How a New Breed of Bounty Hunter Is Helping Countries Get Their Money Back

Early on the morning of March 22, 2004, one day before the elections that ended the Antigua Labor Party’s 28-year hold on power, several boxloads of government files were hauled out of the offices of then-Prime Minister Lester Bird. It didn’t take long for his successor — Baldwin Spencer — to figure out why. In some of the boxes inadvertently left behind, Spencer’s staff found evidence of a multi-million-dollar kickback scheme dating back nearly 20 years.

There was enough information in the remaining documents, which showed that at least $14 million had been skimmed from repayments...

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