Tag: Quilter International

  • Fraud in Spain – Julius Baer

    Fraud in Spain – Julius Baer

    Spain is, sadly, the World’s capital of wealth scamming.  For more than a decade, wealth planning has been perverted and converted into a commission-laden fraud.  This financial crime has relieved thousands of victims of their pensions and life savings.

    Originally a private Swiss bank, Julius Baer now wants to diversify into the Spanish wealth market.  Hopefully, this is very good news.  To date, Spain has been dominated by the dross of the commission churning machine.  Some genuine, professional, qualified, fee-based financial advice in Spain would be welcome and also essential to clean up this crime-ridden territory.

    Julius Baer has created a new team which includes Claudio Beretta and Claudia Linares.  So just to give them a few friendly, helpful tips, here’s my message to them – which I hope they will accept in the spirit in which it is given.

    If this newcomer to the Spanish market can bring proper fee-based financial advice to British expats in Spain, Julius Baer could change financial services the World over. The absurdly-stupid EU regulator: ESMA allows firms with only an insurance-mediation license to provide investment advice on portfolios held within insurance bonds. This, of course, facilitates most of the financial crime in Spain and the rest of Europe.

    This widespread fraud – encouraged and handsomely rewarded by the death offices – oils the wheels of the illegal commission machine. These freely-spinning wheels result in herds of unqualified “advisers” (including drug addicts, convicted killers, prostitutes and fraudsters) conning thousands of victims out of their pensions.

    Julius Baer proudly reports that it has created a new team, headed by Claudio Beretta and Claudia Linares, which includes Jorge Saavedra Doménech and Carlos Navarro Sabán.

    This team is looking to provide services in the fields of wealth planning and wealth management. Julius Baer reports this constitutes;

    “the overall Bank’s strategic conviction to further strengthen their presence in Western Europe and particularly in Spain.”

    Hopefully, Julius Baer will avoid death offices and unlicensed spivs. And, even more essential to the fraud-saturated Spanish market, Julius Baer must make it clear there will be no secret or half-secret commissions involved – and concentrate purely on proper fee-based advice which is qualified and truly independent.

  • Pension Scams Explained – Stage 2

    Pension Scams Explained – Stage 2

    Our last blog in this series recreated the offshore pension scam process. We covered the set up and hard sell.  The slick salesman prepared the unwitting victim and convinced him his pension would be better off out of the UK.

    The silver-tongued spiv, Darren, posing as an adviser, conned his new client with no problem at all.  The poor victim was duped into believing he should transfer his pension into a QROPS – an overseas pension scheme.  The con worked because the experienced scammer pressed all the right buttons:

    Your pension will be looked after better, it will be cheaper to manage, you’ll pay less tax, you won’t lose half of it when you die, you’ll get to choose your own pension investments!

    Of course, the scammer, didn’t point out that once out of the UK, John’s pension would have no protection.  Complete control of the money would be squandered will now lie in the hands of the unqualified, unlicensed scammers.

    The victim, John had stressed:

    I’ve paid tax all my life, so I feel I’ve paid my dues. I definitely don’t want to pay too much once I’m retired because every penny is going to count.

    But sadly he’s played right into the scammer’s hands.  His precious pension will be transferred into a QROPS and then into an insurance death bond:

    John: I worked for thirty years to build up that pension and I don’t want anything to happen to it.

    Darren: So, let’s look at all the ways you can improve your pension and make sure its protected.

    But far, far from improving or protecting the investor’s pension, the scammer has removed the precious retirement fund from the safety of the UK.  He’s sent it off to Malta or Gibraltar and then on to the Isle of Man or Guernsey.  The money is now well beyond the protection of British regulation or compensation. 

    John had stressed how he wanted low risk, but has now signed dozens of forms – and this will guarantee that his pension will be exposed to high risk.  Darren didn’t give him a chance to read or understand these long and complex forms.  And the most important form of all was a blank investment dealing instruction.  Once this has been signed by John, the scammer can copy it dozens of times and invest the pension money in whatever pays the highest commission.     

    Blank dealing instructions

    The whole point of this scam is for the scammer to make money out of the victim by a whole series of hidden commissions.

    Darren: My firm would charge you a small fee for setting up the transfer and then looking after your pension investments moving forwards.

    But what will actually happen is that the scammer will openly charge three or four – or more – percent in set-up fees, plus one or two percent a year service charge.  But, under the table, he will earn a further 7% hidden commission from the death office – such as Quilter International, Utmost International, RL360 or Friends Provident.

    Darren: Right. And then we can start investing your pension and making it grow – so you’ll be able to have a happy and healthy retirement.

    John, and all the other victims, will be a long way from being happy or healthy.  Because the death office has a platform that the scammer will use to pick the highest-commission investments.  So John’s pension fund will be used to line the scammer’s pockets for the next ten years – as he will be stuck in the death bond for that long.

