Tag: brexit

Store First v Insolvency Service Battle
April 2019 sees the battle between Store First and the Insolvency Service. On April 15th, the High Court proceedings will kick off. As a result, the Store First v Insolvency Service will determine how many people will lose their pensions permanently. Two sets of very expensive lawyers – DWF and Eversheds Sutherland – will battle it out to see if Store First can continue trading. In the end, if the Insolvency Service wins the war, then both law firms and an insolvency practitioner will get rich.

You can read the Insolvency Service’s witness statement here.

As a result of the Insolvency Service winning, 1,200 pension scam victims will probably lose the majority of their investments in Store First. In most insolvencies, there is little left after the various snouts in the insolvency trough have had their fill. Investors will be lucky to get 10p in the pound. If there’s an “R” in the month. And if it is snowing. And if Brexit has a “happy ever after” ending.

The Insolvency Service says it is “in the public interest” to wind up Store First. But are they right? Isn’t winding up the company going to do even more unnecessary damage?

One very important issue is that the Insolvency Service’s witness statement dated 27.5.2015 (by Leonard Fenton) is so full of inaccuracies, misunderstandings, incomplete facts and an obvious failure to understand how the scam worked – as to be utterly laughable. The Insolvency Service and the High Court will rely heavily on this witness statement – and yet it has so many holes and errors that it is misleading, incomplete and meaningless. I asked the Insolvency Service questions about the incorrect and incomplete statements and made numerous comments on the failings contained within the statement. But the Insolvency Service did not even have the courtesy to reply or even acknowledge my contribution. In my view, this is arrogance and incompetence in the extreme.

This impending legal battle (which will cost the taxpayer £millions) is riddled with many more questions than answers. Here are a couple of my questions:

QUESTIONS RE STORE FIRST V INSOLVENCY SERVICE BATTLE
- Why did HMRC and tPR register Capita Oak and Henley Retirement Benefits Scheme as pension schemes in the first place?
- How many of the many scammers behind Capita Oak and Henley have been prosecuted?
- Is there an explanation as to why Berkeley Burke and Carey Pensions are still trading?
The reason for my questions is that both HMRC and tPR were negligent in registering the two occupational pension schemes. This was because the schemes were obvious scams from the outset. They both had non-existent sponsoring employers which had never traded or employed anybody. And they weren’t even in the UK.

HMRC was blind, stupid and lazy at the start – when these two schemes were registered by known scammers. But several years later, HMRC woke up pretty smartly and sent out tax demands for the “loans” the victims received. The Store First v Insolvency Service Battle is probably doomed to ignore HMRC’s negligence in causing this disaster in the first place.

James Hay and Suffolk Life had been facilitating the Elysian Fuels investment scam at around the same time. And this was with the considerable “help” of serial scammer Stephen Ward. So, this was a prime time for scams and scammers. However, both HMRC and tPR failed the public back then and have continued to do so ever since.

In 2015, the Insolvency Service identified and interviewed most of the scammers behind the Store First pension scam. In their witness statement dated 27th May 2015, Insolvency Service Investigator Leonard Fenton cited statements and evidence from all the key players.

KEY PLAYERS IN THE STORE FIRST PENSION SCAM:
1. Ben Fox
2. Stuart Chapman-Clarke
3. Michael Talbot
4. Sarah Duffell
5. Bill Perkins
6. XXXX XXXX
7. Alan Fowler
8. Jason Holmes
9. Karl Dunlop
10. Christopher Payne
11. Keith Ryder
12. Craig Mason
13. Patrick McCreesh (of Nunn McCreesh – along with Phillip Nunn)
14. Tom Biggar
15. Paul Cooper (Metis Law Solicitors)
That is fifteen scammers who have never been prosecuted. They have not only never been brought to justice, but many of them went on to operate further scams and ruin thousands more lives – destroying more £ millions of hard-earned pension funds.

And what of Toby Whittaker’s Store First? There is no question that store pods are not suitable investments for pension fund investments. Car parking spaces are unsuitable for pensions as well. There are, in fact, a long list of inappropriate investments for pensions – including anything high-risk, illiquid and expensive or commission-laden.

