Tag: Blackmore Global Fund

20% Black Hole in Blackmore Global

Much like a black hole in Space, the Blackmore Global Fund and Blackmore Bond will swallow up victims’ savings – and never spit them out again.

20% Black Hole in Blackmore Global

It is no secret that we have little confidence in the Blackmore Global Group run by Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh – two of the scammers who promoted Capita Oak and earned nearly £1 million from providing “leads” for the cold callers. Capita Oak is now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, and Nunn McCreesh’s nefarious activities were investigated and reported on by the Insolvency Service.

To confirm our suspicions that Nunn and McCreesh’s Blackmore Global Fund and Bond are not just high-risk and illiquid crap (and – of course – totally unsuitable for pensions or anyone with less money than sense), they have announced that 20% of your money could go towards paying for the “costs of the investment”. To put that into plain English, any of the unregulated scammers who promote and distribute the Blackmore investments are earning 20% in commission.

This new-found “transparency” by Blackmore is neither a courtesy to their customers, nor evidence of voluntary honesty. Rather, it is a reaction to the FCA´s new rules for being “clear, fair and not misleading” .

Bond review reported on this and noted that prior to this forced change, Blackmore Global´s website could be read as:

“Capital Protection” and “Income Certainty”. Immediately below these phrases, in letters half the size, were the words:

“Capital at risk | Please read our risk section. Illiquid and non-transferable. Not FSCS”

This change is in connection with Nunn and McCreesh’s Blackmore Global Bond. Their Blackmore Global Fund has already featured heavily in the press with criticisms about its costs and unsuitability for pensions. BBC 4 You and Yours did a feature on the fund back in January 2018, finding that an unregulated adviser – David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial Services – invested many of his QROPS clients into this unsuitable fund – which undoubtedly will have paid him fat commissions.

THE BLACKMORE GLOBAL FUND IS A UCIS (UNREGULATED, COLLECTIVE, INVESTMENT SCHEME) WHICH IS ILLEGAL TO PROMOTE TO UK RESIDENTS. Yet, David Vilka – who had no investment license – promoted it and Nunn and McCreesh accepted the many investments into it from him.

What is similar in both the Blackmore Global Fund and Bond, is the lack of transparency from the start. With the fund, there was also a ten-year lock-in, which was in the small print and not mentioned to the pension investors at the time of signing over their pensions to the scammers. Some of the members were nearly 60, meaning that they were unable to access their money when they retired.

The Bond, up until now, has had no transparency on its charges – and the risk factors were most definitely hidden.

The confirmation of a 20% commission charge (to the scammers who promote and distribute this risky, expensive, opaque investment) comes as a welcome dribble of transparency. However, it is still unclear as to how – after this huge payment – Blackmore investors will ever be able to recoup the initial costs and then start to make some headway on their investment.

Bond Review explains this well:

“In slightly simplified terms, if Blackmore raises £10,000 from an investor in its 3 year bonds paying 7.9% per year, and pays out 20% in commission, it now needs to turn £8,000 into £12,370 to repay the investor in full, representing a 55% return over 3 years – or 15.6% per year.

For its 5 year bonds paying 9.9%, the return required to turn £8,000 into £14,950 is 87% over 5 years, or 13.3% a year.

Any investment targeting a return of 15.6% or 13.3% a year will inevitably be extremely high risk – and while Blackmore can diversify over many such projects, some of its projects will fail, which will lower the overall return.”

This is not an investment to enter into lightly (or at all). Blackmore Global showed net liabilities of £7 million on assets of £18 million in its last accounts – December 2017. Finances and accounts can dramatically shift in the short space of one year: a well-run, professional and ethical company could turn things around. But with Blackmore Global failing for three years to even produce audited accounts on their fund, and lying about who their Investment Manager is, this hardly inspires any confidence at all.

Another worrying thing about Blackmore Global is that they use Surge Financial to promote their toxic wares – and has paid this firm £5.1 million in one year for “marketing services”. Surge Financial is run by Paul Careless, and was promoting the failed London Capital & Finance fund, which paid out an eye-watering 25% to the scammers who promoted and distributed their toxic wares. Having conned thousands of victims into investing £236,000,000 into London Capital and Finance, the whole lot is now probably lost as the company has gone into liquidation. But Surge Financial pocketed £60,000,000 in marketing this toxic fund – and is still promoting Blackmore Global. The FCA declared that the marketing blurb was misleading, unfair and unclear – and it is obvious that the lies told in the glossy brochures duped thousands of people into losing their life savings.

So, with Blackmore Global also using Surge Financial to source victims, and succeeding at the rate of £1.5m a month, it is a serious worry that there will be thousands more victims when the Blackmore Global shit hits the fan.

Bond Review is quoted as saying:

“That Blackmore Bond paid out up to 20% in commission is already known from Blackmore’s December 2017 accounts, which disclosed that £25.4m had been raised in the period (July 2016 to December 2017) and that £5.1m had been paid to Surge Financial for “sourcing investors loans and front and back office operations” (almost exactly 20%).

Could Blackmore Global go the same way as London Capital Finance? We already know that the Blackmore Global fund has been used to scam hundreds of UK-resident victims out of their pensions using QROPS. We also know that few of these victims have had their money back – and that there is zero disclosure as to where the money has gone.

Just remember: there are perfectly-good, regulated funds out there – with extremely low charges, zero commissions to scammers, and excellent performance history (openly reported in the public domain). People don’t need to put their hard-earned savings in black holes such as Blackmore which don’t even disclose what the underlying assets are.

March 11, 2019
Ten Essential Standards For Pension Advice
Ten Essential Standards For Pension Advice:

The ongoing war against pension scammers continues with no sign that the end is near. The authorities stand idly by – facilitating mis-selling and outright fraud.

HMRC happily registers pension scam after scam after scam (followed by tax demands). Prosecutions are few and far between.

The only conclusive way to stop scammers is to ensure there are no victims for them to scam. AND the only way to do this is to educate consumers and drum the TEN STANDARDS into them.

PENSION SCAMMERS MUST BE STOPPED!

Ten Essential Standards For Pension Advice:

Do you know what a pension scammer looks like? The unfortunate answer is, he looks like any other Tom, Dick or Harry (or James, Stephen or Darren) walking down the street. Not only is he good at disguises, he also has the gift of the gab and he will have you convinced that the pension transfer he is offering you will pave the rest of your life with gold. In reality though, the gold will be short lived (or non-existent), and some or all of your fund will probably go poof! (along with the adviser).

Much as a master illusionist takes your breath away with his magic, a master scammer takes your money away with his silver tongue. You will be left wondering just how this smart-looking, sleek-talking ‘adviser’ managed to leave your pension – and probably your life – in tatters.

We have compiled a list of ten standards that EVERY firm offering pension advice should adhere to. Every qualified adviser working for an advisory firm should also be able to meet all of these standards. On Facebook recently, one reader stated: “Why would anyone respond to an unsolicited offer to manage their money from a complete stranger?” The answer is, “I don’t know, but they do!“. So, get to know a financial adviser long before you let them anywhere near your finances.

In the case of Capita Oak, for example, we saw many targeted victims who were struggling financially. So, the offer of a lump sum release and the opportunity of an investment that promised “guaranteed returns” was music to their ears.

Many of the victims didn’t stop to think; didn’t pause to ask the right questions; or do any research to make sure the pension offer came from a viable, credible, regulated firm. The victims just said “yes” as they thought the transfer would make life easier.

For example, with the awful benefit of hindsight – six years on – the Capita Oak victims are grappling with tax demands from HMRC and the possibility that the investment they are trapped in will go into liquidation. These people all wish they had stopped and thought before going ahead.

Sadly, the Capita Oak members who were defrauded by a bunch of scammers, (many of which are under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office) such as XXXX, Stuart Chapman-Clarke and Stephen Ward, are not alone. Thousands of other victims of both UK-based and offshore scams and mis-selling are facing similar regrets: these include victims of scams such as Evergreen New Zealand QROPS; Fast Pensions, Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund/STM Fidecs; Blackmore Global Fund; and Continental Wealth Management.

