Investors’ trust is what gets violated in so many cases by irresponsible and negligent insurance companies such as Old Mutual International, SEB, Generali, RL360, Friends Provident International – and, of course, the firm in the Cayman Islands: Investors Trust. These companies – also known as “life offices” (although we prefer to call them “death offices” because they help destroy victims’ life savings – and sometimes cause the death of their distraught victims) – have a number of lethal practices which result in financial ruin for thousands of policyholders:
- The life offices take business from any old known scammers – firms without proper licenses and with a known history of defrauding the public
- The life offices will offer toxic, illiquid, risky funds – including UCIS funds – such as LM and Mansion on their platform (without doing any proper due diligence as to how quickly these funds can eradicate the life offices’ victims’ life savings)
- The life offices will accept investment instructions from unqualified scammers who work for firms with no investment license – and, in some cases, with no insurance license either
- The life offices will accept dealing instructions – often with fraudulently-copied or forged signatures – on dealing instructions for toxic assets such as professional-investor-only structured notes
A prime example of these vile practices was in the case of Mr. S – a driving instructor from Milton Keynes. His final salary pension scheme was transferred to a QROPS in Malta despite the fact that he was a UK resident and had no need for his pension to be transferred offshore. His “adviser” was David Vilka from a firm called Square Mile International Financial Services. This firm had an insurance license but no investment license. Therefore, Square Mile could legally sell insurance products such as dog insurance – but could certainly not provide investment advice.
Mr. S’ pension fund was then placed in a “life bond” with Investors Trust in the Cayman Islands. This was an entirely gratuitous transaction, as he had absolutely no need of such a bond – known to be a spurious life assurance policy used for what is called a “single premium” insurance contract. These bonds are illegal in Spain, since the Spanish Supreme Court has ruled that they are being used to hold investments in contravention of the nature of what insurance is supposed to be (i.e. risk for the insurer).
The entire fund – which represented Mr. S’ retirement savings – was then invested in two toxic UCIS funds (illegal to be promoted to UK-resident, retail investors) called Symphony and Blackmore Global. Investors Trust negligently accepted these investments from Square Mile – in the full knowledge that this was absolutely against the interests of the policyholder and that the “advisory” firm had no investment license.
After a protracted battle, waged with great tenacity and dogged determination, Mr S did indeed get back a large proportion of his fund. But he still suffered what can only be described as a harrowing experience which resulted in a total loss of a significant chunk of his pension to the scammers (who will have profited handsomely from scamming him in the first place).
Far from being contrite or apologetic, however, the scammer who risked Mr. S’ pension in the first place – David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial Services in the Czech Republic – showed no shame and made no attempt to recover the remainder of his victim’s pension. In fact, when I exposed Vilka’s vile scam, I was threatened by his two-bit American lawyer Douglas Davies of Lowell Davies LLP.
But what of the Cayman Islands-based life office – Investors Trust? Did they try to help Mr. S recover his serious losses? Did they offer him compensation for the significant distress he suffered at the hands of the scammers at Square Mile? Did they publish a statement demonstrating recognition of the damage done to victims’ life savings by investing in toxic crap like Blackmore Global on the instructions of scammers like David Vilka?
The answer, of course, is a resounding “no”. Investors Trust could have done so much to reform these illegal practices and expose the likes of scammer David Vilka who scammed not only Mr. S out of a big part of his pension, but also scammed hundreds of victims into the Hong Kong QROPS scam (many of which got invested in Blackmore Global).
Instead of showing any contrition or regret for facilitating financial crime, an idiot at Investors Trust called Lindsay Paris emailed me threatening to sue me for using a picture of David Vilka and John Ferguson posing as vulgar spivs at Las Vegas. This revolting photograph is, apparently, the property of Investors Trust:
“This is my second attempt to reach you regarding the copyright infringement on your website. Please have the image removed immediately or we will have no other choice but to seek legal action.
This is not the first time you have fraudulently misused private images and copyrights without authorization. You are imposing on our ownership rights and we would appreciate it if you would refrain from any future use of Investors Trust-owned materials. It is a serious violation which we will continue to pursue.
Please have the image on this page https://pension-life.com/david-vilkas-vile-us-attorney/ removed immediately.
Thank you,
Lindsay Paris, Media and Communications Manager, Investors Trust Administration
So, no apology for destroying victims’ life savings; no apology for taking business from a firm which was not regulated to give investment advice; no apology for investing a victim’s pension in a toxic UCIS fund run by known scammer Philip Nunn….just a complaint about a violation of their ownership rights of a picture of the scammers bearing the Investors Trust logo.
What I really love about Angie Brooks is she is the ONLY person in the world willing to stick her neck out and invite the pond life to “make her day” as she puts it. In Angie, victims get a voice. IF it weren’t for Angie, victims would be completely hidden, silenced by the slime willing to spend victim’s money on two-bit lawyers threatening them. I don’t know how she copes with the constant threats but I take my hat off to her. I could not do it.
