Tag: Blackmore Global

Sophisticated Scams in Singapore

The sophistication of investment scams has reached new levels in Singapore

LeeSeongWee

I “borrowed” this blog from my Twitter friend in Singapore who clearly understands and cares about investment scams – and the inability of the inept authorities to do anything about them. This is true not just in Singapore but throughout the world – particularly the UK, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Ireland, Dubai, and Hong Kong.

I could not improve upon his excellent blog, but I have put some comments in red in the body of the text (with apologies to Lee!).

April 30, 2018

This is a story about how scammers have used the loopholes within the law to fleece hundreds of millions of dollars (and pounds and Euros in other jurisdictions) from an unsuspecting public. Many of whom are retirees and young people venturing into alternative investments for the first time in their lives.

In Singapore, there are two primary agencies that are set up to ensure a safe investment environment for its people. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that regulates the financial industry and the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the Singapore Police Force that investigates commercial crime and Fraud.

Just wanted to add a few more: chia seeds, eucalyptus plantations, truffle trees, forex trading, life assurance policies, football betting, property loans, rubbish recycling, litigation funding, timeshares, films, claims management companies etc.

In support of innovation (Lee uses the word “innovation” – but I would have used the word “opportunism”) in the financial industry, Alternative Investment Offers have been allowed to thrive. Non-traditional Products are being offered to the lay public, advertised widely on social media and even in the mainstream media with barely any restrictions. (In the UK, we would refer to many of these as UCIS – unregulated collective investment schemes – which are illegal to promote to retail investors).  Many vendors of these make wild claims of double-digit percentage returns per annum, sometimes coupled with apparent full capital protection that targetted investors would just swallow wholesale.

These companies are not regulated by MAS and will often be listed as such in the MAS-issued Investor Alert List. But being on the Investor Alert List simply means Caveat Emptor … nothing more. Legitimate companies, as well as unscrupulous ones, are similarly listed there without distinction. So in most cases, the attractive returns and false assurance of safety are just too irresistible to the average investors who would be pulled in by the hundreds, if not thousands.  I reckon few people ever think to look at the MAS website – just as few ever look at the FCA website where well-hidden warnings lurk deep below the surface.

While not all Alternative Investments are dodgy, many of them are because the current law offers a fairly wide window (between 3 to 8 years) for them to operate before the law catches up. Why? Because the law enforcement agency that investigates fraud only starts to investigate after many victims have reported their loss. There are victims who do not report because of fear, because of embarrassment, because of unrealistic, hopeful optimism and a variety of other reasons so by the time CAD gets involved, it would have added more years and more new victims. A lot more people, sadly, would have been hurt by then.  This is the most significant factor in stopping financial fraud – if the first whistle were to prompt action by the authorities, more victims could be prevented. The feet of clay by regulators and law enforcers help the scammers and facilitate the crimes.

Ponzi schemes are chief among these and as with all Ponzis, the early investors are taken in by the promised high returns being achieved. This pool of satisfied investors will go on to sink in additional funds. But more than that, they are often trotted out on stage at investment seminars to be the best spokespersons for their “safe and profitable” investments. Some are even recruited to be sub-agents who earn referral commissions.

A very common scam I see over recent years involves companies that may own some land in a distant country, directly or indirectly via their selected “Developer Partners” who have cleared their “rigorous” due diligence process and deemed safe. Money is borrowed from the lay public by an intermediary set up for that specific fundraising purpose. This intermediary is supposed to channel the funds out to the said Developers for the purpose of infrastructure development or some construction activities on the property. In return, the intermediary company, freshly created, probably a limited liability entity registered in some opaque tax-free haven, signs an IOU agreement with the investor detailing scheduled repayments of interests and full capital at the end of 2 or 3 or 4-year terms.  He’s just described Dolphin Trust and similar investment “loan-note” scams perfectly.

The IOU agreement or promissory note does not accord the investors (or more accurately the lenders), any say on how the funds are utilised. There is also nothing to stop these unscrupulous vendors from using that same plot of land as their “collateral” to draw in funds from other investors in other markets.

Theoretically, that same piece of land could be used multiple times to borrow new money as long as the investors were not aware of it and had no legal title on that property. The number of times this “asset” is leveraged is limited only to the diabolical ingenuity of those vendors and the trusting innocence of an investing client pool.  Am getting a bit worried now, as I think some of the scammers – who hadn’t already thought of this – might be getting very excited!

Other fundraising schemes can be created… perhaps through the issuance of minibonds in countries like the UK or in Europe. Or through commercial paper described as Development Funds that pay generous coupon rates over medium term, offered to selected high net worth clients.  (And low-net-worth clients – the scammers aren’t fussy!).

Different company names are formed but the directors may be the same. The product brief is almost always similar and the advertising media material professionally done and is always flashy. Invariably these vendors will hold charity events and engage media celebrities or host politicians to lend credibility to their cause. They would list fake awards and renowned organisations as their business partners on their websites. All these with the sole intent of creating an image of legitimacy.  This perfectly describes Phillip Nunn and his Blackmore Global investment scams – promoted by David Vilka.

Sometimes they may even attempt to raise public funds via a back door listing through an acquisition of a public listed entity that had fallen under judicial management.

Who are these people who are capable of such an elaborate scheme that spans international borders? Will the law catch up with them before they escape with their ill-gotten loot? Will justice be served in time and make an example of how fraud should not be excused as business failure?

Alas, only time will tell.  Lee doesn’t seem optimistic. And I most certainly am not. The scammers make far too much money from such investment scams – and pension savers are ridiculously easy targets. The cold-calling ban will have negligible effect, and the ceding pension providers will keep on keeping on handing over pensions to the scammers willy-nilly.

