Tag: Phillip Nunn

AZURE PENSIONS – a reputation built on lack of trust

Integrated Capabilities – a Trust Company based in Malta have created their own Pension Scheme – Azure Pensions. On the face of it, however, the management team do not appear to have learned anything from their previous experience with Optimus Retirement Benefit Scheme No.1 and their association with David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial. It appears they have now teamed up with some very dubious friends – the result of which is very likely to create more victims of UK pension scams.

I AM GRATEFUL TO STEVE – ONE OF THE BLACKMORE GLOBAL/DAVID VILKA VICTIMS – FOR RE-WRITING THIS BLOG AT THE REQUEST OF INTEGRATED CAPABILITIES’ LAWYER.

The Azure website states: “We believe that trust is built and earned. As such we have an ingrained and sustained desire to develop long-term relationships with our clients”. These are just words and words are easy. It’s what you do that counts.

In 2015, the Optimus scheme started out with 26 members and by the end finished up with 1,176 – that’s a gain of almost 100 new members per month! I was one such member conned into transferring my pension by fraudulent misrepresentations made by David Vilka of Square Mile Financial Services.

My pension was inappropriately invested in unregulated collective investment schemes, wrapped in a useless life assurance bond from Investors Trust (based in the Caymans). One of those funds was Blackmore Global run by Phillip Nunn & Patrick McCreesh. This pair is on record for earning almost £1m generating leads for the Capita Oak and Henley scams.

This new pension arrangement locked me in for 10 years – definitely a “long-term relationship” – giving all parties the opportunity to drain my pension dry in fees. Credit where credit is due, however. Once I discovered I was in a scam, the director Andy Dawson (bottom row, 3rd from the left) did make an extraordinary effort not only to redeem the investments but successfully persuaded most parties to waive their early exit penalties and refund their fees. Only the greedy Symphony Fund chose to keep the penalties and that’s after mysteriously dropping in value 30% just before redemption. Thanks to Andy Dawson and his team, I did manage to get back 92% of my pension. But the BIG QUESTION is what has happened to the other 1,100+ members? It is inconceivable I was the only one transferred into this scheme via Vilka et al.

Another claim made by Azure Pensions is: “Our people are highly experienced, knowledgeable and motivated to do their utmost to ensure that they deliver a superior, professional and hassle-free service.” But this firm, and the people in it, have a history of working with scammers and investing members’ retirement funds in investment scams such as Phillip Nunn’s Blackmore Global and Richard Reinert’s Symphony Fund. So I would take issue with claims like “highly experienced” and “knowledgeable”.

If they were highly experienced and knowledgeable they would have known that, at the time I was being advised by Vilka in January 2015, Aktiva Wealth Management (later changed to Square Mile and now called Michalska Holding) was NOT regulated by the Czech National Bank. According to the CNB records, this didn’t happen until 5th May 2015 and then, only for insurance mediation and not for transferring pensions!

If Integrated Capabilities had been “highly experienced and knowledgeable” then they would have known the Symphony Fund – regulated in their own jurisdiction by their own regulator, the MFSA – was NOT permitted to be offered to me, a retail client. And they knew this because they had the Symphony documentation which clearly prohibited its promotion to UK retail clients.

I complained to the MFSA but they didn’t care and Malta’s “Ombudsman” equivalent – what they call the Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services – deters complaints because they have this small print that says if you lose, the other side can be awarded legal costs!

If Integrated Capabilities had been “highly experienced and knowledgeable” they would have known the Blackmore Global fund had never published audited accounts and still hasn’t to this day (December 2018). Something that in January 2015 caused Kreston (pension provider on the Isle of Man) to write to its members explaining their concerns over Blackmore Global and also stopped taking new members from Vilka.

So if they were “highly experienced and knowledgeable” then why did they allow all this to happen? It certainly had nothing to do with “motivation to do their utmost”. It is clear their only motivation was to take on as many members as possible – irrespective of which scammer introduced them and what unsuitable investments were made for them. Also, they claim to have a “long history and proven track record of providing expert and value for money multi-jurisdictional fiduciary solutions, so our clients and partners can have great peace of mind in the knowledge that our board of directors has over 100 years combined expertise in this field.” The proven track record is that they have taken on hundreds of new members per month from a known scammer – and the last thing their members have is peace of mind – far from it.

Angie has referred to these people at Integrated Capabilities/Azure Pensions as a “bunch of cowboys” and their lawyer recently wrote to her and objected to the phrase. You make your own mind up.

How do they earn trust when they have accepted transfers and investment instructions from known unregulated scammers Square Mile and David Vilka? Why would victims “desire” to have a long-term relationship with Azure when funds were previously placed in an unnecessary, expensive insurance bond by Investors Trust in the Cayman Islands (the only purpose for which is to pay commission to the scammers)?

Azure Pensions also claims that one of its partners is Carey Pensions UK LLC. Carey is facing a legal battle for investing a member into unregulated collectives in Australia through a Carey Pensions SIPP.

Carey is in hot water for allowing investments into high-risk scams, and is also now part of STM – undoubtedly the biggest scammers in the offshore pension trust industry. It would seem the Azure team have not learned anything from their previous experience.

If, as they say “We believe that trust is built and earned …”, then you actually have to do some “trust building” with actions – not just weasel words. The indisputable facts seem to indicate “business as usual” but with a different name.

It is highly probable that Integrated Capabilities still has at least 1,100 victims invested in scam funds such as Blackmore Global by scammers such as David Vilka of Square Mile. It looks like most – if not all – of these victims were UK residents who should never have gone into a QROPS at all in the first place. The only reason for transferring these pension funds to a QROPS was to get the money away from UK regulation so that the scammers could invest them in commission-paying UCIS funds – such as Blackmore Global.

The public should be very wary of Azure in the first instance, do a lot of due diligence and make sure their pension funds don’t go anywhere near offshore unregulated collectives wrapped in an assurance bond that can suck your pension dry.

Azure states on their website that: “Notwithstanding your appointment of a Financial Adviser, ICML has an overriding right to refuse to make investments, or to disinvest, where it believes that a particular investment proposal may not be consistent with the Scheme’s Investment Policy or any investment restriction applicable under Retirement Scheme Law.”

Is this a change in policy? Are they going to put their “knowledge and experience” to meaningful use by exercising some due diligence? Is this a statement that means they have sorted the 1,100+ members in the Optimus Scheme that are most likely locked into “investments … not consistent with the Scheme’s … Policy?” Or are these just more weasel words with no substance?