    Commission based

    Investments that pay the highest commissions – such as structured notes and unregulated collective investment schemes – are also the highest in terms of risk.  John’s pension can now only lose money.  And as the value of his hard-earned retirement savings goes down and down, the scammer’s commissions will keep on going up and up.

    John, along with all the other victims, will end up losing part – or all – of his pension.  He may well lose his home, see his marriage break up, develop depression or a life-threatening illness.  He may even take his own life.     

    But John and his dire poverty will be long forgotten by the slick, silver-tongued scammer.  He’ll be busy rubbing his hands with glee at his next batch of victims.  Because there’s plenty of them and this form of pension fraud is showing no sign of slowing down any time soon.

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  • Pension Scams Explained

    Pension Scams Explained

    Every offshore pension scam starts with a “financial advisor”. Or, at least, a slick salesman posing as a financial adviser.   This person can also call himself a “wealth consultant” or “senior associate”.

    After the scammer pretending to be an adviser, the next player is the life office. More accurately described as a “death” office, this type of insurance company pollutes and corrupts financial services by ensuring three things:

    • Few so-called “financial advisers” offshore are truly independent. They are tied to – and dependent on – the life offices for fat, abusive and undeserved commissions.
    • There is virtually no such thing offshore as providing proper qualified advice – only selling products for commission. Products recommended to the victim are chosen because they pay the most commissions – rather than because they are in the investor’s interests.
    • The victim will be placed into a “death bond” – also known as a life bond, offshore bond, portfolio bond, insurance bond or wrapper.  This toxic, high-risk, expensive and unnecessary product serves only one purpose: to pay a hidden commission to the so-called adviser.

    Death bond providers (also known as “life” offices) have facilitated vast amounts of fraud for well over a decade. This has resulted in the destruction of hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of pensions and life savings across Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia and beyond.

    With the recent merging of RL360 and FPI, as well as Utmost and Quilter, this trend is set to increase.

    The only way to protect consumers from being defrauded in the next decade is to educate them. The next raft of potential victims needs to be warned, informed, educated and prepared – so they too don’t fall victim to the death offices and their associates.

    Here we recreate a typical exchange between a potential victim and a salesman posing as an adviser. Watch and learn; read and weep. This is what has already happened to thousands of expats. Don’t be the next victim conned by a fraudster and a death office.

    Introducing Darren Blacklee-Smith of High Assets Wealth and John Carson – a builder who moved to sunny Spain to retire early.

    Darren: Nice to meet you John. So, you want to move your frozen pension out of the UK as you now live in Spain?

    John: Yes, I’ve been in Spain a few years now, with Brexit and everything, I’m not sure I should leave my pension where it is.

    Darren: Very wise to look at your options. Your pension would probably be better off in a QROPS because it would be looked after better, would be cheaper to manage, you’d pay less tax, and you wouldn’t risk losing half of it when you die. Best of all, you’d get to choose your own pension investments!

    DING! This is the first warning sign. The old “you’d pay less tax” trick… normally it’s the hook, line and sinker for this type of scam. Who doesn’t want to pay less tax after a lifetime of it? However, the so-called “lower tax charges” are nothing compared to the hidden commissions on the death bond and the toxic investments.

    John: That all sounds like it would be better for me in the long run – and cheaper. So where would I move my pension to?

    Darren: We’d recommend a QROPS in Malta as this is one of the best countries to move your pension to. It is a safe place for your pension to be looked after properly.

    DING DING!! Malta was a prolific harbour for pension scams for a decade. It was a grey area, making it easy for scammers to make as much money as possible. The Malta regulator has tried to tighten up the regulations to prevent further scams, but the scammers always find a new loophole.

    John: So how much would all this cost me?

    Darren: My firm would charge you a small fee for setting up the transfer and then looking after your pension investments moving forwards.

    DING DING DING!!! Oh how he makes it sound so simple! The fees that these advisors take are hefty. And they are not the only charges that will contribute to the destruction of the pension – because of the hidden commissions.

    John: Sorry to ask this question, but how is your firm qualified or licensed, or whatever, to look after my pension investments?

    Darren: Very important question to ask John – and I am more than happy to give you all the information you need to be comfortable that we are fully licensed.

    DING DING DING DING!!!!You can look up any company or person’s license to verify if they’re actually registered or not.  But most consumers don’t know how to do this.

    John: Oh, I’m glad about that – I didn’t want to offend you, but you do hear stories don’t you…..

    Darren: Absolutely. Now, we’re fully regulated and I’m fully qualified. It’s all on our website and here’s my business card and you can see all my qualifications.

