Spongebob Parker Squarepants of Holborn Assets has apparently been telling his salesmen that he has paid Glynis Broadfoot £150,000 in compensation for the destruction of her pension by Holborn Assets.
Not only is this a big porky pie (she hasn’t had a penny) but it is a cynical and dishonest tactic used to placate and dupe the Holborn Assets salesmen into wrongly believing that Spongebob has ethics. He doesn’t. If he had any morals, ethics or principles, he would come to the table and sort this appalling mess out.
Spongebob effectively stole Glynis’ life savings – a final salary scheme. Then invested her pension into an expensive and unnecessary insurance bond and purchased toxic, high-risk, professional-investor-only structured notes. He did all this to earn the maximum amount of commission – in the full knowledge that this would put her pension fund at risk. In fact, tactics identical to the Continental Wealth Management scam.
Glynis has now gone through more than five years of hell as she watched the systematic destruction of her pension. And now you can imagine how she feels reading reports of Holborn Assets’ vulgar and disgusting “jolly” in Tanzania which cost half a million quid. Despite making a series of totally inadequate offers, Spongebob has still to pay her a penny.
I hear on the grapevine that Spongebob is paranoid about any of his staff talking to me. He has even sacked one adviser – Claudia Shaw – on suspicion of communicating with me. It is true that quite a few Holborn Assets people have indeed communicated with me. These include – inter alia – Jerry Leahy, Joe Capaldi, Benjamin Thompson, Matthew Newman, James McMullen, Michael Cunningham, Ben Buckley, Marlon Bruges, Keren Bobker, Michele Carby and Syeda Al Iqtadar. Also, I’ve met Paul Reynolds and Chimaa Mefta at Holborn Assets’ Dubai offices. Also, Darin Brownlee-Jones tried to befriend me on Linkedin. Why hasn’t Spongebob sacked all of these people? He harbours a convicted killer and someone who was struck off and fined by the FCA. I’ve also been approached by various people claiming to work for Holborn Assets and offered a bribe to stop blogging about the company’s nefarious practices.
So, Uncle Spongebob – here’s my invitation. Stop sponging off Holborn Assets’ victims, come to the table and talk to me. Negotiate a decent redress package for Glynis and the others. Then, undertake to do business in an ethical, professional and compliant manner moving forward. Stop hosting binge-drinking, drug-snorting binges, and put in a place a proper compliance department.
Seriously, I don’t bite. I came to your office a couple of years back. You have ignored me since. So maybe now it is time for you to come to my office?
Simples! And then I can write nice blogs about you and the other Parkers saying what heroes you have been and what a good firm Holborn Assets is.
Your choice Mr. Squarepants 🙂
What is a Pension Scam?
This is just libellous.
Many people, for many years, have enjoyed Spongebob Squarepants and his friends. To see him associated with this is awful.
A good blog. No punches pulled. However your picture in the centre isn’t right. The victims weren’t “High Net Worth” or it wouldn’t be a scam. It should have read (imho) “Turning Low Net Worth Individuals” into “Zero Net Worth Victims” or maybe “Negative Net Worth Victims” …. but that’s just me being picky ….
That’s a fair point. Thanks – I’ll change it.
Wonder why did you remove some blog post and comments about Claudia ? Did she bribe you . ?
Oh ! you proved Claudia didnt communicated with you. As she didnt communicate this emotional events with you !
You are not more than a black mail blogger , i think
I’m not black. And your English is terrible. Innit.
Angie is actually Caucasian femail ….
you missed out the word “gorgeous”!
Another bunch of scammers! There must be a virus going around. Pity that they can’t be spotted as easily as the “Walking Dead” but we are getting better at that .
Interestingly, I was contacted by one of the Holborn Assetts lot shortly after CWM was closed down. Lost interest after she found out how little was left in my fund. By that time I had become a older, sadder but wiser too.
Holborn Assets – I truly hope that you get what you deserve.
Hi John, that’s interesting, I was also contacted by Holborn Assets after Angie went public with our details. Nice conversation, sent me some details how great they are doing, but when I showed them my investments after 4 years stand at 94% (thank God not much lower) I did not hear from them yet again. Hope and pray that Angie will succeed something for us.
