(The Telegraph): Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been sued by the social media network's shareholders over its disastrous IPO. The lawsuit accuses Mr Zuckerberg, Facebook and several banks led by Morgan Stanley of hiding the company's weakened growth forecasts ahead of its $16bn initial public offering. The defendants are claimed to have concealed from investors during the IPO marketing process "a severe and pronounced reduction" in Facebook revenue growth forecasts. The news comes as Morgan Stanley, the bank in charge of the IPO, is being investigated over possible securites fraud.

(CNS Business): Almost 90 percent of a €436 million bond payment made by the Greek government to investors who rejected the country's debt revamping deal in March went to Dart Management, according to The New York Times, which described it as “a secretive investment fund based in the Cayman Islands”, and cited “people with direct knowledge of the transaction”. The Times called Dart “one of the best known of the so-called vulture funds, which have a track record of buying the distressed bonds of nearly bankrupt countries — and if they do not get paid, suing the governments for the money”. The leading US paper said that Dart and another big vulture fund, Elliott Associates, perfected that strategy during the various Latin American debt crises in years past.

(Bloomberg): Rich Americans renouncing US citizenship rose sevenfold since UBS AG (UBSN) whistle-blower Bradley Birkenfeld triggered a crackdown on tax evasion four years ago. About 1,780 expatriates gave up their nationality at US embassies last year, up from 235 in 2008, according to Andy Sundberg, secretary of Geneva’s Overseas American Academy, citing figures from the government’s Federal Register. The embassy in Bern, the Swiss capital, redeployed staff to clear a backlog as Americans queued to relinquish their passports. The US, the only nation in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that taxes citizens wherever they reside, is searching for tax cheats in offshore centers, including Switzerland, as the government tries to curb the budget deficit.

(CNS Business): Ocean Conversion (BVI), an affilliate of Consolidated Water Co, which develops and operates seawater desalination plants and water distribution systems, has received a favorable ruling from the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of Appeals regarding the ownership and the amount of cash compensation to be paid in connection with the operations of a desalination plant located at Baughers Bay, Tortola. In 2006 the government of the British Virgin Islands notified OC-BVI that it was asserting a purported right of ownership over the Baughers Bay plant and shortly after stopped paying the company the price for the water supplied from the Baughers Bay plant previously agreed.

(The Independent): David Cameron's late father ran a network of offshore investment funds to help build up the family's fortune, it was claimed last night. Ian Cameron, a stockbroker, set up funds in tax havens such as Panama City and Geneva, and boasted of their ability to remain outside UK tax jurisdiction. There is no suggestion he acted illegally. When he died in 2010 aged 77, Ian Cameron left £2.74m in his will; the Prime Minister received £300,000. The methods used by Ian Cameron from 1979, when controls on taking capital out of Britain were scrapped, are now common among hedge funds. UK residents have to pay tax on profits they repatriate, and there is nothing to suggest the Cameron family did not. But the timing of the revelation by The Guardian newspaper may embarrass the Prime Minister. 

(Reuters): One in five Britons with more than 250,000 pounds in savings are thinking of living abroad because they are tired of crime, poor weather and the high cost of living, the wealth management arm of Lloyds Banking Group said on Monday. Britain, facing the worst economic crisis in nearly a century, is grappling with how to preserve its image as a safe-haven for the international rich while increasing taxes and slashing public spending. But the research from Lloyds TSB International Wealth showed that 19 percent of wealthy Britons were thinking of moving to euro zone countries like France and Spain or further afield to the United States, Australia, New Zealand or Canada. 

(New York Times): Nassau, the Bahamas — A brand new $35 million stadium opened here in the Bahamas a few weeks ago, a gift from the Chinese government. The tiny island nation of Dominica has received a grammar school, a renovated hospital and a sports stadium, also courtesy of the Chinese. Antigua and Barbuda got a power plant and a cricket stadium, and a new school is on its way. The prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago can thank Chinese contractors for the craftsmanship in her official residence. China’s economic might has rolled up to America’s doorstep in the Caribbean, with a flurry of loans from state banks, investments by companies and outright gifts from the government in the form of new stadiums, roads, official buildings, ports and resorts in a region where the United States has long been a prime benefactor.

