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Fraudster Okke Ornstein, also known as Okke Van Ooijen, was sentenced this week, by a judge in Panama City, to serve twenty months in Panama's notorious la Joya Prison, after being convicted on a number of white-collar counts last Fall. The Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit disregarded the option to impose a fine, and condemned him to prison. There are reportedly eight other criminal cases pending against the Dutch national, who purports to be a journalist, as a number of his victims have brought charges against him in recent years.
Ornstein, believed by many in Panama to be a serial blackmailer, avoided a long US prison sentence for serving as general manager of the criminal enterprise run in Panama City by convicted Ponzi schemer and money launderer Marc Harris, the self-styled offshore specialist, by cooperating with American authorities. He is known to have been the mastermind behind the Marc Harris Organization. Harris is presently serving a 17-year sentence in the Federal Detention Centre in Miami, and is due for release in 2018.
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| Ornstein in private jet with Marc Harris |
He is reportedly a Confidential Informant for a US law enforcement agency in Panama, notwithstanding his operation of an online child pornography business, which has also been linked to his parents, Harald Ornstein and Anne Ke Van Ooijen.
One wonders about the wisdom of any government using such an individual as Ornstein as a source of reliable information.
He also operated an unlicensed mutual fund, the Tulip Fund*, which was the subject of a warning by the Panamanian Securities Commission, and which was linked to the Harris Organization. It is not known whether he has been taken into custody at this time.
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* Tulip Universal Project SA.
One wonders about the wisdom of any government using such an individual as Ornstein as a source of reliable information.
He also operated an unlicensed mutual fund, the Tulip Fund*, which was the subject of a warning by the Panamanian Securities Commission, and which was linked to the Harris Organization. It is not known whether he has been taken into custody at this time.
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* Tulip Universal Project SA.
Written By: Kenneth Rijock - International Financial Crime Consultant
Contributed By: Andrei Slavenkov - Financial Crime Analyst (Netherlands)