I must admit, I had always been under the impression that regulation and law enforcement in Singapore were superb. But reading Lee’s blog, and learning how UOB bank has stolen £ millions from one customer, I think Singapore is probably as hopeless at challenging scams and financial fraud as the rest of the World.

February 1, 2019
POOF! – there goes your whole life savings

Scammers who act as financial advisers and operate pension scams, don’t wear a badge to identify themselves – nor do they pay any redress for the devastation they cause. Oh no, of course they don’t! The scammers dress in snazzy suits, drive go-faster cars, sport posh briefcases and speak with a silky sales tune floating out of their mouths. All this lulls victims into a false sense of security. Promises of guaranteed high returns and capital protection, as well as tax efficiency – and then… POOF! – there goes your whole life savings.

This poem was passed over to us by a twitter friend. We think it wonderfully sums up the way scammers work:

Poem

Above the calming waves, you spot a dorsal fin,

Is it that greedy shark who’s gonna take you in?

So you dip your toes to test and out pops friendly Flipper,

He’s so adorable but…

did you know his snout can also be a killer?

You listen to his clicking sounds that dull out your senses,

You write those cheques then wish you hadn’t been so careless,

As you wave goodbye to Flipper, you feel like all those lemmings,

The wistful trail of your pension and POOF!

there goes your whole life savings.

Don’t fall for the silky-voiced salesman´s tune. Follow the guidance in our ten standards to safeguard your pension from the scammers.

Ten standards for a financial adviser

1 – The firm that a trustworthy financial adviser works for will have the correct licences to advise you on your pension. It will be fully licensed (regulated) for both insurance and investment, and the adviser will not hesitate to give you proof of this.

2 – A trustworthy financial adviser will be fully qualified to the correct level and be happy to show you their certificates. A certified adviser will work to a correct code (not a scammer’s code) and never use silky sales techniques to get you to sign over your life savings.

3 – A trustworthy firm and their fully qualified advisers will have all the correct paperwork and this includes professional indemnity insurance.

4 – A financial adviser who wants to help your pension grow steadily – with safe and suitable investments – will never throw sky-high promises of super fat returns at you. Scammers love this too-good-to-be-true sales technique. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is! And it is a sign that they are working for commission benefits that will line their pockets and probably not suit your risk profile. A pension risk profile is usually a low-medium risk which will grow steadily. High commission investments are often high risk and also often fail – causing devastating losses.

5 – A financial adviser that works for your benefit and that alone will never expose you to a hard sales pitch. Repeat phone calls and pressure to sign – “for fear of missing out” – are often a tell-tale sign they are working for commission. Scam advisers – working for fat commissions at the expense of customer satisfaction – will rarely respect your risk profile. They will rarely observe any compliance ethics either.

6 – A financial adviser that you can trust should NEVER up-sell you with ‘extra’ investments like insurance bonds. Often these are a double wrapper that will make a scammer extra commissions. These ‘extra’ investments will often simply drain your pension pot, not contribute to it.

7 – If your adviser tries to sell you structured notes, UCIS funds, unsecured loan notes, in-house funds, non-standard assets or any ongoing commission-paying investments, he is probably not a trustworthy adviser. Scammers love to use such inappropriate investments, which line their pockets but deplete your pension fund.

8 – An adviser you can trust will be happy to disclose ALL fees, charges and commissions, in writing: no ifs or buts. If the adviser you are using skims round this VERY IMPORTANT information, he probably isn’t a trustworthy adviser. Hidden charges are often how scammers line their pockets and destroy your pension fund.

9 – A trustworthy firm and adviser will ensure you have full access to accounts of how you are updated on your pension fund and portfolio performance. This should be outlined to you at the time of transfer, usually a quarterly statement AND a yearly review. If your financial adviser cannot offer this information readily – just walk away.

10 – A firm you can trust will have all their company history readily available. This should include public evidence of complaints made, rejected or upheld and redress paid.

A firm with advisers who are unwilling to answer all of the questions you ask them is clearly a firm to be avoided.

If the firm you choose and the adviser they assign to you cannot attain all ten of the standards listed – find one that can.

Don’t risk your life savings to the tune of a silky-voiced salesman. He may look the part, but appearances can so easily fool.

Scam victims will tell you they wish they had ensured their pension transfer had adhered to all ten of these standards.

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

January 30, 2019
Scammer jailed – hip hip hooray! – scammer jailed

SCAMMER JAILED! Hip hip hooray! we say. What a great start to the new year. Neil Bartlett, 53, of Delamere Road, Ainsdale, used £4.5m of his victims’ money to fund an extravagant lifestyle of foreign travel, top hotels and gambling.

Bartlett was handed an eight year sentence for his involvement in the multi-million pound investment fraud dating back from 2013. He scammed 27 victims out of a collective sum of £4.5 million, some of which had been his childhood friends. He didn´t stop there, he also took power of attorney for a vulnerable elderly victim and defrauded her as well!

As is the case with many scams, the victims are unlikely to recoup any of the funds they entrusted to him. Bartlett is said to have spent the hard-earned funds on prostitutes, escorts and expensive holidays. The victims, all of whom knew him on a personal level, are disgusted at his behaviour and were glad to see this scammer jailed.

Here in the Pension Life office, we are always pleased to hear that a scammer has been jailed. The only shame, is that we just don´t hear the words enough. It would be great if we could write blogs that contain the words SCAMMER JAILED on a daily basis. But sadly it is just not the case.

The SFO have a long list of scammers that are ´under investigation´, however, we rarely hear that they have been jailed. Whilst we read stories of people who house the homeless being jailed!

