Tag: PENSION SCAM

  • Pensions, Investments, Scams and Covid 19

    Pensions, Investments, Scams and Covid 19

    Covid 19 is having a terrible effect on millions of people across the globe. All walks of life are being affected. One important aspect of life in general is that of investments – life savings and pensions in particular.

    The World must be as proactive about pension and investment scams as it is about the Covid 19 Pandemic. Zero tolerance is the only way to treat the scammers.

    Fraudsters are now using the Covid 19 pandemic as a weapon to encourage investors to fall for investment scams. The tactics used are similar to those deployed as scare tactics over Brexit:

    “get your pensions out of the UK so you have more investment choice and control”

    (What the scammers meant by this, of course, was that they would have choice and control – and fat commissions. The victims would just have less money).

    There are many lessons to be learned from the pandemic – including the way different countries have dealt with lockdown procedures. But the lesson I want to examine, in parallel, is how governments deal with pension and investment fraud.

    We’ve now seen that laws can be changed swiftly when there is an international crisis threatening millions of lives. Yet, for more than a decade, pension and investment scams have threatened even more lives, while laws and regulations have barely budged. Police can jump into action when a couple of people take a stroll in the park without observing social distancing laws, yet armies of scammers steal of millions of pounds from thousands of victims, and nobody in a police uniform lifts a finger.

    The Covid 19 crisis will inevitably contribute to the effects of inappropriate investments – which teeter on the narrow verge between mis-selling and fraud. Where commission is king and investments have been chosen purely for the hidden (from the consumer) introduction revenue, the effects of this will now be felt acutely by many victims.

    It has long been deeply frustrating that so many scammers can offend repeatedly – often for years on end – without any sanction. Victims of pension scams such as Ark, Capita Oak, Henley, Westminster, Evergreen, London Quantum, Fast Pensions and Continental Wealth Management have lost their pensions to the same scammers over a seven-year period.

    Regulators, police and government ministers have taken not a bit of notice other than sometimes handing the pension schemes over to Dalriada Trustees – who also fail to report the blindingly-obvious frauds to the police authorities.

    Mind you, I have some (limited) sympathy with Dalriada. They obviously know it is a complete waste of their precious (and very expensive) time reporting the scammers. Dalriada clearly knows full well that the Police, Insolvency Service and Serious Fraud Office are worse than useless.

    Behind this failed law-enforcement network lies an even bigger scam: Action Fraud. This is a cynical effort to fool scam victims into believing that some action will be taken when fraud takes place. However, the reality is that Action Fraud is just a call centre which deliberately ignores the desperate pleas for help by fraud victims. In fact, the Action Fraud call centres are no different in nature than the boiler-room cold calling centres used by the scammers – the purpose is the same: to deceive victims.

    We have now seen the hard evidence that whole continents can jump into radical action when necessary. So there is no longer any excuse for allowing the pension and investment scam pandemic to continue unchallenged.

    Every country – especially ones where lots of British expats live – needs to recognise that pension and investment scams are – and always have been – a global pandemic. The apathy and laziness of regulators, law enforcement agencies and governments need to cease. And Britain’s shameful, embarrassing track record of ignoring – and even facilitating – scams needs to be reformed.

    The early signs of a wind of change in the pension and investment scamming world are there. Spain and New Zealand are now actively progressing criminal proceedings against scammers. There are early signs that other jurisdictions are starting to wake up as well.

    • The scammers at Premier Pension Solutions and Continental Wealth Management are facing fraud and falsification charges in Spain.
    • The SFO in New Zealand is investigating the scammers in the $100m Penrich Macro Global investment fraud which was also linked to the Evergreen QROPS scam (run by Stephen Ward and promoted by Continental Wealth Management).
    • STM Fidecs in Gibraltar has issued a claim against thirteen defendants for the return of “misappropriated” money in the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund case (also under investigation by the British SFO).
    • Police in the Cayman Islands are investigating a fraudulent investment company – and has warned potential investors into any companies in Cayman to carry out proper research and due diligence
    • The Isle of Man courts are preparing for a raft of civil proceedings against leading life offices which have facilitated financial crime on a massive scale internationally.
    • The Hong Kong fraud squad is taking a keen interest in the GFS Blackmore Global pension/investment scam.

    Back home in the UK, there are serious complaints being filed against HMRC and the Pensions Regulator for facilitating pension scams and failing to warn the public. And a growing body of victims and professionals is looking at bringing the FCA to justice for their multiple failures.

    Even if the tide is beginning to turn, it is – of course – way too late for thousands of victims whose lives have already been ruined by the scammers. Just as Covid 19 has killed hundreds of thousands of victims in just a few months, pension and investment scams have ruined hundreds of thousands of hard-working victims’ lives in the past decade.

    British expat financial services jurisdictions - Cayman Islands, IoM, Gibraltar, Spain, New Zealand and Hong Kong are all taking civil or criminal against scammers. Britain is taking no action to protect its own people.

    While more than 200 countries are fighting against the spread of Coronavirus and trying to save the 300,000+ people who are sick, we now need key financial services jurisdictions to take the pension and investment scam pandemic seriously.

    Renowned English Author James Hadley Chase once famously wrote:

    “It’s better to be sick of life than not have a life”.

    Pension and scam victims are not just sick of life, but they are also sick of the lack of action by authorities internationally – but above all in Britain. Let’s hope that current actions in place in Spain, Gibraltar, Cayman Islands, Isle of Man, Hong Kong and New Zealand will be replicated as swiftly and effectively as the Covid 19 protection measures.

  • Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund

    Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund

    Pension Life and Forsters LLP have issued proceedings in respect of the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund.

    Pension Life has issued legal proceedings in the matter of the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund which is being wound up by Doran + Minehane
    Pension Life has issued legal proceedings in the matter of the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund which is being wound up by Doran + Minehane

    Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund

    This Cayman Islands-based fund is being liquidated and it is uncertain whether there will be any recovery for the victims whose pensions were invested in it.

    Nearly 250 STM Fidecs QROPS members stand to lose £25 million.

    Given the uncertainty of recovery by the liquidator, we felt it was essential to issue proceedings so that the victims’ interests would be protected.

    STM Fidecs – a QROPS provider in Gibraltar – has issued the following update to the Trafalgar Multi Asset victims:

    “Following an investigation into the status of the Fund’s investments, the Company’s directors determined that it would be in the best interests of the Shareholders to wind down the Fund and to focus on the recovery of assets and the distribution of such assets to those entitled to have recourse.”

    STM Fidecs appointed Stephen Doran of Doran + Minehane as liquidator.

    The update issued by STM Fidecs has given victims very limited information relating to the current status of the liquidation of the fund or the prospects of recovery. However, it has made it clear that there was “misappropriation of funds” and that there were investigations ongoing.

    STM Fidecs has stated that it has recently commenced litigation against “various parties” and a claim has been issued against thirteen defendants in respect of misappropriated monies.

    Whether the guilty parties will be brought to justice, or whether there will be any money left over for the victims after the the liquidator has been paid in full, remains to be seen.

    It is well known that the Trafalgar Multi Asset scam has been under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. This was announced by the SFO on 22 May 2017. Other schemes promoted by the same team of scammers included the Capita Oak and Henley pension scams which were promoted by Sycamore Crown Ltd, Jackson Francis Ltd, Portia Financial and Nunn McCreesh.

    It is also known that the same scammers who were promoting Capita Oak, Henley and Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund were also promoting the Blackmore Global Fund run by Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh. Nunn and McCreesh’s Blackmore Bond is currently in the hands of administrators Duff and Phelps.

    Victims of all of these scams are still invited to contact the Serious Fraud Office if they have any evidence they wish to provide in order to help bring the fraudsters to justice: hazel@sfo.gov.uk

    Forsters – the firm which Pension Life is working with – have liaised with the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund investor committee (which currently includes a doctor and a police officer). Forsters and Pension Life are working towards bringing about the best possible outcome for the victims.

    There may be serious doubts over whether the liquidation by Doran + Minehane will result in any meaningful returns for the victims. However, this litigation will give them a decent chance to get a large proportion of their pensions back.

    Forsters LLP is a leading law firm with an exceptional track record of successful dispute resolution. It is not a no-win-no-fee firm, and it has no connection with any claims management companies.