Reformed management team or a “bunch of cowboys”? The jury is still out. The association with Carey & STM doesn’t appear to show a reformed team. What has happened to the 1,100+ members in the previous Optimus Scheme? Has anything been done to remedy the situation?

I believed, and still do, that this team was unwittingly drawn into facilitating a scam by David Vilka of Square Mile, and that in essence Integrated Capabilities/Azure Pensions are a respectable team. However, if they want to be seen as having learned from their past failings they could take some actions. First, help the 1,100+ members to avoid financial ruin and secondly assist in the prosecution of the architects of the scam facilitated by Integrated Capabilities. I am sure they will have a considerable body of evidence that could be used to show fraudulent misrepresentation and thirdly drop the association with companies with an already poor reputation for their involvement with scams or unregulated collectives being promoted to retail clients.

With thanks to Steve – one of the Blackmore Global/David Vilka victims.

November 2, 2018
Tackling Caravan Crime – Chancellor Philip Hammond

Tackling Caravan Crime – Chancellor Philip Hammond. Victims of pension fraud in scams such as Ark, Capita Oak, Westminster, London Quantum, Friendly Pensions and Salmon Enterprises – will not be surprised to hear that even the Crown Prosecution Service acknowledges that the fraudsters have defeated the system. Alison Saunders, head of the CPS, has stated publicly that the British justice system can’t cope. She is stepping down and is clearly disheartened by Britain’s failure to tackle crime – especially fraud. She has vented her frustration in an interview:

While fraud has become the most commonly reported crime in England and Wales, with 1.7 million offenses a year, only one in 200 victims ever sees the perpetrator brought to justice. Saunders admitted that many cases were simply being ignored “because it takes time and a skilled investigator”.

But look hard enough, and you will see how tackling crime can be done successfully. As someone who constantly writes about the failure of our police and courts to bring criminals to justice, I was surprised to hear of a spectacular success story in leafy Surrey recently.

Mr. and Mrs. Shore of Thorpe, in Surrey, were successfully prosecuted and jailed for proceeds of crime. Residing in Runnymede Borough Council – presided over by Chancellor Phillip Hammond – this dastardly pair (in their sixties) were both sent down for a heinous crime under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”).

After many years of detailed investigation, the successful prosecution will send out a resounding warning to all such criminals and will no doubt discourage others from profiting from the same hideous crimes. And the crime was…….?

Housing homeless families in caravans without planning consent.

Let that sink in for a moment – vulnerable people with young children who had a choice between living on the streets or living in a caravan. And this crime was committed in Runnymede Borough where there was insufficient housing for the many poor families who could not afford private accommodation and had not been offered council homes.

This spectacular success story on the part of Hammond, Runnymede Borough Council and the CPS has left the good citizens of Surrey relieved that these dangerous caravan owners are now behind bars and dozens of homeless families are now living on the streets. Job done; justice served; well done Cutty Sark!

Hailing from Surrey myself, I am pleased that the county will now be a safer place. The successful prosecution was in respect of 14 breaches of six enforcement notices issued since 1999 by Runnymede Borough Council, following a seven-day trial at Guildford Crown Court. The jury heard how the farm owners had not only stationed the caravans on their own land, but had also failed to demolish a shower room. Unbelievable!

Hammond must be strutting the halls of Westminster bursting with pride and patrolling the fields of Runnymede with a sense of upholding the social and civil justice with which King John would have been delighted. In the House of Commons bar, Chancellor Hammond is probably boasting that there is a reason why he is named after a large organ. In fact, after his spectacular success with the Shores’ caravans, he will probably go down in history as “Caravan Willy” for presiding over such a coup.

I am sure that the many thousands of people who have lost millions of pounds’ worth of life savings to scammers such as Stephen Ward, Julian Hanson, George Frost, XXXX XXXX, Phillip Nunn, Patrick McCreesh, Stuart Chapman-Clarke, David Vilka, David Austin, Darren Kirby, Dean Stogsdill, Anthony Downs and James Lau will now understand why the CPS couldn’t dedicate any resources to prosecuting them. And they will, no doubt, be glad that the priority of the judiciary was removing unauthorised caravans in Surrey.

As in most of my blogs, there is an important postscript: Caravan Willy is a keen property owner and is reported to be worth over £9 million. The Shores’ land has now been confiscated by Runnymede Borough Council. And it is worth at least £27 million once planning permission for a housing estate is granted. I wonder who will be lucky enough to scoop that one up?………

October 29, 2018
Unqualified pension scammers banned

Unqualified Pension Scammers Banned

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

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

Citywire stated:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mark Manley of Manleys Solicitors – acting for XXXX XXXX.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If in doubt just walk away!

October 10, 2018
FCA launches new ScamSmart campaign

Here at Pension Life, we are constantly trying to raise awareness about pension scams. The Financial Conduct Authority – FCA – has also been busy. Pairing up with the Pensions Regulator – tPR – they have published the ScamSmart campaign with the slogan – Be ScamSmart with your pension.

With the ScamSmart campaign, they have also made a video and published it on YouTube. Here is the video for you to watch:

Whilst I think it is great that they are publishing videos as part of the ScamSmart campaign, I can´t help but feel that they spent a large chunk of their budget on some bloke whizzing around on a jet ski.

The video does highlight what people need to look out for to be ScamSmart, but the repeated flashes back to the jet skier whooping loudly are, in my opinion, very distracting. I feel they deviate from the message they are trying to get across.

I would like to highlight that the rider of the jet ski does bear a remarkable resemblance to Phillip Nunn, cold caller and “fund manager” of the Blackmore Global investment scam. Blackmore Global was promoted by David Vilka of Square Mile International – David Vilka´s firm is not regulated to provide pensions and investment advice. However, he has never been prosecuted by the FCA for his involvement in this scam.

Phillip Nunn´s lawyers, Slater and Gordon, threatened Angie with defamation proceedings for exposing Nunn’s scamtivities. The video made by Pension Life in response to this reveals three serial scammers, two of which are still free to scam, while the other one: Peter Moat of Fast Pensions (who has had legal proceeding filed against him) is nowhere to be seen.

However, the FCA has done nothing to stop these scammers, nor other well-known ones and no prosecutions have been made. Whilst we are fully in support of educating the masses worldwide to ensure consumers can avoid falling victim to pension scams, this does beg the question:

WHY ARE THE FCA DOING NOTHING ABOUT THE KNOWN SCAMMERS?!?

