By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian entrepreneur is seeking more than $5m in damages from his former US business partner who he is accusing of “preying” upon himself and others to launch illegal “fronting” operations in industries reserved solely for local ownership.

Julian ‘Shaq’ Gibson, operator of the well-known Briland-based Conch & Coconut tour operator, destination management and visitor “concierge” business, is also seeking a Supreme Court declaration that Pablo Conde and his US-based companies “be enjoined and/or prevented with immediate effect from operating in any form in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas”.

His promised legal action, launched in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, September 10, hits back at Mr Conde’s own lawsuit against himself - filed just five days earlier in the south Florida federal court - by seeking to turn the tables on his former US partner through blaming him for Conch & Coconut accruing more than $1m in unpaid tax arrears in The Bahamas.

Mr Gibson’s legal action describes a classic ‘fronting’ arrangement where all customer payments were made offshore, and allegedly kept out of reach of the Bahamian tax authorities by Mr Conde, while he ran the on-the-ground operation in Harbour Island.

Accusing his ex-business partner of “preying on young, ambitious” Bahamians such as himself “with a promise of long-term reward” so that he could establish businesses in industries exclusively reserved for local ownership only under the National Investment Policy, Mr Gibson asserted that he tried to work with Mr Conde to bring Conch & Coconut into compliance with this nation’s laws following the 2023 raid by the Department of Inland Revenue that seized some of the company’s assets and temporarily shut it down.

He alleged that he was “pressured” into signing an October 2023 agreement by Mr Conde, which the latter previously claimed would have resulted in Conch & Coconut and its Bahamas-based assets being acquired by Mr Gibson, ahead of a meeting his former business partner had purportedly “arranged” with Prime Minister Philip Davis KC.

The legal filings did not confirm if this meeting took place, and what was discussed, but Mr Gibson also alleged that the Pink Sand Spirits liquor/drinks brand was a second ‘fronting’ operation that Mr Conde asked him to form with $600,000 in capital raised from American investors.

Asserting that Mr Conde took responsibility for, but never paid, the $800,000 tax arrears owed by Conch & Coconut to the

Department of Inland Revenue, Mr Gibson said he had complied with the payment plan agreed with the latter and operations continued until a second inspection was carried out by the Bahamian tax authorities in May 2025.

Tax officials deemed Conch & Coconut’s Business Licence, which had been obtained by Mr Conde, to be “fraudulent” and shut the business down. Mr Gibson is alleging his former business partner admitted that the Department of Inland Revenue’s findings were correct - a development that led him to “immediately terminate” their relationship.

Mr Gibson added that, to make a complete break with the past, he established Conch & Coconut Bahamas in May 2025 as a separate entity from the one previously operated by Mr Conde. However, in the wake of their break-up, the latter has accused his ex-Bahamian partner of stealing “the brand and business structure” that he financed and built by creating this new entity.

Mr Conde, in his south Florida action, is claiming that Mr Gibson and his associates have engaged in “theft of trade secrets” and “unfair competition” by obtaining Conch & Coconut’s customer data, and “cancelling” or closing out its existing bookings, ahead of launching their new business.

It remains to be seen whether either of their legal actions have jurisdiction over the other as the former business partners reside in different nations to the claims filed against them. However, Mr Gibson, who asserts that he owns 100 percent of the Bahamian-domiciled Conch & Coconut entity,

and a majority 79 percent of the Pink Sands Spirit equivalent, is also seeking a Supreme Court declaration that he is their “owner and controlling member”, with “the ability to exercise” their rights to operate in The Bahamas “with no interference” from Mr Conde.

Mr Gibson’s statement of claim alleges he was 24 years-old when first approached by Mr Conde in 2017 to “co-operate” a boat and golf cart rental, and tour and concierge, business on Harbour Island.

He added that he was “instructed” by Mr Conde to form Conch & Coconut Ltd, a Bahamian-domiciled firm, to run the day-to-day operations on Briland while his US partner incorporated an LLC with the same name to “receive the cage from all operations” and “to market the operation” of Conch & Coconut to US visitors.

“From April 2018 to April 2023, and upon the direction of the first defendant [Mr Conde], 100 percent of the credit card deposits and customer receipts of the operations of [Conch & Coconut] were received and collected” by the US-based LLC, Mr Gibson alleged.

“To-date, and despite multiple repeated requests, the first claimant [Mr Gibson] and the second claimant [Conch & Coconut LLC] had no access and/or visibility, and received no financial reporting/accounting from the first and/or second defendant [Conch & Coconut LLC].”

While Mr Conde had blamed Mr Gibson for the failure to register for VAT, and pay due Bahamian taxes, the latter instead pointed the finger at his former US business partner.

“In April 2023, the Department of Inland Revenue raided the operations of Conch & Coconut Ltd, seized its operation, assets and levied for back taxes and penalties due to the structure of the business in an amount in excess of $1m,” Mr Gibson confirmed.

