BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Mar 24, CMC – The St. Kitts-Nevis government Monday said the judicial review claim brought against it by MSR Media has been withdrawn
In a brief statement, the government said that the matter was withdrawn just before it was set to go to trial in the High Court. The case, filed in May 2024, was scheduled to be heard by Resident Judge, Madame Justice Tamara Gill.
According to an order issued by the court, MSR Media is to formally discontinue the claim by Tuesday March 25, 2025.
“This withdrawal brings to a close the second of two legal actions initiated by MSR Media in 2024. The first—a civil RICO lawsuit filed in the United States District Court in Tampa, Florida—was also voluntarily dismissed in December 2024,” the government statement said.
It said that despite the significant media attention surrounding these court filings, “with the withdrawal of the Judicial Review matter, all legal proceedings brought by MSR Media against persons and entities in St. Kitts and Nevis concerning the CBI programme have now concluded”.
MSR Media, led by movie producer Philippe Martinez, had taken legal steps against several Caribbean stakeholders involved in Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programmes. Under the CBI programme, foreign investors are granted citizenship of the country in return for making a substantial investment in the socio-economic development of that Caribbean country.
St. Kitts-Nevis is among several Caribbean countries with a CBI programme.
In an earlier press release, the company had announced the filing of a RICO (Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) suit in a US federal court.
Among the defendants listed in the lawsuit include Les Kahn, the former head of St. Kitts- Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) and current chief executive officer of Caribbean Galaxy; McClaude Emmanuel, the present chief executive officer of the St. Lucia CIU; Ying Jin of Caribbean Galaxy; former st. Kitts-Nevis prime minister Dr. Timothy Harris, and Dr. Denzil Douglas, former St. Kitts-Nevis prime minister and current Foreign Affairs Minister, and Faron Lawrence, a Kittitian real estate developer among others.
The RICO suit had suggested that MSR Media’s concerns regarding alleged misconduct within Galaxy, the previous government of St. Kitts-Nevis, and the current CIU in St. Lucia.
MSR Media had filed a claim for judicial review in the High Court here, seeking a mandamus to compel the Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew to “revoke all citizenships granted to applicants under the Galaxy Jail who paid less than the legal price”.
Additionally, MSR Media had also alleged that Chinese nationals involved in money laundering obtained citizenship in St. Kitts through the prison project, utilising false identities.
CMC/ah/ir/2025