  • Fraud and Disloyalty in Offshore Financial Services

    Fraud and Disloyalty in Offshore Financial Services

    Today, 7th April 2020, was supposed to have been the second part of the Continental Wealth Management criminal trial. Obviously, due to Coronavirus, the hearing has been postponed. For now. As soon as the pandemic is under control and life in the courts (and elsewhere) gets back to “normal”, the hearings will be rescheduled. This is obviously a disappointment to the victims who are waiting anxiously to see the outcome of the trial – but it is only a relatively minor setback in the grand scheme of things. We will get these defendants into court, and the judge will give directions as to how to deal with the crimes committed.

    The crimes involved are:

    1. Fraud
    2. Disloyal administration
    3. Falsification of commercial documentation

    The second batch of defendants comprises:

    • Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions and Premier Pension Transfers, IPTS (International Pension Transfer Specialists), AES International, Dorrixo Alliance and Marazion
    • Paul Clarke of Continental Wealth Management, AES International and Roebuck Wealth
    • Jody Smart (alias Jody Bell) of Continental Wealth Trust, Jody Bell Fashion, Grant A Wish charity and Mercurio Conpro
    • Darren Kirby (partner of Jody Bell) of Continental Wealth Management and Continental Wealth Trust

    The first batch of defendants were cross examined in the week of 24th February 2020 and comprised:

    1. Patrick Kirby (brother of Darren Kirby)
    2. Anthony Downs
    3. Dean Stogsdill
    4. Neil Hathaway (all of Continental Wealth Management)

    When we first set out this case, we weren’t entirely sure the court would accept the charge of fraud – because it is difficult to prove as a complainant needs to establish intent. However, the court had no hesitation in accepting this charge, as well as the additional charges of disloyal administration and falsification of commercial documentation.

    The evidence in the case is very clear and incontrovertible: seventeen lead complainants (out of more than 600) who all exhibit the exact same “symptoms”:

    • Low to medium risk investors placed in inappropriate, high-risk investments
    • Insurance bonds sold illegally
    • Investments churned repeatedly
    • No license to provide insurance or investment advice
    • No qualifications to provide financial advice
    • No adjustment to financial strategy when serious losses began to appear

    It is tempting to think that perhaps Continental Wealth Management (which later became Continental Wealth Trust but still kept the original name) was an isolated case. But, sadly, that is not so. I have seen many examples (in Spain and other jurisdictions) of clients being placed into inappropriate investments, by other so-called advisers, which paid large, hidden commissions over the past six years. Stephen Ward was routinely flogging the EEA Life Settlements fund – putting some investors’ entire portfolios into this risky fund which paid up to 19% in commission. He was also flogging other high-risk funds such as Traded Life Policies, Axiom, Blackrock Gold and Aria – as well as selling bonds such as Skandia (OMI) illegally. And, naturally, Ward’s clients suffered crippling losses.

    The above method, show-cased by Stephen Ward, has – of course – been rife in offshore financial services for years. It has made the advisers rich and the investors poor. In short, this is disloyalty at its worst: the adviser putting his own interests above those of his clients.

    And that, in Spain and other European countries, is a criminal offence.

    But Ward wasn’t alone: Paul Clarke did the same even after he left Continental Wealth Management and became an agent of AES International – exploiting the financial advisory market on the Costa Blanca as he decimated clients’ savings with more illegally-sold insurance bonds, structured notes and expensive, high-commission funds. Clarke regularly featured in whole-page spreads in Euro Weekly – spouting “expertise” and masquerading as a qualified, experienced financial adviser.

    There are few firms in Spain – or indeed the rest of Europe and beyond – which do not rely heavily on the notorious insurance bond. The offshore market is dominated by the usual suspects: OMI (previously Skandia and now Quilter); Generali, SEB, RL360 and Investors Trust. And all these insurance companies encourage unregulated, unqualified advisors to sell these bonds illegally. There are few, if any, benefits to the consumer – and no insurance bond should ever be used inside a QROPS (unless there’s no lock-in and no commission).

    Most financial advice firms in Spain and beyond are still selling insurance bonds illegally.

    I just Googled: “wealth management and financial advice Spain”. The top results came up as: Blacktower; Blevins Franks; Abbey Wealth; Masttro (a firm I’d never heard of before); Finance Spain (another firm I’d never heard of); Spectrum IFA Group; and Alexander Peter. I am not saying whether any of these firms are either good or bad – but I think it is safe to assume they are all selling insurance bonds illegally.

    Of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with an insurance bond. It is, after all, just a wrapper – or container for funds and investments. There are, arguably, some tax advantages in some jurisdictions – although they should never be used inside a QROPS.

    The problem with an insurance bond – whether from OMI, SEB, Generali or RL360 – is that an investor is going to get one whether he wants or needs one or can afford one or not. The investor will get locked in for up to ten years and he won’t be aware that the adviser will get paid an 8% commission for selling the bond. This commission will get clawed back by the life office over the term of the bond.

    Many investors are conned into believing that the bond provides some sort of protection. It doesn’t. Many investors are also conned into to thinking that the investments offered by the bond providers are “safe”. They aren’t necessarily – there may be some decent investments but there are also an awful lot of rubbish, expensive ones. But the biggest con of all is that the investor isn’t told that the annual bond charges (taken quarterly) will stay the same even if the portfolio value decreases. So, if the investor needs to withdraw some money from the bond, the charges will start to do some serious damage to the remaining fund. And if the investments fail – as many structured notes invariably do – and the portfolio value starts to decrease alarmingly – the bond charges will then erode what’s left very rapidly.

    Some victims of serious mis-selling actually end up having the entire fund destroyed by irresponsible, fraudulent or disloyal investment advice by rogue advisers – and can still be paying the bond charges even after the entire portfolio has been destroyed.

    The other half of the disloyalty and fraud by Continental Wealth Management (as well as some of the other well-known names in “wealth management”) is the practice of “churning”. This means that the same chunk of money is invested repeatedly to generate as much commission as possible – in as short a space of time as possible. This is easy to spot when looking at the bond statements (whether OMI/Quilter or RL360 or whatever):

    “Buy £100k worth of rubbish (earn 6% commission); sell £100k worth of rubbish; buy another £100k worth of rubbish (earn another 6% commission); sell £100k worth of rubbish; buy”….and so on. This exercise can be repeated over and over again in any period – say one year – to mince two or three lots of commission out of the same sum of money. The investor may not notice – as long as his fund value isn’t falling too much – and, because the commissions are concealed, he may not realise he is being defrauded and that his adviser is committing a criminal offence by being “disloyal”.

    The Continental Wealth Management case – being heard in the criminal court in Denia, Alicante – may not cure the ills of the offshore financial services industry overnight. But it will certainly send out a clear message to all financial advice firms that Spain, at least, will not tolerate such conduct. While British regulators, courts and police authorities are happy to leave fraudsters and scammers free to keep on operating and promoting financial scams, Spain is in the process of sending out a very clear message:

    Pension scamming will hopefully be outlawed in Spain after the Continental Wealth Management criminal case.

  • Pension Fraud Tax Epidemic

    Pension Fraud Tax Epidemic

    Coronavirus is a terrifying epidemic – just as the scamming and taxing of pension savers is an epidemic of equally-devastating proportions. Governments across the globe are putting in place extraordinary measures to stop the spread of Covid 19. Yet the British government, regulators and law enforcers have achieved nothing in terms of rescuing existing and preventing future pension scam victims.

    Boris Johnson’s government has proved that laws can be changed overnight when necessary. All it needs is the recognition of the reason for the law change. Yet nothing has been done in ten years to change laws relating to pension scams, unauthorised payment charges and accompanying devasting financial consequences for victims.

    Hopeless, lazy and inept pensions ministers have failed to tackle pension scams for a decade

    Britain has had a series of no-hoper pensions ministers. “Pensions minister” seems to be a position where peculiar people are stuck in – as square pegs in round holes – so they are out of the way and can’t do too much damage (as in challenging the government over its shameful failure to tackle pension scams).

    As the Coronavirus crisis escalates, millions of people will face financial hardship. Businesses will fold; jobs will be lost; pensions and investments will collapse. But HMRC will keep scrambling to tax the victims they caused in the first place – heaping more financial misery on victims whose pensions have been stolen.

