Hotelier facing police inquiry over allegations of prostitution, tax dodging
A Bermuda hotel owner is facing a police investigation over allegations of soliciting prostitutes, hiring “young, slender and single” assistants who were expected to have sex with him, and hiding assets to avoid paying taxes.
The claims were made against John Jefferis, who owns the Coco Reefs resort in Paget and Bon Accord Village in Tobago, during a civil hearing in Tobago last month.
Eric Feniet claimed he was unfairly dismissed after working for Mr Jefferis at the Tobago resort between 1995 and May 202O, rising to the position of general manager.
He sought damages of more than $2.5 million and a parcel of land in Tobago that he claimed Mr Jefferis had promised him.
Mr Jefferis’s company, Bella Forma Resorts Limited, trading as Coco Reef Resort and Spa, was named as the first defendant and Mr Jefferis was named as the second defendant. There is nothing in the judgment to suggest that any of the alleged offences took place in Bermuda.
In a judgment handed down yesterday, Justice Frank Seepersad said Mr Feniet’s testimony was “alarming”.
He said: “The claimant, shockingly, facilitated despicable practices where women were possibly exploited and placed in vulnerable situations as they sought employment. He also arranged for escorts in a country where prostitution is illegal.
“The claimant’s evidence as set out in his witness statement outlined a longstanding, intertwined and special relationship.
“The claimant accepted that the secrets between them included blocking things from the second defendant’s wives, procuring young slender single Indian and African girls for him, facilitating questionable international financial transactions, siphoning money off the books of Coco Reef, collecting monies under the counter and hiding it from the tax authorities, and performing rituals at the second defendant's behest.
“The claimant brazenly testified that he arranged escorts for the second defendant and he recruited young, unmarried Indian and African women as personal assistants for the second defendant and these women were expected to have sex with him.
“He also performed bizarre and unorthodox rituals at the second defendant’s behest and used various French bank accounts to transfer money to Cuba for the second defendant.
“The claimant further testified that he worked unconventionally long hours, operated as the second defendant’s personal butler and facilitated all the arrangements when the second defendant’s wives and mistresses stayed at the resort.”
During the hearing it was revealed that Mr Jefferis is in poor mental health and that his wife took over the running of the resort in September 2019. Mr Feniet was dismissed in May 2020 and a director was drafted in to run the hotel three months later.
Mr Justice Seepersad said: “As the general manager, it is reasonable to conclude that he carried the weight of the resort’s welfare upon his shoulders and that his work hours would have been long and arduous. The uncontradicted evidence also suggests that the resort, under his stewardship, generated hundreds of millions in profit.
“This court feels compelled to register its dismay, outrage and alarm over the various admissions advanced by the claimant, under oath, as he testified that he arranged escorts for the second defendant and hired young unmarried female personal assistants for the second defendant and that these young women were expected to have sex with the second defendant.
“In this jurisdiction prostitution is illegal and it is also an offence to ‘hire’ out women to engage in prostitution. In fact, both the claimant and the second defendant’s behaviour in relation to the hiring of females for the purpose of sexual activities with the second defendant may have contravened sections 23 and 24 of the Sexual Offences Act.
“These alarming admissions cannot be left unaddressed. Our nation’s women must be cherished, protected and they must be treated with dignity and respect. Women are not and cannot be viewed as the ‘playthings’ of wealthy, powerful or influential men and this society must reject their objectification and desist from gender discrimination, gender inequity and female exploitation.
“The claimant should hang his head in shame as in furtherance of his insular concerns and agenda, he may have facilitated the violation of many young women.
“This type of behaviour is despicable and in the circumstances, this court directs that this judgment, the proceedings filed, the witness statements and the transcript of the trial shall be forwarded by the Registrar of the Supreme Court to the Commissioner of Police within 30 days of the date of this judgment for investigation so as to determine whether the claimant and/or the second defendant committed any criminal offence or offences.”
Mr Justice Seepersad ruled that Mr Jefferis’s company should pay Mr Feniet $118,000 for wrongful dismissal and an additional $376,000 — the value of the piece of land that had been promised to him.
A claim for a further $1.5 million, which Mr Feniet said had been promised to him by Mr Jefferis on his death, was rejected.
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