However, I do have a small correction to the above, from recent research and discussion with the Dutch regulator.
Above Angie reports: “His “adviser” was David Vilka from a firm called Square Mile International Financial Services. This firm had an insurance license but no investment license. ”
At the time the firm was Aktiva Wealth Management and later (in June 2015) it changed its name to Square Mile International Financial and recent research has discovered Aktiva had NO licence whatsoever – even to sell dog insurance! Something my ceding provider could have checked, taking just 5 minutes, but didn’t, claiming there was no legislative requirement to do so despite the Scorpion guidelines established for 2 years when I requested a transfer. Here’s the proof:-
Here is the redacted LoA submitted to Mercer in January 2015:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Kc36C-Dm87daMTR4EYtzfmGViZ5ZmJAh
Note the statement that Aktiva are registered with the Czech National Bank. Here is the record from the CNB:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OiGatzgf16lSYdbA5YSYhrxGOLB3xCsT – note that Aktiva were NOT registered until 5th May 2015.
Therefore at the material time, Aktiva were NOT registered with the CNB! This is fraudulent misrepresentation.
Moreover, the statement regarding operating under the WWB licence? I have asked the Dutch regulator and they confirmed WWB only had an Insurance licence – NOT investment or transferring pensions but further, they say it is not permitted for one company to use another’s licence for its own activities. Something my ceding provider should have KNOWN, questioned AND warned me!
So all you two-bit lawyers wanting to represent Vilka – be aware that I have irrefutable written evidence of fraudulent misrepresentation in loads of documents – the LoA, emails and letters – from him! So stick that up your defamation claim!
Neither Vilka nor his lawyers have ever produced one iota of hard evidence he was EVER licensed anywhere in the EU, to give investment advice or transfer pensions – just pathetic assertions. Come up with some evidence or crawl back under the stone you came from!
There is also NO evidence that Investors Trust were permitted to sell their product(s) anywhere in the EU at the material time – when you look for them in member state’s registers there is no record. A complaint I levelled at the receiving QROP and the MFSA – but I don’t know what they did about it because neither answered that issue!
I would hazard a guess the “hundreds” of other victims in the Hong Kong QROP might similarly have fraudulent LoA’s and their ceding providers didn’t check either. Following the recent Ombudsman’s ruling in the case of Mr. N this fact could be significant.
What would be useful to me would be a template for a good Ombudsman complaint …. in fact useful to all victims about to submit a complaint against their ceding provider. – Mr. N – any chance of a template – a little guidance what to put in it, structure, headings etc?
By the way, for those who don’t know, Vilka is the spiv on the right. Moreover, who wears gold chains these days? That is so yesterday.
The grape vine has it this was an expense paid trip by IT for these spivs selling the most “bonds”, I think in a period in 2015/16 – not sure the exact dates. Given the evidence I have on the activities of these spivs it probably explains why IT want the picture removed. Maybe IT are an OK company, unwittingly drawn into an organised pension scam, who knows? IT did let me out of the bond early, waived their early exit penalty and refunded all the admin charges just like the Maltese trustee did. It is possible they don’t want reminding of their association with these pond life. The jury is still out on that one. It really depends what they and the Maltese trustee are doing to help those still locked in? I have no intelligence on this until others come forward.
As explained above, these “bonds” were sold for one purpose only – to get unsuspecting innocent people to transfer their pensions offshore, out of FCA jurisdiction, for the enrichment of others and Investors Trust facilitated this operation.
The mistaken belief by these spivs was that by selling this useless bond they operated within regulatory permissions but the FCA have confirmed that is not true. Moreover there is no evidence that at the material time IT were licensed to sell their product anywhere in the EU – they aren’t on member state’s registers!
Moreover, in that period (2015) the receiving QROP, Optimus Retirement Benefit Scheme No.1, whose trustee was in Malta, reported c.1100 new members in 2015 alone – circa 100 per month! – https://drive.google.com/open?id=1p3YAiGdOQBbO32TrIYn_4XMOdhUwPcBZ
The “introducing” company in my case was Aspinal Chase – https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BsdzCWHeUCUcwOD_TUpxDV8XzTONv8gY – owned by the infamous Nunn & McCreesh – also directors of Blackmore Global, an opaque unregulated fund registered in IoM – https://services.gov.im/ded/services/companiesregistry/viewcompany.iom?Id=330968 that in June 2016 had assets of £17m – https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NG7FLVozQRowxGmtcZ6ufe7yN6jhWVm2 – so you can probably deduce at least one of the funds the c.1100 member’s money probably went!
The bonds however drain your pension in admin charges, coupled with the annual 2.5% management charge for the Blackmore fund, your pension was/is being sucked dry and you get locked into it for 10 years! A nice little earner for everyone but the innocent victim! Explains the stupid grin on their faces!
If it looks like a spiv, dresses like a spiv and lies like a spiv – guess what ….