    Causes of pension scams must be thoroughly understood in order to recognise what must be done:

    • HMRC registers occupational pension schemes – even though there is no sponsoring employer which either employs anybody – or which exists at all
    • The Pensions Regulator registers occupational schemes – knowing the registrant is a serial scammer
    • HMRC keeps QROPS on the list even they know they are running outright scams and operating liberation
    • HMRC and tPR fail to warn ceding providers and the public when they suspect (or have evidence of) fraud
    • Ceding providers hand over £ millions to obvious pension scams without carrying out any due diligence
    • Serial scammers are left free to keep on scamming as the police, the SFO and the Insolvency Service do nothing effective to put them behind bars
    • Pensions and Treasury ministers do nothing to halt the avalanche of scams and the taxing of the victims
    • Opportunistic scammers in the UK and offshore devise ever-more crafty ways of relieving victims of their pensions

    HMRC’s negligent role in pension scams is clearly illustrated in both the Ark and Salmon Enterprises cases. In 2010 and 2011, HMRC knew full well what the scammers – Stephen Ward and James Lau were up to. They met with Ark’s Stephen Ward and his pensions lawyer associate Alan Fowler in February 2011. HMRC also opened an enquiry into the schemes – but didn’t suspend the registration to stop them from attracting still more victims. At the time of their February 2011 meeting with Ward and Fowler, there was £7 million in the Ark schemes. By the time Dalriada was appointed, there was a further £20 million.

    Between April and September 2010, HMRC had the administrators of the Salmon Enterprises arrested on suspicion of fraud – yet still they did not suspend the scheme or warn the public or ceding providers. During this period – and right up until well into 2011 – Salmon Enterprises remained a “valid” pension scheme with a PSTR registration number and nothing was done to stop more victims (such as Mr. R below) from being scammed out of their pensions.

    There’s been well-meaning talk of an “amnesty” for fraud victims. But the problem is that won’t work unless fraud can be proven. And the British authorities have proved themselves to be inept and disinterested when it comes to convicting known fraudsters. It has been left to the Spanish criminal courts to charge Stephen Ward and Paul Clarke with fraud as there’s been no movement in the UK.

    In Britain, however, the scammers mostly just carry on unchallenged. Even a police officer can’t get the police to prosecute; Action Fraud takes no action; Project Bloom is meaningless and does nothing; the FCA is a bad joke and the government couldn’t care less.

    Below is a summary by a Salmon Enterprises victim of his appalling case. He has asked his MP to refer this to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Hopefully both the MP and the ombudsman will do their jobs properly and get this sickening epidemic resolved once and for all. All the perpetrators (not just the scammers themselves but also HMRC and tPR – as well as the series of pensions and treasury ministers who have all failed in their duty to address this issue) need to be sanctioned. Most important of all, measures need to be put in place to prevent the same thing from happening again – that is what Mr. R and all his fellow victims want.

    SALMON ENTERPRISES/TUDOR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT PENSION SCAM AND TAX PENALTY – by Mr. R:

    “I had a National Grid and a CSC final salary pension scheme, after 35 years of service, which together totalled £528,447.25.

    I was scammed out of these pensions into the bogus Salmon Enterprises occupational scheme, which was registered by HMRC and tPR, by an FCA-regulated adviser (now under investigation by the Insolvency Service for fraud) in June 2011. I took out less than the 25% legally allowed after my 55th birthday. I’ve been forced to pay £37,956.79 in unauthorised payment tax by HMRC.

    TIMELINE:

    • 28/8/09 – Salmon Enterprises occupational pension scheme registered by HMRC and tPR with Tudor Capital Management – TCML – (run by directors Andrew Meeson and Peter Bradley) as administrators.
    • 07/4/10 – FSA wrote to tPR announcing a criminal investigation into Meeson, Bradley and TCML. HMRC wrote to tPR stating arrest warrants issued for TCML directors
    • 08/4/10 – CPS obtained worldwide asset restraint order against TCML director Peter Spencer Bradley.
    • 08/4/10 – tPR met to decide to suspend TCML as trustees/administrators.
    • 29/4/10 – Peter & Alison Bradley (TCML directors) arrested on suspicion of fraud, money laundering and cheating the public revenue – although not for cheating the public.
    • 30/4/10 – HMRC wrote to tPR with evidence of criminal investigation
    • 07/9/10 – Andrew Meeson (TCML director) arrested
    • 28/2/11 – HMRC wrote to tPR with details of ongoing criminal investigation, arrests made, draft report of offences and evidence submitted to Crown Court.
    • February 2011 – no warnings placed in public domain and HMRC refused to comment when asked by ceding providers to comment on the arrest and criminal investigation of the scheme administrators
    • May 2011 – I was introduced to IFA James Lau of Wightman Fletcher McCabe – FCA Reg 185570 – by two existing Salmon Enterprises members who had been offered commissions by James Lau for the introduction of new members
    • May 2011 – James Lau confirmed the scheme was registered by HMRC but did not inform me the administrators were under investigation for fraud
    • June 2011 – Tudor Capital Management sent transfer documents to national Grid and CSC.
    • June 2011 – National Grid transferred £454,647.25 and CSC transferred £73,800 to TCML – asking no questions about the provenance of the scheme, or directors/administrators or whether liberation was involved/intended
    • June 2011 – neither ceding provider checked the receiving scheme was bona fide before transferring £528,447.25
    • June 2011 – while HMRC and tPR were investigating Tudor Capital Management for fraud, neither did anything to warn ceding providers or the public
    • June 2011 – HMRC received a query from one suspicious ceding provider relating to Salmon Enterprises. HMRC’s Leigh Hands responded by quoting the registration number of the scheme – and gave no further details or warnings
    • June 2011 – HMRC received a second query from the same suspicious ceding provider seeking further clarification: “My concern is based on the fact that an article appeared in the pensions press on 21 October 2010 stating: Four people connected with TCML have been arrested on suspicion of fraud, cheating the public revenue and money laundering”.
    • HMRC responded: “I am unable to disclose any information regarding TCML due to our strict rules on confidentiality”. The transfer went ahead. And this was prior to my transfers going ahead on 15th July 2011 and 12th August 2011.
    • 31/01/2012 and 1/03/2012 – £49,072 was released from my pension fund – approximately 9.3% of the fund value – after my 55th birthday (16/12/2011)
    • February 2013 – Received annual statement from the Salmon Enterprises scheme.
    • April 2015 – Received a tax assessment from HMRC claiming my £49,072 did not constitute a “valid” PCLS (Pension Commencement Lump Sum).
    • April 2015 – HMRC assessed me on a further £30,000 which I never received
    • March 2016 – Engaged Ms A. Brooks of Pension Life as my agent to appeal the tax assessment. The appeal went to the Tax Tribunals and did not succeed.
    • February 2020 – Paid in full the £37,956.79 tax assessment.

    The remainder of my pension built up after a lifetime’s work – £479,375 – has been stolen by James Lau. I am not aware of any effort being made by any British authority to recover it.” 

    This personal account of the fraud committed against Mr. R raises a number of serious questions:

    1. Why did neither HMRC nor tPR suspend the registration of the Salmon Enterprises scheme in April 2010 when the criminal investigation into the trustees was first launched – to prevent victims such as Mr. R from being scammed?
    2. Why did tPR’s Determinations Panel not even bother to have a meeting until October 2011 to “consider” whether to use special procedures? They had known about suspected criminal activity in the Salmon Enterprises scheme since early 2010 – 18 months earlier.
    3. Why did the investigation into suspected fraud against the “Public Revenue” not extend to an urgent investigation into the “fraud against the public“?
    4. After the State was reasonably prompt with the investigation, prosecution and jailing of Andrew Meeson and Peter Bradley, why was James Lau – the FCA-registered adviser who promoted and operated the Salmon Enterprises scheme – not simultaneously investigated, prosecuted and jailed?
    5. Why didn’t the Pensions Regulator place the Salmon Enterprises scheme into the hands of a competent independent trustee immediately the fraud was suspected? Since 2011, there is no evidence that any effort has been made by any party to recover the £ millions stolen by James Lau, Andrew Meeson and Peter Bradley
    6. Why has no pensions minister since 2010 raised any questions on the issues relating to the multiple failures of HMRC and tPR in the case of Tudor Capital Management and Salmon Enterprises? (Or, indeed, in the case of dozens of other pension scams). This shameful and negligent failure falls squarely on the shoulders of them all: Steve Webb; Iain Duncan-Smith; Ros Altman; Stephen Crabb; Damian Green; David Gauke; Esther McVey; Amber Rudd, Therese Coffey and Guy Opperman.

