Bank Documents Ordered in in Alleged Scam

A federal judge in Los Angeles ordered accused credit card scam artist Kenneth H. Taves and his wife, Teresa, to instruct a Cayman Islands bank to release documents related to their finances there. U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins said the Malibu couple must direct Euro Bank Corp. to send copies of its records to a court-appointed receiver overseeing the Taveses’ assets. Regulators claim Taves ran a scheme to bill up to 900,000 credit card holders worldwide for Internet services they never ordered. Investigators for the receiver, Robb Evans & Associates, believe Taves may have transferred more than $23 million in proceeds from the alleged scam to offshore accounts. Evans said he has located a $6.2-million account in the Taveses’ names at the Caymans bank--money not disclosed in Kenneth Taves’ sworn financial statement to authorities. A hearing was set for May 17. Kenneth Taves remains behind bars on a separate criminal complaint that he filed a false financial statement.