Tag: Jody Smart

CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST UNLICENSED FINANCIAL ADVISERS

Denia Courthouse

CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST UNLICENSED FINANCIAL ADVISERS:

Last month saw the first of the CWM pension scam victims testifying in the criminal court of Denia, Alicante. Nine brave people re-lived their ordeal in front of the judge. They answered the judge’s questions, and were then cross-examined by the defendants’ lawyers.

Darren Kirby in front of CWM office

The complainants who testified were all clients of Continental Wealth Management (CWM) run by Darren Kirby and Jody Smart (pictured below), as well as Premier Pension Solutions (PPS) run by Stephen Ward. PPS was an “agent” and “partner” of AES Financial Services run by Sam Instone. (PPS and AES are now under investigation for their role in the 2011 Ark Pension Liberation scam).

It is hard enough for a pension scam victim to be reminded of their ordeal at the hands of callous, greedy scammers. But to have to recount in graphic detail the methods used by the scammers was hard for them to bear.

The scammer’s typical arsenal of weapons comprises a series of lies – adeptly used to trick the unwary into handing over their pensions and life savings. The victims who testified in Denia know these lies all too well. And now, so too does the judge:

LIE NO. 1: “We’re fully regulated”. This, of course, was completely untrue. CWM operated, purportedly, as a member of the Inter Alliance “network”. And Inter Alliance was not only unregulated but had been fined by the Cyprus regulator for providing regulated services without legal authorisation.

Jody Smart of CWM

LIE NO. 2: “Yes, I’m fully qualified”. This, again, was untrue. Few – if any – of the people working for CWM had any financial qualifications. They were mostly poorly-educated salesmen with the gift of the gab. They had learned a well-used and very clever script which was designed to mislead and defraud their victims.

LIE NO. 3: “The case for transferring your pension into a QROPS is overwhelming”. In the case of final salary pensions, this was never true. A guaranteed income for life from a company pension final salary scheme can almost never be bettered. Most personal pensions should also have been left where they were. In fact, all pensions would have been better off avoiding ending up in the hands of CWM – even if a QROPS had been the right option.

LIE NO. 4: “Your pension needs to be in an insurance bond (Quilter, SEB or Utmost). This is for protection and tax efficiency”. This was never true. The bond provided no protection, no tax savings, no flexibility. The 7% commission paid to the “adviser” was not disclosed.

LIE NO. 5: “Your money will be invested in blue chip companies and you will get high returns and low risk.” High returns come with high risk – and the high commissions (paid to the scammers) were hidden from the victims. Toxic structured notes were used for all the victims – and these are complex investment products which were only suitable for professional investors.

There were, of course, many other lies – including the fact that when the toxic structured notes and unregulated funds failed, these were “only paper losses”. Plus the fact that the investors’ signatures were forged or copied on the investment dealing instructions.

Structured Note Providers

The second half of the complainants will be heard by the court on 9^th and 10^th December 2021. Once the court has heard from all these victims (minus Bob Bowden who sadly passed away recently), the fate of the defendants will be decided by the judge. Let us all hope this will herald an end to these types of pension and investment scams.

Perhaps “the end” will be just the beginning. A new dawn for an offshore financial services industry which sells proper financial advice – and not just commission-laden products.

CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST UNLICENSED FINANCIAL ADVISERS

October 7, 2021
The Sound of Silence (and Deafening Disgrace)
This has been a week of scammers trying to silence the din of their sin.

No matter how hard they try – stealing newspapers, denying the truth on social media or taking me to court – hard evidence simply won’t go away. It is there to stay.

Costa Blanca Newspaper The Olive Press ran a story last week on Neil Hathaway of Continental Wealth Management. Hathaway – along with colleagues Anthony Downs and Dean Stogsdill – had been one of the three most senior players beneath Darren Kirby and Jody Smart in the £100 million fraud committed against 1,000 victims.

Masquerading as “financial advisers” from 2010 to 2017, Hathaway, Downs, Stogsdill and Kirby conned hundreds of pension savers into transferring their pensions offshore so that CWM could make £ millions out of concealed commissions on the insurance bonds and structured notes they used to destroy their victims’ life savings.

Operating illegally in Spain, Darren Kirby and his partner Jody Smart – sole director of the company (Continental Wealth Trust S.L. trading as Continental Wealth Management) – entrusted the dodgy trio with managing the fraudulent operation. Kirby, Smart, Hathaway, Downs and Stogsdill – along with their associates Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions and Paul Clarke of Roebuck Wealth Management – are all now facing charges of fraud in the Denia court.

Neil Hathaway was caught stealing bundles of copies of The Olive Press in his black SUV. Now being investigated by the local police, he is claiming he committed the crime because he was “angry” at having been outed in a previous Olive Press article – along with Darren Kirby and Jody Smart.

Hathaway’s defence appears to be that he stole fewer copies of the Olive Press newspaper than the police say he did; that his wife had been “approached at work”; and that he was “protecting his name”.

And this is the bit that scammers never seem to understand: Neil Hathaway’s name is on thousands of documents which evidence what he did to hundreds of CWM victims. Stealing hundreds of copies of a free newspaper isn’t going to make that evidence go away.

The hundreds of emails written by Neil Hathaway conning his victims; the OMI, SEB and Generali statements and valuations reporting the huge losses suffered by his victims; the many testimonies of his distressed (and often suicidal) victims will still evidence what he did – no matter how many copies of The Olive Press he steals and destroys.

Hathaway’s former “boss” Jody Smart (aka Jody Bell, Jody Kirby or Jody Pearson) has also been exposing (and disgracing) herself this week. A collection of “artistic” photographs has been doing the rounds on social media – evidencing Jody’s talents in partnership with a somewhat bouncy buddy.

I wonder what they were promoting? It could easily have been blond hair dye or red stockings – or anything in between. But it is hoped they would both have been more transparent about what they charged for their services than the “advisers” at CWM were.

And this, of course, is a perfect illustration of why so many offshore “advisers” behave – and promote themselves – in a manner which is so misleading. They purport to be giving “advice” which will improve expats’ pension arrangements by transferring the funds offshore. But the reality is that even if their pensions should have been left where they were in the UK, their principal motivation was to earn hidden commissions out of selling insurance bonds and high-risk investments.

However hard anyone tries to remove this image of Jody Smart and her “Big’n Bouncy” associate (and other even more eye-watering images which I cannot publish because they might offend my gentle readers) from the internet, one can never un-see what has been seen. The memory of this photograph can never be extinguished – any more than the evidence of the destruction of so many of her clients’ pensions can ever be rubbed out.

The scammers at CWM are soon going to be joined by their counter parts at Spectrum IFA Group, Pennick Blackwell/AES International and Holborn Assets. This would already have happened had it not been for Covid 19 and the closure of the courts.