    The shame of the above lazy, incompetent bunch of ministerial failures in charge of Britain’s pensions must also extend to three prime ministers: David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson. None of them have done anything about pension fraud – or even shown the slightest interest in intending to tackle it – beyond empty promises.

    All the same questions raised about Tudor Capital Management and Salmon Enterprises must also be asked about the Ark scam. HMRC knew that Craig Tweedley and Stephen Ward and Co were operating and promoting what was probably pension liberation in the summer of 2010. Yet nothing was done until nearly 500 people had fallen victim to the scam and faced hefty losses and tax liabilities – as well as an agonising wait of at least ten years to find out their eventual fate and get a sniff of closure on this shameful episode.

    In order to get a tax amnesty for fraud, there have to be investigations and convictions for fraud. The new trustees, Dalriada – appointed by tPR in May 2011 – didn’t feel it was “in their remit” to report the perps for fraud.

    And so Craig Tweedley, Amanda Clarke, Andrew Hields, Andrew Isles, Geoff Mills, Jeremy Dening, Julian Hanson, Mark Ainsworth, Mark Tweedley, Michael Rotherforth, Stephen Ward, Richard Davies, Stephen Tennent, George Frost, Gary Collin, Anthony Salih, Paul Clarke and Alan Fowler remain at large. Not one of them has ever been brought to justice.

    It may be that while some of the above players in the Ark scam were more guilty than others, it is a matter of record that Stephen Ward was the most prolific of all those flogging Ark and the “MPVA” reciprocal loan arrangement. Ward sold more than a third of the whole fund at £10,693,332 worth of transfers – followed by Julian Hanson at £5,330,525 and Jeremy Dening at £2,216,720. Dalriada’s failure to have any of these players investigated for fraud is shameful. It is also utterly astonishing that Andrew Isles – an accountant – was still flogging Ark even after he knew HMRC was sniffing around and that he was condemning his own clients to an unauthorised payment tax charge.

    It is also a matter of record that Craig Tweedley, Stephen Ward, Alan Fowler and Andrew Isles continued operating and promoting Ark months after HMRC expressed their unease and suspicions – making no effort to stop the promotion and operation of the Ark schemes.

    There are many questions to be asked about both the Salmon Enterprises and Ark scams. It would be good to think that complaints by the victims to their MPs will result in a bulk complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. It would also be wonderful to think that an amnesty for fraud victims would be possible, but the question remains: who is going to have the fraudsters prosecuted? Dalriada Trustees says it is “watching with the interest” the prosecution of Stephen Ward and Paul Clarke for fraud (on an entirely different case involving an unconnected scam in Spain). But this purported “interest” has yet to become intense enough to provoke a simple phone call to ask how it is all going (or how they could do the same thing themselves).

    I still wish that tPR had appointed an independent trustee to the Salmon Enterprises scheme. All the victims – such as Mr. R – would also like to know the answer to that burning question. But they are also painfully aware that tPR-appointed independent trusteeship isn’t without its own problems. In the Ark case, Dalriada has taken far more money out of the funds than the scammers ever did, and the members still to this day – after nine years – don’t have a sniff of ever getting their pension funds transferred into a proper pension scheme. But at least they know that what little is left is “relatively” safe and the only risk to it is the possibility of another nine years of Dalriada at the helm and another £7 million being spent on trustees’ and legal fees.

    Mr. R is in contact with some other victims of the Salmon Enterprises scam. They are all planning on submitting summaries and complaints to their MPs and asking them to refer the matter to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Ark victims have tried contacting their MPs and pensions ministers for many years, but not one single MP or minister has ever engaged with the process of an ombudsman complaint against HMRC and tPR. Perhaps that will now change – as all MPs and ministers are now working from home and will no longer have to spend so much time travelling to and from the House of Commons.

    Coronavirus has taught us an important lesson: the law must be about safety and justice – and must be changed quickly when a crisis arises. Pension fraud has been an epidemic for ten years – and now the law must finally be changed QUICKLY so that the perpetrators of pension scams are brought to justice.

  • CWM Criminal Case and Business Plan

    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.

    Dean Stogsdill and Neil Hathaway of CWM leaving the Denia Criminal Court on 25th February 2020 after being cross examined on charges of fraud, disloyal administration and falsification of commercial documents.
    Dean Stogsdill and Neil Hathaway of CWM leaving the Denia Criminal Court on 25th February 2020 after being cross examined on charges of fraud, disloyal administration and falsification of commercial documents.

    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.
    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%.

  • Chancellor must dump Andrew Bailey

    Chancellor must dump Andrew Bailey

    Chancellor Rishi Sunak must dump Andrew Bailey as governor of the BoE

    Dear Mr. Sunak

    I write to implore you on behalf of the British population in general; British victims of financial services scams in particular and the financial services industry in the UK, to dump Andrew Bailey as the next governor of the Bank of England.  Immediately.

    Secondly, I urge you to sort out the FCA, the Pensions Regulator, HMRC, FOS and POS, the Insolvency Service and the police authorities.  Limp, ineffective regulation and law enforcement have long been the facilitators of pension and investment scams in Britain.  This devastating and highly embarrassing failure on the part of the British government for so many years has got to be addressed – once and for all.

    The case of Andrew Bailey’s appointment as governor of the Bank of England is one which demonstrates beyond doubt that both failure and fraud are rewarded in equal measure in the UK.  Bailey has single-handedly proved that Britain’s government and authorities care not a jot about the reform of the toxic element of British financial services.  Bailey has turned his back on our country; our people; our reputation as a financial services centre which should be the best in the World.  Sadly, Britain has now become not just one of the worst in the World, but a laughing stock internationally.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBGVB2OWBYc

    Those who are laughing loudest are the scammers and fraudsters who have made fortunes – repeatedly for years – out of innocent, hard-working British people.  The criminals are still out there, scamming away merrily, while the FCA does nothing.  This sends out the message that while petty burglars who steal a few hundred pounds’ worth of goods may get prison sentences, those who steal millions are left free to continue to ply their evil trade and ruin hundreds – sometimes thousands – more innocent lives.  And all because neither the FCA nor any other British government agency or law enforcement service is willing or able to bring these filthy criminals to justice.

    Rishi Sunak - genius or nitwit as the new chancellor?

    Your predecessor, Sajid Javid, made one of the biggest bungles in British history by appointing Bailey as the next governor of the BoE and acclaiming him as an “outstanding candidate” in the wake of his years of negligence and outright laziness at the FCA.  It is clear that Boris Johnson manoeuvred Javid out of office by insisting he should sack all his political advisers.  The fact that not one of them came out publicly to condemn Javid’s appalling judgement, demonstrates their incompetence.  And they should never have any place in British government again.

    Bailey’s multiple failures have been showcased by many prominent financial services figures.  Well-respected True and Fair Foundation’s Gina Millar has publicly shamed the FCA and Bailey’s long-standing record of miserable failure.

    https://www.investmentweek.co.uk/news/4011346/gina-miller-calls-chancellor-review-andrew-bailey-appointment-boe

    Miller has quite rightly warned that Bailey’s appointment as governor of the BoE would be a gross betrayal of consumers’ interests.  She has eloquently described Bailey’s and the FCA’s catalogue of negligence, incompetence and indifference.  She has listed the many failures which have resulted in thousands of British citizens losing their life savings:

    • M&G Property Fund £2.5bn +
    • Woodford EI Fund £1bn +
    • London Capital and Finance £236m +
    • Dozens of fraudulent investment bonds
    • Dozens of fraudulent investment funds
    • Dozens of fraudulent banks
    • Thousands of victims who have lost a lifetime’s taxed savings and wasted a life of hard, diligent work.

    The finance ministry has apparently argued that Britain needs experienced, credible leadership.  And it is right.  But Bailey is not credible (except with the scammers) and his experience at the FCA is limited to weakening and discrediting financial regulation.

    Ask yourself why FCA staff have problems: they have mental health issues; they are demoralised and resentful of their masters; they defecate on the floor; they vandalise the kitchens. 

    On top of this, the FCA has been fined by the Pensions Regulator for not following regulations, and have wrongfully published complainants’ data on the FCA website.  This extensive list of embarrassing and shameful failures cannot be explained away with a wave of Bailey’s grubby hand.  The ethical sector of the financial services industry is paying for all this through FSCS levy hikes and vastly increased PII premiums.  And the buck stops with the chancellor, Mr. Sunak.

