In 2023, a company called SwissX Island Ventures claimed to be offering all of the 110,000 citizens of Antigua and Barbuda US$1 million in carbon credits. If true, that would be a total of US$110 billion worth of carbon credits. In 2021, the voluntary carbon market reached a record of US$2 billion. So SwissX was anticipating 55 times the highest ever value of the voluntary carbon market from one project, and in less than one year.
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“Everyone will be singing about the coin, baby”
Probably the best place to start is by allowing the CEO of SwissX, Alkiviades “Alki” David explain the deal. So here’s David, on his YouTube channel, where he calls himself “King Alki David of RastaLand Antigua”:
“Hello there fellow citizens of Antigua Barbuda and yes Redonda! This is Alki David from Jolly Beach Harbour. I am part of a Green Economy strategy championed by the Government of the Right Honorable Gaston Browne. If you want to learn how to claim your $1 million in SwissX Ripple tokens for absolutely free, keep listening.
“The SwissX XRP token is a special financial tool aimed at building a sustainable wealth system. This token is designed to generate wealth by creating carbon credits. These credits are valuable in the global market.
“Go ahead and scan the QR and get registered now! At SwissX Island, a not-for-profit group called Farmers Antigua Trust was formed to oversee this project. This organisation consists only of Antiguans, ensuring that local interests are represented. The income generated from the registry of additional international sustainability project, will be distributed equally among all citizens of Antigua. This is done through the SwissX XRP Wallet, a digital wallet system hosted in Saint John’s.
“Scan the QR code here and I will meet you over at the Registry at SwissX Island and walk you through the easy steps you need to claim your wallet. Remember, you can print the wallet out and save it for later or give it to a family member that knows what to do.
“If you’re really stuck, come on down to the registry just after the Port Authority in Dredge Bay and one of our SwissX Island Club Members will help you out.
“Go, go, go beautiful Antigua. This weekend, me and my homie Mr Marlon Asher will be putting on three days of holograms and music co-starring local Hard Knaxs, and Ray Wess, Bless Eye, and many more.
“Everyone will be singing about the coin, baby. You feel me? See you there.”
PHOTO Credit: Screenshot from Alki David’s YouTube.
An entertainment website called Shockya has regularly promoted SwissX’s project. In 2019, the L.A. Times reported that the website listed its owners as Anakando Media Group, a company owned by Alki David. The L.A. Times asked David if he owned Shockya. “I plead the Fifth,” he replied.
This section is based on Shockya’s reporting about SwissX - to be taken with a large pinch of salt.
According to Shockya, SwissX Island Ventures has a project covering more than 1.1 million hectares of coral between the islands of Antigua and Barbuda. Shockya reports that the company has a partnership with Carbon Core, which it describes as “a renowned Swedish and Emirates-based agency specializing in carbon footprint verification”.
Shockya reports that the project adheres to “the stringent REDD++ verified carbon standards” and that the project can sequester 100 million tons of CO₂. Shockya’s writer Grady Owen describes the project as follows:
Financial innovation is at the heart of this project, with the blue carbon credits being supported by futures contracts on the Swissx Marketplace. The framework integrates IBM Agriculture’s global measurement standards and the Swissx Ripple XRP wallet, linking directly to Antigua’s trillion-dollar Sovereign Wealth Fund, Climate Haven Antigua Trust Company.
Owen writes that, “A significant milestone was achieved on Christmas Day 2023, marking a historic moment for the citizens of Antigua and Barbuda. Each of the approximately 110,000 individuals received $1 million in carbon credits, tradable on the open market.” He wrote this in an article published on 17 November 2023. Parts of it are taken almost word-for-word taken from a video put out by SwissX Labs, also on 17 November 2023.
According to Shockya, Antigua and Barbuda’s “Coral Field Assets” are worth US$4.7 billion in carbon credits (which, incidentally is significantly less than would be needed to give everyone in Antigua and Barbuda US$1 million worth of carbon credits). And,
Gaston Browne’s administration has forged strategic alliances with various United Nations organizations in developing West African regions, forming a robust portfolio of natural assets traded through the FAT SWISSX EXCHANGE.