All these firms, and their so-called “advisers” (in reality just poorly-qualified salesmen) have several things in common:
- They all recommend pension transfers even if it is in the client’s interests to leave the pension where it is (in the UK)
- They all lie about the merits and advantages of QROPS
- They have all decided – before they know the first thing about the client – that he is going to be put into an insurance bond
- They all seek out investments which pay the highest (hidden) commissions – irrespective of whether these funds are any good (which they usually aren’t)
- They rarely have any relevant financial services qualifications
- Their firms are frequently unlicensed for insurance mediation or investment advice
- They are all committing a criminal offence every time they sell an insurance bond in Spain (and possibly other jurisdictions)
A few of the scammers are now facing criminal charges in Spain. Several scammers are under investigation by the Insolvency Service and/or the Serious Fraud Office. A couple of “life” offices are facing civil proceedings in the Isle of Man. A QROPS provider is facing civil proceedings in Gibraltar. Another QROPS provider is facing criminal proceedings in Hong Kong. A fund manager is about to face criminal proceedings in the Isle of Man. The tide is beginning to turn against the global trend of financial crime.

When all’s said and done:
- a worthless, bogus, unregulated Cayman Islands fund is a worthless, bogus, unregulated Cayman Islands fund
- a couple of tarts are a couple of tarts
- a trio of scammers are a trio of scammers.
Stealing newspapers or trying to prevent the publication of the crimes isn’t going to change any of that. The hard evidence of the crimes will remain – no matter how hard the scammers try to hide it.

It doesn’t look like Old Mutual International (or Skandia or Quilter or whatever they are calling themselves this summer) is going to be able to bottom out their “clean up” operation. Perhaps they ought to try changing their name again so people forget what they did in the past? Perhaps under CEO Peter Kenny’s watchful eye, this might be achieved?
July 12, 2020

CWM Criminal Case and Business Plan

As we reach the halfway point in the criminal trial of the Continental Wealth Management and Premier Pension Solutions companies, I regret I am unable to give a detailed update on the case at this point. The first half of the eight defendants have been cross examined by the judge’s lawyer, and the second batch of four further defendants are due to be cross examined on 7th April 2020 (in the Denia Court of First Instruction).

This, of course, assumes there is no disruption to the proceedings caused by the Corona virus lockdown.

The first “batch” consisted of Patrick Kirby – Darren Kirby’s brother – who ran the CWM cold calling operation which sent so many hundreds of victims to their doom; Anthony Downs; Dean Stogsdill and Neil Hathaway who had various different titles at different times – ranging from Managing Director to Operations Director to Investment Director.

I can’t comment on the transcripts of the questions and answers on 24th and 25th February, and won’t be able to publish the full details of all cross examinations until all the defendants have appeared before the judge. The defendants on 7th April will be:

Jody Smart – sole director and shareholder who paid herself over 1 million Euros in the last two years of the life of CWM – the money being paid into her two other businesses: property company Mercurio and fashion design company Jody Bell. In addition, she also paid money into her Grant A Wish “charity” and drew a hefty salary.
Paul Clarke – founder of the original CWM company in partnership with Darren Kirby; Clarke left a year later to run AES International Spain, where he scammed more victims out of their life savings with expensive, unnecessary, illegally-sold insurance bonds, and high-risk structured notes – all sold for the fat commissions (despite the even fatter losses suffered by the victims). He also advised two victims to go into Stephen Ward’s Ark scam. Clarke now runs a firm called Roebuck Wealth and has scrubbed the internet of all trace of his history.
Darren Kirby – founder along with Clarke and ultimate controller of the whole CWM operation throughout. Kirby made every attempt to divest himself of all legal responsibility for CWM. He gave away his shares in the company to his business/civil partner Jody Smart, and some of his employees. However, all the defendants (as well as victims) are bound to confirm Darren Kirby was the ultimate boss and controlling mind of the company.
Stephen Ward – owner of Premier Pension Solutions SL. He was the person who signed off all the CWM clients’ pension transfers (for a fat fee). He knowingly condemned all pension holders whose transfers he signed off to inevitable partial or total loss. He was fully aware of CWM’s modus operandi as he himself used a similar investment model to that of CWM (and had taught them how to do it). Ward was routinely investing his own clients’ funds in a toxic, disloyal and irresponsible manner which was as bad – and sometimes even worse – than in the CWM cases.

As soon as I can publish the cross examination transcripts and further directions, I will do so.

This landmark Continental Wealth Management criminal case will inevitably shine a much-needed spotlight on the issue of offshore financial services generally. CWM was just one example (albeit an extreme one) of an international financial services culture which generally disadvantages and/or defrauds consumers. The cause of this culture is a combination of the obsession with the insurance bond cartel: OMI, SEB, Generali, RL360 et al; the total reliance on (hidden) commission; the practice of churning (investing the same sum of money as often as possible to generate as much commission as possible) and the view that the client’s money and interests are secondary to the adviser’s.

CWM victims outside the Denia Criminal Court on 25.2.2020 waiting for Dean Stogsdill and Neil Hathaway to finish being questioned on charges of fraud, disloyal administration and falsification of commercial documents.

Most victims – whether parties to the criminal proceedings or not – are aware of the demise of CWM in September 2017. The company was slowly dying because of the number of victims the CWM scammers had ruined: the word was getting out (which was bad for business) so the victims who shouted loudest were getting paid off. This was having a seriously detrimental effect on CWM’s cashflow.

The financial strain on the business was, however, made even worse by the fact that every last bit of spare cash in the CWM bank account was being used to keep Jody Smart in houses, frilly frocks, shoes and champagne. In 2017, the CWM bank statements show 158,614 EUR was transferred into her Mercurio property company bank account, and 123,400 EUR into her Jody Bell fashion design company bank account. But this was significantly down on the previous year: 386,921 EUR to Mercurio and 164,000 EUR to Jody Bell. The year before, 2015, 124,500 EUR into Mercurio and 39,000.00 into Jody Bell fashion. That’s almost 1 million EUR in two years pocketed by Jody – not counting the money paid into her Grant A Wish “charity” and her generous “salary”.

During the same period, however, the revenue was at least 3,391,876.28 EUR in commissions from insurance bonds and structured notes. On top of this was a substantial amount of extra secret commission from the ultra-high-risk Leonteq structured notes, plus whatever Darren Kirby could con out of victims such as Mark Davison (who subsequently died penniless) and the other claimants pursuing Kirby and CWM through the criminal court in Denia in separate proceedings which pre-date our Pension Life proceedings.

Looking back to the dying days of CWM when cashflow was slowly grinding to a halt as the company was paying out compensation to some of the worst-affected victims (and any remaining cash was being spent by Jody Smart on first-class flights to New York and champagne in five-star hotels – despite her claim to be working 24/7 on her Grant A Wish charity), there was a plan to “reinvent” and re-launch CWM. It eventually dawned on the CWM scammers that they couldn’t scam enough new victims quickly enough to pay out all the existing victims – so the answer was to start afresh with a brand new approach. The new approach was essentially the same as the old approach – except they aimed to sell more “products” and ruin more victims.