    John: I’m glad about that. I worked for thirty years to build up that pension and I don’t want anything to happen to it. The wife and I moved to Spain to have a comfortable retirement, and I need to make sure I’m making the right decision.

    Darren: Absolutely. Definitely. So, let’s look at all the ways you can improve your pension and make sure its protected. The first question to ask is whether you want tax efficiency? You don’t want to pay too much tax do you?

    John: I’ve paid tax all my life, so I feel I’ve paid my dues. I definitely don’t want to pay too much once I’m retired because every penny is going to count.

    Darren: Well, that’s why we often recommend our clients should use a tax-efficient insurance bond, like Quilter. This is one of the World’s biggest insurance companies and this will not only protect your pension, but will also make sure you don’t pay too much tax.

    DING DING DING DING DING!!!!! And this is the most dangerous part. Quilter will almost certainly be the death of your pension. A bond is not suitable for a pension. It is way too expensive and inflexible. And provides no tax advantages within a pension for someone living offshore.

    John: That sounds great. So how do we go about this? How do we get the ball rolling, and what do you need me to do?

    Darren: Right, I’ve got some forms for you to sign……we’ll need to get your pension transferred over to Malta, and then open up the insurance bond. And then we can start investing your pension and making it grow – so you’ll be able to have a happy and healthy retirement.

    Darren: So, this is the transfer application, sign here…..

    John: Ooh, not sure if I’ve got a pen…..

    Darren: Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty!

    This will complete the first stage in the pension scam process. It is a condensed version, as it can take weeks or months of email/phone exchanges. But the result is usually the same: Loss and destruction of the pension.

    The scammer posing as an adviser hasn’t explained or revealed the charges and commissions.  And he hasn’t told the victim how inflexible the bond is or how it provides no protection or tax savings in reality.  And now the scammer has a signed, blank dealing instruction so he can proceed to invest the victim’s pension in high-risk, high-commission investments provided by the death office.

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  • Utmost Fraud approved by EU Commission

    Utmost Fraud approved by EU Commission

    Utmost (formerly Generali) is proposing buying Quilter (formerly Old Mutual). The deal is due to be completed by December 2021. The agreed price is nearly half a billion pounds. It is reported that Margrethe Vestager, Vice President of the European Commission, has “approved” this acquisition.

    Margrethe Vestager - EU Commissioner Executive Vice President - approved Utmost fraud
    Margrethe Vestager – EU Commissioner Executive Vice President

    The “approval” by the European Commission of this deal is an insult to thousands of victims of pension and investment fraud.  Widespread financial crime has been facilitated, encouraged and rewarded by Utmost and Quilter over the past decade.  The appalling result has been the destruction of millions of pounds’ worth of life savings and pensions.

    Death offices - Quilter & Utmost facilitate pension fraud

    Margrethe Vestager, EU Commissioner Executive Vice President, has proved that the Commission hasn’t got a clue about Utmost’s and Quilter’s role in offshore financial services fraud.  And this deal between these two death offices will create a monopoly over fraud against expats in Europe.


    For death offices – such as Utmost and Quilter – fraud against expats is clearly a lucrative business with a huge market.  The horrific damage – including distress, poverty and suicide – gives neither Utmost’s CEO Paul Thompson nor Quilter’s CEO Paul Feeney any cause for concern.  Thompson has described the proposed acquisition as:

    “highly attractive and in line with our growth strategy”. 

    But growing an industry based on fraud should neither be countenanced by the European Commission – nor the European Markets and Securities Authority.

    Paul Feeney CEO of Quilter
    Paul Feeney CEO of Quilter
    Paul Thompson CEO of Utmost
    Paul Thompson CEO of Utmost

    Utmost Fraud approved by EU Commission

    Utmost announced the planned takeover in April 2021. CEO Paul Thompson has bragged this would add £22 billion and 90,000 policies to its existing portfolio. This would give the Utmost/Quilter combo a total of £58 billion of funds. And much of this will have been acquired through fraud. It will also give them 600,000 “customers”. And many of these will have been victims of fraud – some of them currently on the verge of suicide.

    The toxic assets and suicidal victims result from Utmost’s and Quilter’s long-standing practice of giving terms of business to unlicensed scammers. These death offices have paid huge, undeserved and undisclosed commissions to these scammers for more than a decade. And there is no sign that there is any intention to pay redress to the thousands of victims who have lost their life savings and pensions in death bonds. 

    The Commission’s approval of this iniquitous acquisition is a grave insult to Utmost’s and Quilter’s existing victims. It also puts thousands of British expats across Europe at risk of becoming future victims of the fraudsters to whom the death offices give terms of business. 

