Leroy King, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission, was laid to rest yesterday following a funeral service at the Bible Speaks Seventh Day Adventist Church that drew several government officials and was streamed live on YouTube.

King died in early November while serving jail time, though it remains unclear whether he died in prison or at a hospital. He was 80 years old.

Among those attending were Prime Minister Gaston Browne and several cabinet ministers including Health Minister Molwyn Joseph, Foreign Affairs Minister Chet Greene, Information Minister Melford Nicholas, and Tourism Minister Charles Fernandez.

Minister Nicholas delivered an extensive tribute focusing on King’s political organizing skills and his impact on the St. John’s City East constituency. He described King as a meticulous organizer who would not accept mediocrity and was instrumental in his early political success.

Minister Melford Nicholas speaks at Leroy King Funeral Service

“If I had to pick an individual who was most responsible for the early success that I had in the St. John’s City East constituency, it would be Leroy King,” Nicholas said. “He had knowledge of the environment. He knew the process. He was willing to teach. But above all, his very character. He was a driver.”

Nicholas recounted how King’s attention to detail extended to planning constituency Christmas parties with “literally seven layers” of preparation, and described King as exceptionally charitable despite his taste for nice things. He recalled King giving the shoes off his feet to a constituent in need and said King “gave everything that he had to the people in St. John City East.”

The minister credited King with teaching him political strategy, including the importance of voter registration drives. “He said, Mel, do you know we’re going to have two elections this year? The first election is the reregistration. You’ve got to be able to get out there and outregister the guy,” Nicholas recalled.

Nicholas emphasized that King’s influence extended beyond St. John’s City East to the entire northern zone of Antigua and played a crucial role in the Antigua Labour Party’s political organization. “The fact that the Antigua Labor Party remains strong today, and the comeback that it did in 2014, there was no small part of that, that Leroy King was not responsible for,” he said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chet Greene also delivered a tribute tracing King’s journey from Fort Hood, St. John’s through his education at Boys’ School and Princess Margaret School, to his scholarship at Iona College in New York and subsequent career at Bank of America and on Wall Street.

“He succeeded, as the song says, by doing it his way, a way built on integrity, hard work, and unshakable belief in lifting as he climbed,” Greene said.

Minister Chet Greene speaks at Leroy King Funeral Service

Greene highlighted King’s contributions to Antigua’s development, including his role in negotiating the loan for the finger pier that expanded the harbor, and his leadership at the Social Security Board, Antigua Commercial Bank, and the Financial Services Regulatory Commission.

The minister also emphasized King’s deepening faith after his baptism in 2012, describing him as “no passive member” of the Bible Speaks Adventist Church, where he mentored pathfinders, championed youth programs, founded Bible study groups, and organized stargazing events on the beach for young people.

“In his last week, he made his rounds of love, brief calls to all of us with simple words, I love you. And at the very end, on Independence Day, he asked for the shepherd’s psalm to be read,” Greene said.

However, King’s legacy remains complicated by his criminal conviction. He had been the last remaining defendant linked to the massive $7 billion investment fraud orchestrated by Allen Stanford.

King pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice, admitting he helped conceal information from the Securities and Exchange Commission during its investigation into Stanford’s banking empire.

As head of the FSRC from 2002 onward, King was responsible for supervising Stanford International Bank’s operations in Antigua. Prosecutors said he accepted over $520,000 in bribes, lavish gifts, and trips to the Super Bowl and on private jets in exchange for shielding Stanford’s fraudulent activities from scrutiny.

Between 2005 and 2009, King and others obstructed the SEC’s investigation by denying requests for key information and falsely claiming the FSRC lacked authority to comply, according to court documents.

King, a dual citizen of Antigua and the United States, was extradited to the U.S. in November 2019 after nearly a decade of legal battles to avoid facing trial.

Stanford was convicted in 2012 and sentenced to 110 years in prison for masterminding the 20-year Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors worldwide. Several others involved received sentences ranging from three to 20 years.