If the industry was to put a stop to the masterminds, (like Stephen Ward), then surely that would be a giant leap in the right direction for deterring new-comers. As it stands, however, the “award-winning” scammers just seem to set a precedent. If you are good at what you do, your scams can be pushed under the carpet and you can live a life of luxury on the hard-earned cash of the scam victims, escaping punishment.

September 11, 2018
Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered?
This week, in my mission to disclose advisory firms´ claims to qualifications (or in fact the lack of them), I am looking into Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered?

What the Square Mile website page says:

Despite referring to their Prague headquarters in a lovely paragraph:

“Square Mile has a dedicated customer care and administrative team based in our headquarters in the beautiful historic Old Town quarter of Prague, in the Czech Republic. Aside from picturesque surroundings, being in the very heart of Europe allows our customer services team to easily service our clients all over Europe, as well as placing us within 90 mins of London’s own ‘Square Mile’ where we have our UK team, and extensive links and partnerships with some of the worlds top financial institutions.”

…their website fails to list their team members, so over to Linkedin to see who the lucky people are.

But, firstly, a bit of background information about Square Mile, just in case you haven´t heard of them.

Square Mile International in Prague is run by David Vilka, a name that has been the star of several other Pension Life blogs. Vilka is linked to the Blackmore Global Investment Fund scam which saw victims’ pensions invested in dodgy AND illegal (for UK residents) UCIS funds. It should also be noted that David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial – was not regulated to give investment advice, but did so anyway.

Vilka transferred at least 65 pensions into a Hong Kong QROPS and then invested them into the Blackmore Global fund, courtesy of Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh of Aspinal Chase. Blackmore Global is an unregulated fund, which has never had an independent audit. Investors fear their pension funds may well be lost, as there is no evidence as to where the money has gone. David Vilka has showed no shame for what he did, and has made no attempt to recover any remainder of his victims´pensions.

So, Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered?

IFAs and their clients are invited to add to this blog, correct it or improve it. Here’s a link to the three registers if you want to double check:

http://www.cii.co.uk/web/app/membersearch/MemberSearch.aspx

https://www.cisi.org/cisiweb2/cisi-website/join-us/cisi-member-directory

https://www.libf.ac.uk/members-and-alumni/sps-and-cpd-register – Claim to a DipFA

Please note that this data is correct as of 29/08/2018.

Staff list for Square Mile International Prague office:
1. David Vilka – Managing Director – DOES NOT APPEAR ON ANY REGISTER – but we knew that already!
2. Alan West – Head of Client Services – DOES NOT APPEAR ON ANY REGISTER
Well, the Square Mile International Prague offices´ dedicated customer care and administrative team´ doesn´t inspire much confidence. Only two staff members are listed – one of them is known to be linked to pension scams – and neither has any financial qualifications!

Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered? 0%

On a final note, this is the statement made on the Square Mile retirement solutions section of their webpage:

´PENSION SCAMS & LIBERATION: BE AWARE– No properly authorised scheme should be able to offer benefits to you before age 55 – any scheme offering this facility or any adviser claiming to be able to do this is almost certainly involved in pension liberation. A bonafide scheme, whether UK or International, will be listed on the HMRC website. There is much sensationalism written about pension scams. The truth is that there are many more very good investments opportunities and very few scams in comparison. Good investments don’t sell newspapers so inevitably the few rotten apples make the headlines. Simple steps such as: checking your adviser is regulated in an EEA jurisdiction and is correctly passported into your jurisdiction, checking the levels of remuneration the adviser will receive, checking the lock-in clauses with the investment scheme and any penalties, and confirming directly with any professional advisers, auditors, or lawyers named on the investment of their involvement. Despite what is written an alternative or esoteric investment as part of a portfolio can reap very good rewards if proper research is undertaken.´

Interestingly, David Vilka (pictured here with John Ferguson, who was also involved in the Blackmore Global scam) is not regulated to give financial advice on pensions or investments, but did so anyway. The Blackmore Global scam victims are locked into a toxic investment fund, that should not have been sold to them as UK residents. Furthermore, they face penalties if they wish to withdraw the little they have left in the fund, as they are locked in for 10 years. No move has been made by any of the perpetrators to help these victims.

Square Mile International should be placed at arm´s length by anyone who wants a secure future for their pension fund.
August 29, 2018
DAVID VILKA’S VILE US ATTORNEY

David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial Services has exactly the sort of lawyer one would expect: a scammer’s lawyer. Unsurprisingly, this dope can’t even spell Vilka’s victim’s name and has referred to him as “Mr Sexton” as opposed to “Mr Sefton”. But, again, this is no surprise.

What I must challenge, however, is the fact that Mr. Sefton has referred to this clown as a “two-bit lawyer”. I really don’t think this is true – as he is a one-bit lawyer at best. He has a couple of glowing client testimonials going back to 2016 and 2015 on his amateurish website, and displays no evidence of experience or expertise in the arena of British pensions (and why would he? – he’s purportedly practising US law in the US).

One might forgive Mr. Davies for not understanding anything about UK pensions in general and pension scammers like David Vilka in particular, but to immediately jump into a firm conclusion that there has been defamation against his client shows that he hasn’t even made a one-bit attempt to understand what his client has been up to – or how many lives (like Mr Sefton’s) Vilka has ruined.

I must admit I am used to dealing with a much better class of scammers’ lawyer. Take DWF, for example: this large firm carelessly lost a team of 20 lawyers to rival Trowers and Hamlins a couple of years ago. This wasn’t long after they were caught representing both sides in a case: the Insolvency Service in the winding up of Capita Oak, and Stephen Ward who handled the transfer administration in the same scheme. But at least they dealt with the embarrassment of acting for both the poacher and the gamekeeper with a degree of dignity and elegance – a class act indeed. DWF comes into the same league as my other legal chums – including Carter Ruck and Mishcon de Reya. So, you can see I am more used to dealing with professional firms rather than twerps like this Mr Davies.

Mr. Davies is referring to the UCIS investment scam, Blackmore Global, which was illegally promoted to retail investors – and which is a fraud from start to finish.

Anyway, I have answered his absurd email below with my usual comments in bold.

————————————————————————————————-

LOWELL DAVIES LLP

July 14, 2018

Ms. Angela Brooks, Director of Pension Life

Re: Defamation of Mr. David Vilka and Square Mile International

Dear Ms. Brooks:

I am an attorney You may well be, but you are clearly a US attorney – and that does not qualify you to deal with a matter which involves UK pensions

and represent Mr. David Vilka Bad luck

with respect to the defamatory article I never write defamatory articles – I only write the truth

published on your on-line site. Specifically, this complaint relates to the misstatements and misrepresentations made on

the following site:

BLACKMORE GLOBAL FUND – ASSET OR BLACK HOLE?