Mastermind serial scammer Stephen Ward has orchestrated a whole array of different scams over the last nine years. One of the biggest ones was Continental Wealth Management – a 1,000-victim scam. Ward was once a fully qualified and registered adviser and a pension trustee. He has destroyed dozens of pensions funds and thousands of victims’ lives. Yet he has never been prosecuted or forced to pay back even one penny of his victims’ losses. Only at the end of 2018 was he finally banned from being a pension trustee.

Most of the known scams used cold-calling techniques to reel in their victims. Whilst we saw a cold-calling ban on pension sales in 2019, we have already had reports that sneaky firms have changed their scripts to avoid fines. AND we are now seeing scammers focus their targets back onto expats. Which makes us worry there will be more QROPS disasters in the pipeline from now on.

Just a few minutes of research – as well as knowing the right questions to ask and understanding what standards an adviser and firm should adhere to – could have prevented past victims from losing so much of their precious pension pots. We can’t change what happened in the past – other than to take action against the scammers and negligent advisers – but we can help consumers understand what they should be looking for in an adviser:

STANDARDS ACCREDITATION CHECKLIST FOR FINANCIAL ADVISERS:
1. Proof of regulation for all services provided by the firm and individual advisers in the jurisdiction where advice is given
2. Evidence of appropriate qualifications and CPD for all advisers
3. Professional Indemnity Insurance
4. Details of how fact finds are carried out, and how clients’ risk profiles are determined and adhered to
5. Details of the firm’s compliance procedures – assuring clients of the highest possible standards
6. Clear and consistent explanation and justification of the use of insurance bonds for pensions and investments
7. Clear policy on structured notes, UCIS and in-house funds, non-standard assets and commission-paying investments
8. Full disclosure of all fees, charges and commissions on all products and services at time of sale, in writing
9. Account of how clients are updated on fund/portfolio performance
10. Evidence of customer complaints made, rejected or upheld and redress paid
If the firm you are thinking about using for your pension transfer do not adhere to all of these standards, find one that does. Your pension pot is your life savings – so don’t entrust it to any old unregulated firm or dishonest scammer. Remember, thousands of victims have already failed to ask the above ten questions – and will regret it for the rest of their lives.
March 11, 2019
Expats and Brexit – Safeguard your pension

BREXIT is the question on everybody’s lips at the moment. BREXIT: will we? won´t we? deal? no deal? So many unanswered questions and so much scaremongering. We would like to offer some helpful words and hopefully protect you from making rash decisions. This could help you to safeguard your pension. Many scammers are trying to cash in on Brexit – make sure sure you’re not their next victim.

Remember I am not a financial adviser. I am a blogger, and I write about financial crime. I provide information about past scams and on how to avoid falling victim to new scams – especially pension scams. The words I write are aimed to help you safeguard your pension from the many offshore scammers.

So, Expats, what does Brexit mean for your pension rights? The short answer is that we really do not know! There are currently lots of “coulds” and “mights” being thrown around, but no certainties. And herein lies the risk that you and your pension could fall victim to a scam with all this scaremongering.

We are seeing a lot of adverts for expats to transfer into a QROPS before the dreaded 11pm on March 29, 2019. One company I have noticed that seems to be using Brexit to attract customers is Spectrum IFA. Back on 1st July 2018, we wrote a qualified and registered blog about Spectrum IFA. They didn´t do too well.

Firstly, despite Spectrum IFA advertising themselves as “international financial advisers”, with some digging we were able to find out that they DO NOT in fact have an investment licence. This means they are not legally allowed to advise on pensions or investments. Secondly, they scored rather poorly on the qualified and registered percentage too. Out of the 16 advisers we checked up on, only four were registered with the appropriate institutes. The rest came up red – meaning the institute had no record of them.

Worrying isn´t it? Offshore companies can try to claim they are international financial advisers, but actually be unregulated and unqualified to carry out the very service they offer! The “advisory” firms have flash websites, and some have several offices around Europe and beyond. Their PR is great at scaremongering expats about their pension investments in the lead up to Brexit.

In Spectrum’s ´Deal or no deal´ article number 14, they suggest you marry a Spaniard in order to prepare for Brexit. I´m not sure about you, but I feel that getting hitched to a native to be able to stay in Spain is a pretty drastic measure and definitely more than a little illegal.

Spectrum IFA is just one example of a firm that probably ought to be given a wide berth when transferring your precious pension fund offshore. Safeguard your pension by avoiding unregulated and unqualified firms like this one.

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It may seem daunting when you read that your UK pension could be subjected to extra taxes if we leave the EU on a no-deal basis. You may be thinking that you should transfer into a QROPS quickly, to save on these taxes. But what you really need to know is that a QROPS is not without punitive costs of its own. They can be expensive and unless you have a good lump sum to transfer you could see a huge chunk of your pension pot taken in transfer and set-up fees anyway! Potentially making you worse off.

Unfortunately, until we make a deal or actually go through with Brexit, nothing is very clear for expats. Which leaves us in an uncertain time and situation. This, I understand, may be daunting for many people, but I urge you to take a deep breath before considering any speedy offshore pension transfers. Thousands of people – especially those who have already fallen victim to scammers such as Continental Wealth Management – would give you exactly the same urgent advice.

If you do want to transfer your pension, please heed this advice to safeguard your pension:

Make sure you choose a reputable firm – one that is regulated, insured and employs fully qualified (and registered) advisers.

We did a series of blogs last year on offshore companies and their advisers. The results were extremely worrying. Aside from their blatant disregard for the necessity of these qualifications – due to being offshore – the number of unqualified advisers offshore was cause for serious concern. Many of the firms had not one single qualified and registered adviser on their team.

Qualified & registered? We do not need to be – we are offshore!

Know all the correct questions to ask an adviser before you sign on the dotted line.

A reputable firm will have a fact-find procedure, and adhere to a client’s risk profile.

A reputable firm will have compliance procedure.

A reputable firm will have clear and consistent explanations and justifications for the use of insurance bonds.

Where will your funds be invested, and how will you know if this is in line with your risk profile?

A pension fund should be placed into a low-medium risk investment.

Scammers tend to go for high-risk, professional-investor-only investments as they offer them the best commissions. But a pension fund should have more protection than this. Avoid investments that involve structured notes (like CWM´s Blue Chip notes), UCIS funds (like Blackmore Global), in-house funds, non-standard assets and any ongoing commission-paying investments.

Insurance bonds – often used by scammers – are usually an unnecessary double wrapper on your fund, that costs you more in fees and charges than a straightforward platform, lining the pockets of the scammers – but making your fund smaller.

How much will the fees and charges be? Remember NO pension transfer is free.

Legitimate firms will normally have a small transfer charge and a small annual fee.

Scammers will often be vague about fees and charges, and avoid giving you a straight answer so they can cover up the true figures. These hidden figures can see your pension fund decrease by 25% or even more in some cases.

A reputable firm should offer you regular updates on the progress of your fund.

You should receive an annual review and a quarterly update showing the fees, charges and growth of your fund.

If your new firm and adviser fail to do this, alarm bells should ring loudly.

Finally, a reputable company will publish evidence to show records of complaints made, rejected or upheld and redress paid.

If the adviser cannot show you all this information, do not trust them.

If it all sounds to good to be true, it probably is – RUN!

Safeguard your pension from the scammers

January 7, 2019
Scammers are criminals. So why aren’t they in jail?

As 2018 draws to a close, a recap is in order to review the year’s progress in the war against pension scammers. Let us not forget – in the immortal words of the Pensions Regulator’s Lesley Titcombe: “scammers are criminals“. However, the sad truth is that most of them have not been prosecuted or jailed.

The vast majority of the well-known pension scammers are still roaming free, busy thinking up yet more life-destroying schemes to make them rich and the victims poor. Whilst the scammers enjoy champagne this New Year’s Eve, many victims will be worrying themselves sick about their bleak financial future.

The Pensions Regulator, the Serious Fraud Office, the Insolvency Service, crime enforcement agencies and courts all seem to drag their feet when it comes to actually bringing charges against these criminals. Yet we see people being locked up for renting out caravans to help vulnerable homeless families! I would love it if this was a short and sweet blog, with many happy endings. But, alas, the scams are plentiful and the victims are left uncompensated for their losses.

