Tag: Christopher Payne

  • Store First v Insolvency Service Battle

    Store First v Insolvency Service Battle

    Pension Life Blog - Store First v Insolvency Service - store first scam

    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:

    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.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Unqualified pension scammers banned

    Unqualified pension scammers banned

    Unqualified Pension Scammers Banned

    Articles like New Model Adviser’s report on some of the scammers behind the Capita Oak/Henley/Store First scam getting banned always makes me smile. Knowing that a few pension scammers (four in this case), are being named and shamed – as well as banned from being directors – motivates me to share information about these evil scams with the public.Pension Life Blog - Unqualified pension scammers banned - 4 scammers banned - imperial trustee services - Transeuro Worldwide Holdings

    Directors handed 34-year ban for £57m cold call pension transfers

    Citywire stated:

    “An investigation led by the Insolvency Service revealed the directors were connected with Transeuro Worldwide Holdings, which helped fund two introducer firms Sycamore Crown and Jackson Francis. The firms were involved in the transfer of £57 million of pension savings.

    Sycamore Crown director Stuart Greehan agreed to a nine-year voluntary ban as a result of false and misleading statements to encourage investors to transfer their pensions.

    Karl Dunlop, director of Imperial Trustee Services, and Ian Dunsford, director of Omni Trustees, agreed to bans of nine and seven years, respectively, for failing to act in the best interests of members and ‘failing to ensure investments were adequately diverse’.

    While not a formally appointed director of Transeuro Worldwide Holdings, Mike Talbot (AKA Stephen Talbot) accepted a nine-year disqualification undertaking for failing to disclose what happened to the millions of pounds of pension assets.”

    BUT, IN ADDITION TO THESE EVIL SCAMMERS, THERE WERE OTHER PLAYERS IN THIS APPALLING TRAGEDY AND THEY WERE NOT MENTIONED.  SO HERE ARE THE OTHER PEOPLE WHO PLAYED LEADING PARTS IN THIS FOUL PLAY:

    Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions SL and Premier Pension Transfers Ltd – he handled the transfer administration from the original (ceding) pension providers.  He was, apparently, paid £300 per Capita Oak transfer – and would have known that he was condemning each member to certain loss of his or her pension.

    XXXX XXXX of Nationwide Benefit Consultants, The Pension Reporter, Victory Asset Management and Tourbillon, was clearly the “controlling mind” behind Capita Oak.  He also ran the Thurlstone loan scheme which paid 5% in cash to the Capita Oak victims as a “bonus” or “thank you”.  HMRC is now taxing these payments at 55% as they qualify as unauthorised payments.  XXXX XXXX then went on to launch the successful Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund scam which saw over 400 victims lose their pensions to high-risk toxic loans to Dolphin Trust in an STM Fidecs Gibraltar QROPS.  XXXX – as with most pension scammers – subsequently ignores the plight of the victims when the schemes eventually and inevitably collapse.  XXXX is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office and was also responsible for the Westminster pension scam.

    Mark Manley of Manleys Solicitors – acting for XXXX XXXX.

    Stuart Chapman-Clarke, Christopher Payne, Ben Fox, Bill Perkins, Alan Fowler, Karen Burton, Tom Biggar, Sarah Duffell, Jason Holmes, Metis Law Solicitors, Roger Chant, Brian Downs, Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh all played further prominent roles in this series of scams and profited to a greater or lesser degree.

    Pension Life Blog - Unqualified pension scammers banned - 4 scammers banned - imperial trustee services - Transeuro Worldwide HoldingsIt is believed that cold calling techniques were used to lure unsuspecting victims into this series of unregulated investment scams. Victims’ pension savings were transferred into bogus occupational pension schemes whose trustees/administrators were Omni Trustees and Imperial Trustee Services.  The schemes were Henley Retirement Benefit Scheme (HRBS) and Capita Oak Pension Scheme (COPS).  But the scammers also used a variety of SIPPS which included Berkeley Burke, Careys Pensions, Rowanmoor, London and Colonial and Stadia Trustees.

    As is often the case in scams like these, the victims were lured in with promises of so-called guaranteed high returns by spivs masquerading as advisers, who were also unqualified and unregulated to give financial advice.

    The unqualified advisers were able to transfer millions of pounds’ worth of pension savings into these schemes which included investments in unregulated storage units and over £10 million into COPS (Capita Oak) and over £8 million into HRBS (Henley). The promised high returns were never paid to the investors – but handed over to the scammers instead. The pension funds are now suspended with the funds trapped in these illiquid investments.