    Campaigner Mark Taber – a professional investor – has successfully shown the FCA that their job can, and should, be done relatively easily.  All it takes is the will and incentive to do the work.  In a matter of weeks, Taber has identified dozens of mini bond scams which are being openly promoted by Google.  And the FCA has done nothing.  Admittedly, the FCA might be somewhat rudderless while Bailey measures himself for a new suit and Mont Blanc for his new gig at the BoE, but they’ve shown zero interest in the fact that all it takes is for someone to actually care about financial services and for the public to be warned effectively. And further, for these fraudulent mini bonds to be banned and those responsible for promoting them (including Google) to be sanctioned.

    Mark Taber https://www.ft.com/content/83485d90-f832-11e2-92f0-00144feabdc0#axzz2bTtvusN4 is doing the FCA’s work for nothing.  Because he believes the public have a right to be protected. 

    Gina Miller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Miller#True_and_Fair_Foundation is trying to protect the public from the failures of the FCA and Andrew Bailey.

    Look on Twitter and see the cacophany of financial services professionals – some highly respected and high profile – who are embarrassed by and furious at the FCA’s multiple failures.  Ask the thousands of victims of financial scams in Britain and beyond.  And ask the loved ones of those who have died due to the FCA’s and Andrew Bailey’s multiple failings.  Then ask yourself: do you really think Bailey should be the governor of the Bank of England?

    This disgusting mess needs to be sorted out once and for all.  The British authorities and government have facilitated – and even encouraged – financial crime for more than a decade: openly and brazenly.  And you, Mr. Sunak, are now firmly in the hot seat.  I do hope you are wearing neoprene y-fronts – because you are going to need them.

    For several years, it has been claimed that there is an alliance called Project Bloom – of which the FCA and tPR are supposedly members.  But what has this so-called project achieved?  Pension and investment scams are flourishing more successfully than ever, and very few of the fraudsters are behind bars.  Still the victims of pension liberation scams are the ones facing penalties from HMRC while the scammers luxuriate in their country mansions and Florida holiday homes, sipping champagne and having a good laugh at the ineptitude of the British authorities.

    I will be writing to you openly and publicly over the next few weeks to encourage you to do the right thing.  If Bailey’s appointment as governor of the Bank of England goes ahead, it will thoroughly discredit Britain and the British government.  Your tenure as chancellor will be recorded in history as starting on a shameful note.  Boris Johnson will be remembered as the prime minister who disgraced Britain and destroyed the reputation of Britain’s financial services.

    Johnson is already on shaky ground as he promised to help and support some of his constituents who had fallen victim to the Ark pension scam (and has subsequently betrayed them by doing nothing to honour his promises).  The action you take next will determine whether you are another betrayer of the interests of consumers, or whether you have the balls to be proactive.

    Read Henry Tapper’s wonderful blogs:

    Ever wondered where those “pension leads” come from?

    Talk to some victims who’ve had the courage to take their case to a Spanish criminal court: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-8044237/Victims-rogue-pensions-scandal-fight-courts.html

    Talk to Dalriada Trustees who are custodians of more than 30 scam pension schemes (but who don’t think it is their remit to report the perps to the police or initiate private criminal prosecutions).  Ask them how many of the schemes promoted and run by Stephen Ward and Peter Moat (since 2011) they now have under their control: https://www.fscs.org.uk/failed-firms/1-stop-fast-pensions/

    Go onto the Blackmore Bond and Global Fund Facebook Group and read the anguish of the betrayed lenders/investors: https://www.facebook.com/groups/498072800835888/

    But most important of all, go onto the Smith and Williamson website and read about what the FCA can do if it puts its mind to it: https://smithandwilliamson.com/en/services/restructuring-and-recovery-services/park-first/

    Having known about the high-profile Store First matter in 2014, the FCA is only now taking regulatory action against Park First more than five years later.  The funds of the 6,000 Park First investors have now been used to pay several £ millions in fees to Smith and Williamson and their lawyers Mishcon de Reya and Park First’s lawyers Paul Hastings.  And all because five years after the event, the FCA decided Park First was a collective scheme.  Five years after 6,000 people have invested in the scheme.

    But Park First exists.  The car parks exist.  And they are making money.  The FCA could have gone to the airports where the Park First car parks are operating.  Andrew Bailey could have driven his (undoubtedly luxurious) car into the Park First car parks and actually stood on the tarmac and watched the thousands of other car park users doing the same.

    Then Bailey could have asked what were the assets of Woodford, M&G Property, LC&F, Blackmore Bond and Blackmore Global Fund.  And he could have done the maths.  But, of course, he didn’t bother.

    Mr. Sunak – you can be a hero or a disgusting disgrace.  You choose.

    Regards, Angela Brooks – Pension Life

  • CWM Criminal Trial 24th February 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.

    Scammers at CWM destroyed 1,000 victims' life savings totaling £100 million. CWM was shut down in 2017 when the scale of their crimes became too embarrassing for OMI, SEB and Generali to tolerate any longer.

    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.

  • Meghan and Harry’s New Challenge: Pension Scams

    Meghan and Harry’s New Challenge: Pension Scams

    Meghan and Harry – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – are having a tough time (and are running away from home). Their sadness and confusion is because they have no purpose or passion in life. So I am offering them an interesting and satisfying challenge: taking on and championing the cause of pension scam victims. Harry’s Mum knew a thing or too about adopting worthy causes and had no problem jumping on a plane to far away, war-torn places full of the most appalling human suffering and landmines. Meghan and Harry don’t even have to travel as far as the airport to find victims whose cause desperately needs championing.

    Megan and Harry - in search of a purpose in life - need to look at the human misery caused by pension and investment scammers: Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions; Paul Clarke of Roebuck Wealth; Dennis Radford of Spectrum IFA Group; Darren Kirby of CWM; Gus Ferguson and David Vilka of Square Mile; James Hadley of Nationwide Benefit Consultants; Patrick McCreesh of Blackmore Group; Phill Pennick of Pennick Blackwell; Peter and Sara Moat of Fast Pensions; Paul Baxendale-Walker and Phillip Nunn of Blackmore Group

    Poor Duke and Duchess of Sussex – what an awful time they’re having: posh clothes; flash cars; sumptuous “cottage” in Windsor Park. They needn’t be bored and aimless any longer. They can become patrons of the plight of the thousands of British citizens who have lost £ billions to pension and investment scams.

    Just as the Late Princess Diana confronted the horrific dangers of land mines, Meghan and Harry can confront the huge tide of appalling human misery caused by scammers Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions; Paul Clarke of Roebuck Wealth; Dennis Radford of Spectrum IFA Group; Darren Kirby of CWM; Gus Ferguson and David Vilka of Square Mile; XXXX XXXX of Nationwide Benefit Consultants; Phill Pennick of Pennick Blackwell; Peter and Sara Moat of Fast Pensions; Paul Baxendale-Walker; Patrick McCreesh and Phillip Nunn of Blackmore Group; Paul Careless of Surge Group.

    This is now becoming a very high-profile topic – especially in the light of the multiple, dismal failings of the FCA and a recent series of hard-hitting articles published by Tom Kelly of the Daily Mail. Kelly, an engaging and open-minded young man (who I am sure the Sussexes will like) has written about a wide array of pension and investment disasters which have befallen thousands of victims since 2010.  I would urge Meghan and Harry to contact him: Tom’s email address is:  Tom.Kelly@dailymail.co.uk and his editor’s address is: Geordie.greg@dailymail.co.uk

    As the disillusioned Royals are bound to ask whether pension scam victims have anything to do with them (or whether they should even care about people who have lost their life savings or pensions), they might like to consider the following:

    • If Frogmore Cottage catches fire, Meghan and Harry will have to call the Fire Brigade. The sumptuous property cost £2.4 million to refurbish to the highest possible standard, but even the best sparks do sometimes make the odd mistake. The Royals’ home – and even their lives – will be in the hands of the firemen. These brave firefighters will risk their own lives running into the burning building; then will rescue the people and (hopefully) save the building.
    • If Meghan and Harry’s baby son Archie is unwell after inhaling smoke, they will rush him to hospital – where he will be tended to by nurses and doctors.
    • If a therapeutic trip to Canada is required (to get over the upset of their home being damaged by fire), the plane will be flown by two pilots.

