Business

St. Croix Company Accused Of Ripping Off Customers

A St. Croix Economic Development Authority (EDA) company has been accused of making millions of dollars a month in small loans to financially strapped people, charging more than 600 percent in interest a year. According to an article on Bloomberg, Cane Bay Partners VI LLLP built a network of payday-lending websites, using corporations set up in Belize and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, "that obscured their involvement and circumvented U.S. usury laws," citing four former employees of Cane Bay Partners, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. About a year-and-a-half ago, venerable U.S. firm Vector Capital bought into Cane Bay Partners; however, Vector Capital hid the investment from its investors, according to one ex-Vector employee. While many U.S. states have been cracking down on payday loan companies, the Virgin Islands EDA benefits package includes incentives that lure not only companies with good intentions to the Virgin Islands, but also those that seek to make f...