     
    There are three clear strands to the fraud with which both Utmost and Quilter are undeniably complicit:

    1. The insurance bond – also known as a life, portfolio, or offshore bond. This is the core “product” routinely used and abused by the unethical sector of the offshore financial services market.  This toxic sector – which includes many known scammers – sells products and not advice. Bonds can – under certain, limited circumstances – play a valid tax-mitigation role in the UK.  But offshore, they serve zero purpose – other than to pay commissions to many unauthorised introducers and fraudsters posing as advisers.  Insurance bonds should never be used with offshore pensions (QROPS) since the pension is already a tax “wrapper” in its own right.

    2. The terms of the insurance bonds are clearly abusive to consumers as retail, inexperienced investors.  The high charges are mostly for the purpose of clawing back the concealed commissions paid to the introducers (many of whom are unauthorised).  Utmost and Quilter had known for years that large numbers of these introducers had no license to provide insurance mediation or investment advice.  They had also known that these same introducers had long-established track records of mis-selling and fraud.  And yet Utmost and Quilter continued to give them terms of business. They allowed them to invest thousands of victims’ pensions and life savings recklessly – and disastrously.

    3. The toxic, illiquid, high-risk “investments” offered by the death offices.  These products were offered on the death offices’ platforms for the scammers to sell to their victims. Investment products have included dozens of failed funds such as LM, Axiom, Premier New Earth, Quadris Forestry and Kijani.  Worse still are the professional-investor-only structured notes supplied by Leonteq, Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Canada and Nomura.  

    This toxic “triptych” has resulted in horrific losses for thousands of victims over the past ten years.  And if this iniquitous acquisition goes ahead, there will be just as many – if not more – casualties in the next ten years.  The EU Commission – along with ESMA – will be complicit.

    Friends Provident International logo

    Of course, I might be entirely wrong: Utmost’s half a billion might have been subject to a sequestration deal enforced by the Commission.  Perhaps this money is going to be used to repay all the victims the hard-earned money they have lost?  And any surplus used to prosecute the dozens of fraudsters to whom the death offices had given terms of business?  (Sadly, I am not often wrong).

    RL360 logo

    Death offices Utmost and Quilter (as well as FPI and RL360) have routinely given terms of business to known scammers and unlicensed salesmen posing as advisers since 2010. They have created a toxic industry of selling dodgy products – not professional financial advice.  The result has been predictably awful. Victims have paid the price with poverty and misery in retirement.  Utmost’s acquisition of Quilter is likely to result in a huge increase in this widespread crime.

    Leonteq provide toxic structured notes

    The facts behind this perilous situation are irrefutable.  Quilter itself is suing Leonteq for £200 million for just one series of high-risk structured notes. This was for an extra 2% hidden commission on top of the 6% hidden commission allowed by Quilter.  Chief Executives Peter Kenny and Paul Feeney know that these toxic products should never have been promoted to retail, naive investors.  Kenny and Feeney are fully aware that their unlicensed introducers will sell any toxic and high-commission crap to their victims.  

    John Ferguson (left) & David Vilka (right) splashing stolen pension funds in Vegas
    John Ferguson (left) & David Vilka (right) of Square Mile International

    In 2016, Quilter provided hundreds of these toxic Leonteq structured notes (with total concealed commissions of up to 14.57%) to distributors such as Satori, Mayfields and Morgan Capital.  Quilter also sold these notes to known, serial scammers Square Mile International.  In the same year, Utmost sold the same Leonteq notes with hidden commissions of over 12%.

    Utmost Fraud approved by EU Commission

    The EU Commission needs to understand why Utmost’s proposed acquisition should not go ahead. In their Introducer Terms of Business Agreement, Utmost opens with a false statement:

    “Following completion of due diligence we are pleased to confirm your terms of business have been authorised on the following commission basis”. 

    But there is no due diligence. There are no checks on how the firms are licensed, or whether any of the staff or sub agents are qualified to provide insurance or investment advice. And certainly no acknowledgement that the commissions must be openly disclosed to the victims. 

    The starting point for the hidden commissions is that 140% of the victims’ portfolio will form the basis for the payment.  A fact which is never disclosed to the victims. 

    The Utmost Introducer Agreement requests details of the applicant’s experience and qualifications, in addition to membership of professional bodies or trade associations.  The application form also asks for confirmation of regulatory status in the markets where the firm operates.  They also ask for details and proof of professional indemnity insurance. Therefore, Utmost acknowledges that these are essential factors for a legitimate introducer. They willingly enter into terms of business with many unlicensed, unqualified scammers. These scammers have no experience, qualifications, membership of professional bodies or trade associations, and no essential regulatory status. They also have no professional indemnity insurance.