If I might sum up, each and every defamatory allegation with regard to Mr. Vilka and Square Mile International you assert are sourced to one disgruntled individual, Stephen Sexton, none of which allegations are supported by any evidence whatsoever.  Wrong. Mr. Sefton is one of a number of victims of Vilka’s scams – many of which were invested in the same toxic, illegal UCIS fund as Mr. Sefton – Blackmore Global – and others were invested in other similar investment scams. Blackmore Global is run by another scammer, Phillip Nunn, who – along with his partner in crime Patrick McCreesh – ran the cold calling and lead generation services for the Capita Oak and Henley pension scams, now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

Mr. Sexton was an unsolicited client of Mr. Vilka and Square Mile who had a substantial pension and for personal reasons of his own wanted to switch his pension and draw down sums for his personal use.  When he says “unsolicited” he means not cold called, as was usually the case with Vilka. Vilka lied about being regulated to provide pension and investment advice, and the rest is history: Mr Sefton’s life savings were invested in two UCIS funds which were habitually promoted by Vilka: Blackmore Global and Symphony.

The switch in pension plans resulted in what Mr. Sexton felt were unreasonable fees (None of which went to Mr. Vilka or Square Mile). I wonder if this idiot would like to explain why Mr Sefton was put into a QROPS when he was a UK resident?

And despite the fact that Mr. Vilka was able to personally intervene and get Mr. Sexton’s monies returned less a nominal fee, Mr. Sexton continued to complain and when Square Mile attempted to make up even this nominal fee on its own part, Mr. Sexton continued to complain because he refused to sign a boilerplate settlement agreement containing a standard confidentiality agreement.  It is true that Mr Sefton did, eventually, get around 85% of his original investment back – but only after a dogged fight which was backed up by the pension trustees Integrated Capabilities. There was no intervention by Vilka.

In your post on the Blackmore Fund you have the temerity to cast defamatory aspersions on Mr. Vilka and Square Mile based on your “strong suspicion” and you go on to assert they must have a “strong vested interest in promoting this black hole of a fund.”  Why else would scammers such as Vilka promote such a fund? It is a UCIS, with no independent audit to verify whether the purported assets even exist.

Really? What proof of that would you have?  Vilka must have had a very strong reason to promote the Blackmore Global investment fraud – why else would he have invested a further 64 victims’ pensions in this UCIS? This was a bunch of people he scammed into transferring their pensions to a Hong Kong QROPS.

And since you have none, we demand you remove this article and/or any reference to Mr. Vilka or Square Mile.  I have plenty of evidence thank you.

Let me advise you that Mr. Vilka and Square Mile, contrary to your specious aspersions, are heavily regulated as is the industry.  “Heavily”? What you actually mean is that neither Vilka nor Square Mile is regulated for pension or investment advice – only insurance mediation.

The Sexton matter was thoroughly investigated at the time by the appropriate regulators who found no irregularities.  You don’t know that.

Mr. Sexton is not nor was he a perplexed victim of Mr. Vilka or Square Mile. He most certainly was – as Vilka and his accomplice John Ferguson know full well.

His pension is worth well over half a million pounds. No it isn’t. Did you do maths at school?

He read and signed multiple acknowledgements before he switched pensions showing very clearly that he knew what he was investing in and the inherent risks involved.  No he didn’t. It was never disclosed that the scammers were going to invest his pension in a UCIS fund which is illegal to be promoted to retail UK investors.

And again, significantly, he was not cold-called. He sought out Mr. Vilka and Square Mile. Nor did Mr. Vilka or Square Mile receive any payment from the Blackmore fund or its partner firms regarding Mr. Sexton’s transaction as confirmed by the Czech National Bank which has direct access to Square Mile’s company bank accounts via an electronic data box.  Are you talking about the accounts which haven’t been updated since 2014?

In sum, there is no bases whatsoever for the specious and actionable statements you make in your referenced post with regard to Mr. Vilka and Square Mile International.  I think you mean basis – and yes, there is a solid basis for all the statements I made in my post and not a single one of them is “specious” (although I am amazed you have even heard of the word).

Your comments have caused Mr. Vilka and Square Mile reputational damage, among others, and you are hereby instructed to delete the post immediately.  I sincerely hope that the impact of my blog has caused Vilka and his accomplice Ferguson to turn over a new leaf and arrange to pay compensation for Mr. Sefton and all their other victims who have lost part or all of their pensions to the Square Mile scams.

Your failure to do so will result in further damages to Mr. Vilka and Square Mile International, the accrual of further legal fees and costs, and the likelihood of litigation, all of which damages and costs we will recover from you.  Good luck with that.

If you have any questions or concerns or require further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly at (206) 319-3533. I look forward to confirmation of the removal of the identified defamatory materials. Thank you in advance for resolving this matter expeditiously.  I have no questions, other than to enquire as to when your client intends to pay redress for the losses caused by his fraud.

Best regards,

LOWELL DAVIES LLP

Douglas Davies Attorney at Law

8497 Hemlock Drive

Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

Direct Line: (206) 319-3533

doug@lowelldavies.com

July 20, 2018
Trussed by Dolphin Trust?
I’ve been very concerned about Dolphin Trust GmbH for some time. There’s an awful lot of pension money being loaned to this company – and I don’t get to hear of many (in fact any) people who have had their loans repaid. That doesn’t mean they haven’t been repaid – it just means I haven’t heard about it.

The things that bothers me about Dolphin Trust are:
1. There are no audited accounts available
2. Dolphin has been used by an awful lot of pension and investment scammers – including Stephen Ward in the London Quantum pension scam (now in the hands of Dalriada Trustees)
3. “Introducers” get paid eye-watering commissions of up to 25%
4. If the assets and projects are so good, why pay private lenders 10% interest (on top of the 25% commission) – why not just go to the bank?
5. I have recently heard that Dolphin and some of their dodgy “introducers” are now trying to convince lenders to take their loans back in the form of shares in the company
But the biggest concern I have is that Dolphin Trust formed a major part of the underlying investments in the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund scam – run by XXXX XXXX of Global Partners Limited and STM Fidecs in Gibraltar. This fund is now being wound up by Stephen Doran, of Doran + Minehane.

The Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund and XXXX XXXX are currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Ironically, Justin Caffrey of Harbour Pensions once told me that XXXX came to see him to try to flog the obviously dodgy Trafalgar fund. Caffrey claimed he could see XXXX was an obvious spiv straight away and that Trafalgar was clearly bad news – so he sent the ginger scammer packing.

And then STM Group bought out Harbour Pensions and got custody of some of Caffrey’s Blackmore Global Fund worthless crap to keep the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund worthless crap company. You couldn’t make it up! A bunch of toxic rubbish flogged by scammers Phillip Nunn and XXXX XXXX.

STM Fidecs had notified the hundreds of victims that there would be a distribution in early 2018 once Doran + Minehane had got rid of some of the Dolphin Trust loan notes. But then STM did a U-turn and announced there wouldn’t be a distribution at all. Clearly, getting shot of the loan notes was more difficult (or impossible) than Mr Doran first imagined. Or perhaps he did get rid of them – but got shares in Dolphin Trust or Vordere instead (and this is the reason for the lack of distribution by STM Fidecs).

Any way you look at it, Dolphin Trust is looking dodgier than ever now it is well known that there are £21 million worth of Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund loan notes out there looking for a warm and cosy (and gullible) home.

Quite apart from the fact that no self-respecting introducer or financial adviser should EVER be caught selling high-risk, unregulated, non-standard “assets” in the first place, surely nobody would ever want to be caught flogging the same stuff that the likes of XXXX XXXX and Stephen Ward were making a fortune out of.

I did try to call Dolphin Trust, but they don’t answer their phone. Maybe they don’t like cold calls (which is how most victims get scammed into lending them money in the first place).

Without the benefit of any assurances from the nice men at Dolphin Trust – Charles Smethurst, Helmut Freitag, Axel Krechberger and Matthias Ruhl – we will just have to hope that Mr Doran manages to offload the second-hand loan notes that STM Fidecs allowed 400+ victims’ life savings to be invested in. Perhaps I’ll drop him a friendly note and suggest he tries ebay.
June 29, 2018
BLACKMORE BOND – SHAKEN OR STIRRED – CARELESS OR STUPID?

In the wake of hundreds of victims fearing heavy pension losses in the Blackmore Global fund, we now have another disaster waiting to happen: Blackmore Bond.

This new threat to unwary investors has been analysed by Bond Review. Just to be clear, many people were duped into investing their pensions in the Blackmore Global UCIS fund – which has never published an independent audit. We now have a second threat offered by Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh. Blackmore Bond PLC is promoting these unregulated, capital-at-risk bonds which purport to pay up to 8.5% per annum – but with potential for total loss. How many more people will this high-risk bond ruin financially?

BLACKMORE BOND – SHAKEN OR STIRRED – CARELESS OR STUPID?

Bond Review raises an intriguing question: how come Paul Careless and Surge Group have got involved with Nunn and McCreesh? Unless he has been careless (pun intended), Careless looks to have an unblemished past and Surge (in Brighton) looks to be a bona fide company.

In 2017, Careless’ company Surge Group offered £3,000 in sponsorship to the Kent Police rugby team. This was accepted, but then he tried to change the sponsor from Surge Group to Blackmore Bond. And Blackmore Global started claiming on their website to be “Proud supporters of Kent Police Rugby Team”. So why would Careless – himself an ex-police officer – try to con the police and also get into bed with Nunn and McCreesh?

Let us just remind ourselves that Messrs Nunn and McCreesh were the cold callers/lead generators in the Capita Oak and Henley Retirement Benefits scams which are now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Nunn and McCreesh scammed/attempted to scam up to 300 victims a month for more than two years. Unsurprisingly, Kent Police declined the toxic offer to have any association between a law-enforcement agency and known scammers.

But here’s another puzzle: a geezer called Kenneth “Buzz” West also appears at first glance to be relatively harmless. He is a director of numerous companies – including European Wealth. The only stain on his reputation that I can find is that his former company, Ashcourt Rowan, was fined £412k by the FSA in 2012 for dodgy investments in his other company: Savoy Group. But Ashcourt Rowan held its hands up and paid the fine.

So why on earth would “Buzz” risk getting tangled up with Nunn and McCreesh? Buzz is now Chairman of two of their companies: Blackmore Group and Blackmore Bond. Unless his brains are shaken as well as stirred, he is committing professional suicide – knowingly and deliberately.

Or perhaps I am being too harsh. Maybe he has taken on the role of Chairman so that he can ensure that Blackmore Bond does not sell any toxic, high-risk products to low-risk victims; and also so that he can get the long-overdue Blackmore Global fund audit done. Maybe he also has plans to get the Blackmore Global victims compensated for their losses and distress suffered in the past couple of years.

We need to be very clear about Blackmore Global: it is a UCIS fund that was illegally promoted to retail investors in the UK and which unregulated David Vilka of Square Mile International was flogging to UK victims in the Hong Kong QROPS scam. This accounted for 64 victims with a combined transfer value of £1.6 million – all introduced by cold-calling firm Aspinall Chase – run by Nunn and McCreesh.

According to Companies House, Kenneth Buzz West is a Cypriot and resides in Cyprus.

It just so happens that I am going to Cyprus in a couple of weeks – so hopefully he will invite me for a wee drop of Zivania and Halloumi on toast. And once our whistles are whetted, we can discuss the Blackmore Global audit and compensation.

March 31, 2018
Top 10 Deadliest Pension Scammers

Pension scammers are hidden all around us, often dressed in smart clothes, driving smart cars and carrying impressive leather folders. They offer what seems like smart investments, push through your pension fund transfer swiftly and seamlessly. However what you don´t see on the surface is their hidden parasitic ways. These scammers will drain the funds from your pension, investing in high-risk, toxic investments, that only they will profit from.

Here´s Pension Life´s, “Top 10 Pension Scammers”. (Please note: this information is correct as of the today´s date only, as pension scammers are evolving daily and as one falls another will rise!)

10 – Square Mile International

John (Gus) Ferguson’s firm Square Mile International promote unregulated toxic crap to pension savers and employs unqualified David Vilka. The so-called “advisers” promoted the Blackmore Global Fund.

It is still unclear what has actually happened to the money invested into the Blackmore Global Fund.

9 – James Lau & Tudor Capital Management

James Lau was a financial adviser with Wightman, Fletcher McCabe (FSA regulated) – part of the Clarkson Hill Group. Along with directors Peter Bradley and Andrew Meeson, of Tudor Capital Management (subsequently jailed for eight years for money laundering and tax fraud), James Lau conned 116 victims into transferring their pensions, investing in forex trading companies, and liberating up to 85% of their pensions. Lau is now rumoured to be in hiding in Hong Kong. The victims are now facing 55% tax charges by HMRC.

