens into a crypto currency account in Ibanera’s name while continuing to publish fraudulent online account statements to Deltec showing that Deltec’s funds were still held safely in particular currencies in particular amounts.

“Ibanera has not simply breached the contract; it has converted the funds by taking ‘the monies to which [it] was entrusted’.” Deltec described this as “more concerning” than the allegations contained in Ibanera’s counter-attack, which alleged it was unaware that $203.45m or close to half of the $410.206m it received and processed on the Bahamian bank’s behalf belonged to the latter’s clients.

The report, produced by Nizam Ismail, founder and chief executive of Singapore-based Ethikom Consultancy, asserted that outbound money transfers belonging to Deltec’s clients totalled $288.896m - a sum $85.445m greater than what came in. He suggested that the latter figure, or difference, was made up by Deltec’s own funds, of which Ibanera received some $266.756m.

“Based on the above set of factual matrix, it appears that there are material inconsistencies on the actual originator and/or beneficiary of the funds by Deltec,” Mr Ismail asserted. “The inconsistencies on the actual beneficiary and originator of funds would constitute a grave breach” of Singapore’s know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering regulations, plus the contract with Ibanera.

Deltec, though, alleged to Tribune Business that Mr Ismail is not the “independent expert” that Ibanera made him out to be. “Instead, they relied on an undated report authored by their own former global head of legal and compliance, who did not appear in court or testify regarding his findings,” the Bahamian bank alleged. 

“The report, prepared by a former Ibanera employee and lawyer, offered opinions about contractual matters but did not provide any substantiated examples of alleged delays or material inconsistencies. The claim of ‘material inconsistencies’ regarding the originator or beneficiary of funds was entirely unsupported by any factual evidence.”

However, Mr Ismail further claimed that Deltec had been slow to respond to Ibanera’s requests for information. He added that DBS Bank, where the latter held its accounts, would expect such replies within 48 hours, and accused the Bahamian institution of “not a good industry practice”.

“It further appears that Deltec has been slow (on occasion, within two to three weeks) in responding, and sometimes has not responded, to various request for information requests and/or has provided vague or incomplete response to requests for information,” he alleged. “The requests for information are typically issued when DBS requests Ibanera Singapore for information on client funds. 

“DBS would expect prompt responses - typically no later than 48 hours. Any undue delay in responding to a request for information would put Ibanera Singapore’s position as a customer of DBS Bank at material risk. I understand that DBS had subsequently closed Ibanera’s bank account, and that following closure of this account Deltec has refused to answer all requests for information from Ibanera.”

However, Deltec’s Ms Darville hit back in a March 13, 2025, e-mail, asserting: “We have significant concerns regarding the nature of these requests from Ibanera’s compliance department. The requests are overly broad, not specific to any transaction, and present an impossible deadline.

“Thus, they appear intentionally designed to place Deltec under duress. Deltec does not take this gamesmanship lightly, nor should the compliance department of any US-regulated entity like Ibanera. To address these concerns, please immediately provide us with the detailed basis for these requests, including any specific regulatory or contractual provisions that necessitate this information.

“Additionally, we kindly ask you to confirm which regulatory agency is currently auditing your operations, the specific Ibanera entity being audited and an explanation as to how the audit or its findings entitle Ibanera to unlawfully withhold Deltec’s funds,” she added.

“Upon receipt of this information, we will consider your requests and respond accordingly. We therefore appreciate your prompt response to help us better understand the situation and ensure that all actions are aligned with applicable standards and contractual terms.”

And, in response to the Ismail report, Deltec Bank & Trust told Tribune Business last night: “Deltec Bank takes its compliance and client identification obligations extremely seriously, and we categorically reject any suggestion that we failed to properly identify client funds or were slow to respond to information requests.

“These are allegations that Ibanera has made for the first time only after Deltec filed a lawsuit asking for the return of its funds. In fact, evidence presented to the court shows that Deltec Bank’s average response time to Ibanera’s requests was only 1.5 days.”