    In 2014, Utmost accepted one bond application from a victim resident in Spain.  Her “adviser” (introducer) had no license to provide either insurance mediation or investment advice anywhere in Europe.  And yet Utmost gave this firm complete freedom to invest the victim’s funds – accepting 19 separate investment dealing instructions (mostly with forged client signatures) totalling 529,251.80 Euros.  All of the investments were professional-investor-only, high-risk structured notes provided by Leonteq, Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Canada and Nomura.  Between 2014 and 2018, Utmost and the scammer between them destroyed over 75% of the victim’s fund.  The destruction was caused by repeated structured note failures and the inexorable high charges by Utmost.  When the victim finally took out what little was left, Utmost charged her a hefty early-exit penalty. There was no recognition of the horrific destruction Utmost had facilitated.

    This forest burning represents the many lives and pensions that have been destroyed by pension scammers

    Criminal proceedings against this, and other associated firms, are now in progress in Spain.  However, the main lead complainant – also an Utmost victim who lost most of his portfolio – has recently died.  Much of his life savings and pension – which started out at three quarters of a million pounds – were destroyed by Utmost and the scammer.  The causes of the losses were not only the toxic structured notes but also some unregulated, professional-investor-only funds such as the Quadris Brazilian Teak Forestry Fund.  The deceased victim’s disabled widow is now facing poverty on top of bereavement.

    Of course, Quilter has performed just as atrociously as Utmost over the past decade.  Thousands of Quilter’s victims are facing similar poverty and suffering at the hands of the same scammers. This fraud is facilitated and rewarded by hidden commissions and the freedom to invest portfolios without the victims’ knowledge, using forged client signatures.  With similar callousness, Quilter has allowed the flotsam and jetsam of the offshore cowboys to commit the exact same type of fraud as Utmost has.  

    One such scammer – with Quilter terms of business – boasts that his qualification to work in financial services is working as a bar manager and managing a successful sales company:

    Pennick Blackwell another firm affiliated with Quilter & pension scams.

    https://pennickblackwell.com/pennick-blackwell-team/

    Kristoffer Taft of Pennick Blackwell
    Kristoffer Taft of Pennick Blackwell

    (formerly an agent of AES International and now an agent of Abbey Wealth)

    If I am wrong, and the Commission has already made arrangements to freeze Utmost’s half a billion pounds, then I apologise unreservedly for doubting you.  But if I am right, then the European Commission is just as bad as the death offices and the scammers.

  • Fraud Trial Against Pension Scammers in Spain

    Fraud Trial Against Pension Scammers in Spain

    The Spanish criminal trial of so-called “financial advisers” in Denia has exposed the widespread fraud routinely committed in offshore financial services for over a decade.

    This particular stage of this particular trial may be directed at just eight members of Continental Wealth Management and Premier Pension Solutions. For now. But the case – brought by Pension Life – needs to be extended to all parties who have committed similar offences in offshore financial services.

    Spain is the second-largest expat jurisdiction in the world – after Australia. More than three quarters of a million British expats have settled in the Spanish sunshine. That’s over half the total in the whole of Australia. And these Spanish-resident expats are sitting targets for pension scammers.

    It is not unusual for Brits to be suspicious of foreigners in any country. Expats typically veer towards their own countrymen. They are notorious for being suspicious of foreign food and customs. Hence, the depressing fact that it is British scammers who relieve British victims of their pensions and life savings.

    And this is why so many British expats – especially in Spain – fall prey to bogus “financial advisers” flogging bogus life assurance policies provided by bogus insurance companies – like Quilter International headed up by Peter Kenny.

    The facts of this criminal case are indisputable. One thousand victims were scammed by Continental Wealth Management. Between 2009 and 2017, these victims lost many millions of pounds’ worth of pensions and life savings. And much of this was facilitated by Quilter International (formerly Old Mutual International).

    So how were these losses caused? What on earth went wrong? Financial services – in any country – should be a safe industry which investors can rely on. Depend on. Why have so many expats – not just the Continental Wealth Management victims – lost so much money?

    Who and what is to blame for the loss of hundreds of millions of pounds?

    The short version of the answer is: “COMMISSIONS”. Offshore advisers get rich by selling products for commissions. What they don’t sell is independent financial advice. Proper independent advice (provided by a correctly and properly qualified and licensed adviser) is about recommending an appropriate investment strategy which is in the best interests of the client. And, of course, charging a reasonable and commercially-viable fee for such advice.

    But that rarely – if ever – happens in offshore, expat jurisdictions. What is cleverly presented as “advice” is generally just a dishonest ploy to sell a client unsuitable products which they don’t need and that will make the salesman the most commission.

    The orchestrators, facilitators and architects of all this fraud are the “life offices”. In practice and in reality, these companies are more about death than life. Their business is about destroying life savings and pensions – while enriching the pockets of fraudsters.

