Tonga's Court Jester Loses US$20M of King's Trust Fund in Viaticals Scandal
Jesse Bogdonoff, the manager of Tonga's ever-shrinking trust fund and official court jester to the King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV (the reports of whose death have been exaggerated), has admitted to losing $20M in investing in viaticals, an often fraudulent form of speculation on life insurance policies of cash-strapped terminally-ill people. Court jesters? Viaticals? It's like a Ziggy cartoon run amok.
posted by rschram on Oct 23, 2001 - 9 comments

Guess the Poll, Win $5000.00 FJ
Fijilive.com (with the Fiji Post) is hosting a contest to guess who will be the next prime minister. Voting for parlimentary elections began on Saturday in Fiji, with few observed problems. Charges of intimidation, illegality, et cetera fly back and forth. Someone circulated some pamphlets that said paraphrasedly "a vote for Chaudry is a vote for bloodshed." Mahendra Chaudry was the Labor prime minister deposed while being held hostage in May last year. Several of those involved in that abortive, yet destructive coup are also running under their own banners. They seem to have split the ethnic Fijian vote (approx 51% of the population) more than anything.
posted by rschram on Aug 27, 2001 - 2 comments