antigua and barbuda is advertised as "an attractive offshore jurisdiction." the country was the first to sign the united nations' anti-money laundering act. this agreement came out of a conference in 1999 which urged worldwide offshore financial centers to introduce laws to tighten their policing of money laundering activities. the united kingdom exerted considerable pressure on antigua and barbuda to reform laws to combat money laundering, even issuing an advisory in april 1999 to british financial institutions that antigua and barbuda's anti-money laundering laws were wanting. antigua and barbuda responded to this concern, and a subsequent joint united states and united kingdom review reported they were satisfied that the country had taken positive steps to check illegal activity in this sector. in september 2000 the government of antigua and barbuda announced that it had strengthened its surveillance of money laundering and drug trafficking. in march 2009, the stanford financial group, based in antigua was found by regulators there and in the united states, of be operating a massive ponzi scheme. the international bank controlled by the stanford group is now in receivership pending the outcome of an investigation.