Let’s have a quick round up of where we are with the scams and scammers. And remember: all the thousands of victims want to see the scammers sent to jail and the keys thrown away so they can’t ruin any more innocent people’s lives.

5G Futures

5G Futures: in May 2013 Garry John Williams and Susan Lynn Huxley were suspended as trustees of the 5G Futures pension scheme, and from trust schemes in general. Pi Consulting was appointed as the new trustee by the Pensions Regulator.

About 400 people had invested a total of £20m into the 5G Futures scheme – which was invested in high-risk, illiquid off-shore investments, with insufficient diversification making them completely unsuitable for pension scheme investments. There was no due diligence exercised by Williams and Huxley – and the scheme records were a mess.

The scheme operated pension liberation through ‘loans’ to members. Williams and Huxley were found to have taken very high commissions on the investments – taking nearly £900,00 in one year alone.

One of the most worrying things, however, is that the pension scammers don’t just leave the pensions industry and dedicate themselves to helping their many distressed victims – they start up all over again:

Garry Williams and Sue Huxley went on to run Corporate Futures.eu

Neither Garry Williams nor Sue Huxley has ever been convicted or jailed.

Ark

Stephen Ward: (this will not be the last time you hear this name in this blog) was the mastermind behind this scam (dating back to 2010). It was his first known scam – but by no means his last one. What is left of the Ark fund, stands still frozen, in the hands of Dalriada Trustees, who continue to take their yearly costs and fees from what little is left. Dalriada has done nothing to ensure the scammers are prosecuted – saying it is “not within their remit”. The victims of the Ark scam also have the heavy hand of HMRC hanging over them. And let us not forget that it was HMRC who happily registered this scam and failed to withdraw the registration when they discovered that Stephen Ward was operating pension liberation fraud.

Dalriada has never reported Stephen Ward to the police as it is not “within their remit” to ensure the scammers are prosecuted.

In 2018 we saw Stephen Ward being banned from acting as a pension trustee. Eight years after his first scam, he has still not been imprisoned for the millions of pounds’ worth of life savings he has destroyed and the thousands of lives he has ruined.

Other prominent figures in the Ark scam were Julian Hanson – who went on to play a key role in the Friendly Pensions scam; George Frost who went on to operate a new pension liberation scam using truffle trees as investments; Andrew Isles who went on to sell his accountancy business, Isles and Storer to LB Group; Peter Moat of Blu Debt Management who went on to operate the Fast Pensions scam. None of these scammers has ever been convicted or jailed.

Axiom

Another pension liberation scam, which saw victims with HMRC tax demands of 55%. Rex Ashcroft of Wealth Protection International was one of the main introducers of this scam. According to his Linkedin profile, he offers business development strategy planning for the UK, Spain, Portugal and France. He also offers “day-to-day application of wealth protection strategies”. Ashcroft lied to Axiom victims telling them they could access part of their pensions and not pay tax on the cash they took out.

Rex Ashcroft has never been convicted or jailed.

Blackmore Global Fund

The Blackmore Global Fund saw UK-based victims conned into transferring their pension funds into QROPS in Malta and Hong Kong between 2014 and 2016. After the transfers, the funds were invested in the Blackmore Global UCIS fund (Unregulated Collective Investment Scheme) and the victims were locked in (unknowingly) for ten years. Huge commissions were taken by the introducers, Aspinal Chase and David Vilka of Square Mile International and the fund managers Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh.  Victims locked into ten-year fixed terms are still waiting for a copy of an independent audit – which was promised back in 2016! Despite media attention from the BBC, victims still do not know how much of their pension fund – if any – is left.

David Vilka, Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh have never been convicted or jailed. Blackmore Global Group is still being promoted by Phillip Nunn! Nunn and McCreesh had been the main lead generators in the Capita Oak scam – earning nearly £1 million in the process.

Capita Oak

This was another of Stephen Ward´s scams – on which he worked closely with his pensions lawyer Alan Fowler (ex Stevens and Bolton Solicitors) and his sidekick Bill Perkins. Ward carried out the transfer administration for this scam which was mainly operated by XXXX XXXX who offered victims 5% Thurlston “loans”.   Over 300 victims are facing the partial or total loss of their pensions and are also now being pursued by HMRC for tax liabilities on the “loans”.

Capita Oak – like Ark – was placed in the hands of Dalriada Trustees. But Dalriada has never reported Stephen Ward – or any of the other scammers – to the police as it is not “within their remit” to ensure the scammers are prosecuted.

Stephen Ward, Alan Fowler, Bill Perkins and XXXX XXXX have never been convicted or jailed (although XXXX XXXX is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office).

Continental Wealth Management

Stephen Ward’s firm Premier Pension Solutions (in Moraira, Spain) was the “sister” firm of Continental Wealth Management, run by scammer Darren Kirby. This was one of the biggest single scams – known as CWM – with around 1,000 victims losing part or all of their life savings. Other scammers involved were Anthony Downs, Dean Stogsdill, Alan Gorringe, Richard Peasley, and Neil Hathaway.

This scam was promoted by cold-calling victims and promising unrealistically high returns and “capital protection”. Darren Kirby and Anthony Downs used the victims’ funds to invest in totally unsuitable, high-risk, fixed-term structured notes. This scam saw huge commissions paid by the life offices – Old Mutual International, SEB, and Generali – as well as by the structured note providers: Leonteq, Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Canada, and BNP Paribas to this unregulated firm. Let us not forget that this was without question financial crime and was facilitated by the life offices.

Old Mutual International, run by ex IoM regulator Peter Kenny, was the leading life office which facilitated the CWM scam.  Generali and SEB also routinely accepted business from these known scammers and unlicensed advisers.

Stephen Ward, Darren Kirby, Anthony Downs, Dean Stogsdill, Alan Gorringe, Richard Peasley, and Neil Hathaway have never been convicted or jailed.

ELYSIAN FUELS

James Hay and Suffolk Life were accepting Elysian shares for liberation purposes

Another Stephen Ward creation which was operating 80% liberation with the full cooperation of the SIPPS providers James Hay and Suffolk Life. The SIPPS providers and the victims could face tax charges of up to £20 million from HMRC.

Despite clear evidence that Stephen Ward pushed this scam in emails to Alan Fowler and Bill Perkins, neither Ward nor Fowler nor Perkins have ever been prosecuted or jailed.

EVERGREEN RETIREMENT TRUST NZ QROPS PENSION LOAN SCAM

A New Zealand QROPS scam with Marazion pension loans

When Ark got shut down, Stephen Ward went straight to New Zealand to set up his next pension liberation scam with Simon Swallow of Charter Square. A further 300 victims were scammed out of over £10 million and conned into Marazion “loans” AND locked into the Evergreen scheme for five years. After the five years victims were told: ´Despite our best efforts, Evergreen has not been as successful as we had originally hoped.´ Evergreen was wound up April 208.

This scam was promoted by Darren Kirby’s Continental Wealth Management which cold called the victims.

Stephen Ward, Darren Kirby, and Simon Swallow have never been convicted or jailed.

Fast Pensions

Fast Pensions, run by Peter and Sara Moat was wound up by the High Court 30th May 2018, after the six companies and 15 occupational schemes were put into liquidation in March 2018. £21m was transferred into the schemes under Peter Moat’s set of Blu loan companies. However, there was no information on the pension portfolios and what happened to the investors’ funds. Other persons named as being involved in this scam are Miss Jane Wright (who acted as a trustee) and a Mr Chapman. Maladministration was noted by the ombudsman back in 2016. However, nothing was done to stop the Moats.

It was determined that there is no doubt this was a scam.

Peter and Sara Moat and their accomplices have never been convicted or jailed.

Friendly Pensions Limited (FPL)

Back in January of 2018, the Pensions Regulator asked the High Court to act on their behalf in the Friendly Pensions matter. Scammers: David Austin, Susan Dalton, Alan Barratt and Julian Hanson (also involved in ARK) were ordered to pay back £13.7 million they took from their victims and banned from being pension trustees. However, Dalriada the independent trustee appointed by TPR to take over the running of the schemes, is in charge of confiscating the scammers’ assets for the benefit of their victims. (Who knows how long this could take: how long is a piece of string?) As yet, no compensation has been offered to the victims.