The rest is history and CWM collapsed at the end of September 2017 – when all related parties withdrew terms of business. It is worth taking a careful look at the business plan which CWM had been intending to use to re-launch the business. This plan makes it clear that this was an unlicensed, insurance bond sales outfit which intended to continue to operate in contravention of the Spanish insurance regulations. If you read the plan carefully, you will see that CWM operating model was always based on a high-pressure sales target which ignored the interests of the clients (victims).

CWM’s promotion had always been centered around the iniquitous cold call – but in addition the business plan reveals that Jody Smart’s Grant A Wish “charity” events had been used to “harvest” potential victims at scamming sales parties posing as bona fide fundraising efforts.

Read the below CWM “Relaunch Business Plan” carefully and you will see how the scam works. If a victim transfers a £100,000 pension, it will fall in value in the hands of CWM to £91,976,000 by the end of year 1. This means the first year fees would have totalled £4,000 set up fee plus £1,000 annual management fee to CWM; £1,490 QROPS fee; £1,534 to fee OMI. It is interesting that Stogsdill has made the assumption in the plan that all clients will be put into an OMI bond – long before they’ve even met the client and found out if they actually need an insurance bond (which they never do as they are too expensive and lock investors in for up to ten years).

The CWM “plan” shows how a victim’s fund could recover back up to £97,495 if it grows by 6%. But this doesn’t take into account the investment costs of between 5% and 8% – so that was never going to happen. So Dean Stogsdill of CWM – despite all the lessons which should have been learned from years of destroying victims’ funds, still fully intended to keep on doing the same to as many new victims as possible.

Continental Wealth Management Business Plan 2017 (by Dean Stogsdill)

Continental Wealth Management is an independent financial advice firm specialising in wealth management advice to English speaking expatriates throughout Europe – this statement is the key to CWM’s future success.

CWM must focus on expanding our circle of influence and create new business through strategic placement of data gatherers. We must take on the business of “hard targets”, created to allow the best we have to flourish, whilst removing the weaker members of the team by natural selection. This is not a system for solely the sales force, but for all aspects of the team including call centre operators, administration and directors.

CWM will have clear defined roles within the sales force with the addition of achievable, measurable targets on top of generous salaries which is the cornerstone of our payroll ethos. The business will flow from our Partners meaning the business can be closed efficiently and serviced by an experienced adviser who is well trained, knowledgeable and most importantly a “hungry individual”.

There is a simple calculation on £100,000.00:

£100,000 invested over 6 years in capital protected products will provide £6,250.00 in gross revenue.

£100,000 invested over 6 years in a fund yielding 3% per annum growth will provide £10,690 in gross revenue.

BACKGROUND

CWM is a financial services company founded in 2007 on the Costa Blanca. It is a company specialising in pension transfers, portfolio bonds, offshore investments and single premium investments. It is a non-regulated company which is owned and operated by the directors / shareholders and founder Darren Kirby. Recent investors are Timothy Benjamin, and Mark Davison with share capital having been distributed amongst these investors.

Directors / Shareholders

Founder / Majority Shareholder – Darren Kirby

Chairman – Neil Hathaway

CEO – Dean Stogsdill

COO – Anthony Downs

Key Personnel

Darren Kirby – He brings a wealth of experience in financial services with a keen head for figures and sales techniques. He has a strong view on the business and how it should be perceived by the clients, while strengthening our position through strategic investment decisions along with powerful leadership skills.

Neil Hathaway – Decades of experience in insurance and wealth management, he brings a strong personality and great sales skills with the qualifications to match. He is a knowledgeable asset to the management of the sales force and uses his skills to bring through the less experienced members of the team.

Dean Stogsdill – Strong sales record and up to date qualifications – he can sell at the most technical level and has a strong grasp of the investment market, regulation and products. Strong views on company direction.

Anthony Downs – Organised, driven and a sales record to match. He drives through the issuing business and captures all revenues and commissions in the most efficient manner. Anthony is key to the efficient stream of payments required for this business model.

Directors: Re-structure 2017

Darren Kirby

The final decision maker as majority shareholder means critical decisions will fall to him. A mandate to find new investors and revenue streams for CWM. An ambassadorial role and a creative thinker for the company, bringing fresh ideas on many aspects of the business both operational and non-operational.

Neil Hathaway

Key point of contact for the sales force. A remit to push the sales force to meet targets and close business. He will be in control of sales, possible bond lists as well as monitoring the business / LOA levels for each adviser. He will also have a key role in writing new business. This will be a target driven management position. All advisers will report directly to him.

Dean Stogsdill

Complete oversight of the business operationally with a close working relationship with the Chairman and COO. I will manage the company direction and overall development planning, strategies and high level management with department heads reporting directly to me. I will chair board meetings and deal with technical and regulatory planning. I will also be heavily involved in the efficient management of the investment book.

Anthony Downs

Full control of new business. A remit to drive through the revenues from written business to maximize the cashflow of the company. Target driven with targets based on company income needs, outstanding requirements and business written.

With the current admin levels and management restructure we should be able to easily handle up to 7 bonds per week, plus client after care, outstanding requirements, investment and re-investment. We do not hire any more administration in 2017. Although this will be adjusted if business levels exceed 7 bonds per week.

We are now a company where you perform, meet your target or you are replaced.

Of the 9 bond writers, we have 1 in France, 1 in Turkey, 1 in Portugal and the other 6 are in Spain. I believe that we need to build up the business levels so that 9 bond writers can meet a target of 30 bonds per man for the year or an average of 3 a month, based on a 10 month / 40-week year. This would mean a company wide total of 270 bonds, at our target average of €10,000 commission per bond that would mean turnover of 2.7 million plus trail of €300,000 meaning a total of €3,000,000 for 2017.

Call Centres – Cold calling with appointments made and revenue generated through call centres and call centres paid for on performance only.

Market history:

Historically we have concentrated on cold calling, Grant A Wish (“charity”) events, web videos, website and referrals from existing clients. The cold calling aspect is becoming more and more difficult and time consuming and other areas of marketing ourselves and our products must be found.

Competition – Blevins Franks; DeVere; Abbey Financial; Spectrum; Blacktower

Our average case size of £100,000 has costs associated with it as follows:

Opening
	Initial Single Premium	100,000
	Total	100,000

Charges	CWM
	Initial CWM Set Up Charge	4,000	–
			–
	QROPS Set Up Charge and Annual Fee	1,490
	OMI Annual Management Charge	1,150
	CWM Annual Management Charge	1,000
	OMI Annual Administration Charge (paid Quarterly)	384
Total Expenses	8,024	3,354

	Net	91,976
	Estimated Growth 6%	5,519

Year End Balance	97,495	99,789


		–	–
		–	–
		–	–
		–	–

Balance on Fund	97,495	99,789

This gives us a year 1 price point of 8.02% and an ongoing of 3.3%.

March 18, 2020

CWM Criminal Trial 24th February 2020
The protagonists behind collapsed Spanish advisory firm CWM – Continental Wealth Management – will be on trial week commencing 24th February in the Denia Criminal Court of First Instruction.

