TVIND ALERT

Two luxury apartments on private island near Miami

5302 and 5352 Fisher Island Drive



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In 2001,  journalists from the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten traced fugitive Amdi Petersen to a private ‘millionaire’s retreat’ off Miami – Fisher Island.     The paper reported the Teachers Group had bought two apartments, 5302 and 5352 Fisher Island Drive,  one valued at $6m, in 1991 and 2000.   They were being secretly used by Amdi Petersen and Kirsten Larsen, with other Teachers Group leaders.



Fisher Island

Fisher Island is a high security millionaire’s retreat with high rise private apartments, a top class hotel, golf course, marina and sandy beaches.    It is reached by a private ferry from Miami, patrolled by security guards.   It was described by Conde Naste Traveller magazine in 1998 as ‘One of the best places to stay in the world.’     Among famous residents and visitors have been Oprah Winfrey, Luciano Pavarotti, Ricky Martin, Julia Roberts, Robert de Niro, Sylvester Stallone, and tennis stars André Agassi and Boris Becker.



The luxury apartments

Number 5302 Fisher Island Drive is a luxury 10th floor penthouse apartment with several bedrooms, five bathrooms, a roof terrace, fitness room, outdoor spa, and picture windows overlooking Miami, according to the Jyllands-Posten report.   There are marble floors throughout.  The 91 square metre living room was furnished with a piano, a sofa and ten leather-upholstered chairs, corner bar and lit by a chandelier.   The master bedroom had a four-poster bed, jacuzzi and steam shower.

According to the newspaper, one room was was furnished as an office with computers and  ‘all the necessary technological equipment for running a worldwide business empire’.

In the underground car park were two 8-cylinderMercedes ML55 four wheel drive vehicles with tinted windows.



‘An apartment for the dog’

Jyllands-Posten reported the whole apartment had been redecorated to Petersen’s instructions in 1991 by an interior designer at a cost of $624,000.      Jyllands-Posten also reported that Amdi Petersen, Kirsten Larsen and Anne Hansen were all members of the Fisher Island Golf Course (membership numbers E0070 and E9006) – fees $98,479.

J-P further alleged that the second apartment, 5352, was bought for ‘Amdi Petersen’s dog’.   Petersen has two thoroughbred Leonbergers that accompany him everywhere.  Fisher Island rules allow only one pet per apartment.   The solution, the paper said, was for the Teachers Group to buy a  smaller second apartment in the same block five floors below.    This apartment was bought in October 2000 for $792,000.




Who bought the properties?

According to J-P, the penthouse was bought by J. F. Parson, a Tvind company in Tampa, Florida, for $4.3 million in December 1991.    It was immediately resold to another Tvind company registered in the British Virgin Islands, the Markham Corporation.  A similar method was used to buy and transfer offshore the second flat method in 2000.  In this case, the ultimate purchaser was a third Tvind company, also registered in the British Virgin Islands, Xoreux Limited



News reports




The Man in Miami (Jyllands Posten, 28th October 2001)




Ritzau, (13 August 2003).

Summary: Papers recently delivered from the USA about Amdi’s luxury apartments on Fisher Island may be a gold mine for the prosecutor because they reveal a lot about the power structure in Tvind, Poul Gade said to De Bergske Blade on Wedneday. ….   In addition, the prosecutor is working to get access to the accounts in France and England which could reveal the cash flow in the Tvind organisation, and to confiscate further documents from the British auditor David Swain who was examined during the summer vacations.




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Do you have information about a Teachers Group property? Please tell us

Updated 19th March 2010

In the 1990s, the Teachers Group ordered a luxury yacht from a Danish boatyard.   The Butterfly McQueen was built to the highest specifications.

It is now up for sale (since January 2003) at $3.295m.

The following two links provide detailed descriptions and pictures of the Butterfly McQueen:

Fraser Yachts Catalogue (For all the images, click ‘slide show’.  Scroll down for the description.)

Butterfly McQueen (Extensive sales pitch with many photographs)

When it was built the Butterfly McQueen, at 39.7 metres, was reportedly among the world’s biggest glass fibre hulled yachts, with a computerised sailing system and luxury accommodation.

There is accommodation for 12 guests and seven crew.  Cabins are fitted out with cherry wood and Italian marble, with multi-system entertainment centres. The master stateroom has a king size four poster bed and en-suite bath. The salon boasts four Italian leather sofas and the dining room has an ebony-framed table.

The boat was moored for many years off Miami, near Amdi Petersen’s luxury Fisher Island apartment. According to the sales catalogue the BMQ has sailed 25,000 nautical miles since 1998, through the Panama Canal, to china and the South Pacific. She is now in Fiji.

The sales details comments:  “A three (3) year cruise through the South Pacific finds her in Fiji where the owners have put her on the market following completion of their dream cruise.”!! Who was on this ‘dream cruise’, we wonder. Tvind, of course,  is believed to have property, farms or commercial interests in Fiji.   (We have one listed company, Pacific Farming Ltd.  Two Fiji residents,  both Teachers – Peter Kjaer and Lilian Ekbom – are associated with Tvind as signatories of a Swiss trust, Gaia.  We would like more information).