Shockya explains that Farmers Antigua Trust will carry out a “comprehensive carbon credit offset survey of the land owned by the land user”. The land users will give 100% offset rights to Farmers Antigua Trust.
Farmers Antigua Trust is working with “Carbon Base,” which is “a globally recognized certifying auditor of carbon credit offset projects”. Land users will pay 20% of the revenue from sales of carbon credits as a commission to Farmers Antigua Trust, payable to Climate Haven Antigua Trust (whatever that is).
Farmers Antigua Trust will issue FAT Coins on the XRP Ripple register. “XRP is the preferred token exclusively available at Swissx.com and is used to establish a stable coin. One FAT COIN is equivalent to one Swiss Franc or $1 USD, whichever is greater,” Shockya writes.
SwissX is “an approved FAT registry partner” and will provide a secure platform for trading and managing carbon credits.
In July 2023, Alki David put out a very strange video of a visit by prime minister Gaston Browne and his wife Maria Bird-Browne to RastaLand.
The video starts with David coming in from the swimming pool to the “global location for carbon registration and broadcasting”. It’s an almost empty room with a few chairs, a table, some unpacked cardboard boxes, and three television screens high up on the walls.
Later in the video, David tells us that a “live television show takes place here every day all day”. He says it’ll be the “Bloomberg of the green economy”. This, presumably is the SwissX Carbon Registry, managed by the Farmers Antigua Trust.
David doesn’t allow Gaston Browne to speak much on the video, but David tells us that,
“Gaston Browne’s government is championing the first registry, the first such registry, for black and brown countries through the entire world. There are five current registries in the world and this is the sixth.”
Alki David, left, does the talking, while prime minister Gaston Browne, right, listens.
Alki David, the man behind SwissX
Alki David is an heir of the Leventis-David Group, which made its fortune bottling Coca-Cola. He was born in 1968 in Nigeria to Greek parents. He went to school in Switzerland and studied film at the Royal College of Art in London.
He runs a company that promotes hologram concerts for dead stars. He has a streaming company called FilmOn. He’s been an actor in several films, as well as a producer, and a director.
He is on the Sunday TimesRich List 2023, as the 63rd richest person in the UK. He’s listed together with the Leventis family as being worth £2.786 billion.
In 2015 he produced a film about himself called “Lord of the Freaks”. In it, he’s described as a “multi-billionaire” and “the eccentric billionaire”. But in a 2021 interview with The Daily Beast he says that the media has been duped into falsely calling him a billionaire. “There are no billions,” he said.
David is a big fan of marijuana. He calls himself the “Pablo Escobar of Hemp”.
His company SwissX markets a series of Cannabidiol (CBD) products. The company’s slogan is “For the higher good”.
PHOTO Credit: Alki David and one of his private jets.
In May 2019, Alki David was arrested after bringing 5,000 cannabis plants, seeds, and products to the island of St. Kitts and Nevis on his private jet. “In Switzerland, where my company is based,” David toldRolling Stone, “we grow indoors with heat and light and water, none of which is required in the Caribbean.” The cannabis plants, seeds, and products were worth US$1.3 million.
Seven sexual harassment cases have been filed against David since 2012. The cases have cost him and his companies a total of US$70 million.
In April 2019, a jury in California ordered David and his companies FilmOn and Hologram USA to pay US$11.1 million in a sexual harassment and battery trial involving a former employee at FilmOn. Jones was hired in January 2015, and Chasity Jones said she was fired in November 2016 after refusing to have sex with David.
In October 2019, a jury awarded Lauren Reeves US$5 million. She was a comedy writer at Hologram USA.
In October 2019, an anonymous woman sued David and his companies Hologram USA, FilmOn, and SwissX Labs. She accuses David of raping her in April 2019 when she worked for him.
In December 2019, a Los Angeles jury awarded US$58.25 million to Mahim Khan, who was groped and sexually harassed while she worked for David in 2014-2015.