This criminal matter will have enormous ramifications for similarly-affected victims, and for any advisory firms which have engaged in any of the same practices used by CWM. These illegal practices include the gratuitous selling of insurance bonds from bond providers such as OMI, SEB, RL360, Friends Provident and Generali; putting low-risk investors into commission-laden, high-risk investments; churning and concealment of backhanders; forged or copied client signatures on investment dealing instructions.

The routine “sale” of insurance bonds (whether the clients need them or not – which 99% of the time they don’t) is illegal in Spain. Undoubtedly this will be similar or identical in other jurisdictions. The Spanish Supreme Court has ruled that insurance bonds are invalid for the purpose of holding investments. But still the scammers continue to flog them indiscriminately – purely for the fat commissions.

Insurance bond salesmanship has become one of the biggest, most widespread and toxic crimes across all expat territories – and now it must be outlawed by the ethical sector of the financial services market. And there is an ethical sector which abhors the toxic and dishonest practices which will be the subject of the CWM trial. There is also a “semi-ethical” sector which is genuinely ashamed that it too has carried out such practices, but which is determined to clean up it’s act and “go straight” from now on.

Make no mistake – the Denia Criminal Court is determined to clean up this stretch of the Costa Blanca in particular and Spain in general – as well as make an example out of the CWM scammers. Some of the CWM victims, as well as Ark and Capita Oak victims – and those financially ruined by both Stephen Ward and Paul Clarke – will be at the court hearings the week of 24th February. There will be local and international press coverage to highlight the importance of this significant event.

The defendants in the CWM case were served in early January. They are now compelled to come to court to be cross-examined by our lawyer. Each defendant will have his or her own legal representative and also a court-appointed translator. The cross examinations will take place privately in front of the judge, but a transcript of each one will be published subsequently. I will translate these transcripts and make them publicly available on the Pension Life website as soon as they are made available by the court.

The dates of the now compulsory court hearings are:
- Monday 24th February from 10 a.m.: Darren Kirby; Patrick Kirby and Anthony Downs
- Tuesday 25th February from 10 a.m.: Jody Smart, Neil Hathaway and Dean Stogsdill
- Friday 28th February from 10 a.m.: Stephen Ward and Paul Clarke
Darren Kirby did not show up for the last criminal trial – when he was accused of defrauding three victims out of their life savings in order to give him money to prop up the rapidly failing CWM and to pay money to his partner – Jody Smart – to invest in her fashion business: Jody Bell. One of the complainants in this previous case has since died.

Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions has fled to Florida where he owns a portfolio of at least ten mortgage-free properties near Disneyland. However, he will not succeed in avoiding prosecution.

Sole director and shareholder of CWM, Jody Smart did turn up for the last criminal trial, so it is expected that she will probably attend this one. Smart will be keen to deflect blame from herself and claim that she was only a “nominee” director. However, in the last two years of operation, she paid herself 991,035.86 Eur (on top of her already more than generous director’s salary) – 670,035 Eur into her property company Mercurio Conpro and 321,000 Eur into her Jody Bell fashion business.

The remaining CWM defendants: Anthony Downs, Neil Hathaway, Dean Stogsdill and Paul Clarke are likely to turn up since they are all based in Spain and have families, property and businesses here.

CWM earned 3,391,876 Eur in commissions on sales of insurance bonds and structured notes in the last two years of operation. Scammers like CWM generally made at least 16% commission out of victims’ pensions and investments. This would mean that in this period, CWM scammed victims out of approximately 17,000,000 Eur. On top of his, the firm earned many hundreds of thousands from victims they cleaned out promising them shares in the company (which Darren Kirby had claimed was worth 10 million), properties and cars. But when the firm closed, the CWM bank account was virtually empty. This video will illustrate some of the appalling misery the CWM victims endured – and the extent to which Jody Smart benefited from the money stolen from the victims: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYlxu8YOaAM&t=3s

The following related entities have been asked to provide documentary evidence to support the complainants cases:

Inter Alliance, Globalnet, Trafalgar, Old Mutual International, SEB and Generali

This evidence will include copies of risk profiles and investment dealing instructions – bearing the forged investor signatures.

This criminal case has been brought by using 17 “lead” cases – victims of the CWM scam who have all lost considerable amounts of their life savings. These victims are now the lead complainants who also represent the interests of the further hundreds of victims who have suffered similar fates. The lead complainants have put an enormous amount of time, work and self-sacrifice towards this matter. Each complainant has had to re-live the horror of their suffering at the hands of CWM – telling their painful stories to our lawyer Antonio Bertomeu. Most of the lead complainants are based in the vicinity of Denia – where CWM committed the majority of the crimes. However, one complainant came all the way from Portugal.

I will be with Antonio Bertomeu the week before the trial as we prepare for the cross examination of the defendants in court during the week of 24th February. This is a crucial point in the proceedings as there has been a substantial amount of further evidence which has emerged since this complaint was originally filed in court in June 2019. There are also further defendants who will now need to be included in the proceedings.

The Denia court has stressed that this is an issue which is of great importance as it involves three serious criminal offences which are likely to involve substantial financial penalties and custodial sentences:
- Falsification of commercial documents
- Disloyal administration
- Continuous fraud
The outcome of this case will inevitably have far-reaching consequences for the industry globally – especially since the practices which are the subject of these criminal proceedings have been widely practised for a number of years. These crimes have not been exclusive to Continental Wealth Management and their associates. There are many victims beyond the clients of CWM who have suffered similar crippling investment losses. The scope of these criminal proceedings will now inevitably reach into other firms and jurisdictions.
January 29, 2020
Jody Smart of CWM – courting justice

Jody Smart (or Bell or Kirby or whatever name she uses now) appeared in the Criminal Court in Denia on 1st October 2019. As one of the group of defendants in the fraud trial – including her former partner Darren Kirby (who didn’t turn up) – she testified about her involvement in the £100 million Continental Wealth Management/Trust (CWM) investment scam.

CWM – of which Jody was shareholder and sole director – collapsed at the end of September 2017.

The event was covered by journalist Joshua Parfitt of The Olive Press newspaper https://issuu.com/theolivepress/docs/online_issue_a/1?e=1186741/73089185 and was a relatively low key affair in the Denia Court Number 3 . Jody’s ex boyfriend Darren failed to show (no surprise there). The only entertainment on offer for anyone watching (and hoping for some sign that justice will be done) was her current beau, Franco Pearson, shouting “fucking scumbag” in the court waiting room.

This particular criminal case involves not just the investment scam itself, but also some previously-unknown anciliary scams involving bogus property transactions and false promises of shares in CWM in exchange for hard cash.

One of the complainants – Mark D – had handed over his final salary Shell pension (worth £415,000) plus a further £140,000 to Jody’s company: CWM. Mark was told he would be given a 5% shareholding in the company and that it was worth £10,000,000. Jody’s then boyfriend, Darren Kirby, had promised Mark the shares in return for £400,000 – and told him the money was going to be used to prop up the ailing company and also be invested in Jody’s fashion business. Mark D – who lost not just his pension but his house – developed severe depression and diabetes which he struggled to manage. After being left penniless by Jody and Darren’s CWM scam, he died alone in August 2019.

