Tag: Investors Trust Cayman Islands

  • Serious Violation of Investors’ Trust – by Investors Trust (life office)

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

    Pension Life Blog - Serious Violation of Investors' TrustInvestors’ 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

    Pension Life Blog - Serious Violation of Investors' TrustA 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).

    Pension Life Blog - Serious Violation of Investors' Trust

    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).

    Pension Life Blog - Serious Violation of Investors' TrustFar 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?

    Pension Life Blog - Serious Violation of Investors' Trust

    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.

  • BLACKMORE GLOBAL FUND – ASSET OR BLACK HOLE?

    BLACKMORE GLOBAL FUND – ASSET OR BLACK HOLE?

    Blackmore or Blackhole Global fund

    BLACKMORE GLOBAL FUND – BLACK HOLE?

    A fund like Blackmore Global really ought to be audited as soon as possible – to make sure it isn’t simply a “black hole” into which victims’ hard-earned pensions have sunk.  Numerous worried pension savers are stuck in the Blackmore Global Fund and finding it difficult – if not impossible – to get out.  They are seemingly “locked in” for ten years.

    I WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS MY SINCERE THANKS TO THOSE – INCLUDING IFAs, PENSION TRUSTEE FIRMS AND BLACKMORE GLOBAL VICTIMS – WHO HAVE CONTACTED ME AND SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS, CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS.

    Allegedly, Grant Thornton is working on an audit – and has been doing so since September 2016.  They could probably have audited Microsoft in that time – and squeezed in Amazon on the side during the lunch breaks. Just how difficult can it be to audit a fund which only has a handful of assets in it?

    Originally, the directors of Blackmore Global were Brian Weal, Patrick McCreesh, and Phillip Nunn.  

    Brian Weal – sanctioned by the FSC in 2014 – was also a director of Swan Holdings – the only investment that the Advalorem Value Asset Fund made. Brian Weal was also a director of Advalorem. Advalorem lost most of its money because the investments in Swan Holdings were overvalued. The valuations were supplied by Stuart Black who also provided valuations for a Hedge Fund called Heather Capital which lost $300 million because of overvaluations. Swan Holdings had invested a chunk of cash in Etaireia Investments. Stuart Black was a director of Etaireia Investments. Brian Weal owns a controlling number of shares in Etaireia Investments.  So, make up your own mind as to whether having Weal as a director of Blackmore Global is a good thing or a bad thing – or a “black hole” thing.

    As for Nunn and McCreesh, I will let Leonard Fenton of the Insolvency Service do the talking:

    • Documents and information received from members of CAPITA OAK indicated they were initially contacted by Craig Mason or Patrick McCreesh of Nunn McCreesh of Its Your Pension Ltd and offered pension review services prior to them being referred to JACKSON FRANCIS or Sycamore for the transfer of their pension to CAPITA OAK.
    • On 3.3.15 I received an undated letter in which it was stated that Its Your Pension had not traded and was a dormant company and that Nunn McCreesh had traded as an insurance brokerage between 2009 and 2012 when they entered into a verbal arrangement with TRANSEURO where in return for providing pension leads to JACKSON FRANCIS they received a commission from TRANSEURO.
    • Nunn McCreesh provided JACKSON FRANCIS with 100-200 leads per month which were provided by email and/or telephone for which they received £899,829.86 from TRANSEURO during the period 26.3.12 to 14.5.14.

    So, again, draw your own conclusions about those connected with Blackmore Global.  Nunn and McCreesh generated up to 200 leads a month to pension scammers in relation to a series of pension/investment scams which are now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.  This entailed £120 million worth of pensions being invested in Store First store pods which are now the subject of a winding up petition – and arguably worthless.

    When I first started investigating the Blackmore Global fund in 2016, I started with the brochure which makes all sorts of grand claims: “medium to long-term investment vehicle with a diversified investment portfolio
    under one structure. The Company allocates investment between four distinct protected cells, giving a true
    diversification of assets between property, sustainable, private equity and lifestyle”.  Yeah, right.  But what are the underlying assets?  Where is the audit?