(USA Today): Dart Container said late Wednesday it reached an agreement to buy Solo Cup, maker of red plastic cups immortalized in a country song, in a deal the companies value at $1 billion. Country singer Toby Keith had a hit song in 2011, toasting the cup's virtues as a mainstay of barbecues, parties and festivals. The deal, which proposes Dart pay $315 million in cash and assume about $700 million of Solo's debt, is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close by the third quarter, Dart said. Mason, Mich.-based Dart, which says it is the world's largest maker of foam cups and makes more than 600 products, said the addition of Solo will broaden its product lineup and the kinds of materials used to make the products.

(CNS Business): The term limit policy of Bermuda’s government had been a great success because, unlike the Cayman Islands, that jurisdiction had not enshrined the policy into law, but left it as policy, which gave the Bermudian government far more flexibility to craft the policy to suit current economic conditions, according to Bermuda’s Premier and Finance Minister Paula Cox. Having immigration under the control of a minister meant Bermuda could keep a far tighter grip on employment issues, she said. Because Bermuda’s policy is flexible the minister in charge of work permits could develop short term initiatives, and because the minister in charge understood the realities of keeping Bermuda’s economy moving ahead, it was “a beautiful tool”, she said.

(CNS Business): One of the biggest challenges facing Bermuda right now was the need to engage its young people in the success of the jurisdiction and make them feel they, too, could benefit from the system, according to Bermudian premier Paula Cox. Marginalised youngsters were turning to crime when they could see no hope for success in mainstream society and so the Bermudian government was taking action to create an education system that would create leaders of the future. The private sector would have a part to play as well in turning the situation around. Reluctant to use the word “gangs”, Cox said that Bermuda had never had as many murders as they had seen recently, with young people killing young people.

(Caribbean Journal): Following the closure of the HOVENSA refinery in St Croix last month, another Caribbean refinery will be shutting down. Valero Energy Corporation announced that refining operations at its 235,000-barrel-per day refinery in Aruba would be suspended. “We appreciate the diligent and incredible efforts of Prime Minister Eman and his government in helping Valero find an economic alternative that would allow continued operation of the refinery,” Valero Chairman and CEO Bill Klesse said in a statement. “If it had not been for the efforts of the Prime Minister, the refinery would not have restarted in late 2010 and operated over the past 15 months.” Valero said it had “thoroughly evaluated all of its alternatives” over the past two years. 

(The Independent): BCB Holdings broke London Stock Exchange rules by failing to declare all the directorships held by Andrew Ashcroft, son of the Conservative party donor Lord Ashcroft, The Independent has discovered. Mr Ashcroft replaced his father on the board of BCB Holdings, the peer's AIM-listed Caribbean banking business, last year and the company was required to disclose all other current and recent board memberships at that time. Although it declared seven existing directorships and two more where he had sat on the board within the previous five years, public records from the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), where Mr Ashcroft is based, show that he had also been a director of another company that BCB Holdings did not reveal.

(The Guardian): The UK has better universities than any other country apart from the US, but Asian nations are catching up fast, a major survey of the world's top thinkers shows. Campuses across the world were rated by 17,554 leading academics from 149 countries according to how good they thought their research and teaching were. Harvard takes the top spot, with the University of Cambridge in third place and the University of Oxford in sixth place – the same as last year. Massachusetts Institute of Technology comes second, while Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley, are in fourth and fifth place. The results, published as a league table by Times Higher Education magazine, places 44 US universities in the top 100 – one fewer than last year – while the UK has 10, two fewer than last year.

(BBC): The trial of Allen Stanford has finally ended, with the Texan financier found guilty of a massive $7bn (£4.5bn) Ponzi scheme by a court in Houston. The fraud was run from his offshore bank in Antigua and investors' money was used to pay for his lavish billionaire's lifestyle. Customers who lost money from across the globe are suing the Caribbean nation but many there think that they too were victims. From the moment you arrive in Antigua, Stanford's presence still looms large. He redeveloped the land around the main airport, so directly opposite arrivals is the Stanford Cricket Ground, and across the road stand the buildings of Stanford International Bank and his former newspaper the Antigua Sun. 

(CNS Business): A new report by Action Aid claims that the UK government is planning to open up a huge new tax loophole that will cost ordinary people around the world billions, just ahead of the most important austerity budget in a generation. In its report, Collateral Damage, the charity says that the relaxation of Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) rules will allow UK based multi-nationals to avoid an estimated £4 billion worth of taxes in developing countries and will also cost the UK Treasury £1 billion. Until now, the UK's anti-tax haven rules have provided a deterrent to companies seeking to avoid paying taxes in Britain and poor countries alike. The proposed changes will make it easier and more lucrative for UK companies to dodge tax in developing countries, a release from the charity stated.