TYPICAL INVESTMENTS USED BY SCAMMERS:
- Risky, unregulated funds and bonds such as Blackmore Bond, Blackmore Global, London Capital & Finance, Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund, LM, Axiom, Premier etc.
- Structured notes – especially those provided by Nomura, Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Canada and Leonteq
- Loan note arrangements such as Dolphin Trust – which has just changed its name to German Property Group GmbH
- All start-up enterprises
- Wine, art, stamps, chia seeds, truffle trees, eucalyptus plantations, art, antiques etc
All the above are routinely used and abused by pension scammers as “investments” for some dodgy scheme. Invariably, the above investments come with pension liberation fraud and/or huge introduction commissions and hidden charges. However, it is rarely the fault of the artist, wine maker, start-up entrepreneur, truffle farmer or property developer that the scammers profit so handsomely from abusing their products.

Store First v Insolvency Service Battle

I hope Store First defeats the Insolvency Service in the forthcoming battle in the High Court this month. And I hope that the public and British government will finally get to see what embarrassingly inept, corrupt, lazy regulators and government agencies we have. I will publish the Insolvency Service’s witness statement separately for anyone who wants to read the Full Monty.

Let us not forget that the solicitors acting for the Insolvency Service – DWF LLP – also act for serial scammer Stephen Ward. It was Ward who was responsible for the pension transfers which subsequently invested in Store First. Had it not been for him, 1,200 victims’ pensions totaling £120 million wouldn’t now be at risk. But, somehow, DWF LLP doesn’t think that is a conflict of interest?!?

Let us be clear: if the Insolvency Service wins the court case, the investors will get nothing. This will mean that, yet again, the victims will get punished. If Store First wins, the investors will get at the very least half their money back. If they are patient, they may even get it all back.
April 4, 2019
Is there no escape from the cold-calling, snake-oil salesmen?

Just as predicted, the scammers have managed to sidestep the cold-calling ban on pension selling by using a slightly different tactic. No surprise there then. Just as they morphed from pension liberation into high commission investments, it was only a matter of time – well just two weeks to be precise – before a firm called Cadde Wealth Management approached the matter from a different angle. There really is no escape from the cold-calling snake-oil salesmen: lawless, shameless and – unfortunately – quick-witted.

City Wire report that they have seen emails from Adviser Breakthrough on the success of their new pitch. The email reports that appointments had been made for Cadde Wealth Management for pensions advice through cold calling. The firm’s chief executive, Paul Cadde, is also the chief executive of Adviser Breakthrough.

The advice is that they can continue to cold call as long as the intro to the call doesn’t mention “pension advice”. Instead, they are calling and asking if the call receiver needs reviews of ISAs, bonds, cash, unit trusts and any other investments. It seems that these calls can then follow along the lines of the conversation drifting towards the cold-call receiver wanting pension advice. Thus the cold caller can claim they are not cold calling about pensions, but can offer advice in pensions as an after thought.

Oh, how so smart of these silver-tongued, evil con men. They worm their way into people’s heads and finances with a change of script, to escape the new laws. All it seems we can do here in the Pension Life office is sit here wincing and waiting for news of the next big pension scam. Our senses tell us that there is bound to be a rise in QROPS and SIPPS pension scams.

We can see the way these cold calls will work:

Cold calling snake, “Hi, I’m calling to see if you would like a free review on the performance of any ISA’s you own?”

Call victim, “Well, I’m currently very happy with my ISA’s performance, but I am a little worried about my pension plan. Can you help me with my pension?“

Cold calling snake, (rubbing his scales together in glee at the free ride) “I certainly can.”

Bish, Bash, Bosh, the cold-calling snake didn’t call directly regarding pensions advice; the receiver actively asked for it. Therefore, the cold- calling snake committed no offence. Our advice in regards to cold calling is – and always will be – the same: just hang up.

I wouldn’t be surprised if these snake-oil salesmen could master a technique whereby they start off offering double glazing and turn the call into a pension scam call!

Regular readers know how much we love researching financial advisory firms so here goes on Cadde Wealth Management.