An example of this is Peter and Sara Moat of Fast Pensions – which was wound up back in May 2018. We know they fraudulently took £21m from their victims. We know they did not invest it in the interest of their victims. We know they invested the funds into other businesses they own. We know that they reside in Denia, where their daughter goes to a private school. We know all this – AND the SFO knows all this – yet the Moats are still free to live a lavish lifestyle whilst their victims go without a pension and some face losing their homes as well as bankruptcy.

I´m sure the victims of the Fast Pensions and Blu loans scams would find some solace in reading the words – “scammer jailed” in relation to both Peter Moat and Sara Moat. But I´m not sure if they ever will – and that makes us sad and bloody angry.

What is even sadder is that the big boys, the serial scammers like Stephen Ward, XXXX XXXX, Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh are still allowed to roam free despite their numerous scams being under investigation by the SFO for some years now. It would make our year if we could write “Stephen Ward – SERIAL SCAMMER JAILED”. However, at least we can confirm that Ward was banned from being a pension trustee at the end of 2018. So I guess the SFO is doing something – however small.

Thousands of victims and hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of pension money has been fraudulently taken from the victims of scam schemes sold by the above-named scammers. Schemes like Capita Oak, Blackmore Global Fund and the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund.

In fact, the CEO of STM Gibraltar (the facilitators of the Trafalgar QROPS scam), Alan Kentish was recently released without charge after his arrest, and was fully backed by the STM board. Despite clear evidence of the part he played in the now suspended – £20 million – Trafalgar QROPS pension scam, which he facilitated with XXXX XXXX.

AND to rub salt into the wounds of the Trafalgar victims, STM group went on to announce record profits in 2017 and to announce they will be offering SIPPS products as well.

Scammer jailed ? ? ? – not here I´m afraid!

All we can do is make a very loud suggestion that STM Group Gibraltar – STM Fidecs – Alan Kentish – should all be given a VERY wide berth when considering a change of pension trustee – as from past evidence they are not to be trusted!

January 4, 2019
International Adviser – Have I Got News For You!

International Adviser really can’t make up its mind whether it is organising a piss-up in a brewery, a news roundup carefully slewed in favour sponsors Old Mutual International, or a marketing machine. I read with interest the recent IA Industry Most Influential Top 100 described by IA thus: “we at International Adviser decided to shine a light on the movers and shakers that have helped this industry get to where it is today”.

But where exactly is the industry today? And have the so-called top 100 moved and shaken the industry in a helpful way or a detrimental way? To find out, why don’t we have a look at a few of the “influencers”. To get the measure of them, let’s put them into a game of “Have I Got News For You”:

Bob Pain in the chair as quiz master. A bloke who ran Cayman Islands-based Investors Trust until recently appointed chair of the Association of International Life Offices, the trade body for international life offices. During his 35 years of experience in financial services, he facilitated the scam run by Phillip Nunn of Blackmore Global and David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial Services. Investors Trust accepted over 1,000 investments into illegal UCIS funds for UK-based victims scammed into QROPS with Integrated Capabilities and Harbour (now STM).

As Captain of the Navel Team, let’s have dashing Tim Searle – Chairman of Dubai-based Globaleye. With his eight-year Naval history, he should make an ideal leader and would come in particularly useful in the event of icebergs, torpedos or sharks.

Captain of the Army Team I nominate as Sam Instone of AES International. His experience as an Army officer should give him the leadership skills to oppose the Navel Team. Sam’s track record as the “enemy of traditional financial services” should give him the basis for a sound battle plan.

On the Army Team, we’ll have international wealth and regulatory specialist, Phil Billingham. Phil must be utterly disgusted with the likes of Stephen Ward (another fully-qualified adviser) messing up the reputation of the profession by running a long series of pension scams and ruining thousands of lives.

And the final member of the Army team will be Paul Stanfield, CEO of FEIFA (Federation of European Independent Financial Advisers). Another real gentleman – and handsome to boot – and one who understands the importance of outlawing scammers. Several years ago he excommunicated Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions from FEIFA to loud cheers from victims and industry professionals alike. (My only gripe with him would be that he still hasn’t kicked out Square Mile Financial Services run by scammers John Ferguson and David Vilka).

On the Navel Team we’ll have Geraint Davies of Montfort International – an expert IFA specialising in international financial services, and Roger Berry of Concept Group Trustees in Guernsey. These two chaps also have, between them, extensive experience of Stephen Ward in their own ways and will, no doubt, have much to talk about.

The contest will be to spot the “odd one out”: Michael Doherty of Woodbrook Group, Conor McCarthy of SEB, Peter Kenny of OMI and Winnie-the-Pooh.

Tim Searle: “They’re all Irish, except Winnie-the-Pooh who’s English?”

Geraint Davies: “They all hate Angie except Winnie-the-Pooh who’s never heard of her?”

Roger Berry: “They all love Angie except Winnie-the-Pooh who’s never heard of her?”

Sam Instone: “They’ve all got names that end in Y except Winnie-the-Pooh?”

Phil Billingham: “They’re all involved in money except Winnie-the-Pooh who’s involved in honey?”

Paul Stanfield: “None of them have applied to be members of FEIFA except Winnie-the-Pooh?”

Bob Pain: “No, you’re all wrong. The answer is Peter Kenny of OMI. The other three have been doing “nothing”: Michael Doherty was employing ex CWM scammers Dean Stogsdill and Neil Hathaway (known as Dog Kill and Hadaway) but claimed he was paying them nothing; Conor McCarthy of SEB has been asked numerous times for his comments on why SEB allowed the scammers at CWM to invest most of their victims’ funds in toxic structured notes, but McCarthy is saying nothing and won’t reply; and Winnie-the-Pool is doing nothing all the time.

The odd one out is Peter Kenny who is doing “something” and is suing Leonteq for the £94 million worth of fraudulent structured notes they sold to OMI.