In January 2003, Danish television TV2 reported that the BMQ was moored in the harbour at Aukland, New Zealand and up for sale. Mooring charges were reportedly $24,000 (£14,000) a month. The yacht is valued at $7.3 million (£4.5 million), but for sale at a bargain $3.3 million (£2 million).

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Leslie writes: The official explanation for the existence of “Butterfly Mcqueen” is as follows.  At one time Tvind did a lot of sailing and they found that the repair costs were becoming expensive. They solved this in the Tvind manner by buying a ship-repairers. Then, since they had built the world’s biggest windmill, they decided to build the world’s biggest yacht. It has been sailing in the Caribbean on charter since then and is now up for sale. Naturally, Amdi has not been near it.

If I remember correctly, Butterfly McQueen was the first black actress to win an Oscar – for her role in “Gone With The Wind”. Her award had to be picked up by somebody else because of the racial discrimination which existed at the time. I think I have that just about right but it does not explain why it should be chosen by Tvind as the name for their yacht.

During my stay at Holsted most of the students would look at Tvind Alert from time to time. This sometimes resulted in long discussions with Anne Marie where they received the standard answers-e.g., the banana workers are being trained, the Florida property is so hard working Tvindies can have a holiday, the yacht has not been used to give Amdi a luxury lifestyle etc. These discussions took place in the school office which was adorned with a large framed picture of “Butterfly Mcqueen”. After yet another of such meetings Anne Marie was seen carrying the picture out of the office. It was never on public display again!

August-September 2003

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November 2004: Butterfly McQueen spotted in Australia

The Butterfly McQueen, the Teachers Group’s 40-metre superyacht, has been spotted moored at Gold Coast, Australia’s surfing playground in Queensland, as reported by the Gold Coast Bulletin (below).  With great surfing and terrific beaches, and the Great Barrier Reef not far away, it’s the ideal spot for a winter break for a reclusive millionaire.   The newspaper was unable to establish if the vessel has new owners yet; if it is still in Teachers Group possession, could it be Christmas in the sun for Amdi Petersen?

…the Teachers Group life in the sun.

It was rumoured for years that the innermost circle of the Tvind Teachers Group enjoyed a luxury lifestyle far removed from the Spartan existence of humbler Teachers and hard-working Humana volunteers.

In 2001 this was dramatically borne out when, acting on a tip-off, journalists located the Miami hideaway of Tvind founder Amdi Petersen – a multi-million dollar apartment with marble fittings and sea views in a secure luxury billionaire’s island.

It also emerged that the leader had exclusive use of a luxury yacht, the Butterfly McQueen.  Properties and ship had been secretly bought by the Teachers Group using the familiar network of offshore accounts and front companies.

The luxury properties in the USA may be only the tip of the iceberg.   There are also reports of a specially designed beachside villa with swimming pool in the Caymans, a huge ‘ranch’ in Zimbabwe, and plans for a palatial ‘retirement’ home in the jungle in Fiji.   At the time of his arrest, Petersen was flying between the USA and Mexico where he reportedly also had plans to build a villa.

During his trial, Petersen has been allowed bail and is currently staying in a fabulously appointed country retreat near Grinsted in Denmark, complete with swimming pool and indoor tennis court, the gift of a wealthy supporter.

Reports suggest use of these well-appointed properties and perks is restricted to the highest echelons of the Teachers Group – a couple of dozen loyal people, many of whom are now on trial in Denmark.     Less elevated members of the TG have to make do with an engraved watch.

Tvind property companies used to buy luxury real estate.

Fisher Island, Miami
5302 and 5352 Fisher Island Drive

Luxury apartments in a millionaire’s playground private island off Miami, where Amdi Petersen and Kirsten Larsen were traced in 2001, after being on the run for 22 years.

Numbers 5302 and 5352 Fisher Island Drive, were each worth in the region of $6 million (£3.6 million).  They were bought for the reclusive couple by offshore real estate companies managed by the Teachers Group.     Now sold.

Jyllands Posten reports
More on Fisher Island
Papers on Amdi’s flat could be a gold mine for prosecutors (Berlingske Tidende, 13 August 2003)

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Shamva, Zimbabwe

A world headquarters that Petersen once reportedly boasted is ‘so big you could see it from the moon’.

The Humana headquarters was designed by Danish architect Jan Utzon, a supporter of Tvind, and was opened by Petersen’s friend president Robert Mugabe in 1998.

More on Zimbabwe

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Other properties

Plagborgvej 13, Grindsted, Denmark

Amdi’s Danish residence

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Odinsvej 17, Grindsted, Denmark

Teacher’s Group headquarters

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Miami

6301 and 6767 Collins Avenue, Miami

Administrative centre

The Sterling, Miami

Apartment owned by Amdi

Source:  Danish court report.   More information please

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Cayman Islands:  “Petersen owned a huge villa there,” a former Tvind-teacher states.  “I remember a couple of Tvind-teachers running away there.  They had to dig a swimming pool.   The existing pool was smaller than that of the neighbours and Petersen did not like that.”       [Source:  Rotterdams Dagblad, 1995]  The villa is believed to still exist.