8 – Friendly Pensions

David Austen of Friendly Pensions, used cold-calling and high-pressure sales tactics to strong-arm 245 victims into investing in 11 fake schemes, including a truffle farm.

Dalton, Barratt and Hanson all served as trustees on the fake schemes set up by Austin – who is described as the mastermind – and were paid more than £550,000 between them. The four scammers who conned pension savers out of £13.7 million have now been banned from the industry but not imprisoned. The victims, however, lost everything.

7 – Continental Wealth Management (CWM)

One thousand people were relieved of up to £100 million worth of pension funds. Conned by a motley assortment of snake oil salesmen, the victims were promised high returns, but all they got was high losses. Old Mutual International (OMI) were the provider for the bulk of the insurance bonds in this scam. Funds were invested in risky, toxic structured notes which were clearly labelled as “for professional investors only”. Clients were lied to, as when they saw the value of their funds plunging dramatically, the Continental Wealth Management scammers assured the victims that the reported losses were “only paper losses”. Continental Wealth Management collapsed in September 2017.

6 -XXXX XXXX

XXXX XXXX was the “distributor” of the Capita Oak, Henley, Westminster and various SIPPS scams in 2012/13. He was also operating pension liberation fraud with his “loan” company: Thurlstone. When these schemes collapsed in 2013, he went on to launch an investment scam called Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund. Capita Oak, Henley, Westminster and Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund are now all under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. XXXX XXXX has been arrested and his offices searched.

5 – Nunn and McCreesh

Phillip Nunn – along with his sidekick and partner in crime Patrick McCreesh – provided “lead generation” services to the Capita Oak and Henley scams. At up to 200 leads a month for more than two years, he was responsible for the destruction of £ millions of pension funds – and got paid nearly £1 million in fees for doing so. He then went on to set up an investment scam called Blackmore Global – a UCIS which is illegal to be promoted to retail pension savers. It is not known whether the investors have lost some, most or all of the funds in Blackmore Global as Phillip Nunn refuses to have an independent audit carried out on the fund.

4 – Steve Pimlott – Windsor Pensions

Steve Pimlott has been running Windsor Pensions for at least seven years. He claims to have done around 5,000 pension liberations and assures victims that HMRC will be “unlikely” to catch up with them. Pimlott uses QROPS schemes such as Danica in Sweden and then sets up a fraudulent bank account in the Isle of Man. The transfer never goes anywhere near Danica, of course. But the transfer is sent to the IoM bank account – 85% is paid out to the victim and Pimlott trousers the other 15%. HMRC is now taxing the victims at 55% – although they have never taken action against Pimlott who is still operating happily in Florida (not far from where Stephen Ward has his six luxury villas).

3 – Fast Pensions

Peter Moat and his wife Sara Moat were chums of Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions. They ran a loan company called Blu Debt Management and also had several other businesses involving estate agency and pension administration. Hundreds of victims were transferred into the Moats’ Fast Pension schemes, and now the victims cannot access their pensions or transfer out. Peter and Sara Moat live in the Javea area of the Spanish Costa Blanca and have had 18 Pensions Ombudsman’s determinations against them for mal-administration of the pension schemes they are running. It is thought that around 400 victims are affected, although it is not known how much they have lost between them. It is known that several years ago, a substantial amount of the funds were loaned to Bridgebank Capital and then used as bridging loans for property developers. But the money has since been repaid and goodness only knows where it is now. Certainly not accessible to the members.

2 – Stephen Ward

Ark: 486 victims; £27 million at risk; 55% tax penalties on 50% loans

Evergreen: 300 victims; £10 million at risk

Capita Oak: 300 victims; £10 million at risk; tax penalties on XXXX XXXX’s Thurlstone “loans”

Westminster: 200 victims; £7 million at risk; tax penalties on “loans”

Southlands, Headforte, Feldspar, Hammerley, Maribel, Dorrixo Alliance, Halkin, Bollington Wood, Randwick Estates, Elysian Fuels, London Quantum – and many more. Stephen Ward remains active with DB transfers.

and in first position we have …..

1 – HMRC

Yes, you read correctly, HMRC is our number-one culprit in the Top 10 pension scammers list. And here’s why:

Since at least 2010, pension scams have been on the rise. That’s 8 years, yet regulations have not been changed, HMRC has not become vigilant or conscientious about registering pension scams, and new laws have not been put in place to stop scammers.

In fact, the scams are registered in the first place by HMRC, and in the case of occupational schemes also by tPR.

No notice is taken of whether the schemes are registered by known scammers and no questions are asked as to the purpose of the schemes.

In the case of James Lau’s Salmon Enterprises, the trustees – Meeson and Bradley – had been investigated by HMRC and arrested in March 2010 on suspicion of money laundering and tax fraud. However, HMRC did nothing to warn ceding providers or the public and Salmon Enterprises was left as an HMRC-registered, fully-operational occupational scheme.

Later that year, one ceding provider queried the legitimacy of the Salmon Enterprises scheme, but HMRC refused to elaborate on why the trustees had been arrested. A transfer went ahead – along with 115 others – while HMRC sat back in the full knowledge that all these victims would be bound to face unauthorised payment tax charges.

In the Ark case, HMRC spoke to the organisers and promoters (including Stephen Ward) of the six Ark schemes on several occasions. They then had a meeting with Craig Tweedley and Ward in February 2011 to discuss their concerns that the 50% “loans” paid out to scheme members constituted unauthorised payments. At this point there was a “mere” £7 million worth of transfers. Nothing was done to suspend the Ark schemes for another three months – during which time a further £20 million was transferred in. HMRC is now trying to tax both the members and the scheme for unauthorised payments.

In the full knowledge that Stephen Ward was behind Ark and numerous other scams, HMRC ignored evidence of his pension trustee/administrator firm – Dorrixo Alliance. In May 2014, they discussed prosecuting Ward, but did nothing about the London Quantum pension scam, and in August of the same year, a police officer lost his police pension to Ward’s scheme.

Therefore, HMRC takes 1st place, due to its downright lack of motivation to help stop the scams, yet speedy tax demands fly out for the unauthorised payments arising from the so-called “loans” operated from the very schemes that HMRC themselves registers.

Furthermore, HMRC taxes the victims of pension liberation scams – and not the perpetrators.