November 20, 2018
AZURE PENSIONS – a reputation built on lack of trust

Integrated Capabilities – a Trust Company based in Malta have created their own Pension Scheme – Azure Pensions. On the face of it, however, the management team do not appear to have learned anything from their previous experience with Optimus Retirement Benefit Scheme No.1 and their association with David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial. It appears they have now teamed up with some very dubious friends – the result of which is very likely to create more victims of UK pension scams.

I AM GRATEFUL TO STEVE – ONE OF THE BLACKMORE GLOBAL/DAVID VILKA VICTIMS – FOR RE-WRITING THIS BLOG AT THE REQUEST OF INTEGRATED CAPABILITIES’ LAWYER.

The Azure website states: “We believe that trust is built and earned. As such we have an ingrained and sustained desire to develop long-term relationships with our clients”. These are just words and words are easy. It’s what you do that counts.

In 2015, the Optimus scheme started out with 26 members and by the end finished up with 1,176 – that’s a gain of almost 100 new members per month! I was one such member conned into transferring my pension by fraudulent misrepresentations made by David Vilka of Square Mile Financial Services.

My pension was inappropriately invested in unregulated collective investment schemes, wrapped in a useless life assurance bond from Investors Trust (based in the Caymans). One of those funds was Blackmore Global run by Phillip Nunn & Patrick McCreesh. This pair is on record for earning almost £1m generating leads for the Capita Oak and Henley scams.

This new pension arrangement locked me in for 10 years – definitely a “long-term relationship” – giving all parties the opportunity to drain my pension dry in fees. Credit where credit is due, however. Once I discovered I was in a scam, the director Andy Dawson (bottom row, 3rd from the left) did make an extraordinary effort not only to redeem the investments but successfully persuaded most parties to waive their early exit penalties and refund their fees. Only the greedy Symphony Fund chose to keep the penalties and that’s after mysteriously dropping in value 30% just before redemption. Thanks to Andy Dawson and his team, I did manage to get back 92% of my pension. But the BIG QUESTION is what has happened to the other 1,100+ members? It is inconceivable I was the only one transferred into this scheme via Vilka et al.

Another claim made by Azure Pensions is: “Our people are highly experienced, knowledgeable and motivated to do their utmost to ensure that they deliver a superior, professional and hassle-free service.” But this firm, and the people in it, have a history of working with scammers and investing members’ retirement funds in investment scams such as Phillip Nunn’s Blackmore Global and Richard Reinert’s Symphony Fund. So I would take issue with claims like “highly experienced” and “knowledgeable”.

If they were highly experienced and knowledgeable they would have known that, at the time I was being advised by Vilka in January 2015, Aktiva Wealth Management (later changed to Square Mile and now called Michalska Holding) was NOT regulated by the Czech National Bank. According to the CNB records, this didn’t happen until 5th May 2015 and then, only for insurance mediation and not for transferring pensions!

If Integrated Capabilities had been “highly experienced and knowledgeable” then they would have known the Symphony Fund – regulated in their own jurisdiction by their own regulator, the MFSA – was NOT permitted to be offered to me, a retail client. And they knew this because they had the Symphony documentation which clearly prohibited its promotion to UK retail clients.

I complained to the MFSA but they didn’t care and Malta’s “Ombudsman” equivalent – what they call the Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services – deters complaints because they have this small print that says if you lose, the other side can be awarded legal costs!

If Integrated Capabilities had been “highly experienced and knowledgeable” they would have known the Blackmore Global fund had never published audited accounts and still hasn’t to this day (December 2018). Something that in January 2015 caused Kreston (pension provider on the Isle of Man) to write to its members explaining their concerns over Blackmore Global and also stopped taking new members from Vilka.

So if they were “highly experienced and knowledgeable” then why did they allow all this to happen? It certainly had nothing to do with “motivation to do their utmost”. It is clear their only motivation was to take on as many members as possible – irrespective of which scammer introduced them and what unsuitable investments were made for them. Also, they claim to have a “long history and proven track record of providing expert and value for money multi-jurisdictional fiduciary solutions, so our clients and partners can have great peace of mind in the knowledge that our board of directors has over 100 years combined expertise in this field.” The proven track record is that they have taken on hundreds of new members per month from a known scammer – and the last thing their members have is peace of mind – far from it.

Angie has referred to these people at Integrated Capabilities/Azure Pensions as a “bunch of cowboys” and their lawyer recently wrote to her and objected to the phrase. You make your own mind up.

How do they earn trust when they have accepted transfers and investment instructions from known unregulated scammers Square Mile and David Vilka? Why would victims “desire” to have a long-term relationship with Azure when funds were previously placed in an unnecessary, expensive insurance bond by Investors Trust in the Cayman Islands (the only purpose for which is to pay commission to the scammers)?

Azure Pensions also claims that one of its partners is Carey Pensions UK LLC. Carey is facing a legal battle for investing a member into unregulated collectives in Australia through a Carey Pensions SIPP.

Carey is in hot water for allowing investments into high-risk scams, and is also now part of STM – undoubtedly the biggest scammers in the offshore pension trust industry. It would seem the Azure team have not learned anything from their previous experience.

If, as they say “We believe that trust is built and earned …”, then you actually have to do some “trust building” with actions – not just weasel words. The indisputable facts seem to indicate “business as usual” but with a different name.

It is highly probable that Integrated Capabilities still has at least 1,100 victims invested in scam funds such as Blackmore Global by scammers such as David Vilka of Square Mile. It looks like most – if not all – of these victims were UK residents who should never have gone into a QROPS at all in the first place. The only reason for transferring these pension funds to a QROPS was to get the money away from UK regulation so that the scammers could invest them in commission-paying UCIS funds – such as Blackmore Global.