David Austin, Susan Dalton, Alan Barratt and Julian Hanson and their accomplices have never been convicted or jailed. However, there have recently been some arrests – so let us hope this results in maximum sentences.

HEADFORTE AND SOUTHLANDS

Two bogus “occupational pension schemes” set up for pension liberation fraud by Stephen Ward after the Evergreen QROPS scam hit the rocks (when HMRC removed Evergreen from the QROPS list). Victims have no idea where or how their pensions are invested. The pensions are allegedly invested in “The Treasury Plus Fund” (whatever that might be – and it is not likely to be anything good) and the trustee is Ward’s bogus trustee firm Dorrixo Alliance.

Nobody knows the total aggregate value of lost pensions and tax liabilities Ward has caused – we hazard a guess at a figure in the region of £100 million +.

Stephen Ward has never been convicted or jailed.

Henley Retirement Benefit Scheme

Another double act by Stephen Ward and XXXX XXXX. This was the “sister” scheme to Capita Oak. Ward did the transfer administration – from safe, well-known and regulated pension providers to this bogus occupational scheme run by XXXX.

Neither Stephen Ward nor XXXX XXXX has ever been convicted or jailed.

Incartus and Bluefin Trustees

Another pension liberation scam – placed in the hands of Dalriada Trustees by the Pensions Regulator.

Incartus was placed in the hands of Dalriada Trustees by the Pensions Regulator. But Dalriada has never reported the scammers to the police as it is not “within their remit” to ensure the scammers are prosecuted.

None of the Incartus or Bluefin trustees scammers has ever been convicted or jailed.

KJK Investments and G Loans

£11.9 million worth of transfers were made, with the victims receiving approximately 50% of their pension as a loan and the promise of the rest being invested into a high-interest generating SIPPS. The loans were made from the pensions and therefore the victims have the usual HMRC tax demand letters. Further to the victims’ misery, the other 50% of the funds was not invested as promised. Most of the funds were swallowed by high commissions paid to the scammers.

None of the KJK Investments/G Loans scammers has ever been convicted or jailed.

London Quantum

Another of Stephen Ward’s many pension scams, this one was courtesy of his bogus pension trustee firm Dorrixo Alliance, his accomplice Gary Barlow at Gerard Associates, and introducers at Viva Costa International. Like Ward´s other scams, London Quantum scam was never set up for the benefit of the victims, but in the interests of Stephen Ward and his team of scammers to earn the maximum amount of commission out of the toxic, illiquid, high-risk investments.

The London Quantum scam is now in the hands of Dalriada Trustees.

London Quantum – like Ark, Capita Oak and Fast Pensions – was placed in the hands of Dalriada Trustees by the Pensions Regulator. But Dalriada has never reported Stephen Ward – or any of the other scammers – to the police as it is not “within their remit” to ensure the scammers are prosecuted.

Stephen Ward and Gary Barlow have never been convicted or jailed.

Successful Pensions

This pension liberation scam dating back to 2013 and 2014, involved around £1m of victims pension funds. Anthony Locke, was sentenced to a five-year jail term and Ray King, 54, who was employed by Lock, was given a three-year jail sentence.

It is great that these two crooks received jail terms, however, they are relatively “small fry” in comparison to the other serial scammers who are still walking free! The question remains: why have two minor players such as Locke and King been convicted and jailed while the “big fish” remain free to keep on scamming?

Salmon Enterprises

116 victims were scammed out of their pensions by James Lau of FCA-regulated Wightman Fletcher McCabe. Victims were assured the loans they were given did not come from their pension funds and would not be taxable by HMRC. The trustees of the scheme – Peter Bradley and Andrew Meeson (both ex HMRC) of Tudor Capital Management – were jailed for eight years for cheating the Public Revenue. James Lau is currently under criminal investigation by the Insolvency Service. The victims are awaiting a verdict on whether they will still have to pay the tax penalties.

James Lau has not yet been convicted or jailed – although he is clearly a wanted man.

Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund

This fund, created by XXXX XXXX, loaned most of the £21m invested by hundreds of victims to Dolphin Trust. Dolphin Trust is a UCIS which was illegal to be sold to UK residents. The Trafalgar Multi-Asset fund was suspended back in September 2016 and victims are still waiting to find out if they will ever get their money back.

This scam was facilitated by STM Fidecs in Gibraltar – one of Europe’s biggest QROPS providers. The regulator did order Deloittes to carry out an inspection into STM Fidecs’ books, but no action was taken against STM Fidecs for their part in this scam.

STM Fidecs accepted transfers into the QROPS by UK-resident victims “advised” by XXXX XXXX – even though he was not licensed to give financial advice. And then XXXX’s clients were 100% invested in XXXX’s own fund.

XXXX XXXX has not yet been convicted or jailed – although he is clearly under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

Westminster Pension Scam

Another of the schemes under investigation by the SFO. This liberation scam with more than £3 million worth of (now worthless) investments was registered and administered by Stephen Ward.

Windsor Pensions

A no-frills pension liberation scam run by Florida-based Steve Pimlott. This scam has been going on for years and there is no sign of any let up – despite the fact that the regulators and ombudsman are well aware of Pimlott’s modus operandi. Pimlott doesn’t bother with any attempt to conceal the loans with fancy “loans” or complex mechanisms to try to “distance” the liberation from the pension transfer. He uses QROPS and a fraudulently-set-up bank account in the Isle of Man (of course!). HMRC catches many of the victims and charges them 55% tax on the liberated amount. Pimlott charges around 15% for the liberation.

Steve Pimlott has not yet been convicted or jailed

What a sorry state of affairs that out of all the pension schemes I have mentioned here, only one of them has seen the scammers jailed. Serial scammers like Stephen Ward and XXXX XXXX seem to slip the noose of justice again and again.

December 31, 2018
High Court finally winds up the truffle saga pension scam

This could possibly be described as wonderful news for the victims of Viceroy Jones New Tech Ltd, Viceroy Jones Overseas PCC Limited, Westcountrytruffles Limited, Truffle Sales Ltd and Credit Free Limited. Or maybe not. The whereabouts of the funds is unknown. This pension liberation and investment scam saw 100 investors conned out of £9m of their pension savings.

The full story can be read here:

https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2018/12/13/companies-behind-9m-pension-truffle-scam-shut-down/?utm_campaign=FTAdviser+news&utm_source=emailCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=

In short, Viceroy Jones used unregulated financial advisory firms to persuade victims to invest in ‘high-value truffles for commercial sales’. With the promise of high returns on this fixed-term investment (lasting 15 years), investors believed they would reap the benefits once the truffles were harvested.

No truffles were ever harvested.

In reality, the investment saw most of the £9m of funds invested being paid into offshore bank accounts. These funds were then paid out in high commissions to the unregulated advisers who mis-sold the scheme. No supporting documents have been found regarding these investments, so the whereabouts of any remaining funds is unknown.

As I said above, it is only possibly wonderful news for the victims. Whilst the company has been wound up, the victims have been promised no compensation and do not know where their money is. This is a not an uncommon situation in scams like these. The victims of Peter Moat’s company – Fast Pensions, also do not know where their funds have gone.

Cheryl Lambert, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

“We take the matter of unregulated pension liberation investment schemes very seriously and will take action to stop any such schemes who have acted unscrupulously.”

However, I feel I have to disagree.

What message does the Insolvency Service send?!?

Are the perpetrators behind bars? NO!

Are the perpetrators having all their assets frozen and liquidated to pay the victim’s back? NO!

Are the perpetrators facing life without a pension? I DOUBT IT!

Are the perpetrators sorry for what they did? I DOUBT IT!

There is a long list of other pensions scammers who have scammed millions out of the public and still walk freely, creating new scam after new scam.

But to name a few of the scammers:

XXXX XXXX

Stephen Ward

Peter and Sara Moat

Phillip Nunn

David Vilka

Some of the scams they have sold:

Ark pension liberation scam

Capita Oak

Continental Wealth Management

Blackmore Global Fund

Fast Pensions

See our blog on the Top 10 Deadliest Pension Scammers.

Winding up these companies is often of little help to the scam victims. What is left of their funds (if any) is passed on to another trustee (often Dalriada) to deal with the ‘clean up’. This action, however, is not without cost and often the funds just sit there doing nothing.

