The Bermudian-based charitable organisation at the heart of the Robert Brockman alleged tax evasion case and the lawyer who worked for it have several connections to The Royal Gazette and its former sister paper the Mid-Ocean News.

There is no suggestion that any present or former employee of either newspaper was involved in any wrongdoing with regards to their involvement with the A Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust or its trustee, the St John’s Trust Company, or that they knew anything about alleged tax evasion.

Business reporter Duncan Hall was a director for the St John’s Trust Company from 2009 to 2014 and he worked for the foundation as a scholarship administrator from June 2016 to July 2018.

Former reporter Lisa Simpson joined the foundation as an administrator after leaving the Gazette in August 2018.

It is also understood that the late Kyle Hunter, former sub-editor at the Gazette and sports editor of the now defunct Mid-Ocean News, may have acted in the capacity of a “protector” for the foundation.

Rebecca Zuill, former reporter at The Royal Gazette and former editor of RG Magazine, worked for the foundation in recent years, too.

Ms Zuill and her brother, Bill Zuill, a former editor and digital editor of the Gazette, are distantly related to Sophie Tod, the wife of lawyer Evatt Tamine.

Mr Tamine worked for billionaire Robert Brockman for many years and gave evidence against him before a Grand Jury, leading to his former boss being indicted on 39 charges, including for tax evasion, wire fraud and money laundering, in October 2020.

Chris Gibbons, who once sat on the Gazette’s publishing committee and is a former editor of RG Magazine and former sports editor of the Mid-Ocean News, was a friend of Mr Tamine’s, along with Mr Hall.

The late Tim Hodgson, former editor of the Mid-Ocean News and former editorial consultant of the Gazette, was friends with the Tod family and is understood to have lived for a time at “Bewdley” on Richmond Road before it was renovated and before foundation staff worked there.

Lawyer Kiernan Bell, sister of Gazette senior reporter Jonathan Bell, is a director of Medlands (PTC) Ltd, a dormant entity that was briefly the court-appointed trustee of the charitable trust.

• This article was first published on September 16, 2021