The public should be very wary of Azure in the first instance, do a lot of due diligence and make sure their pension funds don’t go anywhere near offshore unregulated collectives wrapped in an assurance bond that can suck your pension dry.

Azure states on their website that: “Notwithstanding your appointment of a Financial Adviser, ICML has an overriding right to refuse to make investments, or to disinvest, where it believes that a particular investment proposal may not be consistent with the Scheme’s Investment Policy or any investment restriction applicable under Retirement Scheme Law.”

Is this a change in policy? Are they going to put their “knowledge and experience” to meaningful use by exercising some due diligence? Is this a statement that means they have sorted the 1,100+ members in the Optimus Scheme that are most likely locked into “investments … not consistent with the Scheme’s … Policy?” Or are these just more weasel words with no substance?

Reformed management team or a “bunch of cowboys”? The jury is still out. The association with Carey & STM doesn’t appear to show a reformed team. What has happened to the 1,100+ members in the previous Optimus Scheme? Has anything been done to remedy the situation?

I believed, and still do, that this team was unwittingly drawn into facilitating a scam by David Vilka of Square Mile, and that in essence Integrated Capabilities/Azure Pensions are a respectable team. However, if they want to be seen as having learned from their past failings they could take some actions. First, help the 1,100+ members to avoid financial ruin and secondly assist in the prosecution of the architects of the scam facilitated by Integrated Capabilities. I am sure they will have a considerable body of evidence that could be used to show fraudulent misrepresentation and thirdly drop the association with companies with an already poor reputation for their involvement with scams or unregulated collectives being promoted to retail clients.

With thanks to Steve – one of the Blackmore Global/David Vilka victims.

November 2, 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
FCA launches new ScamSmart campaign

Here at Pension Life, we are constantly trying to raise awareness about pension scams. The Financial Conduct Authority – FCA – has also been busy. Pairing up with the Pensions Regulator – tPR – they have published the ScamSmart campaign with the slogan – Be ScamSmart with your pension.

With the ScamSmart campaign, they have also made a video and published it on YouTube. Here is the video for you to watch:

Whilst I think it is great that they are publishing videos as part of the ScamSmart campaign, I can´t help but feel that they spent a large chunk of their budget on some bloke whizzing around on a jet ski.

The video does highlight what people need to look out for to be ScamSmart, but the repeated flashes back to the jet skier whooping loudly are, in my opinion, very distracting. I feel they deviate from the message they are trying to get across.

I would like to highlight that the rider of the jet ski does bear a remarkable resemblance to Phillip Nunn, cold caller and “fund manager” of the Blackmore Global investment scam. Blackmore Global was promoted by David Vilka of Square Mile International – David Vilka´s firm is not regulated to provide pensions and investment advice. However, he has never been prosecuted by the FCA for his involvement in this scam.

Phillip Nunn´s lawyers, Slater and Gordon, threatened Angie with defamation proceedings for exposing Nunn’s scamtivities. The video made by Pension Life in response to this reveals three serial scammers, two of which are still free to scam, while the other one: Peter Moat of Fast Pensions (who has had legal proceeding filed against him) is nowhere to be seen.

However, the FCA has done nothing to stop these scammers, nor other well-known ones and no prosecutions have been made. Whilst we are fully in support of educating the masses worldwide to ensure consumers can avoid falling victim to pension scams, this does beg the question:

WHY ARE THE FCA DOING NOTHING ABOUT THE KNOWN SCAMMERS?!?

If the industry was to put a stop to the masterminds, (like Stephen Ward), then surely that would be a giant leap in the right direction for deterring new-comers. As it stands, however, the “award-winning” scammers just seem to set a precedent. If you are good at what you do, your scams can be pushed under the carpet and you can live a life of luxury on the hard-earned cash of the scam victims, escaping punishment.

September 11, 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
Serious Violation of Investors’ Trust – by Investors Trust (life office)
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

lparis@investors-trust.com”

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.

It is reported that Old Mutual International has put aside £69 million to pay compensation for their victims’ losses. May I suggest that Investors Trust should do the same thing – and then I will happily take down the vile picture of Vilka and Ferguson. But until then, it stays up. And if you want to sue me – go ahead: make my day.
August 13, 2018
DAVID VILKA’S VILE US ATTORNEY

David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial Services has exactly the sort of lawyer one would expect: a scammer’s lawyer. Unsurprisingly, this dope can’t even spell Vilka’s victim’s name and has referred to him as “Mr Sexton” as opposed to “Mr Sefton”. But, again, this is no surprise.

What I must challenge, however, is the fact that Mr. Sefton has referred to this clown as a “two-bit lawyer”. I really don’t think this is true – as he is a one-bit lawyer at best. He has a couple of glowing client testimonials going back to 2016 and 2015 on his amateurish website, and displays no evidence of experience or expertise in the arena of British pensions (and why would he? – he’s purportedly practising US law in the US).

One might forgive Mr. Davies for not understanding anything about UK pensions in general and pension scammers like David Vilka in particular, but to immediately jump into a firm conclusion that there has been defamation against his client shows that he hasn’t even made a one-bit attempt to understand what his client has been up to – or how many lives (like Mr Sefton’s) Vilka has ruined.

I must admit I am used to dealing with a much better class of scammers’ lawyer. Take DWF, for example: this large firm carelessly lost a team of 20 lawyers to rival Trowers and Hamlins a couple of years ago. This wasn’t long after they were caught representing both sides in a case: the Insolvency Service in the winding up of Capita Oak, and Stephen Ward who handled the transfer administration in the same scheme. But at least they dealt with the embarrassment of acting for both the poacher and the gamekeeper with a degree of dignity and elegance – a class act indeed. DWF comes into the same league as my other legal chums – including Carter Ruck and Mishcon de Reya. So, you can see I am more used to dealing with professional firms rather than twerps like this Mr Davies.