Take the Ark victims whose schemes were transferred to Dalriada – they have not had any compensation in the seven and a half years Dalriada has acted as their trustees. Dalriada, however, has continued – without fail – to charge their yearly fees and costs, further decimating the victims’ funds. AND without any suggestion of what will happen next!

Furthermore, victims that fell prey to these scams, face more stress as they are also contending with HMRC. The Taxman is sending out demands for huge tax bills, as they claim the money the victims liberated (“borrowed”) from the Ark schemes was not tax free. 55% tax is applied to money that was liberated from pension funds – this is deemed an “unauthorised payment charge” by HMRC.

The High Court needs to do a lot more than this, to send a clear message to these scammers. Prosecutions, jail sentences and large fines would be a good start.

All enquiries concerning the affairs of the companies should be made to: The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 4 Abbey Orchard Street, London, SW1P 2HT. Telephone: 0207 637 1110, Email: piu.or@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.

Cartoon blog – Don’t be the next pension scam victim

December 18, 2018
The wheels of the law don´t seem to turn at all

This week Henry Tapper wrote a blog entitled, “The wheels of the law turn (too) slowly”. He exposes the fact that when it comes to financial crime the justice system in place just isn´t enough.  I think he was being generous with his title. The wheels of the law don’t just turn slowly – they just don’t turn at all. Friendly Pensions has been in the news this week.

In the case of Friendly Pensions, we know ringleader David Austin is guilty of setting up 11 fake schemes, with toxic investments including a truffle farm. We know that he and his partners in crime, Susan Dalton, Alan Barratt and Julian Hanson (also connected to the Ark Scam), are guilty of scamming 245 pension savers out of £13.7 million. We knew all of this back in January 2018, yet no arrests have been made!

The FCA has, however, just yesterday, managed to enforce the following:

“David Austin, 52, has been banned from serving as a pension trustee and disqualified from working as a company director for 12 years. His business partners Susan Dalton, Alan Barratt, and Julian Hanson have also been barred from trustee roles.

David Austin’s daughter, 25-year-old Camilla, has been banned from serving as a director for four years for helping him with the scheme.”

They have been asked to pay the money back but by the looks of their social media accounts, I don´t think there is much left. Camilla’s Facebook and Instagram accounts show her sunning herself on beaches and yachts around the world, and posing at luxury alpine ski resorts. David Austin is pictured on a gondola in Venice. They certainly got to enjoy the proceeds of their many victims’ pensions.

Camilla Austin was a central part of the operational side of the Friendly Pensions scam. She and a number of her girlfriends went into nursing homes and approached elderly, frail and vulnerable elderly people. They easily conned them into signing transfer request forms – all that is required to get their hands on millions of pounds’ worth of pension funds. And, of course, we all know that the ceding providers do nothing to stop fraudulent transfers.

As Henry points out, banning these people from acting as trustees or directors, does little to deter past, present and future pension scammers. A ban is barely a slap on the wrist as far as we are concerned; these scammers can still launch any number of future dodgy schemes by simply finding the next crooked stooge – just as XXXX XXXX used the idiotic Karl Dunlop to be a director in the Capita Oak scam.

Keeping pension savers safe from financial crime should be at the top of the list – but, instead, it is at the bottom. Pension scammers are left free to commit their crimes over and over again. Take Julian Hanson: he was busily scamming dozens of Ark victims out of more than £5.3 million worth of pensions back in 2011 and 2012, yet he was not prosecuted or jailed. Hence, he was still able to get “friendly” with David Austin and go on to scam hundreds more victims out of their pensions.

Remember the Capita Oak, Henley Retirement Benefits and Westminster pension scams?   These were scams run by XXXX XXXX of Nationwide Benefit Consultants. However, XXXX was never brought to justice and so went on to operate the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund/Victory Asset Management scam (STM Fidecs acted as the trustees here). So hundreds more people were again scammed out of their pensions. XXXX is currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office – but effectively still free to operate more scams.   We already have our suspicions about his connections to new scams.

Capita Oak was registered by HMRC on 23.7.2012 (PSTR 00785484RM) by Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Transfers of 31 Memorial Road, Worsley and Premier Pension Solutions of Moraira, Spain. Ward was responsible for the ARK debacle – also with Dalriada – the scam that was to create the birth of Pension Life.

Despite investigations being made into these schemes, Ward was still able to go on and create the CWM monster scheme that saw around 1,000 victims conned out of their pension funds. Ward is hovering somewhere between his collection of luxury villas in Florida and the Spanish Costa Blanca – but at least he is no longer doing pension transfers. Over the past nine years, Ward can be linked to dozens more pension scams that have left thousands of victims’ funds decimated.

These cases are just the tip of the iceberg. We must not forget Philip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh´s investment scam Blackmore Global. This was in the wake of them doing the lead generation for the Capita Oak and Henley Retirement Fund scams.  The Insolvency Service has wound up these schemes, yet Nunn and McCreesh remain free to defraud more victims as they have never been brought to justice.

David Vilka of Square Mile International was one of the main promoters of the Blackmore Global Fund scam.   He “advised” dozens – possibly hundreds – of victims to invest their pensions in this scam (despite the fact that he is neither qualified nor regulated to give investment advice). Again, he has never been prosecuted or jailed, so still remains at large – free to continue scamming people out of their pensions.

We published the Top 10 Deadliest Pension Scammers blog back in February 2018. In this blog, you can read about Fast Pensions and the Moats, as well as Steve Pimlott of Windsor Pensions. Whilst the Fast Pensions scheme has been wound up by the high court and placed in the hands of Dalriada, neither Sara nor Peter Moat is behind bars.

You can see a depressing pattern here: these words are about cold, hard facts. The authorities are leaving known scammers free to keep scamming.

Victims of these scams have been left in misery and financial ruin. Some have taken their own lives. Yet the perpetrators, those guilty of these repeated financial crimes, are free to do as they please.

This area of financial crime really is where the wheels of the law don´t seem to turn.  Shame there aren’t any regulators capable of doing any regulating, or law enforcement agencies capable of enforcing the law.

October 24, 2018
Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered?
This week, in my mission to disclose advisory firms´ claims to qualifications (or in fact the lack of them), I am looking into Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered?

What the Square Mile website page says:

Despite referring to their Prague headquarters in a lovely paragraph:

“Square Mile has a dedicated customer care and administrative team based in our headquarters in the beautiful historic Old Town quarter of Prague, in the Czech Republic. Aside from picturesque surroundings, being in the very heart of Europe allows our customer services team to easily service our clients all over Europe, as well as placing us within 90 mins of London’s own ‘Square Mile’ where we have our UK team, and extensive links and partnerships with some of the worlds top financial institutions.”

…their website fails to list their team members, so over to Linkedin to see who the lucky people are.

But, firstly, a bit of background information about Square Mile, just in case you haven´t heard of them.

Square Mile International in Prague is run by David Vilka, a name that has been the star of several other Pension Life blogs. Vilka is linked to the Blackmore Global Investment Fund scam which saw victims’ pensions invested in dodgy AND illegal (for UK residents) UCIS funds. It should also be noted that David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial – was not regulated to give investment advice, but did so anyway.

Vilka transferred at least 65 pensions into a Hong Kong QROPS and then invested them into the Blackmore Global fund, courtesy of Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh of Aspinal Chase. Blackmore Global is an unregulated fund, which has never had an independent audit. Investors fear their pension funds may well be lost, as there is no evidence as to where the money has gone. David Vilka has showed no shame for what he did, and has made no attempt to recover any remainder of his victims´pensions.

So, Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered?

IFAs and their clients are invited to add to this blog, correct it or improve it. Here’s a link to the three registers if you want to double check:

http://www.cii.co.uk/web/app/membersearch/MemberSearch.aspx

https://www.cisi.org/cisiweb2/cisi-website/join-us/cisi-member-directory

https://www.libf.ac.uk/members-and-alumni/sps-and-cpd-register – Claim to a DipFA

Please note that this data is correct as of 29/08/2018.