    Pension and investment scammers target people from all works of life – including firemen, doctors, nurses and airline pilots. Next time the Sussexes place their hands into the lives of any of these professionals, they might like to consider whether these people are victims of scams and are worried sick about their financial losses.

    Scammers don’t care what their victims do for a living: sparks, chippies, builders, gardeners, taxi and bus drivers, soldiers, care workers, architects, scientists, accountants, artists, police officers…the list is endless – and includes airline pilots.

    Meghan and Harry need not think that going to Canada will get them far away from the world of pension and investment scams. These criminals have long arms and can easily reach as far as North America – and well beyond. The long list of highly-organised scams includes schemes in the UK and all expat jurisdictions across the globe – including Canada.

    Coming from a privileged background where Harry’s Mum gets paid more than £8 million a year (and Meghan and Harry are reportedly worth around £30 million), it is going to be hard to get their heads round the poverty thousands of victims are facing. Perhaps cutting the purse and apron strings will teach Meghan and Harry just how hard it is to earn a crust – and save for a retirement that isn’t handed to them on a plate.

    While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex fly backwards and forwards between the UK and Canada, perhaps they might like to ponder a few things:

    1. How to keep the plight of pension and investment scam victims in the headlines
    2. How to encourage the government to make financial regulation effective
    3. How to provide a law-enforcement system that ensures all scammers are jailed
    4. How to get the law changed to ensure HMRC pursues the perps rather than the victims
    5. Whether the pilot of their plane has lost his pension and hasn’t got his mind entirely on the job

    If Meghan and Harry do accept this challenge, they will have to accept that it won’t be easy. The scammers are determined, hard-nosed and hard-hearted criminals; the regulators are lazy and mostly asleep at the wheel; the police are over-stretched and under-resourced; the government hasn’t got a Scooby – and anyway can’t think beyond Brexit. This is evidenced by the fact that the moronic Chancellor Sajid Javid appointed arch FCA failure Andrew Bailey to govern the Bank of England. Boris Johnson was just as bonkers to endorse this ridiculous decision. When he told the Queen of the appointment, she should have given him a good slap round the earhole. (Mind you – she was probably a bit preoccupied about the company Uncle Andrew was keeping at the time, and she probably thought “oh well, at least Bailey isn’t a paedophile”).

    The biggest challenge in fighting pension and investment scams is how to help prevent further victims. The best way to do this is to keep the topic firmly in the public eye – and that means encouraging the press to keep the subject in the headlines (and not let it get shoved out of sight by trivia). The other important role that Meghan and Harry could play would be to ensure that politicians keep their promises. A couple of years ago Boris Johnson promised a group of his constituents that he would tackle pension scams. But nothing happened and now he is ignoring them. We all know he’s been a little busy recently, but leaving his own constituents hanging after promising he would help them is not acceptable.


    https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-7862039/Time-pensions-promise-Boris-PM-pledged-help-victims.html?ito=amp_twitter_share-related

    I remember being with two Ark victims at least five years ago and begging journalists at The Sunday Times and The Sun to run an article on the Ark scam.  They all said it wasn’t “sexy enough”.  Mark Atherton of The Times wrote a very good piece in The Times in 2014, but he was severely threatened and never wrote about pension scams again.  
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pension-scam-leaves-victims-in-debt-k33rlcs25wc

    Just think how many victims could have been prevented had the media done their duty and fully exposed the parties who caused and facilitated these scams since 2010.  Then think how many suicides and stress-related deaths could have been prevented.  Consider how much money could have been saved from destruction – and how many people could have been looking forward to a well-earned and comfortable retirement rather than abject poverty and misery. 

    In October 2019, The Mail’s Tom Kelly came to my office in Spain and spent several days with me.  I went through the whole history of Stephen Ward and Ark (followed by Capita Oak and more than a dozen others), as well as James Lau and Salmon Enterprises, Paul Baxendale-Walker, Peter Moat and Darren Kirby’s Continental Wealth Management.  I explained to Tom in detail how the flow of money works from the ceding pension providers: Aviva, Standard Life, Prudential, NHS, Police and Local Authorities etc., to the receiving schemes; what the difference between personal and DB pensions is and how the whole bogus occupational scheme fraud worked.  Most important, we went through how hidden commissions and high-risk, toxic investments often destroy victims’ funds – as well as the life bonds such as OMI, SEB, Generali, Friends Provident, RL360 which lock investors in to entirely unnecessary, inflexible and expensive offshore bonds – AND PAY FAT COMMISSIONS TO THE UNQUALIFIED, UNREGULATED SCAMMERS.

    In case Meghan and Harry are still unsure whether patronage of an initiative to outlaw pension and investment scams is their cup of tea, I will share, yet again, the video which features the death of CWM victim Mark Davison:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYlxu8YOaAM

    Fleeced by Darren and Jody Kirby of his pension and house, CWM victim died alone in abject poverty.

    Laura Shannon of The Mail On Sunday attended Mark’s memorial service and interviewed dozens of further CWM victims in September 2019.  While five months pregnant, Laura made the journey to Denia, Alicante, in fierce heat – putting all other so-called investigative journalists who write about financial services (or not, as the case may be) to shame.  Not even stopping to recover from an arduous bus journey from the airport, she got stuck straight in and wrote an excellent piece:  https://pension-life.com/continental-wealth-management-plunder-in-paradise/

    Responsibility for reforming financial services and bringing culpable parties to justice may lie with governments, regulators, police and HMRC. But Royals could do their part too. Meghan and Harry: get stuck in to a worthy cause. Find out what the real world is really like for ordinary, decent, hard-working victims of pension and investment scams.


    Finally, I am enormously grateful to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell for calling out our idiot Chancellor Sajid Javid over the appalling appointment of Andrew Bailey as Governor of the Bank of England.  Anyone who fancies dropping him a line can reach him here: mcdonnellj@parliament.uk or here: lowderh@parliament.uk

  • Victims of Investment Fraud need Justice

    Victims of Investment Fraud need Justice

    As the decade comes to a close, it is clearer than ever that victims of investment fraud need justice. The dirtiest stain on society is that of pension and investment fraud. Scammers have made fortunes out of pension and investment scams in the UK and across the globe – in all leading expat jurisdictions. With little sign of this international crime abating, scammers continue making fortunes out of relieving people of their life savings.

    Dynamic Investment scam only tip of the iceberg
    The FCA managed to get out of bed (briefly) to bring to justice the scammer behind the Dynamic £600k investment scam. But completely overlooked over £1 billion worth of other investment scams.

    Meanwhile, the very authorities which should be preventing financial crime – regulators; law enforcement agencies; HMRC; Insolvency Service; government; courts – stand around clueless and helpless. Their inaction is embarrassing and disgusting – especially in the wake of the appalling announcement that Andrew Bailey has been appointed governor of the Bank of England.

    The saddest thing – for our society in general and existing victims in particular – is that it can be done. But we must ask ourselves why the criminals are brought to justice so seldom. On 20th December 2019, FT Adviser published an article reporting how one fraudster was brought to justice and ordered to pay redress to his victims.

    Manraj Singh Virdee of Dynamic UK Trades Ltd conned 24 victims out of more than £600,000. His method was to promise returns of 100% for investing in his forex trading and spread betting “expertise”. The FCA brought a case against this criminal who was convicted by Southwark Crown Court. The sentence was only a suspended prison sentence for running an unauthorised investment scheme. However, the court made a confiscation order against Singh Virdee of £171,913 – to be used to compensate the victims. If he doesn’t pay, he will be sentenced to two years in prison.

    It is indeed good to know that during a prolonged period of being asleep at the wheel, the FCA can do a wee bit of regulating. But why does Manraj Singh Virdee deserve to be sentenced for defrauding 24 victims out of £600,000 when so many other scammers have got away with defrauding many thousands of victims out of many £ millions?

    Victims of Investment Fraud need Justice: In 2020, pressure must be brought to bear on the inattentive, lazy and negligent authorities who have done nothing. It is simply not acceptable to turn a blind eye to so much financial crime. This is especially true when cases like the Singh Virdee one clearly demonstrate that if only they could be bothered, they could actually clean up the scamming industry. But, first, they have to want to do it. And as things stand, there is no evidence that they really do want to.