In the Denia court, Jody confirmed she was the sole director of Continental Wealth Trust (formerly Continental Wealth Management). The company held no license to provide either insurance or investment advice – and was selling life (death) bonds illegally; provided by rogue companies such as Old Mutual International, SEB and Generali. She stated it had not been possible to close the company because there had been so many debts. This comes as no surprise as Darren had paid £1.3 million to victims as compensation for investment losses, and had also pumped £500,000 into the Jody Bell fashion business. The court was also told that Jody had been paid 12,000 Euros a month by CWM.

In court, Jody denied holding any position in CWM and stated that she had no financial qualifications. But here I start to wonder whether, perhaps, something got lost in translation. In previous interviews, Jody had openly boasted about running CWM and also the sister operation Female Wealth Management. She claimed to have made £13 million out of financial services.

Jody also stated in the Denia Court that she had never had anything to do with the company or the clients (perhaps she was paid 12,000 Euros a month just to look glamorous in reception?). However, in a previous t.v. interview she had stated that her role was “to expand the company and see where we could go forward. Bring the best people on board to work for us“.

In the same interview, Jody had expanded on CWM’s activities: “We offer the whole package for expats. Advising on the investment of funds. We also do a pension release. There is a scheme where we can release your pension from the UK. Obviously, we’ve been very successful with that. Being in the climate that we’re in at the moment, there are a lot of people, unfortunately, who can’t pay their mortgages or their private school fees.

Its like saying “we’re gonna give you money and its not gonna cost you anyfink. Obviously, we can just change your life really”.

She was clearly referring to the Evergreen pension liberation scam in which more than 300 people certainly had their lives changed by losing their pensions and getting 50% loans from Stephen Ward’s Delaware-registered finance company Marazion. CWM did all the cold calling and administration for this scam – from which Ward earned 10% of the overall £10 million worth of pensions transferred into the bogus New Zealand-based QROPS run by Simon Swallow and Kenji Stevens.

Far from not costing the victims “anyfink”, 300 people are now being pursued for repayment of the Marazion loans and have lost the other 50% of their pensions left in Evergreen, which is now being wound up. They also face 55% tax charges on the 50% loans as unauthorised payments.

Jody was apparently (according to the court transcript) asked in court if she knew anything about the CWM business of which she was the sole director. She replied “no” and that Darren told her she could be a director along with him as she spoke Spanish, that he wanted to protect her and that it was going to be good for her.

So this leaves me wondering: was Jody lying in her recorded interviews which she used to promote CWM and her Jody Bell fashion business, or was she lying in court?

After testifying that everything had been Darren’s fault, that he had manipulated her and killed her mum’s chickens, Jody refused to answer any further questions.

So with no further answers from Jody Smart/Bell/Kirby/Pearson, we can only listen to the evidence provided by her in her video interviews. She is portrayed as the director of the CWM wealth management company and is worth an estimated £13m. She has a stunning house in Spain (currently up for sale for 760,000 Euros), a fleet of fast cars, a diamond ring as big as a door knob worth 39,000 Euros, and an impressive limited edition Jimmy Choo collection.

In one video interview, Jody started to describe how she had invested a lot of money in her fashion business and that after only six months the sales were “phenomenal”; that with her hard work and sheer determination……(here she pauses as a waiter brings a bottle of champagne)….

Full of bubbly, Jody goes on to state that she didn’t doubt herself – that her ambition (which came from a burning desire inside her) would help her succeed. Her conclusion was that she just knew she was “gonna reach the stars”.

Of course, victim Mark D had no idea how quickly he was going to “reach the stars”. Furthermore, there are hundreds of other CWM victims who are afraid that they too will meet a similar fate: dying – starving and penniless.

But I have faith in Jody – because she is very enthusiastic about her charitable works. She is on record, in one of her t.v. interviews, as saying:

“We done a lotta charity work. I’m lucky. There aren’t a lotta people as fortunate as what I am.”

Jody’s magnificent house is on the market for 760,000 Euros – and I get a sneaking feeling that she is flogging this pile of real estate full of glamorous furniture in order to help the victims of the CWM scam. In her t.v. interview she stated: “I like to help people. It’s in me.” So, hopefully, the 760,000 Euros will go towards helping some of the people who have been financially ruined by her company.

It is, of course, too late for Mark D. One of the things that killed him was the fact that he couldn’t afford to eat properly – and this is particularly dangerous for people who are suffering from diabetes. But there is hope for others – Jody has set up a facility to feed those who can’t afford to eat because her company scammed them out of their life savings: The Oceana Club near Calpe.

Rather more glamorous than the run of the mill soup kitchen, those who have lost their life savings and are in need of a hot meal will – I feel sure – be warmly welcomed at The Oceana Club. Hopefully Jody’s boyfriend Franco will embrace this charitable initiative just as warmly as he welcomes the CWM victims with a greeting rather more gentlemanly than “fucking scumbag”.

October 11, 2019

Continental Wealth Management – “Plunder in paradise”

Victims of the Continental Wealth Management scam met Mail on Sunday's Laura Shannon in Denia in July 2019 — Victims of the Continental Wealth Management scam met Mail on Sunday’s Laura Shannon

Mail on Sunday’s Laura Shannon met a group of victims of the Continental Wealth Management scam in Denia in July 2019.

Here is a link to her excellent article Continental Wealth Management – “Plunder in paradise”: MAIL ON SUNDAY ARTICLE

All power to her, this young lady put all other would-be investigative journalists to shame. Laura jumped on a plane on 24th July 2019 when she and her editor heard about the Continental Wealth Management scandal. After a long, hot bus journey from Alicante airport, she got straight down to business. She spent all afternoon interviewing a large group of distressed investors. She then attended the memorial service for one victim who had been killed by the stress he suffered when he lost his pension – thanks to Continental Wealth Management’s Darren Kirby.

Laura Shannon – putting all other “investigative” journalists to shame

No other British journalist has bothered to do this. No other national newspaper has taken such an interest in this important story – about how British people have been scammed by British advisers in Europe’s leading expat destination.

Clearly shaken by the extent of the Continental Wealth Management scam, and the plight of the victims, Laura was deeply moved by the memorial service for victim Mark Davison who had died two weeks earlier. After a very long and tiring day, Laura retired to her hotel to write up her notes – ahead of another full day of meeting more victims.

So where had all the other so-called newspapers been all this time? Where were The Sun, The Times, The Telegraph, The Mirror, The Guardian, The Express? Too lazy – and clearly not concerned with this very British problem. These newspapers do indeed have some very fine journalists – but this widespread financial crime was too low on their priority list.

The financial press – such as International Adviser – is too conflicted with its promotion of the very company behind this scam: Old Mutual International.

On the second day of her visit, Laura Shannon met another group of Continental Wealth’s victims and also spoke to a couple in France by Skype. Her final interview with an elderly lady (who had tried to commit suicide when she lost most of her life savings to the Continental Wealth Management scammers) left her in tears.