    There are various ways to combat this widespread fraud facilitated by the life offices:

    • Bring criminal proceedings against ALL those who have defrauded their clients – from bogus, unlicensed advisory firms to the life offices themselves
    • Ensure all so-called advisory firms (sometimes calling themselves “wealth managers”) are correctly licensed in the jurisdiction where they provide advice
    • Make it mandatory for all advisers to be properly qualified to provide financial advice
    • Ban all firms without an investment license from providing investment advice
    • Educate consumers to only use advisory firms which openly disclose their professional indemnity insurance on their website

    The bald truth is that if the life offices – such as Quilter International, Friends Provident International and RL360 – were closed down, this widespread fraud would stop.

    The only way this fraud keeps going so vigorously and relentlessly, is the terms of business given by the life offices to the scammers. And, of course, the fat commissions the life offices pay to them. As well as the toxic, risky, high-commission-paying investments the life offices put on their “platforms” for the scammers to use (and abuse).

    You only have to look at Continental Wealth Management to see how quickly a scamming firm will collapse once life offices withdraw terms of business. The life offices are the life blood of scams and scammers.

    Without the facilitation of the “death” offices (Quilter International, Generali, SEB etc.) frauds such as Continental Wealth Management could not have taken place. The blood of all those who have died wretched, lonely deaths – and those who are suicidal – is squarely on the hands of Peter Kenny and his various cronies.

    The bank statements of Continental Wealth Management show the repeated amounts of fat commissions paid by Quilter International, Generali and SEB. And these amounts were paid willingly and cheerfully in the full knowledge that every payment meant more lives damaged; more funds destroyed; more miserable deaths.

    Quilter and their associates had reported on the victims’ losses for a decade; produced valuations and transaction histories evidencing the repeated, relentless fraud. And yet Quilter (and the other death offices) did nothing – just kept on and on facilitating the same fraud: repeat, repeat, repeat.

    While the “advisers” from Continental Wealth Management and Premier Pension Solutions stand trial – the hundreds of victims have to listen to the defendants’ offensive denials and excuses. But, worst of all, the distressed and impoverished victims know that the life (death) offices should also be on trial – standing shoulder to shoulder with the scammers themselves.

    The cause of the investment losses in the Continental Wealth Management case was almost exclusively toxic, high-risk (and high-commission) structured notes. These are complex investment instruments called “derivatives” and should only ever be used for professional or sophisticated investors. They are certainly completely unsuitable for ordinary people (who are classed as retail investors) or for pension schemes.

    High-risk structured notes are big business for the death offices. Quilter International (formerly Old Mutual International) has historically onboarded over 100 new structured products per month. In the case of the Continental Wealth Management fraud, it was the structured notes – from Leonteq, Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Canada and Nomura – which caused the terrible investment losses. These toxic, high-commission investment products – so beloved by the scammers because of the high commissions – were responsible for the destruction of millions of pounds’ worth of pensions and life savings.

    Quilter International knew perfectly well that these toxic products – totally unsuitable for retail investors – paid 8% commission to the scammers and a further 8% to 10% to the “arrangers”. They knew perfectly well – and admitted internally to their “asset review committee” – that these products were risky and “not good value”. But they still allowed the scammers (to whom they gave terms of business) to keep selling them.

    Quilter has also admitted that they had 2,047 structured products in total, and that the average holding per product was £243,654.03; that the smallest holding was £67.54 and the largest holding was £5,350,833.60. Quilter was concerned that there was a reputational risk to Quilter for allowing these structured products to be held within their offshore bonds. They also acknowledged that these products carried excessive commissions and were causing “suboptimal customer outcomes”. However, their concern for their own “reputational risk” did not extend to concern for their victims.

    Quilter has tried to wriggle out of culpability for the victims’ losses by claiming that investment product “suitability” is the responsibility of advisers. And that these so-called advisers are participating in a “race to the bottom”.

    However, the advisers are mostly scammers to whom Quilter has cheerfully given terms of business. And they are winning the race to the bottom by several lengths. If Quilter withdrew terms of business from all the scammers, the race wouldn’t even take place at all. In fact, all Quilter would have to do would be to ensure that all advisers are qualified and licensed – and that investors’ risk profiles are correctly respected – and the fraud would stop instantly.

    But until Quilter and all the other death offices are put on trial for fraud themselves, this crime is going to continue. And victims are going to keep losing their pensions and life savings – and dying in abject poverty.

    As an interesting post script, Quilter have posted a warning about scams on the internet. Their disingenuous claim that “Your security is our priority, so we have reacted quickly to help you and the financial advisers we work with to spot fraudsters” is ironic and cynical. Quilter themselves routinely work with fraudsters who pose as financial advisers – and who have no license or qualifications to provide financial advice.

  • Armed Against Pension Scams in Spain

    Armed Against Pension Scams in Spain

    Knowledge is power in the fight against pension scams in Spain and all British expat jurisdictions. Be warned! Be armed!