    The company directors have received a total ban of 34 years collectively. Here at Pension Life we would have liked to have seen lifetime bans all round.

    The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is now moving forward with their investigations against Omni and Imperial. They urge people who are members of HRBS (Henley) and COPS (Capita Oak) to contribute to criminal evidence against the scammers via a questionnaire.

    As always, the team at Pension Life urges pension holders to be wary of pension scammers. Never accept a cold call offer, be aware that scammers lurk everywhere and if it seems to good to be true it probably is!

    If in doubt just walk away!

  • CAPITA OAK UPDATE AND INFORMATION REQUIRED

    CAPITA OAK UPDATE AND INFORMATION REQUIRED

    Capita Oak Pension Scam

    For the benefit of all 300 odd members of Capita Oak, here is an email that was sent today to Downs & Co, the accountants acting on behalf of Christopher Payne, the director of the trustees Imperial. This email has been circulated to many Capita Oak members and other interested parties such as the police and the BBC who are preparing a documentary on the subject.

    Hopefully it will not be too late to blow the whistle on this situation and rescue the members’ funds: https://pension-life.com/#!whistle/c13e7

    Admittedly, the contents of this email raises more questions than it answers, but it does at least go some way to establishing how many members there are, how much in total was transferred and who the various parties were who received money from the transfers. What it does not yet establish is what the 10.14 million paid to Metis Law is now actually worth and how (or if) it can be recovered.
    Dear Mr. Downs (info@downsandco.co.uk)

    Referring to our earlier correspondence, will you kindly ask your client Mr. Christopher Payne the following questions:

    1. A total of 10,810,301.57 was transferred in to Capita Oak from approximately 300 members and a total of 10,666,066.14 was paid out. This should leave a balance of 144,235.43 and confirmation is required that this is indeed the amount remaining in cash.

    2. A total of 82,911.31 was paid out in “PCLS” payments and confirmation is required as to what these payments were and who authorised them.

    3. The following “PCLS” payments were made and confirmation is needed as to who these people were and why these payments were made, upon whose authority:

    -5,054.24 J Whyte
    -8,854.53 G Rose
    -21,875.72 W Daniels
    -5,758.99 Mr Clemson
    -5,286.32 Mr. Charlesworth
    -17,231.51 Pamela Holt
    -18,850.00 A Levitt

    4. A total of 441,751.85 was paid to TKE Admin (of which Mr. Payne was a director). This was paid to TKE on 27 different dates between 12.11.2012 and 5.7.2013. Please explain what these payments were for and who authorised them.

    5. Premier Pension Transfers were apparently handling the transfers but there is no record of any payment to them for their services. How were they remunerated and why were two administration companies involved and who appointed them?

    6. A total of 10,140,598.27 was remitted to Metis Law between 11.20.2012 and 7.5.2013. Confirmation is required that Capita Oak now holds 10,140,598.27 worth of assets and exactly what income these assets are supposed to generate and whether they are unencumbered. Further we need evidence of title to these assets and a full explanation as to who authorised 100% of Capita Oak’s assets to be placed in illiquid property with very little liquidity remaining for transfers out.
    7. An explanation as to how and by whom the Thurlestone “loans” were transacted, administered and recorded.

    There will of course be numerous further questions which your client Mr. Payne will be required to answer, including why he has not contacted me or answered my calls. As I am sure you appreciate, as former and current director of Imperial Trustees, Mr. Payne is liable for any risks to Capita Oak and responsible for the members’ interests, investments and any non-compliant transactions linked to the pension, such as the Thurlestone loans of 5% of the value of the transfers.
    In the case of Ark, professional independent trustees were appointed by the Pensions Regulator and the majority of the assets were eventually recovered. However, this is not the case for the Capita Oak victims – who are extremely distressed – and therefore we are all relying on the full cooperation and disclosure by you and your client Mr. Payne.

    Your early response will be much appreciated. As I am sure you will be fully aware, this situation is being closely monitored by the police and the BBC, as well as the members and if you or your client Mr. Payne are unable to answer any of the above questions you must refer me to any other connected party who is in a position to do so. You will see that this email is copied to the Police, Store First and Metis Law.

    Regards, Angela Brooks – Chairman, Ark Class Action