List of 10 deadliest parasites borrowed from listverse website for comparison.

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

What is a pension scam?

Follow Pension Life on twitter to keep up with all things pension related, good and bad.

February 18, 2018
Be safe with PensionBee!

Having focused very much on bad pension investments, pension scams and how to avoid them, I´d like to talk a bit about PensionBee, a relatively new pension provider.

PensionBee offers the service of consolidating all your pension funds into one online fund. You are able to check your balance at any time and have a personal “Bee keeper” assigned to your account. The firm’s annual fees range from only 0.5% – 0.95% – significantly lower than the industry average.

Having explored PensionBee´s website, they are bright, modern and have a 9.2 out of 10 on trust pilot – not bad! You can use the PensionBee pension calculator to set a retirement goal and top up your savings to get on track. In our fast-paced, ever-changing online society, this is ideal for the busy working person.

Sounds great doesn´t it? Unfortunately, other pension providers wouldn´t agree, and it seems Aegon (formerly Scottish Equitable) isn´t impressed by their new competitor. Henry Tapper’s blog, ´PensionBee stands up to the bullies´ address the issue that Aegon are taking 38 days for a pension transfer to PensionBee. (The standard transfer time should be just 12 days). Fortunately, PensionBee is taking none of it, check out their video on “how to transfer your pension away from Aegon”.

In fact, Henry writes, ´Since 8 June 2017, customers wishing to transfer out of Aegon to PensionBee have faced barriers to switching, including multiple discharge forms, telephone calls and repetitive requests for information that has already been provided. There are various other steps that impede the customer’s right to switch pension provider easily (please see here). The average transfer out of Aegon for completed transfers now takes c.54 days – although the true scale of detriment remains unknown, since many people have been unable to overcome the barriers placed in front of them by Aegon in their attempts to switch or have simply given up.´

Upon doing some more digging I found that Professional Adviser, reported that nearly 900 customers were in fact ´stuck´ between Aegon and PensionBee. Going on to say, “So far, the longest transfer that has successfully completed is 176 days, or nearly six months.”

What we at Pension Life are struggling to grasp is, Why now?

Since 2011 big pension companies such as Aegon, Standard Life, Scottish Widows etc, have made transferring out of their pension scheme relatively easy. Even after the Scorpion campaign, which raised awareness about pension scams, these pension providers continued to release funds to bogus schemes. They have enabled the pension scammers to profit whilst the victims ended up being financially ruined.

In the Capita Oak scam – distributed by XXXX XXXX, promoted by Phillip Nunn and administered by Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions – Aegon was one of the leading offending ceding providers. Aegon handed over at least 13 transfers totalling £263,271.71. Then, in the Westminster pension scam, Aegon was still up there with the worst offenders, facilitating a further eight transfers totalling at least £253,305.63.

In neither Capita Oak nor Westminster, did Aegon question why both schemes had the same sponsoring employer: R. P. Medplant (Cyprus). Nor did Aegon establish whether the schemes were genuine occupational schemes. They just handed over the transfers without heed to the Pensions Regulator’s dire Scorpion warning.

But now Aegon appears to be resisting genuine, bona fide transfers. When victims complained to Aegon about the callous and negligent manner in which pensions were handed over to the scammers, Aegon failed to uphold the complaints and refused to pay any compensation. And this despite the fact that many of the transfers were made AFTER the publication of the Scorpion warning.

I wonder – is this change due to a weight on their conscience or do they realise that PensionBee could possibly be the new long-term market competitor? A real threat to their business. PensionBee is modern, clear, fresh and online – appealing to the technology savvy generation. With the introduction of pension freedoms in 2015, savers are looking to find new alternatives with their new choices.

FTAdviser reports:

Figures published by Mercer in April showed that as much as £50bn has been pulled from final salary pension schemes in the last two years.

Fortunately, the Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) is aware of these issues and has created a work group to enable transferring members a faster outcome. This will hopefully make transferring pensions to legitimate schemes much easier.

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

What is a pension scam?

Follow Pension Life on twitter to keep up with all things pension related, good and bad.

February 18, 2018
BBC 4’s You & Yours Exposes Blackmore Global Pension Scam

BBC Radio 4’s You & Yours reports on three victims of a pension investment scam called Blackmore Global, two of whom were cold called by David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial.

The three victims were persuaded to transfer their funds from secure company pensions into QROPS (Qualifying Overseas Pension Schemes). The victims have since struggled to track or recoup their investments in the Blackmore Global fund.

BBC´s You & Yours image of Stephen Sefton

Stephen Sefton, a driving instructor from Milton Keynes, was the main focus of the You & Your´s program. Most of his pension fund had been invested through the overseas pension scheme into a fund called Blackmore Global. The rest had gone into an investment fund in Malta. A year later disaster struck.

Stephen became a member of Pension Life after he was unable to track and evaluate his overseas pension investment. Upon calling the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), he was informed that his adviser – David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial – was not regulated to give investment advice. Furthermore, the fund in Malta was a professional investor fund only and was not suitable for a retail investor like him.

Stephen, taking advantage of the new pension rules, had transferred £415,000 of his company pension scheme into a new pension in 2015. He wanted to access his money early and give some to his children. He had found the advisory firm online; seen the company’s FCA registration number of David Vilka’s firm (Square Mile International Financial based in Prague) at the bottom of the firm’s letters. What he did not realise, was that the firm was only regulated for insurance mediation, and not investment advice.

Stephen, managed to get most of his money back after pursuing his case for many months. However, he lost £30,000 of his investment as the fund in Malta dropped in value at the time of withdrawing his money.

Having succeeded in recouping a good chunk of his money, he received an email from Square Mile International Financial offering him a bribe of £6,000 to cease all contact with outside sources. This included regulatory authorities and Action Fraud!

David Vilka, one of Square Mile International Financial’s directors, claims this to be incorrect. Instead suggesting the amount was a goodwill gesture to close the matter amicably.

Unfortunately Stephen Sefton’s recovery of his money is a minority case, many other victims of the Blackmore Global Pension Scam are finding it difficult to recover their money.

David Vilka insists that Square Mile International Financial is a completely legitimate firm. He claims the firm has been “inspected and verified in full by numerous regulators”. Furthermore, Stephen’s reports to Action Fraud were returned saying it had not identified any leads to follow up.

The BBC also reported about another victim called Paul (not his real name):

“Paul” agreed to have his £100,000 pension fund transferred into another pension scheme and then invested in the Blackmore Global fund. This was after being cold-called by another company called Aspinal Chase who offered him a free pension review.