Mr. Davies is referring to the UCIS investment scam, Blackmore Global, which was illegally promoted to retail investors – and which is a fraud from start to finish.

Anyway, I have answered his absurd email below with my usual comments in bold.

————————————————————————————————-

LOWELL DAVIES LLP

July 14, 2018

Ms. Angela Brooks, Director of Pension Life

Re: Defamation of Mr. David Vilka and Square Mile International

Dear Ms. Brooks:

I am an attorney You may well be, but you are clearly a US attorney – and that does not qualify you to deal with a matter which involves UK pensions

and represent Mr. David Vilka Bad luck

with respect to the defamatory article I never write defamatory articles – I only write the truth

published on your on-line site. Specifically, this complaint relates to the misstatements and misrepresentations made on

the following site:

BLACKMORE GLOBAL FUND – ASSET OR BLACK HOLE?

If I might sum up, each and every defamatory allegation with regard to Mr. Vilka and Square Mile International you assert are sourced to one disgruntled individual, Stephen Sexton, none of which allegations are supported by any evidence whatsoever.  Wrong. Mr. Sefton is one of a number of victims of Vilka’s scams – many of which were invested in the same toxic, illegal UCIS fund as Mr. Sefton – Blackmore Global – and others were invested in other similar investment scams. Blackmore Global is run by another scammer, Phillip Nunn, who – along with his partner in crime Patrick McCreesh – ran the cold calling and lead generation services for the Capita Oak and Henley pension scams, now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

Mr. Sexton was an unsolicited client of Mr. Vilka and Square Mile who had a substantial pension and for personal reasons of his own wanted to switch his pension and draw down sums for his personal use.  When he says “unsolicited” he means not cold called, as was usually the case with Vilka. Vilka lied about being regulated to provide pension and investment advice, and the rest is history: Mr Sefton’s life savings were invested in two UCIS funds which were habitually promoted by Vilka: Blackmore Global and Symphony.

The switch in pension plans resulted in what Mr. Sexton felt were unreasonable fees (None of which went to Mr. Vilka or Square Mile). I wonder if this idiot would like to explain why Mr Sefton was put into a QROPS when he was a UK resident?

And despite the fact that Mr. Vilka was able to personally intervene and get Mr. Sexton’s monies returned less a nominal fee, Mr. Sexton continued to complain and when Square Mile attempted to make up even this nominal fee on its own part, Mr. Sexton continued to complain because he refused to sign a boilerplate settlement agreement containing a standard confidentiality agreement.  It is true that Mr Sefton did, eventually, get around 85% of his original investment back – but only after a dogged fight which was backed up by the pension trustees Integrated Capabilities. There was no intervention by Vilka.

In your post on the Blackmore Fund you have the temerity to cast defamatory aspersions on Mr. Vilka and Square Mile based on your “strong suspicion” and you go on to assert they must have a “strong vested interest in promoting this black hole of a fund.”  Why else would scammers such as Vilka promote such a fund? It is a UCIS, with no independent audit to verify whether the purported assets even exist.

Really? What proof of that would you have?  Vilka must have had a very strong reason to promote the Blackmore Global investment fraud – why else would he have invested a further 64 victims’ pensions in this UCIS? This was a bunch of people he scammed into transferring their pensions to a Hong Kong QROPS.

And since you have none, we demand you remove this article and/or any reference to Mr. Vilka or Square Mile.  I have plenty of evidence thank you.

Let me advise you that Mr. Vilka and Square Mile, contrary to your specious aspersions, are heavily regulated as is the industry.  “Heavily”? What you actually mean is that neither Vilka nor Square Mile is regulated for pension or investment advice – only insurance mediation.

The Sexton matter was thoroughly investigated at the time by the appropriate regulators who found no irregularities.  You don’t know that.

Mr. Sexton is not nor was he a perplexed victim of Mr. Vilka or Square Mile. He most certainly was – as Vilka and his accomplice John Ferguson know full well.

His pension is worth well over half a million pounds. No it isn’t. Did you do maths at school?

He read and signed multiple acknowledgements before he switched pensions showing very clearly that he knew what he was investing in and the inherent risks involved.  No he didn’t. It was never disclosed that the scammers were going to invest his pension in a UCIS fund which is illegal to be promoted to retail UK investors.

And again, significantly, he was not cold-called. He sought out Mr. Vilka and Square Mile. Nor did Mr. Vilka or Square Mile receive any payment from the Blackmore fund or its partner firms regarding Mr. Sexton’s transaction as confirmed by the Czech National Bank which has direct access to Square Mile’s company bank accounts via an electronic data box.  Are you talking about the accounts which haven’t been updated since 2014?

In sum, there is no bases whatsoever for the specious and actionable statements you make in your referenced post with regard to Mr. Vilka and Square Mile International.  I think you mean basis – and yes, there is a solid basis for all the statements I made in my post and not a single one of them is “specious” (although I am amazed you have even heard of the word).

Your comments have caused Mr. Vilka and Square Mile reputational damage, among others, and you are hereby instructed to delete the post immediately.  I sincerely hope that the impact of my blog has caused Vilka and his accomplice Ferguson to turn over a new leaf and arrange to pay compensation for Mr. Sefton and all their other victims who have lost part or all of their pensions to the Square Mile scams.

Your failure to do so will result in further damages to Mr. Vilka and Square Mile International, the accrual of further legal fees and costs, and the likelihood of litigation, all of which damages and costs we will recover from you.  Good luck with that.

