The Premier's former campaign manager Andre Curtis pleaded guilty to carrying on an investment business without a licence yesterday – the day his trial was due to begin.

However, he denied a charge that he made misleading or false statements.

Senior Crown counsel Cindy Clarke accepted the pleas, and asked that the second charge not be proceeded with.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves bailed Curtis and ordered pre-sentence reports at the request of defence lawyer Charles Richardson.

The charge relates to the defendant's company, Harvest Investment Holdings, and spans the period March 2007 to December 2008.

The Royal Gazette obtained copies of printouts last year showing how the company claimed on its website to be licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) to conduct investment business.

In fact, the firm did not have a licence.

Conducting an investment business without a licence is an offence under the Investment Business Act 2003, carrying fines of up to $250,000 and a maximum five years in prison.

Curtis, who served as Premier Ewart Brown's manager in Warwick South Central, was arrested in December 2008. Police searched his home in Warwick and seized thousands of documents.

Reacting to news of his guilty plea yesterday, a BMA spokeswoman said: "In 2008 the authority added the name of Harvest Investment Holdings Ltd to the warning list that appears on the BMA website, based on its concerns that an offence may have been committed under the Investment Business Act 2003.

"The Authority subsequently made a formal complaint to the Bermuda Police Service which resulted in Mr. Curtis being charged with an offence under that act. The authority has worked closely with the Bermuda Police Service, including obtaining a search warrant for certain premises using its powers under that act and the provision of statements for use in evidence in both proceedings. The authority views offences relating to unlicensed activity as extremely serious and will take whatever action is appropriate to ensure that such conduct is minimised."

Meanwhile, Curtis continues to face allegations, in a separate court case, that he stole public funds and falsified expenditure from Government's faith-based tourism initiative.

He is alleged to have plundered nearly $100,000 of Government money between April 2007 and April 2008 and to have dishonestly falsified account expenditure from the faith-based budget.

He's also accused of stealing approximately $228,000 from Andrew Smith, relating to a construction company he once operated.

A Supreme Court trial is pending.

Those charges are in addition to a Montana State Auditor Office's probe into an alleged multimillion dollar Ponzi scheme Curtis is said to have partly run, which is proceeding in the United States.

Michael Fahy, the Bermuda Democratic Alliance's spokesman on finance, said he did not think the crime Curtis admitted to yesterday would damage the Island's reputation as a financial services jurisdiction.

"I think this shows that the BMA and other regulatory bodies in Bermuda are doing their utmost," he said.

"This is someone who's broken the law, pleaded guilty to an offence and is paying the penalty for it. In my view it simply demonstrates that the regulatory authorities are doing their work," he said.

Dr. Brown declined an invitation to comment on yesterday's developments, as did Progressive Labour Party chairman Anthony Santucci.

However, responding to a question from this newspaper as to whether Dr. Brown thought the case would damage the Island's financial reputation, his press secretary Jamahl Simmons referred to the scandal over the Bermuda-based IPOC international growth fund.

"If the $40m Russian money-laundering case didn't hurt us, surely this won't!" he quipped.