At lunch time, Laura headed back to Alicante airport. Four and a half months pregnant, this energetic and passionate young woman returned to her office in Birmingham to write and file her story. She left little out and covered most of the basic points. Her article left the reader in no doubt: financial crime has flourished in Spain for years.

There are both criminal and civil actions ongoing now – on the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol. The days of unqualified “chiringuitos” and unlicensed firms are hopefully over. While Britain’s feeble excuse for a regulator – the FCA run by lazy loser Andrew Bailey – fails to take any meaningful action, the Spanish regulator has at least ruled that failing to comply with Spanish regulations is a criminal offence.

The Malta regulator has tightened up rules to help stop firms operating similar scams from abusing QROPS, and deploying inappropriate investment policies. Multiple class actions in various jurisdictions are taking legal action against rogue insurance companies – such as Old Mutual International – who have encouraged and profited from widespread financial crime.

Ward’s luxury development at 64 Calle Haya, Moraira, Alicante

And this is the problem: crime pays. Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions in Moraira is now adding to his ten mortgage-free luxury villa property portfolio in Florida by building a huge luxury villa next to his former office in Calle Haya in Moraira.

Paul Clarke – Darren Kirby’s former business partner (when Continental Wealth Management was first set up) has for years been seen zooming around the Costa Blanca in his Aston Martin. And Jody Smart (or Bell or Kirby) – Darren Kirby’s former girlfriend has boasted of the £13 million she earned as director of Continental Wealth Management.

Sipping champagne while publicising her fashion empire on Youtube

Jody now runs a swish ocean-front restaurant in Calpe with fiance Franco Pearson – seemingly untroubled by the appalling trail of devastation left behind her in the wake of the Continental Wealth Management tragedy.

But the millions made by the scammers at Continental Wealth Management pale into insignificance when compared to the fortunes made by life offices Old Mutual International, SEB and Generali.

Not a hint of regret for OMI’s actions – or shame at his broken promises.

Peter Kenny did promise to pay compensation to OMI’s victims. But this was just a ruse to get me to take down my blogs about OMI so that the IPO would earn him and his accomplices more £ millions.

The Spanish regulator has made it clear it is a criminal offence to sell insurance “bonds”.

No firm with a conscience or any professional ethics should ever use OMI, SEB or Generali. Anyone caught mis-selling such insurance bonds in Spain is committing a criminal offence and can face jail. As most advisory firms in Spain are still doing so vigorously and unashamedly (with the same old lame excuse that such bonds are “tax efficient”), the Spanish jails are likely to get pretty crowded in the not-too-distant future.

Spain is highly motivated to protect British expats who retire on Spanish soil – and is now learning how deeply dishonest and disloyal British “chiringuitos financieros” (the Spanish regulator’s term for financial scammers) are.

But how do people avoid getting scammed from now on?

Part of the problem is knowing what questions to ask – and then being able to understand the answers. Unfortunately, Stephen Ward was the exception to the rule – since he was highly qualified and his firm – Premier Pension Solutions – was authorised to provide investment advice.

1. Check that the firm is authorised (regulated; licensed). If investment advice is given, make sure the firm has an investment license: don’t be fooled into believing that an insurance license is enough. It isn’t.

2. Check that the adviser is qualified to give financial advice. He or she must provide evidence of any qualifications claimed. If the relevant institute does not show the qualification, then the adviser is not qualified – no matter what exams may have been passed previously.

3. Don’t get talked into an insurance bond (aka “life bond” or portfolio bond). They are expensive and unnecessary – and only serve to pay the adviser a fat commission.

4. Don’t let an adviser invest your funds into expensive, risky assets which are only there to pay fat, undisclosed commissions FROM YOUR MONEY.

Lastly, make sure you get everything – all costs, fees, charges and commissions – in writing. DON’T GET SCAMMED LIKE THE CONTINENTAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT VICTIMS. They will all give you exactly the same advice.

August 5, 2019

CONTINENTAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT BY JODY KIRBY (OR SMART OR BELL)

CONTINENTAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT BY JODY KIRBY (OR SMART OR BELL) – Now that Continental Wealth Management/Trust boss, Darren Kirby, is coming back to Spain to help sort out the mess, it is time to engage with his former partner, Jody, to find out what she has been doing to resolve the losses suffered by hundreds of victims.

Darren will, naturally, want to set the record straight, and help CWM victims get their money back after CWM “advisers” put their entire retirement savings into professional-investor-only structured notes. Many of these notes failed – costing victims £millions.

I have no doubt that Jody Kirby (or Smart or Bell – or whatever name she is using nowadays) will be keen to get involved. What exactly she has been doing to help the victims since September 2017 remains a closely guarded secret. However, I am sure she will announce it pretty soon now she knows that Darren Kirby is coming back.

Jody and Darren will, obviously, have a lot to talk about – and I am sure she will appreciate the importance of being frank with him. She will probably tell her current chap, Frank Pearson, to hop it while she and Darren debate the best way forward. Hopefully Frank will have the grace to duck out of the way so as not to distract Jody and Darren from concentrating on their responsibilities. After all, three is a crowd and Pearson doesn’t want to get stuck in the way like an unwanted duck a l’orange!

44-year old Jody has her own fashion business and has openly admitted to having made millions out of financial services. Once Frank is out of the way, she and Darren can put their heads together to formulate a plan to put that money to good use – in the interests of the victims of CWM.

A really smart way to approach this would be to write out a detailed account of everything that happened and who was responsible for each bit. I believe Darren Kirby has already made a start on this with the help of Alan Gorringe. This account will be especially helpful to us in the court proceedings.

As part of the frank account of the CWM disaster, all the victims will be keen to know what constructive ideas they both have for helping to put things right. There has been way too much silence on this subject from all the CWM advisers to date.

The victims will, no doubt, be pleased to see Darren and Jody committing to the rescue effort together. Jody was – and still is – sole director of Continental Wealth Trust which traded as Continental Wealth Management. A few years ago she described her role in the company on a television programme about “colourful” characters on the Costa Blanca. She confirmed that she was in finance and that she had contributed to the success of CWM saying that it had “gone global”. She stated that while their main office was in Javea, they had also expanded into Portugal, Ibiza, Turkey and France.

Jody explained in the interview that her role in the company was not as a (qualified) financial adviser, but to expand the company and bring the best people on board to work for her and her colleagues.

She goes on to say that CWM offers the “whole package for expats”, advising on the investment of funds (although the firm was never licensed to do so). She then explained how CWM offered “pension release” and detailed a scheme the firm offered whereby pensions could be transferred from the UK. She called this “just amazing” and said they had been very successful at doing this. She said the clients were told “we are going to give you money and it is not going to cost you anything – let’s just find out what you have got in your pension – it will only cost you a little bit of time and we can change your life”.