If you have any questions or concerns or require further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly at (206) 319-3533. I look forward to confirmation of the removal of the identified defamatory materials. Thank you in advance for resolving this matter expeditiously.  I have no questions, other than to enquire as to when your client intends to pay redress for the losses caused by his fraud.

Best regards,

LOWELL DAVIES LLP

Douglas Davies Attorney at Law

8497 Hemlock Drive

Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

Direct Line: (206) 319-3533

doug@lowelldavies.com

July 20, 2018
Trussed by Dolphin Trust?
I’ve been very concerned about Dolphin Trust GmbH for some time. There’s an awful lot of pension money being loaned to this company – and I don’t get to hear of many (in fact any) people who have had their loans repaid. That doesn’t mean they haven’t been repaid – it just means I haven’t heard about it.

The things that bothers me about Dolphin Trust are:
1. There are no audited accounts available
2. Dolphin has been used by an awful lot of pension and investment scammers – including Stephen Ward in the London Quantum pension scam (now in the hands of Dalriada Trustees)
3. “Introducers” get paid eye-watering commissions of up to 25%
4. If the assets and projects are so good, why pay private lenders 10% interest (on top of the 25% commission) – why not just go to the bank?
5. I have recently heard that Dolphin and some of their dodgy “introducers” are now trying to convince lenders to take their loans back in the form of shares in the company
But the biggest concern I have is that Dolphin Trust formed a major part of the underlying investments in the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund scam – run by XXXX XXXX of Global Partners Limited and STM Fidecs in Gibraltar. This fund is now being wound up by Stephen Doran, of Doran + Minehane.

The Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund and XXXX XXXX are currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Ironically, Justin Caffrey of Harbour Pensions once told me that XXXX came to see him to try to flog the obviously dodgy Trafalgar fund. Caffrey claimed he could see XXXX was an obvious spiv straight away and that Trafalgar was clearly bad news – so he sent the ginger scammer packing.

And then STM Group bought out Harbour Pensions and got custody of some of Caffrey’s Blackmore Global Fund worthless crap to keep the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund worthless crap company. You couldn’t make it up! A bunch of toxic rubbish flogged by scammers Phillip Nunn and XXXX XXXX.

STM Fidecs had notified the hundreds of victims that there would be a distribution in early 2018 once Doran + Minehane had got rid of some of the Dolphin Trust loan notes. But then STM did a U-turn and announced there wouldn’t be a distribution at all. Clearly, getting shot of the loan notes was more difficult (or impossible) than Mr Doran first imagined. Or perhaps he did get rid of them – but got shares in Dolphin Trust or Vordere instead (and this is the reason for the lack of distribution by STM Fidecs).

Any way you look at it, Dolphin Trust is looking dodgier than ever now it is well known that there are £21 million worth of Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund loan notes out there looking for a warm and cosy (and gullible) home.

Quite apart from the fact that no self-respecting introducer or financial adviser should EVER be caught selling high-risk, unregulated, non-standard “assets” in the first place, surely nobody would ever want to be caught flogging the same stuff that the likes of XXXX XXXX and Stephen Ward were making a fortune out of.

I did try to call Dolphin Trust, but they don’t answer their phone. Maybe they don’t like cold calls (which is how most victims get scammed into lending them money in the first place).

Without the benefit of any assurances from the nice men at Dolphin Trust – Charles Smethurst, Helmut Freitag, Axel Krechberger and Matthias Ruhl – we will just have to hope that Mr Doran manages to offload the second-hand loan notes that STM Fidecs allowed 400+ victims’ life savings to be invested in. Perhaps I’ll drop him a friendly note and suggest he tries ebay.
June 29, 2018
STM Fidecs and the Gibraltar FSC – Evil lives on at the rock
STM Fidecs and the Gibraltar FSC – Evil lives on at the rock

I have read the report about what happened to the scammers at STM Fidecs in the wake of the Gibraltar FSC’s investigation and Deloitte’s so-called “expert report”.

Frankly, I am stunned. I have members who are victims of the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund and STM Fidecs and they are, understandably, stunned as well. I have met the people at the Gibraltar FSC and they had seemed decent guys |(but WTF do I know?!). Maybe they’ve all left, because the people I met appeared enthusiastic and conscientious. But perhaps they’ve been replaced by a bunch of malfunctioning robots, or ex-scammers or – much worse – ex STM Fidecs employees.

Serious Fraud Office investigating XXXX XXXX

The bottom line is that STM Fidecs scammed hundreds of victims out of their pensions. STM Fidecs took business from unlicensed scammer XXXX XXXX of Global Partners Limited (only had an insurance license with Marcus Groombridge’s firm Joseph Oliver) and then invested 100% of the victims’ funds into an illegal UCIS fund – run by XXXX XXXX (now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office – although I really don’t know what they are playing at because XXXX still isn’t behind bars).

The rest is history. The Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund is being wound up, and after paying the liquidation costs to Stephen Doran, of Doran + Minehane, there is unlikely to be much – if anything – left. Deloittes spent weeks supposedly investigating STM Fidecs’ books. I reckon the chumps at Deloittes probably spent most of that time on the golf course with Alan Kentish having a chuckle and a side bet about how feeble the Gibraltar FSC was likely to be. And, of course, they were right.

Now, of course, Deloittes and STM Fidecs are celebrating, as the GFSC has done nothing to stop this iniquitous, dishonest, incompetent and negligent firm from trading. Whether STM Fidecs bribed the Gibraltar FSC, or merely got them drunk on the golf course, we will never know. And it makes no difference. But certainly the matter has been brusquely brushed under the carpet and the hundreds of ruined lives have been conveniently ignored and forgotten.