    In the past decade, millions of pounds of pensions and life savings have been destroyed in Spain. Much of this has involved insurance bonds (OMI, SEB and Generali) – as well as all other popular expat countries. Only by benefitting from lessons learned so painfully by those who’ve already been scammed, can new potential victims arm themselves against the scammers.

    Pension scams always start with a so-called “financial adviser” or “wealth manager” or “retirement consultant”. Sadly, it is almost always British “advisers” which scam British expats.

    Potential victims need to understand what to look out for – and avoid. Here are the essential “must haves” for proper, professional financial advisers (in other words people who sell advice, not products):

    • LICENCE – The firm must be licensed – both for insurance and for investment.
    • QUALIFICATIONS – The adviser must be qualified – and a link to proof of the qualification clearly visible on the firm’s website.
    • LEGACY – There must be no legacy of previous scamming within the firm.
    • INSURANCE – There must be a professional indemnity insurance policy in place.
    • NETWORK – If the firm is an agent of a network, there must be an up to date copy of the agency agreement freely available.
    • INSURANCE BONDS – The firm must not sell insurance bonds illegally.
    • UNREGULATED FUNDS AND STRUCTURED NOTES – The firm must not invest clients’ funds in unregulated or esoteric funds, or structured notes.
    • COMPLIANCE – There must be a proper compliance function in place.
    • MANAGEMENT AND TEAM – All members of the team must be clearly visible on the website – along with details of who is in charge and responsible for the firm’s activities and compliance.
    • COMMISSION POLICY – The firm’s policy on undisclosed commissions must be clearly visible.

    When I Googled the term: “Financial Adviser Spain” just now, the top results that came up for me were:

    Blacktower Wealth Management

    Blevins Franks

    Finance Spain – Patrick Macdonald

    Spectrum IFA

    Chorus Financial

    Abbey Wealth

    Alexander Peter

    Axis Consultants

    Logic Financial Consultants

    Harrison Brook

    Seagate Wealth

    When I changed the search term to: “Pension Advisor Spain” or “Wealth Advisor Spain” I also got the following:

    • deVere Spain
    • Mathstone Financial Management
    • Pennick Blackwell
    • SJB Global
    • United Advisers Group
    • Indalo Partners
    • Trafalgar-International
    • Fiduciary Wealth Management

    And one firm which won’t come up at all, no matter how hard you search, is:

    • Roebuck Wealth – run by Paul Clarke

    Plus one which only comes up if you know what to search for:

    • Callaghan Financial Services

    And, of course, the two which have closed down:

    • Continental Wealth Trust – aka Continental Wealth Management
    • Premier Pension Solutions

    So let’s take a look at some of these firms to see what we can learn from their websites and see if there are any warning signs for potential victims:

    Blacktower Wealth Management – Always look at the bottom of a firm’s website to read the small print and see how the firm is licensed. Blacktower is licensed by the Gibraltar Financial services Commission for both insurance mediation and investment advice. Why Gibraltar? Why not Spain? Gibraltar has a long history of facilitating and licensing scams and scammers and the Commission even employs one itself. The website claims to have “Consultants throughout our offices in Europe” – and this worries me. What is a “consultant”? Why not talk about advice, not consultancy?

    Looking at the directors and “international financial advisers” of the firm, there are quite a few. Associate Director Tim Govaerts claims to be qualified with the Chartered Institute of Insurers up to Level 3. But the CII register says they’ve never heard of him. Richard Mills claims to be qualified with both the CII and the CISI, but both registers say they’ve never heard of him. Quentin Sellar claims to be qualified with both the CII and the CISI, but only the latter has heard of him. Clifford Knezovich also claims to be qualified with the CISI but does not appear on the register. Lucia Melgarejo is another member of the team who also claims to be qualified. I met her a few years ago, when a colleague of hers had cold called me, and she told me that she was too busy selling to get qualified.

    The member of the Blacktower team which worries me the most is Terry Tunmore – as he was one of the scammers at Stephen Ward’s Premier Pension Solutions. Tunmore certainly soils the reputation of this firm, and should not be employed by any firm holding itself out to be professional and to have integrity.

    Under the Licensing section of the website, the firm is immediately getting potential clients warmed up to insurance bonds and “wrappers” – and states that it has permission to recommend them and provide investment advice on the underlying portfolios. This should worry any potential client – and ring loud alarm bells – as this indicates a clear intention to use bond providers such as Quilter, SEB, Generali or RL360 – and earn hidden commissions. These products are deemed to be invalid under Spanish law, and are routinely sold illegally in Spain.

    Blacktower’s website makes no mention (that I can find) of compliance or their professional indemnity insurance policy. It also worries me that Blacktower has so many “agents” – and without hard evidence of a robust compliance function, I think there is a risk that some of these agents could well be acting as unsupervised “feral” salesmen, rather than bona fide financial advisers.

