Bermuda residents and brothers Bobby and Forrester Clark, whose family has long controlled H.C. Wainwright & Co., an old line Yankee brokerage firm.

The Boston Globe has highlighted that when Bobby Clark went looking for capital to grow his business, he found it at the bank run by one of his best friends, Chad Gifford, chairman of BankBoston Corp., and a regular visitor to the Clarks' Bermuda home.

The BankBoston investment was used in part to buy out six percent stakes in H.C. Wainwright & Co. held by Clark's brothers Christopher and Forrester.

The deal was said to be done at "arm's length'' and other investors were given the chance to get in.

A substantial portion of the money is to be used to build a investment banking firm. The transaction pushed Wainwright's capital to $5.5 million.