“It soon became apparent that [Mr Conde] had not made any VAT payments on behalf of Conch & Coconut Ltd from 2018 to April 2023 despite the fact that it collected all operating funds knowing full well that VAT funds should have been set aside for payment once the business was registered as a VAT registrant.

“As a result of this tax issue, it became readily apparent to the first claimant that Mr Conde had misled him and had been using the funds collected on behalf of Conch & Coconut Ltd for his own personal gain,” Mr Gibson further alleged.

“Although no accounting has been provided, the claimants believe that Mr Conde received in excess of $3m from the operations of Conch & Coconut Ltd, while Mr Gibson received no compensation or distributions for several years and has never received more than $3,000 per month which started in April 2021.

“In retrospect, the claimants now believe that Mr Conde purposely recruited Mr Gibson to operate a ‘fronting business’ to benefit solely himself. The claimants now believe that Mr Conde has done this in other instances by preying on young, ambitious Bahamians with a promise of long-term reward.”

Mr Gibson alleged that he secured the return of Conch & Coconut’s assets, and was able to resume operations within a few weeks of the Department of Inland Revenue’s 2023 raid, by making “a partial payment”on the tax arrears. This, though, still left “in excess of $800,000” outstanding, and he accused his former business partner of saddling himself and the Bahamian business with this burden while continuing to enjoy “substantial and personal financial gain”.

Mr Conde, in his south Florida lawsuit, said the October 2023 deal with Mr Gibson saw him agree to sell Conch & Coconut and all its Bahamas-based assets to Mr Gibson in October 2023, with the latter to pay the $725,711 purchase price over a ten-year period. He asserted that no payments had been made by Mr Gibson as stipulated in the agreement.

However, the latter said the deal arose from efforts to work with Mr Conde to bring Conch & Coconut’s operations and business structure into compliance with Bahamian law.

“On October 11, 2023, Mr Conde quickly drafted an agreement and pressured Mr Gibson to sign it in anticipation of a meeting he had arranged with the Prime Minister of the

Commonwealth of The Bahamas through a gentleman named Anthony Johnson,” Mr Gibson alleged.

“Although the validity of this agreement is contested, due to the duress under which it signed, it clearly obligates Mr Conde to satisfy in full the tax arrears. To date, Mr Conde has not satisfied the tax obligation.”

Mr Gibson also claimed that Pink Sand Spirits followed the same template as Conch & Coconut, where Mr Conde asked him to form the Bahamian operation towards the end of 2022. His US partner then formed an American LLC with the same name, and “recruited American investors to fund the operations”. While $600,000 in financing was thought to have been raised, “none of the funds were ever deposited” into Pink Sand Spirits in The Bahamas.

“To Mr Gibson’s knowledge, none of these investors or the third defendant [Pink Sand Spirits LLC] registered with the Bahamian Investment Authority,” Mr Gibson alleged. “Pink Sand Spirits is now operating in The Bahamas with Mr Conde as its lead operator.

He further claimed that all the financial benefits from another “fronting business” accrued to Mr Conde “while avoiding Bahamian law”, with himself and other Bahamians “excluded from all operations” having received no compensation or accounting information on Pink Sand Spirits’ performance.

Meanwhile, Mr Gibson asserted that he had kept to the payment schedule agreed with the Department of Inland Revenue to pay off the tax arrears and “been timely in its payments” while also paying Mr Conde 5 percent of monthly revenues and lease payments on certain assets. This continued until the Department of Inland Revenue’s task force visited Conch & Coconut once again on May 8, 2025.

Tax officials requested to see its Business Licence, which Mr Gibson said had been obtained and provided by Mr Conde in June 2024. “The officer on site deemed the Business Licence ‘fraudulent’ and immediately shut down operations of Conch & Coconut Ltd,” Mr Gibson alleged.

“Soon thereafter, Mr Conde admitted that the Business Licence was fraudulent and attempted to ‘back step’ his actions by providing an affidavit through counsel explaining what had transpired.” Conch & Coconut was forced to pay a $50,000 fine, and this led to Mr Gibson terminating his relationship with Mr Conde and starting the new business, Conch and Coconut Bahamas, with new marketing materials, a fresh website and social media, and payment processing.

However, Mr Gibson said the new venture quickly “experienced a major decline in their concierge business and public profile with wrongful allegations of him producing a false Business Licence”. He argued that the new business “complies fully with Bahamian laws and is entirely Bahamian-owned and operated”, but is suffering “immediate and irreparable harm” and “significant financial damages”

because Mr Conde is continuing to operate under the same brand name in an industry reserved solely for locals.

Negotiations between the former business partners in a bid to settle their differences failed to produce an agreement, and Mr Gibson concluded: “The defendant’s actions since 2017 were specifically intended to circumvent Bahamian law through the use of a ‘front’.

“The defendants purposely set up businesses operating solely in The Bahamas in a concise and pre-planned methodology. Mr Conde caused Mr Gibson to form Bahamian operational entities while he formed corresponding US entities which, until May 2025, collected 100 percent of the funds produced by the Bahamian entities while continually refusing to provide accountings and other relevant financial/operational information to Mr Gibson.