    The Fact Sheet goes on to claim the fund’s NAV is £17.65 million and was launched on 1st May 2014.  So why no audit?  It also claims that the Investment Manager is a firm in Barcelona called Meriden Capital Partners.  I thought it a bit strange that a fund based in the Isle of Man would appoint an investment manager in Spain – especially one without a website.  So I called Meriden Capital Partners and asked them to confirm that they were the investment manager.  They claimed they had never heard of Blackmore Global.  Then one of the partners called me back and told me that some man who didn’t give his name had come to their office and asked them whether they would be interested in being the investment manager for Blackmore Global.

    The partner at Meriden Capital explained that they had declined because they were not licensed to provide investment management advice to a fund – only to private individuals.

    But then I discovered that that hadn’t been entirely true either. Meriden Capital had actually completed an application form to apply to become the investment manager to the fund on 4th April 2014.  So either Meriden Capital was lying or Blackmore Global was lying – or both.

    The Blackmore Global NAV Factsheet also states that there is a ten-year lock-in to the fund.  So why would anyone invest a pension in such a fund?  A pension saver has a statutory right to a transfer and might want to take his PCLS – 25% tax free withdrawal at age 55 – or retire, or even die.  What on earth is the point in using Blackmore Global for a pension at all?  Ever.

    As Grant Thorton is clearly having a little trouble with the audit of a five-cell investment fund, I will lay a wee trail of bread crumbs for them to look at.  Clearly they can’t even find the underlying assets – let alone value them:

    Swan Holdings PCC (controlled by Brian Weal)

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

    GRRE Invest – fund manager for aptly-named GRREIF fund (Green Renewable Redeemable Energy Investment Fund –

    GRRE Investment Fund – suspended by Anguilla FSC. (Brian Weal recently resigned as a director but still holds a controlling interest in the Fund – https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09132685/persons-with-significant-control)

    Spinaris 90 – UK sports spread betting (invisible – and what happened to Aria Invest?)

    Most of the victims of the Blackmore Global fund were initially cold-called by a firm called Aspinal Chase.  And all the victims were advised by unregulated investment advisers Square Mile Financial Services (an insurance license does not cover regulated investment advice).  But more worryingly, all of them were put into a QROPS in Malta or the Isle of Man.  So why were UK residents transferred to an offshore pension at all, and why were most or all of their pension funds invested in a UCIS which is illegal to be promoted to UK residents?

    The list of questions goes on and on.  And here, we get back to whether the unscrambling of these pension and investment scams is more about who you know rather than what you know.  One victim had his pension invested 75% in Blackmore Global and 25% in Symphony.  Symphony was a fund invested in derivatives and highly leveraged.  It was also a sub fund of the Nascent Fund run by Richard Reinert.  Under the Nascent “umbrella” (a structure for wannabe fund managers) was also the Trafalgar Multi Asset fund which was run by XXXX XXXX who was one of the main distributors behind Capita Oak, Henley and Westminster – all of which are being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office.

    Now we have gone round in a complete circle.  A catalogue of lies, deception, fraud, mis-selling, negligence and incompetence.

    I don’t envy Grant Thornton (if indeed they are the auditors) because they have got to unscramble this unholy mess. And I strongly suspect that, behind the scenes, there are certain parties who are busting a gut to ensure the audit is never published.  Two of these may well be John Ferguson and David Vilka of Square Mile in the Czech Republic who seem to have a strong vested interest in promoting this black hole of a fund.

    Meanwhile, the longer the victims are held back from transferring out of this toxic swamp of a fund, the more serious the complaints against the various parties involved will be.  These will include the cold-calling scammers; introducers; advisers; pension trustees and insurance companies such as Investors Trust who allowed this investment and the pensions transfers from unlicensed advisers.

    Finally, on the subject of Investors Trust, they showed not a shred of interest in the fact that they had facilitated financial crime in allowing UK residents to have their pensions invested in this UCIS, but when I published a photo of John Ferguson and David Vilka posing as a couple of gaudily-dressed spivs in Las Vegas, Investors Trust objected on the grounds the photograph was their property.

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