What she was actually describing was pension liberation fraud through a scheme called the Evergreen Retirement Trust – a QROPS in New Zealand. CWM’s “sister company”, Premier Pension Solutions, run by Stephen Ward, was the brains behind this scam (and CWM did the cold-calling and lead generation). 300 victims lost £10 milion in this scheme, and it cost them 10% of their transfer value in fees, plus 50% of their “loans” in Ward’s Marazion scheme. So not exactly the “nothing” that Jody claimed it would cost the victims.

Jody stated that they had “helped so many families” by releasing their pensions, and said she liked to help people because it was “in my nature”. I am sure the CWM victims will be pleased to hear that – and then to see some evidence of her – and Darren – “helping” them.

In another television interview, at the penthouse suite in a swanky five-star hotel overlooking Hyde Park, Jody explained how she had put half a million pounds into her fashion business. Over champagne, she told the interviewer she had ambition, drive and a burning desire in her.

Let us hope this passion translates into action and a commitment to helping the CWM victims who have lost much, most or – in some cases – all of their retirement savings.

February 28, 2018
BEACON GLOBAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT EMPLOYS EX CWM SCAMMER
Richard Peasley

I am very pleased indeed to announce that on 6th December 2017, Beacon Global Wealth Management terminated Richard Peasley’s employment. There was no hesitation, no argument. Beacon’s David Vacani is also responding to numerous Continental Wealth Management victims who have complained about Richard Peasley’s employment with Beacon. I have no doubt David Vacani will correspond with them professionally, courteously and with great empathy – as he has done with me. Very well done David! A good day for the financial services profession.

Beacon Global Wealth Management had been employing former Continental Wealth Management pension scammer Richard Peasley. I found it hard to believe that any firm would take on such a man when he is well known for being one of the leading advisers at CWM who lied, scammed, defrauded and conned dozens – if not hundreds – of victims out of their pensions.

I am familiar with Beacon, and have spoken to Jennie Poate and know that she is acutely aware of the world of scammers. However, I now learn that Beacon had not been aware of the extent of Richard Peasley’s involvement in the Continental Wealth Management scam.

Richard Peasley, during his time at Continental Wealth Management, put his victims into high-risk, professional investor only structured notes, within hugely expensive insurance bonds. He also put his name to dealing instructions with forged signatures. Peasley then lied to victims about their huge losses – claiming they were “only paper losses” and that the pitifully low values were only “secondary market” values and that the notes would recover at maturity. (They didn’t).

CWM Sharks

Richard Peasley comes from a stable of scammers which includes:
- Alan Gorringe
- Anthony Bishop
- Antony Downs
- Antony Poole
- Darren Kirby
- Dawn Kirby
- Dean Stogsdill
- Jody Kirby
- John Owens
- Louise Kilic
- Marco Floreale
- Mark Davison
- Neil Hathaway
- Patrick Kirby
- Paul Clark
- Paul Taylor
- Phil Kelman
- Phil Pennick
- Rob Clark
- Rory Foster
- Sandy Eftekin
- Sandy Jones
If I have left anybody out, I apologise unreservedly.

Richard Peasley was responsible for the destruction of £millions and the prospect of many people facing poverty in retirement after working hard all their lives to build up a pension pot.

I have made a mistake by including the below dealing instruction and reporting that it was forged. In this particular client’s case, this instruction did have a genuine signature. However, all the other dozen or so were forged. What Richard Peasley and the other scammers at Continental Wealth did was to ask many of the victims to sign one blank dealing instruction, and then they would photocopy it over and over again to buy and sell high-risk, professional investor only structured notes. In other cases, Peasley and the others just copied and pasted signatures from another signed document and used that instead.

Richard Peasley is not someone who can be trusted with innocent people’s pensions – as many of his victims will be happy to testify publicly. I hope he will never work in financial services again, as there is no place in the profession for people who so deliberately and callously destroy victims’ life savings.

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

What is a pension scam?

Follow Pension Life on twitter to keep up with all things pension related, good and bad.
December 5, 2017
CONTINENTAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT – PREMIER PENSION SOLUTIONS’ SISTER CO

Continental Wealth Management closes 29.9.17

Continental Wealth Management (CWM) was a financial advisory firm based on the Costa Blanca in Spain. Headed up by Darren Kirby, there were – until earlier in 2017 – 35 people working at the firm. The firm claimed to have £50 million worth of assets under management and around 500 clients. The firm closed down on 29.9.2017.

During 2016/17, numerous clients of CWM began to realise that their pension and investment funds – managed by CWM – were shrinking in value dramatically. In fact, many clients had seen alarming losses being reported on their valuation statements and had asked CWM for an explanation. CWM had assured the distressed clients that these were “just paper losses” and advised them not to worry.

It has now become clear that in fact many clients have indeed suffered catastrophic losses and there is a very great deal of concern. One victim was taken into hospital on 25.9.17 with a brain hemorrhage and her husband fears that the distress of this situation has contributed to this life-threatening condition.

It is feared that up to 40% of CWM’s clients may have been affected by this situation.

BACKGROUND TO CWM

CWM “advisers” acted as sharks

In mid-2011, Stephen Ward’s Premier Pension Solutions (PPS) lost the lucrative Ark pension liberation scam when the Pensions Regulator placed the scheme in the hands of Dalriada Trustees. Ward had advised 160 victims to transfer £10m worth of secure pensions into this scheme on the promise of having 50% of their pensions paid to them in cash. He also assured them these payments would not be repayable or taxable and that the pensions would be invested in “high-end London residential properties”.

In the event, neither of these assurances turned out to be true. Dalriada is now making claims to recover the 50% liberations and HMRC has issued tax demands at 55% of the cash received (and the tax will still be payable even if the liberations are repaid). The High Court called the Ark scheme a “fraud on the power of investment”.

Having ruined 160 lives, and made up to £1 million profit out of the Ark victims, Ward immediately turned his attention to his next scam: Evergreen New Zealand QROPS and his Marazion “loans”. Having seen how easily victims could be duped into transferring their safe pensions with the promise of 50% liberation, Ward appointed CWM as “introducers” to the scam.

Here is an actual account by one of the Evergreen/PPS/CWM victims of what happened to her:

Mrs. A: “I was first cold called by CWM in 2011. I first met Phil Kelman of CWM in January 2012. I was told only positive things about transferring my pensions and to be able to take 100% of my pension funds.

This, however, changed after the first meeting and I was then told that due to the government closing loopholes I would only be able to get 50% of my pension fund and that the other 50% would be in the Evergreen QROPS earning enough interest over the 5 years to cover the 50% that I could withdraw (before the age of 55) – a win win situation!

There was no mention of the 50% being given as a loan until much further down the line. This was supposed to have taken 6 weeks at the most, but it actually took nearly 10 months. I was told that the “loan application” was a paper exercise just to cover things – I obviously have no proof of these conversations! Due to the fact that in the beginning it was not a “loan” there was no talk of a 55% tax charge, also as it was QROPS I was told it wouldn’t have incurred a tax bill.

I was not given any opportunity to say what the consequences of losing my pension or gaining an extortionate tax bill would be – either in the short or long term. If I had known of the huge risk of losing everything then obviously I would not have gone ahead. I did not state that I was willing to risk everything to get the “loan”.

