THE RECENT arrest of Olint boss David Smith has shaken the faith of some investors who remained faithful to the faltering investment scheme and their embattled financial 'messiah'.

Last Thursday, Smith was arrested and charged in the Turks and Caicos Islands following a probe into fraud allegations against him.

An investor, who requested anonymity, told The Sunday Gleaner that he really thought the charismatic Smith could take them to the financial Promised Land. "I believed in David," he said.

The investor, who is a prominent businessman, said Smith was like the Pied Piper of the financial world.

Never asked for money

According to the businessman, it was the investors who sought out Smith. "I don't remember David ever asking a man for money. He is like the Pied Piper - people just following and want to give him money."

The investor added, "I approached him (and) if you are talking to him, just socially, you almost want to give him more." The investor said he "took a big lick" because he had a lot of money in Olint when it closed down.

While admitting some disappointment over his loss, the investor said the writing was already on the wall. "I knew the risk going in. ... You (are) taking a chance. We were all warned with what the FSC said ... so what are you going to do?"

Not easy for investors

While he has counted his losses and is moving on, the businessman said that it might not be so easy for other investors who mortgaged their homes to get the cash to place in Olint's foreign-exchange trading club.

The businessman claimed that Smith's family members and close friends, as well as "a lot of churches" invested in Olint.

After Olint's offices were raided by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in March 2006, Wayne Smith, the Olint boss' brother, said the church community was praying without ceasing for his sibling.

Not finished

Bishop Peter Morgan of City Life Ministries told The Sunday Gleaner that although Smith has been arrested and charged, it is not finished until lady justice sings.

"Until the court makes its judgement, I could not make that judgement," he said.

The bishop said members of the Church, who believed in Smith, are still on their knees. "We have intensified our prayers definitely for him as a person, and for the entire forex movement," Morgan said.

The clergyman said he still believed "in the sincerity of David Smith".

Movement can be saved

Smith's arrest might be a defining blow against alternate investment schemes but Bishop Morgan believes the movement can be saved.

"The whole thing can still be redeemed and that is what I pray towards." Morgan also said the Government could have handled the alternate investment schemes differently, attempting to regulate them, rather than forcing them to lock shop.

While admitting that he lost money when Olint crumbled, Bishop Morgan said some of his "friends and colleagues suffered more - mostly churchfolk, both locally and overseas," he said.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com