In December 2023, a Los Angeles jury ordered David and his media companies to pay US$8.38 million in a sexual misconduct case. In 2015, Elizabeth Taylor worked as an account executive at FilmOn and sued David for sexual assault, battery, and harassment.
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, David describes the lawsuits as an “entire web of fraudulent cases” and he denies any wrong doing. He’s developed an unintelligibleconspiracy theory about “criminal” lawyers colluding against him.
“Unfortunately, over the last couple months I’ve seen a downward spiral in Mr. David.” David’s lawyer, Dana Cole toldCourthouse News in February 2022. She added that David’s condition was “akin to a mental health crisis”.
David’s business operations have also had legal problems. In 2006, he founded FilmOn and bought several film libraries to broadcast. In 2010, he used an antenna farm to pick up local TV signals and streamed them on FilmOn for free. ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox sued him for copyright infringement. Eventually he settled for US$1.6 million.
Hologram USA had a legal battle with Pulse Evolution about which company owned the right to the hologram technology. David bought it, but only after Pulse had obtained a license of the patent. The two men settled out of court in 2016.
In 2019, the L.A. Times reported that David’s US-based companies, Hologram USA, Alki David Productions, and FilmOn, had been suspended for not filing the necessary paperwork.
In September 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged David and Hologram USA with fraud, registration violations, and misleading investors before an initial public offering. Hologram USA was accused of falsely claiming exclusive rights to stage shows featuring holograms of Whitney Houston, Roy Orbison, and Tupac Shakur.
In March 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered final judgments against David and Hologram USA. Under the settlement David had to pay a civil penalty of US$100,000, and Hologram USA had to pay US$22,419. Alki David was banned from holding officer-and-director position for five years.
And in October 2021, David lost a wrongful termination suit filed by a former employee at a subsidiary of Alki David Productions. The jury ruled his company should pay more than US$7 million in damages. Karl Zirpel, the former employee, claimed he was fired for raising safety concerns before an event hosted by Alki David Productions.
Swissx Carbon Credit Offsets, the product of this groundbreaking initiative, receive the stamp of approval from the world-renowned registry, Verra, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. This endorsement ensures the quality and validity of Swissx carbon credits. Individuals and organizations, by acquiring Swissx Carbon Credit Offsets, not only offset their carbon footprint but also contribute to initiatives actively reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
This is a straight-up lie. There are no projects in Antigua and Barbuda on Verra’s registry. And Verra’s head office is in Washington DC, not Geneva. There is no “approval” or “endorsement” from Verra for SwissX’s operations in Antigua and Barbuda.
In November 2023, Quantum Commodity Intelligence (QCI) asked Verra about SwissX’s project in Antigua and Barbuda. Verra subsequently sent a cease and desist letter to Alki David.
A Verra spokesperson told Quantum Commodity Intelligence that, “"SwissX applied to open a Verra registry account, however its status is pending since 04/05/2023.”
True to form, David quickly made up a conspiracy theory, calling this a “gripping narrative of deception, power, and environmental politics”. According to Shockya, “the usually serene city of Geneva is now the epicenter of a sensational legal drama”.
Sources have unveiled a scandalous plot, initially hidden in the guise of hurricane relief efforts for Barbuda, Antigua’s sister island, devastated by a recent hurricane. Allegations are rife that Ambassador David was on the cusp of exposing a complex fraud in the hurricane relief funding, a revelation that threatened to expose deep-rooted corruption, potentially involving senior figures at Blacklane’s [sic] Agency.
Diann Black-Layne is director of the Department of the Environment of Antigua and Barbuda and the country’s Ambassador for Climate Change. David accuses her leading a “character assassination campaign” against him.
In an article about the SwissX Carbon Registry, Shockya claims that
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) lends its endorsement to this registry, recognizing the pivotal role such initiatives play in mitigating climate change while fostering sustainable development in rural communities.
REDD-Monitor looks forward to reporting UNFCCC’s response to this claim.
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This is wonderful news! It looks like this Alki David has all the qualifications to run for President!
Seriously, this is great that another market manipulator gets separated from his "alternative facts".
Great reporting, thank you!