I was told that Evergreen was a safe place for my pension to be as Evergreen was “approved”. I was given a graph to show how my pension would not only make the 50% back up but make more on top of it.”

Marco Floreale – former CWM “adviser” – now MD of Carrick Wealth

Mrs. A’s case was handled by CWM’s Marco Floreale (now Managing Director of Carrick Wealth) who claimed to be the managing director of CWM. Her secure, final salary, £100k Royal Mail pension was transferred to Evergreen and she was forced to sign a five-year “lock in” before receiving her “loan”. The loan agreement issued by Stephen Ward included annual interest at 8.5% compound which would mean that her £50k loan would have increased to £75k at the end of the five-year term. She was also charged more than £10k in fees.

There are now around 300 victims trapped in Evergreen as they are not allowed to transfer out. Ever. Between them they have lost £10m worth of pensions. The CWM personnel involved in this scam claimed that PPS was their “sister” company and have offered no help or compensation for the victims’ losses and terrible distress. One victim died of cancer in February 2017 and her husband is convinced that the stress of the Evergreen situation brought on the disease.

Phil Kelman, Jon Meek, Robert Pearl, Gemma Broad and Anthony Downs were among the CWM personnel who assured the victims that the transfers were in their interests as well as safe and prudent. It was, of course, later discovered that the Evergreen fund was invested in illiquid, high-risk, toxic funds – including personal, unsecured loans. Evergreen was removed from the QROPS list in November 2012 and the victims have now been told they can never transfer out.

It is not known how many other Stephen Ward/Premier Pension Solutions scams CWM was involved in, but when Evergreen got shut down CWM started acting as “advisers” to British expats in Spain and France. They were still working with Stephen Ward of PPS who provided the transfer advice. It is now thought they advised more than 500 people and that around 40% of these have suffered crippling losses to their investments.

I do not know whether CWM ever disclosed their previous involvement with Stephen Ward’s scams to the clients – although it is doubtful that any people would have felt comfortable using CWM had they known they had been responsible for the 300 Evergreen victims. Certainly, CWM did not disclose their past activities to either Trafalgar International or Momentum Pensions – had they done so they would never have been given terms of business by either firm.

From 2013 onwards, CWM invested hundreds of low to medium risk clients’ investments in high-risk, illiquid assets. CWM completely ignored the suitability issue and paid no heed to the clients’ preference for safe, low-risk investments. Clients’ signatures were repeatedly copied and once the losses started to appear, CWM assured them that there was nothing to worry about and they were “only paper losses”.

When asked why so many clients were put into professional-investor-only investments, CWM replied that the investors themselves were not the clients; but the insurance companies were the clients. When I showed CWM evidence of forged signatures on dealing instructions several months ago, there was no response then and no further communication from them subsequently.

In mid-September, it was reported that Darren Kirby and Anthony Downs had both resigned from CWM and on Friday 29^th September 2017 the firm closed down altogether. CWM is rumoured to have tried to become a tied agent of a Cyprus-based firm called Woodbrook. But it is further suspected that Woodbrook has finally come to the conclusion that such an alliance may not be prudent.

The most important thing now is the restitution of the victims’ funds. OMI, Trafalgar and Momentum Pensions, have come to the table to try to find a solution and restore of the victims’ pensions and investments. If we can achieve an equitable settlement, this will be a first in European financial services. However, the parties who have not come to the table are life offices Generali and SEB, as well as other pension trustees including Concept, Sovereign, Pantheon, Elmo and STM. It is no surprise that STM have not come to the table, because they pulled up the drawbridge in the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund scam, run by XXXX XXXX – now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

I would like to thank all the victims for their patience so far. But it has now finally run out – unsurprisingly. The mood has darkened and victims want action. A valuable information and commentary resource is the Repdigger forum. One interesting post recently reminded contributors that it was Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions who provided the initial transfer advice. Nothing changes.

Stephen Ward is also connected to Capita Oak.

pension-life.com/top-10-deadliest-pension-scammers-hmrc/

October 1, 2017

Tag: Jody Smart

The scammer’s typical arsenal of weapons comprises a series of lies – adeptly used to trick the unwary into handing over their pensions and life savings. The victims who testified in Denia know these lies all too well. And now, so too does the judge:

There were, of course, many other lies – including the fact that when the toxic structured notes and unregulated funds failed, these were “only paper losses”. Plus the fact that the investors’ signatures were forged or copied on the investment dealing instructions.

Perhaps “the end” will be just the beginning. A new dawn for an offshore financial services industry which sells proper financial advice – and not just commission-laden products.

CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST UNLICENSED FINANCIAL ADVISERS

This has been a week of scammers trying to silence the din of their sin.

I wonder what they were promoting? It could easily have been blond hair dye or red stockings – or anything in between. But it is hoped they would both have been more transparent about what they charged for their services than the “advisers” at CWM were.

Stealing newspapers or trying to prevent the publication of the crimes isn’t going to change any of that. The hard evidence of the crimes will remain – no matter how hard the scammers try to hide it.

This, of course, assumes there is no disruption to the proceedings caused by the Corona virus lockdown.

I can’t comment on the transcripts of the questions and answers on 24th and 25th February, and won’t be able to publish the full details of all cross examinations until all the defendants have appeared before the judge. The defendants on 7th April will be:

CWM’s promotion had always been centered around the iniquitous cold call – but in addition the business plan reveals that Jody Smart’s Grant A Wish “charity” events had been used to “harvest” potential victims at scamming sales parties posing as bona fide fundraising efforts.

Continental Wealth Management Business Plan 2017 (by Dean Stogsdill)

We are now a company where you perform, meet your target or you are replaced.

The protagonists behind collapsed Spanish advisory firm CWM – Continental Wealth Management – will be on trial week commencing 24th February in the Denia Criminal Court of First Instruction.

Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions has fled to Florida where he owns a portfolio of at least ten mortgage-free properties near Disneyland. However, he will not succeed in avoiding prosecution.

Inter Alliance, Globalnet, Trafalgar, Old Mutual International, SEB and Generali

CWM – of which Jody was shareholder and sole director – collapsed at the end of September 2017.

Its like saying “we’re gonna give you money and its not gonna cost you anyfink. Obviously, we can just change your life really”.

After testifying that everything had been Darren’s fault, that he had manipulated her and killed her mum’s chickens, Jody refused to answer any further questions.

“We done a lotta charity work. I’m lucky. There aren’t a lotta people as fortunate as what I am.”

Mail on Sunday’s Laura Shannon met a group of victims of the Continental Wealth Management scam in Denia in July 2019.

The Spanish regulator has made it clear it is a criminal offence to sell insurance “bonds”.

But how do people avoid getting scammed from now on?

Lastly, make sure you get everything – all costs, fees, charges and commissions – in writing. DON’T GET SCAMMED LIKE THE CONTINENTAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT VICTIMS. They will all give you exactly the same advice.

Let us hope this passion translates into action and a commitment to helping the CWM victims who have lost much, most or – in some cases – all of their retirement savings.