@Stephen
I will use an anon account as I work for a firm of advisers, not yet mentioned here. Not yet, so far!
I can see a pattern here. Angie/Stephen or anyone else can correct me but this is what I “think” is happening here.
1. Investor gets ripped off or thinks has been ripped off
2. Complains to adviser
3. Adviser rejects complaint, maybe with good reason or maybe not
4. Investor contacts local regulator and is not happy with reply
5. Investor contacts Pension Life
6. Pension Life has a go (and some) on website
7. Supposed guilty party ignores it
8. Pension Life piles on the pressure.
9. Supposed guilty party engages with Pension Life and all blogs disappear
10, Blowhards attack with lawyers. Suspect Pension Life has evidence for allegations (jury out on that).
11. Lawyers do not follow up in view of evidence.
12. Blog stays up.
Is that a true flow of events? Happy to be corrected.
I work in this industry and could do without these blogs. Surely, there is a better way to sort this out.
TBH, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Look, brokers can screw up. But some do so very occasionally (and then put things right) but others do so routinely over a period of some years. But Holborn Assets has done so repeatedly over a period of some years and simply ignore the problem – presumably thinking that the victims will just go away quietly and “get over it”. Only by giving the negligence and fraud and oxygen do we bring them to the table.
And do you think Spongebob Parker will come to the table? Dream on!
We’ll see. But he must surely be bright enough to know that now everyone knows he is a sniveling coward?
Every investor by him/herself is powerless. Only thourh someone like Angie who combines all the complaints into one big attack on the investment Company is there any chance of success. Maybe the chance is small, but it is a chance, more than we would have by ourselves.
This is interesting in that it is incorrect in one major aspect – Holborn have made an offer to the client – you advised they do not take it !
Seem to missed that bit out.
Just as importantly, why have you missed this story.
DeVere USA settles $8m SEC case
http://www.internationalinvestment.net/regions/us/devere-usa-settles-8m-sec-case/
Many believe you are paid by thses guys, does seem strange that you do not blog about them but strike out at their competitors GWM and Holborn
Even if this were true – how would you know? Anyway, it isn’t true. And I didn’t miss the deVere story – am in London in back-to-back meetings.
To be fair you’re only highlighting what decent IFA’s already know and already work on fixing. I’ve met a few ex CWM clients and the situations are horrific. Extremely bad advice handed out and the client is the only one to suffer.
There’s a few more out there also offering inappropriate advice. I won’t go into detail because the worlds largest financial advisors have better lawyers than me.
I do agree you’re focused on particular companies and not surprised someone has queried whether you’re on the books of another firm, refer to my comment above.
We all know their advice ranks amongst the worst on the market and everything they do is aimed at lining Mr Blue’s pockets. If you’ve never found something to blog about that company then it worries me you’re not looking in their direction at all.
Overall though a good article and certainly from a clients perspective all things mentioned they need to consider.
So congrats on the article, well written, but you need to look closely to company referred to above…… you know who I mean.
Thanks for the comment. I reiterate that it is not all about what I do publish but about what I don’t publish. If you were to follow my blogs, you will see quite a lot of them mysteriously disappear. There’s a reason for that. And it isn’t because I am getting some folding stuff but because compensation is getting negotiated and agreed – in a dignified and confidential manner. I write my blogs not just to name and shame individuals and firms, but also to bring them to the table. When asked respectfully and politely, I always remove my blogs. However, sometimes the odd firm will take me for a fool and think that once I take a blog down they can then walk away and the blog won’t come back up again. But guess what – my blogs are made of rubber!
@Jackson
There is an inconsistency here. You state that an offer was made and rejected. If that is true, then why is there a statement on this blog saying the money was paid.
Who is telling the truth here?
Mrs. Broadfoot did indeed receive some derisory offers and these were rejected because they came nowhere near making up for the damage that Bob Parker and his merry men did to her pension. No money was ever paid, although I am informed that Bob Parker has lied to his staff and told them that he paid her £150k.