    While this would-be forex trader and spread better faces a couple of years behind bars, the rest of the scammers are still out there scamming away merrily and profitably. Shouldn’t 2020 be the year to make pension and investment scamming illegal? Because as things stand, the scammers know they can get away with it easily.

    Singh Virdee’s scam was pretty obvious, and I do not mean to trivialise the £600k he scammed out of his victims. But this is dwarfed by Stephen Ward‘s £3 million London Quantum pension scam; David Vilka‘s £7 million GFS QROPS scam; Stephen Ward and XXXX XXXX’s £10 million Capita Oak pension scam; XXXX XXXX’s £21 million Trafalgar Multi Asset QROPS investment scam; Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh‘s £25 million Blackmore Bond investment scam; Stephen Ward’s £27 million Ark pension scam; Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh‘s £41 million Blackmore Global investment scam; Old Mutual International and Leonteq‘s £94 million investment/life bond scam; London Capital & Finance‘s £230 million mini bond scam; Dolphin Trust‘s £600 million derelict property loan scam.

    So, come on FCA: £600,000 down – only £1,158,000,000 to go!

  • Pension Life – Pension File November 2019

    Pension Life – Pension File November 2019

    FCA and FOS continue to dismay and disgust; CWM criminal case set to change offshore financial services; Forged dealing instructions epidemic; Offshore advisory firms without an investment license.

    Pension Life Pension File - a round up of the disgusting disasters in the UK and offshore in the murky world of financial services. From the FCAand the FOS to scammers and facilitators of financial crime, this world is like the toilets in the FCA's offices: need a damn good clean.

    It now emerges that on top of a failed “City Watchdog” (the Federated Consolidation of Apathy) we also have not just one, but two failed ombudsmen.

    The FCA has had a light bulb moment as it announces a “temporary ban” on the promotion of unregulated mini bonds. This so-called “nuclear” option is due to start in January 2020 and is scheduled to last for just one year. Presumably, the FCA will have lost interest by then. Or perhaps the huge effort required to teach FCA staff how to use a toilet will have exhausted them anyway. Maybe the new parliament will close the whole thing down and set up a proper regulator – ideally run by a mixture of proper professionals and also some victims (who are the real experts on regulatory failures).

    In an “FFS!” moment, the FCA is now rivaled by the FOS as it too is exposed as a failure by the Glassdoor employees review site. One FOS employee reviewer stated: “Management has been hauled up in front of the Treasury on more than one occasion; it has received and continues to receive negative comments on Glassdoor; it has been subject of investigation by Dispatches but nothing has changed.” Sounds just like the FCA – at least the two organisations are consistent in a unified manner. Perhaps Amerdeep Somal (Head of the FOS) and Andrew Bailey (would-be Head of the Bank of England) consider this to be a good achievement?

    Sadly, the Pensions Ombudsman is no better either. Complaints where negligent, lazy, apathetic ceding providers – such as Standard Life, Aviva, Prudential and Scottish Widows – have handed over £ millions to pension scams, are not upheld. The Ombudsman’s excuse is that the “Scorpion” campaign which warned the public and the industry about the dangers of pension liberation fraud was not published until February 14th 2013. The Ombudsman conveniently forgets to mention that there had been a very clear and loud warning back in 2010 – by OPRA (the forerunner of the Pensions Ombudsman). But it would seem that no British regulators or ombudsmen ever let the truth get in the way of defending big, toxic institutions which are “too big to fail”.

    Continental Wealth Management's Jody Bell (Smart, Kirby) and her partner Darren Kirby will now be cross examined in the criminal court for a second time in February 2020.

    In Spain, the Criminal Justice System has, at long last, decided that the CWM (Continental Wealth Management) scam run by Jody Smart, Darren Kirby and an assortment of silver-tongued scammers must be brought to justice. This follows a year-long initiative to document the £100 million scam operated by the Costa Blanca based firm and facilitated by life (death) offices Old Mutual International, SEB and Generali. It is hoped that Smart, Kirby and the rest of the motley crew of advisers such as Dean Stogsdill, Anthony Downs, Neil Hathaway, Richard Peasley, Phill Pennick and Dennis Radford will serve long prison sentences.

    The Spanish criminal court has made an order that the life offices (OMI, SEB, Generali) and all those connected to Continental Wealth Management – and who facilitated their crimes in the years up to 2017 when the firm collapsed – will be called to give evidence. In particular, the risk profiles and forged signatures on dealing instructions will be brought into evidence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYlxu8YOaAM&t=12s

    Part of the Continental Wealth Management scam was the repeated use of forged signatures on dealing instructions. This practice became accepted by life offices such as OMI from 2010 onwards as the volume of business coming in from scammers became extremely lucrative. Scammers such as Darren Kirby and his team of bogus “advisers” (who went on to work for firms such as Spectrum IFA Group and Pennick Blackwell) would use a blank dealing instruction bearing the victim’s signature to “churn” the fund and maximise the commissions earned. The favourite investments were structured notes from rogue providers such as Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Canada, Nomura and Leonteq.

    Old Mutual International facilitated millions of pounds' worth of financial crime from scammers such as CWM. Thousands of dealing instructions had forged investor signatures - but this was "good business" for the likes of OMI.

    Old Mutual International, SEB and Generali accepted thousands of dealing instructions from scammers such as Continental Wealth Management. On top of knowing full well that such firms had no investment license (in fact, CWM had no license of any kind) and no qualifications to give investment advice, OMI and the other rogue death offices repeatedly accepted these dealing instructions with obviously forged signatures.

    CWM and a number of other firms would trick victims into signing a blank dealing instruction. Then they would countersign it with an illegible signature. These blank investment forms would then be photocopied repeatedly – sometimes for many years – as the victims’ funds were churned and repeatedly invested in high-risk investments such as toxic structured notes.

    Old Mutual International actively encouraged this financial crime by paying unlicensed scammers like CWM 8% commissions to flog expensive, unnecessary life bonds – and then flog the risky, toxic investments offered on the life office platform.

    One of the structured note providers – Leonteq – is now being sued by OMI for the £94 million worth of especially toxic notes sold to hundreds of victims to destroy their funds and pay the scammers an extra 2% commission “under the table”. However, OMI put these structured notes on their platform in the first place, and accepted the forged dealing instructions in the second place. Difficult to see how this was anyone’s fault other than Old Mutual’s.

    Part of the syndrome of offshore financial crime being routinely accepted by life offices, is the proliferation of “advisory” firms operating without being fully licensed. There is a cheesy urban myth that a firm can give investment advice if it flogs victims an insurance bond and then picks from the selection of toxic, high-risk investments being offered by the bond provider. This isn’t deemed to be “investment advice” as the so-called adviser is merely assisting the investor to make his own decisions (i.e. give himself advice). This practice has gone on for years – and is still going on with firms such as Spectrum IFA Group which openly advertises the fact that it gives investment advice, even though it has no investment license.

    The FCA is now being rivaled by the FOS and the POS for the lowest standards.

    While the FCA wouldn’t have the slightest interest in what goes on offshore (after all, it doesn’t give a toss what happens in the UK either), the Malta FSA has at least made sure that only licensed advisers give investment advice on Malta’s watch. An advisory firm with an insurance license can still flog insurance bonds that few people need and even fewer can afford, but Malta will no longer accept investment advice from such “Chiringuitos” (Spanish for financial scammer). This has, of course, resulted in an exodus to Gibraltar where the scammers can pretty much do what they like. The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission actively encourages scams. STM Fidecs – bogus QROPS trustees for the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund scam (under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office) – and the Blackmore Global investment scam perpetrated by serial scammers Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh – are still flourishing happily on the Gib rock. The Gib FSC stands idly by and does nothing. Obviously, the Gib lot are trying to emulate the FCA – and succeeding happily.

    It will take more than a few fireworks to clean up the financial services mess in the UK, in expat jurisdictions across the globe, and in the FCA’s toilets.

  • How risky are structured products – and fireworks?

    How risky are structured products – and fireworks?

    Normally a great fan of FT Adviser – and their excellent, independent journalists – I was horrified at the recent “Guide to Structured Products” (particularly the section on how risky they are by Craig Rickman).

    Structured notes are as dangerous as fireworks and should only be used by qualified, licensed professionals.