The small print stated investments were locked in for 10 years, which was way beyond Paul’s 60^th Birthday. This was not mentioned to Paul when he made the transfer. Fortunately he managed to escape the lock-in, however he has still been unable to access his funds.

Paul told You and Yours “I’ve got three grandchildren. I’d like to take them all to Disneyworld in America. I want to spend the money I’ve earned over the years. A bit of that money would pay off the last bit of my mortgage, so that is a big chunk of my future. I feel as though I’ve let the family down.”

The perpetrators – Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh – are listed as Blackmore Global’s directors in a fund document seen by Radio 4’s You & Yours program, which shows they each earn salaries of £20,000 a year.

David Vilka was also the financial adviser for Paul and also for the third victim reported, Jacqueline. Another cold-call victim of Aspinal Chase, Jacqueline has had no access to her funds.

Blackmore Global’s directors have refused to release the £50,000 she invested. You & Yours quoted, Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh: who said, only allowed redemption´s in exceptional circumstances to “protect the integrity of the investment for its other stakeholders”.

Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh deny that their company, would engage in cold calling or pension advice. They claimed that any advice must have been given by separate, regulated financial advisers.

Nunn and McCreesh also say they have no financial relationship with David Vilka or Square Mile International Financial. In fact, they state they are totally independent from them! However, there has to be a good reason why Vilka has invested so many of his victims’ pension funds in the Blackmore Global fund – and risked criminal prosecution because Blackmore Global is a UCIS (Unregulated, Collective, Investment Scheme) which is illegal to promote to UK residents.

Pension Life is aware of a further 38 victims cold called by Aspinal Chase, Nunn & McCreesh´s firm. Originally being advised to transfer their funds into a Hong Kong QROPS, the victims´ funds finally made their way to the Blackmore Global fund. The total amount of funds scammed from these UK resident victims amounts to nearly £1,000,000!

To listen to the broadcast on the BBC’s website, click here.

To read the news story based on the You & Yours report, click here.

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

What is a pension scam?

Follow Pension Life on twitter to keep up with all things pension related, good and bad.

January 31, 2018
STM FIDEC’S VARIOUS NEFARIOUS BOOKS
STM Fidecs has played its “get out of jail free” card, avoided January’s court hearing and agreed to “cooperate” with the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) – allowing auditors Deloitte to probe STM’s dirty books.

I was more than a little miffed because I was looking forward to a nice day out in Gibraltar. I had my packed lunch all planned – spam sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs and ripe tomatoes (with a few spares in case I got a chance to lob one or two at Alan Kentish and David Easton).

Instead, Deloittes are going to “probe” STM’s undoubtedly cooked books. Fraudsters Alan Kentish and David Easton might try to hide some of the dirtiest stuff. (And in case some eager defamation lawyer is reading this, “fraudsters” is what Kentish and Easton called themselves on Facebook).

I will, of course, be more than happy to help Deloittes see the whole picture – rather than just what the Fraudsters want them to see. I will happily buy a whole shed full of spades as well as several boxes of latex gloves and surgical masks. However, the most important way in which I can assist them is to give them details of the various scams which the Fraudsters have operated and facilitated.

The Gibraltar regulator has for some time been trying to expose STM’s various nefarious activities – while Kentish and Easton have doggedly and desperately wriggled and slithered out of reach. The Deloitte investigation will finally expose the company’s internal compliance failures and conflicts of interest.

Deloittes will need to concentrate on at least three main areas: Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund; Cornerstone Friendly Society and Blackmore Global. They will also need to liaise closely with the Serious Fraud Office which is investigating the Trafalgar fund scam and the West Yorkshire and Humber Police which is investigating the Cornerstone scam.

If Deloittes are going to be able to conclude their investigations into STM by the end of March 2018, they will have to ask many probing questions to establish the extent of STM’s “compliance failures” (aka facilitation of financial crime).
- Why did STM accept business from serial scammer XXXX XXXX’s unlicensed firm Global Partners Limited?
- Why did STM accept hundreds of transfers from UK residents in whose interests it was NOT to swap their British pension arrangements for an expensive QROPS?
- Why did STM allow these victims to have funds invested in XXXX XXXX’s own fund – Trafalgar Multi-Asset (a UCIS which is illegal to promote to UK residents)?
- Did STM not consider it to be a conflict of interest for the “adviser” and fund manager to be one and the same person? Especially a person with a sordid track record of operating pension scams such as Capita Oak, Henley, and Westminster?
Chief executive Alan Kentish has described the Deloitte “deal” as a workable solution and is jolly pleased to have avoided January’s court hearing. He has also said that the hearing wasn’t in either STM’s or the GFSC’s interests.

I suspect both STM and the GFSC knew it was very likely that quite a few STM victims whose pensions are in tatters were likely to turn up and that the hail of ripe tomatoes was likely to make quite a mess of the Supreme Court’s wallpaper.

Meanwhile, Alan Kentish and another STM Fraudster are still being investigated by the Gibraltar Police Money Laundering Unit. I just hope they don’t get hauled off to jail before Deloitte get to finish their digging and probing – as that might delay the publication of the report.

So what has prompted all this recent flurry of action? In November 2017, the GFSC wrote to STM Fidecs and outlined their concerns. These included – among other things:
- Effectiveness and oversight of STM Fidecs’ internal compliance functions
- High turnover of staff in Compliance Officer and Money Laundering Regulatory Officer roles
- General suitability and experience of compliance staff
- Exercise of corporate governance across all of the STM companies
- Compliance with legal and technical requirements in relation to the operation of client accounts
- Level and nature of due diligence undertaken when accepting new QROPS business and whether legal and regulatory obligations are/were being met
- Nature of investments made in relation to QROPS e.g. the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund – linked to serious customer detriment and alleged fraud
I think Deloittes also ought to look into why STM Fidecs’ own staff were bullied into “looking the other way” when they were worried about compliance issues (and then paid off to keep them quiet).

Finally, STM Fidecs has now announced it will be moving from Gibraltar to the UK. This move comes after what Alan Kentish has described as “unexpected challenges”. Kentish remains bullish, however, about the company’s profitability. However, he still fails to express any concern for the hundreds of STM Fidecs’ victims who will inevitably see heavy losses in their pension funds and will suffer poverty in retirement. Shame on this callous character.

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

What is a pension scam?

Follow Pension Life on twitter to keep up with all things pension related, good and bad.
January 28, 2018