Cadde Wealth Management have a TrustPilot score of 7.4 and three and a half stars. However, they have only had one reviewer, so we can’t really trust that!

On to their website – https://www.cadde.co.uk/ – Growing and preserving family finances since 1985.

Run by a feller named Paul Cadde – who apparently qualified as a financial adviser in 1985. We were deeply disappointed to find that he had no registered membership with the CII or the CISI. If you are unsure on what these are please check out our qualified and registered blog.

Not really a great start for Cadde Wealth Management: not only is Mr. Cadde happy to ignore the cold calling ban, but he is also unqualified and unregistered to give financial advice! Also listed on their financial team: Peter Staple, Wyn Matthews, Graham Dragon, Nikki Cadde and Katy Comber. None of these team members are listed on any of necessary financial institutes’ websites’ registers. They also mention Henry the dog: I would suggest he is probably the most honest member of the office!

So, the advice we give is simple: “cold called by a firm called Cadde Wealth Management? Just hang up!”

January 30, 2019
BREXIT AND THE NITWITS

The Nitwits were out in force this week. Brexit – like any other real, potential or imagined crisis – provides wonderful opportunities for pension scammers. Put people into a corner; wrap them in fear and uncertainty; set semi-literate politicians against each other; and carve out a nifty niche to scam away with deadly precision.

Just as World War II created a huge black market for silk stockings, chocolate and other luxuries, Brexit is giving pension scammers the perfect marketing slogan:

“Move all your money, assets, pensions, silk stockings and chocolates to Spain/France/Portugal/other European expat destination. Don’t let the British institutions look after your hard-earned life savings – let us at Jolly Johnny Rotten Stealth Management “look after” it all. And then you will develop perfect white teeth, silky grey hair, a perfect figure and a golden beach to trot happily along like a thoroughbred with your equally handsome partner for the rest of your life.”

My thoughts on pension scammers are well known – and I must have written thousands of words about the likes of Stephen Ward, XXXX XXXX, David Vilka, Darren Kirby, Peter Kenny et al. But almost as bad as the scammers are those who call the victims “stupid” and “greedy”.

Usually, I manage to rise above such rubbish – as these people “know not what they say”. But the other day one such nitwit crawled out of the woodwork on a Facebook forum called British Ex-Pats in Spain. Rejoicing in the name “Ralph Ehlers” this geezer seems to be good at multi-tasking having founded a variety of businesses involved in legal stuff, crowd funding, startups, contracts, investing, insurance, network technology and web design – and he also finds time to be in a relationship.

This self-professed expert on everything from law to IT (and probably tights and Mars bars) gave a stern warning:

“The increasing possibility of a no-deal Brexit is causing much angst among British nationals living in Spain.

• If you have bank accounts, savings or investments in the UK, consider moving them to Spain now. Sterling may drop suddenly in the case of a no deal exit; there may also be temporary problems moving money in and out of the EU.

• If you have a personal pension in the UK (this doesn’t apply to state or public service/occupational pensions) and have not yet retired, think about getting advice about how to deal with this and cashing it in if you’re old enough, or moving it. There may be issues with the rights of UK insurers/financial services providers to operate in the EU without having a formal presence there after Brexit and these could cause problems e.g. with insurers making payments to those living outside the UK. Write to your insurer/private pension company in the UK to ask them what plans they have put in place for post-Brexit scenarios”

I suggested that this nitwit ought to be careful about scaremongering people right into the clutches of the pension scammers:

“Please be very careful about encouraging people to panic and move their British pensions. Spain is full of pension scammers who will love to stick thousands of victims in QROPS they don’t need, insurance bonds they can’t afford an expensive, high-risk investments which will destroy their funds. Thousands of Continental Wealth Management victims wish they had left their pensions in the UK where they were safe from these criminals.https://pension-life.com/continental-wealth-management…/”

Nitwit countered with:

“Good that you pointed out how stupid people are to sign up for something they cannot afford. Guess they have timeshare as well.”