Staff list for Square Mile International Prague office:
1. David Vilka – Managing Director – DOES NOT APPEAR ON ANY REGISTER – but we knew that already!
2. Alan West – Head of Client Services – DOES NOT APPEAR ON ANY REGISTER
Well, the Square Mile International Prague offices´ dedicated customer care and administrative team´ doesn´t inspire much confidence. Only two staff members are listed – one of them is known to be linked to pension scams – and neither has any financial qualifications!

Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered? 0%

On a final note, this is the statement made on the Square Mile retirement solutions section of their webpage:

´PENSION SCAMS & LIBERATION: BE AWARE– No properly authorised scheme should be able to offer benefits to you before age 55 – any scheme offering this facility or any adviser claiming to be able to do this is almost certainly involved in pension liberation. A bonafide scheme, whether UK or International, will be listed on the HMRC website. There is much sensationalism written about pension scams. The truth is that there are many more very good investments opportunities and very few scams in comparison. Good investments don’t sell newspapers so inevitably the few rotten apples make the headlines. Simple steps such as: checking your adviser is regulated in an EEA jurisdiction and is correctly passported into your jurisdiction, checking the levels of remuneration the adviser will receive, checking the lock-in clauses with the investment scheme and any penalties, and confirming directly with any professional advisers, auditors, or lawyers named on the investment of their involvement. Despite what is written an alternative or esoteric investment as part of a portfolio can reap very good rewards if proper research is undertaken.´

Interestingly, David Vilka (pictured here with John Ferguson, who was also involved in the Blackmore Global scam) is not regulated to give financial advice on pensions or investments, but did so anyway. The Blackmore Global scam victims are locked into a toxic investment fund, that should not have been sold to them as UK residents. Furthermore, they face penalties if they wish to withdraw the little they have left in the fund, as they are locked in for 10 years. No move has been made by any of the perpetrators to help these victims.

Square Mile International should be placed at arm´s length by anyone who wants a secure future for their pension fund.
August 29, 2018
BLACKMORE BOND – SHAKEN OR STIRRED – CARELESS OR STUPID?

In the wake of hundreds of victims fearing heavy pension losses in the Blackmore Global fund, we now have another disaster waiting to happen: Blackmore Bond.

This new threat to unwary investors has been analysed by Bond Review. Just to be clear, many people were duped into investing their pensions in the Blackmore Global UCIS fund – which has never published an independent audit. We now have a second threat offered by Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh. Blackmore Bond PLC is promoting these unregulated, capital-at-risk bonds which purport to pay up to 8.5% per annum – but with potential for total loss. How many more people will this high-risk bond ruin financially?

BLACKMORE BOND – SHAKEN OR STIRRED – CARELESS OR STUPID?

Bond Review raises an intriguing question: how come Paul Careless and Surge Group have got involved with Nunn and McCreesh? Unless he has been careless (pun intended), Careless looks to have an unblemished past and Surge (in Brighton) looks to be a bona fide company.

In 2017, Careless’ company Surge Group offered £3,000 in sponsorship to the Kent Police rugby team. This was accepted, but then he tried to change the sponsor from Surge Group to Blackmore Bond. And Blackmore Global started claiming on their website to be “Proud supporters of Kent Police Rugby Team”. So why would Careless – himself an ex-police officer – try to con the police and also get into bed with Nunn and McCreesh?

Let us just remind ourselves that Messrs Nunn and McCreesh were the cold callers/lead generators in the Capita Oak and Henley Retirement Benefits scams which are now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Nunn and McCreesh scammed/attempted to scam up to 300 victims a month for more than two years. Unsurprisingly, Kent Police declined the toxic offer to have any association between a law-enforcement agency and known scammers.

But here’s another puzzle: a geezer called Kenneth “Buzz” West also appears at first glance to be relatively harmless. He is a director of numerous companies – including European Wealth. The only stain on his reputation that I can find is that his former company, Ashcourt Rowan, was fined £412k by the FSA in 2012 for dodgy investments in his other company: Savoy Group. But Ashcourt Rowan held its hands up and paid the fine.

So why on earth would “Buzz” risk getting tangled up with Nunn and McCreesh? Buzz is now Chairman of two of their companies: Blackmore Group and Blackmore Bond. Unless his brains are shaken as well as stirred, he is committing professional suicide – knowingly and deliberately.

Or perhaps I am being too harsh. Maybe he has taken on the role of Chairman so that he can ensure that Blackmore Bond does not sell any toxic, high-risk products to low-risk victims; and also so that he can get the long-overdue Blackmore Global fund audit done. Maybe he also has plans to get the Blackmore Global victims compensated for their losses and distress suffered in the past couple of years.

We need to be very clear about Blackmore Global: it is a UCIS fund that was illegally promoted to retail investors in the UK and which unregulated David Vilka of Square Mile International was flogging to UK victims in the Hong Kong QROPS scam. This accounted for 64 victims with a combined transfer value of £1.6 million – all introduced by cold-calling firm Aspinall Chase – run by Nunn and McCreesh.

According to Companies House, Kenneth Buzz West is a Cypriot and resides in Cyprus.

It just so happens that I am going to Cyprus in a couple of weeks – so hopefully he will invite me for a wee drop of Zivania and Halloumi on toast. And once our whistles are whetted, we can discuss the Blackmore Global audit and compensation.

March 31, 2018
Top 10 Deadliest Pension Scammers

Pension scammers are hidden all around us, often dressed in smart clothes, driving smart cars and carrying impressive leather folders. They offer what seems like smart investments, push through your pension fund transfer swiftly and seamlessly. However what you don´t see on the surface is their hidden parasitic ways. These scammers will drain the funds from your pension, investing in high-risk, toxic investments, that only they will profit from.

Here´s Pension Life´s, “Top 10 Pension Scammers”. (Please note: this information is correct as of the today´s date only, as pension scammers are evolving daily and as one falls another will rise!)

10 – Square Mile International

John (Gus) Ferguson’s firm Square Mile International promote unregulated toxic crap to pension savers and employs unqualified David Vilka. The so-called “advisers” promoted the Blackmore Global Fund.

It is still unclear what has actually happened to the money invested into the Blackmore Global Fund.

9 – James Lau & Tudor Capital Management

James Lau was a financial adviser with Wightman, Fletcher McCabe (FSA regulated) – part of the Clarkson Hill Group. Along with directors Peter Bradley and Andrew Meeson, of Tudor Capital Management (subsequently jailed for eight years for money laundering and tax fraud), James Lau conned 116 victims into transferring their pensions, investing in forex trading companies, and liberating up to 85% of their pensions. Lau is now rumoured to be in hiding in Hong Kong. The victims are now facing 55% tax charges by HMRC.

8 – Friendly Pensions

David Austen of Friendly Pensions, used cold-calling and high-pressure sales tactics to strong-arm 245 victims into investing in 11 fake schemes, including a truffle farm.

Dalton, Barratt and Hanson all served as trustees on the fake schemes set up by Austin – who is described as the mastermind – and were paid more than £550,000 between them. The four scammers who conned pension savers out of £13.7 million have now been banned from the industry but not imprisoned. The victims, however, lost everything.

7 – Continental Wealth Management (CWM)

One thousand people were relieved of up to £100 million worth of pension funds. Conned by a motley assortment of snake oil salesmen, the victims were promised high returns, but all they got was high losses. Old Mutual International (OMI) were the provider for the bulk of the insurance bonds in this scam. Funds were invested in risky, toxic structured notes which were clearly labelled as “for professional investors only”. Clients were lied to, as when they saw the value of their funds plunging dramatically, the Continental Wealth Management scammers assured the victims that the reported losses were “only paper losses”. Continental Wealth Management collapsed in September 2017.

6 -XXXX XXXX

XXXX XXXX was the “distributor” of the Capita Oak, Henley, Westminster and various SIPPS scams in 2012/13. He was also operating pension liberation fraud with his “loan” company: Thurlstone. When these schemes collapsed in 2013, he went on to launch an investment scam called Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund. Capita Oak, Henley, Westminster and Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund are now all under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. XXXX XXXX has been arrested and his offices searched.

