Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn on Tuesday announced an indictment that charged six men for their alleged roles in a $500 million offshore asset-protection scheme involving stock manipulation and money laundering. The intricate offshore structure that facilitated the scheme was designed to counter the financial transparency yielded by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, prosecutors say. Between January 2009 and September 2014, the defendants masqueraded as financial professionals and helped more than 100 U.S. citizens and residents engage in microcap stock manipulation, sidestep FATCA and other tax reporting requirements, and launder the proceeds, prosecutors said. The defendants, all of who reside in Belize, are: Robert Bandfield, 70, a U.S. citizen; Andrew Godfrey, 51, a citizen of Belize; Kelvin Leach, 34, a citizen of the Bahamas; Rohn Knowles, 29, a citizen of the Bahamas; Brian De Wit, 45, a citizen of Canada; and Cem Can, 44, a citizen of Canada. "Bandfield and his
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