And not content with just demonstrating what a jerk he is, he continued to press the point home:

“You obviously made it your purpose in life to hunt pension scammers. Is that motherly instinct or didn’t they give you a job in the fraud squad? Back to the thread, which you use now for a completely different reason. I am sure that there are a lot of people valuing your advice, but we are chatting about general “getting your finances in order” not about pension fraudsters. I am sure there is a thread for it somewhere.”

Anyway, on a lighter note, I had a nice chat later in the week with a nice man called Des Cooney of Axis Strategy – an advisory firm in France. Kim had called him to ask if Axis Strategy had a license to provide investment advice. Mr. Cooney (we never quite made it to first name terms) wasn’t terribly enthusiastic about being asked such an “intrusive” question. He said that his firm didn’t provide investment advice – only pension transfer advice. So, I read him the home page of his website:

“We help our clients make wise financial decisions when transferring their UK pensions overseas.”

Seriously, I was only trying to be helpful. He pointed out that it didn’t mean that the firm was advising clients on what to invest their pensions in – but to try to make friendly suggestions as to how they should make their own decisions as to how to choose investments. And that Axis Strategy’s service was “execution only”.

Anyway, once I had turned my hearing aid down a notch or two, and I had explained I didn’t have a police uniform, we got along just fine. I do hope that he changes the wording on his website – perhaps I could introduce him to my new friend Ralph Ehlers who does web design.

Talking of friends, one of my best mates – jolly Micky Doggerty from Woodbroke Grope, is getting rather a lot of attention on Twitter (and not in a good way). In fact, while pension scammers normally go after unsophisticated, low-risk, naive investors, Tricky Micky has gone for experienced investors – and they are not amused. In fact, they want him jailed for fraud.

https://twitter.com/search?q=%24WDBG&src=typd&lang=en

https://twitter.com/michael01884562/status/1081722806491140102

https://twitter.com/michael01884562/status/1081720544695861255

Micky did a “reverse split” to raise the value of the shares in Woodbrook Group in the US by reducing the number. His little trick does not seem to have gone down well with the investors. This well-known and much despised (and illegal) manoeuvre is also known as “pump and dump”. Funnily enough, that rhymes with “chump”.

Maybe I’ve made enough friends for one week. Later this week I’ve got to deal with Forth Capital’s lawyers. Then I’m off to Malta with my bucket and spade (and shovel). No rest for the wicked!

January 9, 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
Scaremongering expats – paving the way for more scams

Independent News has written an article entitled – No-deal Brexit will make it ‘illegal’ to pay pensions to retired British expats living in EU, MPs told. In my opinion its just a move to scaremonger expats – paving the way for more scammers.

There are expats all over the world claiming their pensions. Why should Brexit make a difference to those in the EU?

The problem with scaremongering is like this: it paves the way for the pension vampires to strike with ease. Innocent expats, who hold private or occupational UK pensions, will read this kind of alarming report and could be sent into a flurry of panic – reaching for the nearest offshore deal. Or rather, offshore scam.

This type of report creates hordes of expats who don’t really understand what Brexit means (does anyone?) to their future. It creates an easy target for unqualified advisers working for the unregulated firms to strike while the iron is hot. A quick transfer, made in haste, the small print left unread – and the victim can spend the rest of their life regretting a bad decision.

Much in the same way as the scammers crowded outside the gates of British Steel factories – preying on the workers who really did not understand what was happening to their pension fund or what was the best decision to make, this report gives the scammers a new angle on which to work.

It would, however, seem that Huw Evans doesn’t know ‘who’ will be affected by this. His statement lacks any solid facts as to what countries in the EU could enforce this. Huw states there are 38 million people that could be affected. However, he fails to explain exactly why or how this would happen.

If you are an expat, with a UK pension, please do not rush into transferring your pension into an offshore arrangement. If you are interested in transferring your pension, be sure to consult a regulated advisory firm and take advice from a fully qualified and registered adviser.

Make sure you ask all the right questions, know all the details about where your pension will be going and above all, if in doubt, do not make the transfer. Pension scammers lurk all over the world – do not be their next victim.

What is a Pension Scam?

August 6, 2018