5 – Nunn and McCreesh

Phillip Nunn – along with his sidekick and partner in crime Patrick McCreesh – provided “lead generation” services to the Capita Oak and Henley scams. At up to 200 leads a month for more than two years, he was responsible for the destruction of £ millions of pension funds – and got paid nearly £1 million in fees for doing so. He then went on to set up an investment scam called Blackmore Global – a UCIS which is illegal to be promoted to retail pension savers. It is not known whether the investors have lost some, most or all of the funds in Blackmore Global as Phillip Nunn refuses to have an independent audit carried out on the fund.

4 – Steve Pimlott – Windsor Pensions

Steve Pimlott has been running Windsor Pensions for at least seven years. He claims to have done around 5,000 pension liberations and assures victims that HMRC will be “unlikely” to catch up with them. Pimlott uses QROPS schemes such as Danica in Sweden and then sets up a fraudulent bank account in the Isle of Man. The transfer never goes anywhere near Danica, of course. But the transfer is sent to the IoM bank account – 85% is paid out to the victim and Pimlott trousers the other 15%. HMRC is now taxing the victims at 55% – although they have never taken action against Pimlott who is still operating happily in Florida (not far from where Stephen Ward has his six luxury villas).

3 – Fast Pensions

Peter Moat and his wife Sara Moat were chums of Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions. They ran a loan company called Blu Debt Management and also had several other businesses involving estate agency and pension administration. Hundreds of victims were transferred into the Moats’ Fast Pension schemes, and now the victims cannot access their pensions or transfer out. Peter and Sara Moat live in the Javea area of the Spanish Costa Blanca and have had 18 Pensions Ombudsman’s determinations against them for mal-administration of the pension schemes they are running. It is thought that around 400 victims are affected, although it is not known how much they have lost between them. It is known that several years ago, a substantial amount of the funds were loaned to Bridgebank Capital and then used as bridging loans for property developers. But the money has since been repaid and goodness only knows where it is now. Certainly not accessible to the members.

2 – Stephen Ward

Ark: 486 victims; £27 million at risk; 55% tax penalties on 50% loans

Evergreen: 300 victims; £10 million at risk

Capita Oak: 300 victims; £10 million at risk; tax penalties on XXXX XXXX’s Thurlstone “loans”

Westminster: 200 victims; £7 million at risk; tax penalties on “loans”

Southlands, Headforte, Feldspar, Hammerley, Maribel, Dorrixo Alliance, Halkin, Bollington Wood, Randwick Estates, Elysian Fuels, London Quantum – and many more. Stephen Ward remains active with DB transfers.

and in first position we have …..

1 – HMRC

Yes, you read correctly, HMRC is our number-one culprit in the Top 10 pension scammers list. And here’s why:

Since at least 2010, pension scams have been on the rise. That’s 8 years, yet regulations have not been changed, HMRC has not become vigilant or conscientious about registering pension scams, and new laws have not been put in place to stop scammers.

In fact, the scams are registered in the first place by HMRC, and in the case of occupational schemes also by tPR.

No notice is taken of whether the schemes are registered by known scammers and no questions are asked as to the purpose of the schemes.

In the case of James Lau’s Salmon Enterprises, the trustees – Meeson and Bradley – had been investigated by HMRC and arrested in March 2010 on suspicion of money laundering and tax fraud. However, HMRC did nothing to warn ceding providers or the public and Salmon Enterprises was left as an HMRC-registered, fully-operational occupational scheme.

Later that year, one ceding provider queried the legitimacy of the Salmon Enterprises scheme, but HMRC refused to elaborate on why the trustees had been arrested. A transfer went ahead – along with 115 others – while HMRC sat back in the full knowledge that all these victims would be bound to face unauthorised payment tax charges.

In the Ark case, HMRC spoke to the organisers and promoters (including Stephen Ward) of the six Ark schemes on several occasions. They then had a meeting with Craig Tweedley and Ward in February 2011 to discuss their concerns that the 50% “loans” paid out to scheme members constituted unauthorised payments. At this point there was a “mere” £7 million worth of transfers. Nothing was done to suspend the Ark schemes for another three months – during which time a further £20 million was transferred in. HMRC is now trying to tax both the members and the scheme for unauthorised payments.

In the full knowledge that Stephen Ward was behind Ark and numerous other scams, HMRC ignored evidence of his pension trustee/administrator firm – Dorrixo Alliance. In May 2014, they discussed prosecuting Ward, but did nothing about the London Quantum pension scam, and in August of the same year, a police officer lost his police pension to Ward’s scheme.

Therefore, HMRC takes 1st place, due to its downright lack of motivation to help stop the scams, yet speedy tax demands fly out for the unauthorised payments arising from the so-called “loans” operated from the very schemes that HMRC themselves registers.

Furthermore, HMRC taxes the victims of pension liberation scams – and not the perpetrators.

List of 10 deadliest parasites borrowed from listverse website for comparison.

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As always, Pension Life would like to remind you that if you are planning to transfer any pension funds, make sure that you are transferring into a legitimate scheme. To find out how to avoid being scammed, please see our blog:

What is a pension scam?

Follow Pension Life on twitter to keep up with all things pension related, good and bad.

February 18, 2018
BBC 4’s You & Yours Exposes Blackmore Global Pension Scam

BBC Radio 4’s You & Yours reports on three victims of a pension investment scam called Blackmore Global, two of whom were cold called by David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial.

The three victims were persuaded to transfer their funds from secure company pensions into QROPS (Qualifying Overseas Pension Schemes). The victims have since struggled to track or recoup their investments in the Blackmore Global fund.

BBC´s You & Yours image of Stephen Sefton

Stephen Sefton, a driving instructor from Milton Keynes, was the main focus of the You & Your´s program. Most of his pension fund had been invested through the overseas pension scheme into a fund called Blackmore Global. The rest had gone into an investment fund in Malta. A year later disaster struck.

Stephen became a member of Pension Life after he was unable to track and evaluate his overseas pension investment. Upon calling the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), he was informed that his adviser – David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial – was not regulated to give investment advice. Furthermore, the fund in Malta was a professional investor fund only and was not suitable for a retail investor like him.

Stephen, taking advantage of the new pension rules, had transferred £415,000 of his company pension scheme into a new pension in 2015. He wanted to access his money early and give some to his children. He had found the advisory firm online; seen the company’s FCA registration number of David Vilka’s firm (Square Mile International Financial based in Prague) at the bottom of the firm’s letters. What he did not realise, was that the firm was only regulated for insurance mediation, and not investment advice.

Stephen, managed to get most of his money back after pursuing his case for many months. However, he lost £30,000 of his investment as the fund in Malta dropped in value at the time of withdrawing his money.

Having succeeded in recouping a good chunk of his money, he received an email from Square Mile International Financial offering him a bribe of £6,000 to cease all contact with outside sources. This included regulatory authorities and Action Fraud!

David Vilka, one of Square Mile International Financial’s directors, claims this to be incorrect. Instead suggesting the amount was a goodwill gesture to close the matter amicably.

Unfortunately Stephen Sefton’s recovery of his money is a minority case, many other victims of the Blackmore Global Pension Scam are finding it difficult to recover their money.

David Vilka insists that Square Mile International Financial is a completely legitimate firm. He claims the firm has been “inspected and verified in full by numerous regulators”. Furthermore, Stephen’s reports to Action Fraud were returned saying it had not identified any leads to follow up.

The BBC also reported about another victim called Paul (not his real name):

“Paul” agreed to have his £100,000 pension fund transferred into another pension scheme and then invested in the Blackmore Global fund. This was after being cold-called by another company called Aspinal Chase who offered him a free pension review.

The small print stated investments were locked in for 10 years, which was way beyond Paul’s 60^th Birthday. This was not mentioned to Paul when he made the transfer. Fortunately he managed to escape the lock-in, however he has still been unable to access his funds.

Paul told You and Yours “I’ve got three grandchildren. I’d like to take them all to Disneyworld in America. I want to spend the money I’ve earned over the years. A bit of that money would pay off the last bit of my mortgage, so that is a big chunk of my future. I feel as though I’ve let the family down.”

The perpetrators – Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh – are listed as Blackmore Global’s directors in a fund document seen by Radio 4’s You & Yours program, which shows they each earn salaries of £20,000 a year.

David Vilka was also the financial adviser for Paul and also for the third victim reported, Jacqueline. Another cold-call victim of Aspinal Chase, Jacqueline has had no access to her funds.