Neither STM Fidecs nor the Gibraltar FSC has said a word about redress for the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund victims.

The only words spoken are that the Gibraltar Regulator has told STM Fidecs to “improve its compliance”. Improve?? How can you improve something that doesn’t even exist at all? We know that one victim (of scammers Holborn Assets) was bullied by STM Fidecs for trying to improve compliance and harassed for trying to stop obviously non-compliant transactions when she was employed by them. She was subsequently “paid off” and threatened with a gagging order.

“STM is now expected to engage with the Gibraltar FSC in order to discuss the Recommendations of the report, and agree a plan of action to implement them.” (according to the report by FT Adviser). Recommendations? Where are the sanctions? Where are the appropriate fines? Where are the bans to stop Alan Kentish and David Easton from ever practising in financial services again? Where is the cancellation of STM Fidecs‘ license?

With this in mind, here are some idiots’ guides as to how to become a pension trustee, and how to become a regulator. Both are equally easypeasylemonsqueasy – any old idiot or scammer could do it.

HOW TO BE A PENSION TRUSTEE IN EASY STEPS
1. Think of a catchy name: obviously inspired by the acronym STD, Alan Kentish came up with the name STM. FIDEC is an acronym for “Fighting Infectious Diseases in Emerging Countries”. Here’s my suggestion: Trussed4U – wadya fink?
2. Think of a jurisdiction with the most ineffective, pathetic and corrupt regulation – such as Gibraltar
3. Find an unlicensed scammer like XXXX XXXX who will transfer lots of UK-resident victims into an offshore QROPS and invest their life savings in whatever crap will pay him the highest commissions
4. Sit back and rake in the profits
5. Forget fiduciary obligations or anything with the word “trust” in it – only concentrate on the word “trussed“
6. Play golf with the regulator
HOW TO BE A REGULATOR
1. Join a golf club (that isn’t too picky about who it lets in)
2. Give licenses to as many scammers as possible – the more the merrier
3. Buy lots of blindfolds (to help turn a blind eye to scams and scammers)
4. Play lots of golf with the scammers and bent pension trustees who facilitate financial crime
5. When an advisory firm or a trustee firm gets caught scamming, slap a few people on the wrist with a wet fish
6. Write meaningless reports about robust compliance
HOW TO BE A SCAMMER
1. Find yourself a bent jurisdiction (such as Gibraltar)
2. Find a bent trustee who will accept business from any old unlicensed scammer (such as STD FIDEC)
3. Find a bent “umbrella” fund which will facilitate financial crime – such as Richard Reinert’s Nascent Fund
4. Find a Ponzi scheme such as Dolphin Trust which will issue “loan notes” at 10% interest per annum (and up to 25% in introduction commission)
5. Transfer hundreds of UK residents to a Gibraltar QROPS scam
6. Get the trustee to agree to invest 100% of 100% of the victims’ retirement savings in … your own fund!
See how easy it is to be either a trustee, a regulator or a scammer? But, equally, remember how easy it is to be a victim!

Quite frankly, Gibraltar should be towed out to sea and sunk. It is a disgrace to the British nation. Just give it back to the Spanish and let them clean it up – they would soon kick the likes of STM Fidecs out and stop any further scams and scammers from operating on Spanish soil. Soil being the operating word.

Rather than going on about how utterly disgusted I am with the Gibraltar regulator, I will leave it to the eloquent words of one of the STM Fidecs/Trafalgar Multi-Asset victims to put this sickening disgrace into perspective.

VICTIM: “I have been quietly simmering away but feel I have to release my anger having again read the response from GFSC.

Firstly, do Gibraltar FSC actually realise over 1,000 individuals and their families are affected by the Trafalgar fiasco, who will potentially all suffer negatively in many different ways during their retirement years? On a personal level, I should have known better but was caught out by cleverness at a weak moment in my life, but many others I have spoken to had no understanding at all of financial affairs and put all of their trust in the hands of STM and all connected parties due to their apparent convincing knowledge and lies – shocking!!!!!

Due to my own personal research, I know of several other financial institutions who were offered and were involved in discussions regarding Trafalgar. But due to having correct procedures in place (unlike STM), they clearly ”smelled a rat”, and were far more ”ROBUST” in their approach. The only rat STM smelled was some form of hopeful ”Magic Money Tree” with no concern for its clients’ wellbeing – apart from its own pound note signs.

As you already know I have previously discussed this matter with my local MP and with your permission would like to highlight again the manner in which Gibraltar FSC have dealt with and inadequately reacted to STM’s performance. STM’s website highlights their glowing history and expertise, but at no point mentions their clearly poor basic audit and compliance mechanisms.

Hopefully, at some point in the future all the evil parties – including STM – in this matter are dragged through the courts, eventually embarrassed and humiliated by the press, and made to pay both financially and personally for their hideous crimes – I can only dream.

Still angry and in despair.

STM Fidecs/Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund Victim

That victim may well have lost her entire life savings thanks to XXXX XXXX and STM Fidecs. I am sickened and disgusted with our own onshore regulator’s pathetic failings: the FCA. But, quite frankly, the Gibraltar FSC makes the FCA look like Superman with TWO pairs of pants on outside their tights!

Interestingly, Justin Caffrey – who used to run Harbour Pensions in Malta – told me a year or so ago that he had been approached by XXXX XXXX who wanted to flog his toxic Trafalgar Multi Asset crap.

Caffrey claimed to have sent XXXX packing with a flea in his ear because he twigged straight away that XXXX was a no-good spiv. However, he had no such ethics when he invested victims’ pensions in Phillip Nunn’s Blackmore Global crap.

But now STD FIDEC has bought Harbour and Caffrey has been given the heave-ho. You couldn’t make it up!
June 16, 2018