    Noting that this article can be used towards CPD credits, I was astonished that so little attention was paid to the toxic legacy of so many structured notes since 2008. And how Rickman has failed to mention the many thousands of lives which have been ruined – as well as how many people have died or taken their own lives because of being sold these products by unscrupulous con men masquerading as advisers.

    It is not just the rogue advisers who are at fault for flogging structured notes to their unsuspecting victims – it is the life offices such as Old Mutual International who offer them on their platforms of toxic investment rubbish (including such snorters as LM, Axiom, Premier New Earth, Kijani and Quadris Forestry).

    Rickman refers to “lessons learned” and quotes how a high street bank was fined £1.5m in 2012 for flogging so-called capital-guaranteed structured products in the UK. Of course, the reality was (and is) that there is no such thing as a fool-proof capital guarantee. It is all just a question of relative risks. But the scammers just love the phrase “capital guarantee” because it virtually guarantees their victims won’t question the investments in such products. And when the losses start to appear, the advisers will fob the victims off with the well-worn phrase “don’t worry – it’s just a paper loss”. By the time the structured notes mature and the losses are crystalised, the adviser is long gone.

    It is a great shame that Rickman omits any mention of the huge offshore scandal which has been going on since around 2008. This consists of a cartel of rotten-to-the core life offices including OMI (IoM and Ireland), SEB, Generali and various other members of AILO (Association of International Life Offenders). These AILO members have been promoting and facilitating international financial crime for almost a decade and have made vast fortunes out of their evil trade.

    Of course, high-risk structured notes have played a major part in this worldwide crime. These products – particularly those flogged by Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Canada, Nomura, Leonteq and BNP Paribas – were routinely sold through armies of unlicensed, unqualified “chiringuitos financieros” (financial scammers) so that thousands of unsuspecting victims could be relieved of their life savings. The ultimate goal was, naturally, the huge commissions paid to line the scammers’ pockets.

    I once tried to get my head round exactly how structured notes work and I asked a senior manager from one of the providers to give me a couple of hours to get me up to speed. The only thing I knew for sure about structured notes was that they were routinely abused by scammers such as Continental Wealth Management. And that victims would typically lose half their life savings – and sometimes more (much more).

    The structured note expert was doing well with me as his pupil for about five minutes as he gave me a broad introduction. Then, sadly, he switched from English to Japanese, then Serbo Croatian, Icelandic and Māori . By the time he changed to Xhosa, I am afraid I was a lost cause. But I had a nice time checking out my Facebook while he gabbled on. I am no expert by a long way – but I think I know a wee bit more than the average man on the street. And I think my conclusion that structured notes should never be used for retail, unsophisticated investors is correct. In fact, that is what it almost always says on the tin:

    • Not for retail distribution
    • For professional investors only
    • Due to the complex nature of these products, investors should be made aware of the risk of loss of part or all of the capital

    And then there is what isn’t on the tin:

    • Offered by bent life offices such as Old Mutual International who do no due diligence or “asset reviews” on such products
    • Routinely used by scammers because they love the concealed high commissions
    • Have caused hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of losses in the past ten years

    Old Mutual International – lover of all unlicensed, unqualified scammers across the globe – is now suing Leonteq for £94 million worth of toxic structured notes. The widespread use of these products has resulted in devastating losses – and victims have died as a result.

    Ironically, OMI aboss Peter Kenny is quoted as saying: “I would encourage all industry participants to work together to eradicate poor practices once and for all.” And for once I agree with him – shutting down OMI altogether would be a great start.

    Any investment is only ever as good as the quality of the advice given to the investor. Whether it is a structured note (e.g. Leonteq); a fund (e.g. Woodford Equity Income fund); a bond (e.g. London Capital & Finance); property (e.g. Dolphin Trust); an EIS (e.g. Guy Myles‘ Octopus) or the local bookmaker.

    How risky are structured products – and fireworks? And how good, safe and suitable are they?

    When I say “good” I mean “suitable“. And there’s the rub: what is claimed to be suitable by so many so-called advisers is actually suitable for their own pockets but totally unsuitable for their clients. Of course, another problem is that there are armies of firms which call themselves advisers but don’t have an investment license. They claim that they can give investment advice with an insurance license so long as they con their victims into using an expensive, pointless insurance bond (such as OMI, SEB, Generali, RL360, Friends Provident etc) and then pick from the many toxic investments offered on the bond provider’s platform.

    I like comparing structured notes to fireworks. They both need to be handled with great care and should only be used by those qualified and authorised to deploy them. With fireworks in the UK, every year thousands of people are injured and end up in hospital with scars which will last a lifetime. With structured notes, thousands people are suffering from the loss of their life savings. There have been deaths and suicide attempts – and there will inevitably be more.

    Journalists – especially financial reporters – have a duty to inform and warn the public. It is a great pity that Craig Rickman of FT Adviser has missed such an excellent opportunity to expose this rotten sector of the financial services industry. If this article qualified for CPD credits, then he also missed a golden opportunity to help financial services professionals learn to protect consumers from the dangers of structured products – and the scammers who peddle them.

  • Dalriada Trustees – Ark Pension Liberation Scam

    Dalriada Trustees – Ark Pension Liberation Scam

    While Dalriada Trustees and Pinsent Masons count their handsome earnings, HMRC prepare to ruin the victims with unauthorised tax charges from the Ark pension liberation scam.

    Dalriada Trustees - a better way than what?

    Dalriada Trustees were appointed by the Pensions Regulator on 31st May 2011 to take over the six Ark schemes: Cranbourne; Grosvenor, Tallton Place, Lancaster, Portman and Woodcroft.

    Designed, set up, promoted and operated by Andrews Isles of Isles and Storer Accountants, Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions and Craig Tweedley of Castlerock Consulting, the Ark schemes were operating pension liberation fraud. Other promoters and introducers included Gary Collin of Asset Harbour (FCA-registered mortgage broker and will writer) and Julian Hanson (who went on to promote and distribute the Barratt and Dalton pension scam) through a scheme called:

    MAXIMISING PENSION VALUE ARRANGEMENTS (a reciprocal version of straightforward pension busting).

    Since their appointment, Dalriada Trustees have paid themselves a total of £1,637,795 in trustees’ fees from the Ark members’ cash. This is broken down as follows:

    • £293,976 Cranbourne
    • £209,620 Grosvenor
    • £292,469 Tallton
    • £246,177 Lancaster
    • £402,677 Portman
    • £192,876 Woodcroft

    In addition to the £1,637,795 paid to Dalriada, £4,041,579 was paid to their solicitors, Pinsent Masons. This figure will have included fees paid to their QC Fenner Moeran.

    This means that 20.85% of the original transfer value of £27,237,257 has now been spent on trustees’ and solicitors’ fees.

    Pinsent Masons - hired by Dalriada Trustees to bankrupt the Ark victims.

    During the past eight years, none of the liquid funds have been invested by Dalriada. Every year, the value of the funds shrinks naturally as there is nothing to protect them from inflation and the impact of charges on the cash and investments.

    After Dalriada’s appointment on 31.5.2011, they allowed a further £1,730,626 worth of transfers which should have been rejected. Ark victims who were given MPVA “loans” are now being taxed at 55% by HMRC. Ark victims who weren’t given MPVA “loans” are also now being taxed at 55% by HMRC. Dalriada and Pinsent Masons are forcing victims to repay the “loans” – even though they will still be taxed by HMRC.

    Despite the fact that nearly 500 Ark victims have paid Dalriada Trustees and Pinsent Masons £5,679,374 in fees, what have they actually delivered?

    • What financial help has been given to the members for challenging HMRC? Answer: NONE
    • How many victims have been allowed to transfer out of the Ark scheme? Answer: NONE
    • How many victims have been allowed to take their PCLS? Answer: NONE
    • Is there any idea how many more years Dalriada will keep the Ark pensions suspended? Answer: NONE
    • Is there any limit on how much more Dalriada and Pinsent Masons can keep paying themselves in fees? Answer: NONE
    • How many of the scammers behind Ark have been prosecuted? Answer: NONE
    • How much of the Ark members’ funds have been invested? Answer: NONE

    How many more pension schemes have Dalriada been appointed to since 2014? Answer: 31

    Based on an average of £1,000,000 a year paid to Dalriada and Pinsent Masons out of the members funds since 2011, the total to May 2019 will be at least £6.5 million (although the accounts won’t be available until at least January 2020).

    And based on all of the above – IS THERE A BETTER WAY?