Blackmore Global’s directors have refused to release the £50,000 she invested. You & Yours quoted, Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh: who said, only allowed redemption´s in exceptional circumstances to “protect the integrity of the investment for its other stakeholders”.

Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh deny that their company, would engage in cold calling or pension advice. They claimed that any advice must have been given by separate, regulated financial advisers.

Nunn and McCreesh also say they have no financial relationship with David Vilka or Square Mile International Financial. In fact, they state they are totally independent from them! However, there has to be a good reason why Vilka has invested so many of his victims’ pension funds in the Blackmore Global fund – and risked criminal prosecution because Blackmore Global is a UCIS (Unregulated, Collective, Investment Scheme) which is illegal to promote to UK residents.

Pension Life is aware of a further 38 victims cold called by Aspinal Chase, Nunn & McCreesh´s firm. Originally being advised to transfer their funds into a Hong Kong QROPS, the victims´ funds finally made their way to the Blackmore Global fund. The total amount of funds scammed from these UK resident victims amounts to nearly £1,000,000!

To listen to the broadcast on the BBC’s website, click here.

To read the news story based on the You & Yours report, click here.

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As always, Pension Life would like to remind you that if you are planning to transfer any pension funds, make sure that you are transferring into a legitimate scheme. To find out how to avoid being scammed, please see our blog:

What is a pension scam?

Follow Pension Life on twitter to keep up with all things pension related, good and bad.

January 31, 2018
PHILLIP NUNN – SCAM OF THE YEAR – BLACKMORE GLOBAL

Pension Scammer Phillip Nunn receiving an award for “Entrepreneur of the Year”

Phillip Nunn has been reported to Action Fraud – which John Ferguson of Square Mile Financial Services describes as being “nobody and with no authority” – on numerous occasions by victims of various scams.

Phillip Nunn, cold caller and “fund manager” of the Blackmore Global investment scam, was given the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by JCI Manchester, but this was reversed shortly afterwards:

“JCI Manchester have today been made aware that an audit may be being carried out in respect of the Blackmore Global Fund. This was not information we were privy to before Phillip Nunn was awarded a ‘Manchester Young Talent Award’ this week.

If such an audit is being carried out, we will await the results of the same and we will consider any other information which comes into the public domain. Pending this, the JCI Manchester board have decided to suspend the award given to Phillip Nunn.”

MYT Phillip Nunn Award Retraction

“An independent panel of judges formed their own view on Phillip Nunn’s submission based solely on the written application received.”

I would love to read Phillip Nunn’s submission. It would certainly make very interesting reading. I doubt it would have included the fact that Nunn and his accomplice Patrick McCreesh were cold callers and lead generators in the Capita Oak/Henley Retirement Benefits/multiple SIPPS/Store First scam – which led to well over 1,000 victims losing over £120 million worth of pensions.

The Insolvency Service produced a witness statement which stated:

“Members of CAPITA OAK indicated they were initially contacted by Craig Mason or Patrick McCreesh of Nunn McCreesh of Its Your Pension Ltd and offered pension review services prior to them being referred to JACKSON FRANCIS or Sycamore for the transfer of their pension to CAPITA OAK.

On 3.3.15 I received an undated letter in which it was stated that Its Your Pension had not traded and was a dormant company and that Nunn McCreesh had traded as an insurance brokerage between 2009 and 2012 when they entered into a verbal arrangement with TRANSEURO where in return for providing pension leads to JACKSON FRANCIS they received a commission from TRANSEURO.

Nunn McCreesh provided JACKSON FRANCIS with 100-200 leads per month which were provided by email and/or telephone for which they received £899,829.86 from TRANSEURO during the period 26.3.12 to 14.5.14.”

Phillip Nunn’s lawyers, Slater and Gordon (funny that, also nominated for an award) tried to claim that Nunn McCreesh’s involvement in the Capita Oak scam was “minimal”. But I wouldn’t describe generating 5,000 leads, cold calling thousands of victims and being paid nearly £900k “minimal”.

On the subject of Slater and Gordon, earlier this year they threatened me with defamation proceedings for exposing Nunn’s scamtivities. It was curious that they couldn’t see any conflict of interest in representing Phillip Nunn when they were also representing the very victims (of Capita Oak) whom he had cold called in the first place.

Slater and Gordon’s Steve Kunziewicz claimed that “Blackmore Global is a prestigious, multi-asset investment house with over £60 million in assets under management, offering institutional and high net-worth clients access to a wide variety of investment products in order to maximise their returns.”

But there is no audit for Blackmore Global and only evidence suggesting the fund is invested in toxic, high-risk, illiquid crap including:

Swan Holding PCC

Kingston Capital Partners (Belize private equity vehicle controlled by Nunn & McCreesh)

GRRE Invest

Spinaris 90 ( UK sports spread betting)

The Blackmore Global audit was promised more than a year ago but never materialised. The audit has now been promised “by the end of the year” – but Grant Thornton won’t specify which year.

However, far from the Blackmore Global fund being aimed at “institutional and high net worth clients”, Phillip Nunn targets low-risk pension savers using a variety of unregulated so-called “advisers” such as David Vilka of Square Mile Financial Services. Many of the Blackmore Global victims were cold-called and/or introduced by Phillip Nunn’s cold-calling outfit, Aspinall Chase. Some were transferred to Maltese QROPS run by Integrated Capabilities and Harbour (now taken over by STM) and to Hong Kong.

Blackmore Global is a UCIS fund – unregulated collective investment scheme. And it is illegal to promote these to UK retail investors as this was banned by the FCA in 2014.

I doubt the other nominees and award recipients will appreciate having been listed alongside Phillip Nunn who has a history of promoting other scammers’ pension scams and is now running one himself. Perhaps JCI Manchester ought to vet candidates for the Manchester Young Talent Awards more carefully in the future.

November 26, 2017
STM FIDECS – SAFE HARBOUR FOR ALAN KENTISH

Gibraltar’s most wanted man – Alan Kentish, CEO of STM Fidecs

STM Fidecs needed a safe Harbour. And now they’ve got one – but is it really safe?

LETTER TO ALAN KENTISH – CEO OF STM FIDECS:

Dear Al, hope you are well. I’m not anticipating a response to this because I know how difficult it must be to type emails when you’re wearing handcuffs. However, I thought I would drop you a line because I am genuinely worried about you.

STM’s harbour for investment scams

You see, I heard you’d bought Harbour Pensions for £1 million – a book of 1,600 members. But how many of these members will want to stay once they find out they are now in the hands of STM? If any of them have got any sense they will transfer out to a decent QROPS trustee who can be trusted to look after their pensions. STM Fidecs allowed hundreds of victims – advised by a known scammer running an unlicensed firm (XXXX XXXX) of the Pensions Reporter/Global Partners Limited) – to be 100% invested in XXXX’s own fund, Trafalgar Multi Asset (now suspended, under investigation by the SFO and being wound up).

The Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund was a sub-fund of the Nascent Platform – one of many operated by Custom House Global offering scammers a cost-effective place to waste pension pots. This provided a low-cost solution to wannabe fund managers to try their hand at playing musical money with victims’ life savings.

What surprises me, is that having proved that STM Fidecs is an incompetent firm run by inept – or perhaps even crooked – people, you would be splashing money around acquiring more victims and more toxic assets. Instead, you should have been paying compensation to your existing victims who may well have lost a substantial proportion of their retirement savings due to STM Fidecs’ own failings.

Having acquired Harbour, you have now added the toxic, illiquid, high-risk, un-audited Blackmore Global fund to your portfolio of worthless crap. Your balance sheet must need disinfectant and a good old scrub.

STM’s balanced portfolio of toxic investment scams – Trafalgar Multi Asset and Blackmore Global

Furthermore, you will now be in league with not one but TWO lots of scammers who are under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. XXXX XXXX (Trafalgar Multi Asset) and Nunn McCreesh (Blackmore Global) were both behind the Capita Oak and Henley Retirement Benefit pension scams – all 100% invested in Store First store pods.

Seriously, Al, you should think about cleaning up your act – not making it dirtier and murkier. Hope those handcuffs don’t chafe too much.

Best, Angie

November 16, 2017