    Blevins Franks – Well-known firm with offices in Spain, and other European countries. The team in Spain all have titles such as Partner, Private Client Manager or Regional Manager – and there is no mention of any of them being genuine financial advisers. In Spain, Partners Christopher McCann, Brett Hanson, Paul Montague, Andrew Southgate, Henry Rutherford and David Bowern all claim to be qualified with the London Institute of Banking & Finance, but none of them appears on the member register. Steven Langford claims to be CII qualified but does not appear on the register. With so many members of the team claiming – falsely – to be qualified, this should ring loud alarm bells with any potential victims. We know that Blevins Franks routinely puts all clients into a Lombard insurance bond – which means they are committing a criminal offence in Spain.

    Insurance bonds are illegal and invalid for the purpose of holding investments in Spain, and the usual manner of selling them is also a criminal offence. An insurance bond provides no benefits or protection for investors – and should never ever be used inside a pension (QROPS). Blevins Franks also has a close tie with Russell funds – and routinely invests their clients’ funds in Russell. There’s nothing bad about Russell – but there’s nothing good about them either. A portfolio should always be a well-spread mixture of funds from the whole market – not a narrow selection of investments from one provider. I can’t see any information on the Blevins Franks website about their professional indemnity insurance, compliance or commission policy. All in all, I think there are too many risks with this firm and it should be avoided.

    Finance Spain – Patrick Macdonald – This firm comes high up the Google rankings, so obviously spends a lot of money on SEO and/or Google Ads. The “Regulation” bit on the website states the firm is “part of a group who are regulated by the Financial Services Commission in Gibraltar”. But which “group” is it talking about? There’s a link to the GFSC website, but no evidence as to how the firm is licensed. The website also claims to consist of “qualified and regulated international wealth managers and members of the Chartered Institute for securities and Investment (CISI) in the UK”. But who are these so-called wealth managers? The only one named on the website is Patrick Macdonald – and the CISI register shows him as being employed by Blacktower. But the firm Finance Spain does not appear on the GFSC register as being one of Blacktower’s agents – so how is this firm licensed?

    What worries me most about this website is that it is openly flogging insurance bonds. It promotes “Spanish Portfolio Bonds” – which are routinely sold illegally by the scammers. It claims these bonds are a “tax beneficial home for investments”. But that isn’t true in Spain, as the so-called tax benefits only work for UK residents. In the “Wealth” section of the website, you are met with a brazen offer of insurance bonds from Prudential, Old Mutual and SEB. The section on pension transfers is also very worrying as it gives misleading comparisons between UK pension providers and EU-based QROPS providers; it fails to provide warnings against transferring final salary pensions and – worst of all – states “There is greater investment choice”. This so-called choice is what so many scammers in Spain (in the past ten years) have used to destroy victims’ pensions with high-risk, high-commission, unregulated investments such as structured notes.

    Ironically, the Finance Spain website has a section called “Top 5 Warnings” about pension scams. It recognises that the industry is rife with scammers and warns about cold calling, cashing in pensions, pension reviews and the promise of high returns. But it ignores the fact that Finance Spain is itself heavily promoting insurance bonds – which have been the biggest single cause of pension scams in Spain in the past decade. With no clear information about licensing, compliance, insurance or commission policy – and no idea who the firm is or by whom it is managed – I think it is safe to say this is one to avoid.

    Spectrum IFA – Oh dear, where to begin! There are so many alarm bells here, it’s like being inside a busy fire station. No investment license, but openly giving investment advice, and flogging insurance bonds: “efficient investing (using Insurance wrappers”. And that’s just the home page. The website openly boasts: “Our internationally qualified, professional advisers make certain you receive the best possible advice for the following areas:  Investment Advice in Spain – Pension planning in Spain. That’s a bold claim to make for a firm with no investment license.

    The website goes on to boast: “All our advisers live in Spain, are experienced and qualified.” But who are they? What are their qualifications? One “financial adviser” is Dennis Radford who claims to be qualified with the CISI – but does not appear on the register. Aside from lying about his qualifications, he is one of the former Continental Wealth Management scammers responsible for defrauding many victims out of their pensions and life savings. I have brought this to Spectrum’s attention before, but they obviously don’t care – as Radford brings in a lot of business and commission (on illegally-sold insurance bonds and high-risk, inappropriate investments).

    There is one adviser who is qualified with the CII – John Hayward. I believe he is a decent bloke – so what on earth he is doing with Spectrum is beyond me. Spain may be full of inadequately licensed firms which do nothing but flog insurance bonds to victims who don’t need them and can’t afford them, but there are some (admittedly not many) decent firms he could join.

    Abbey Wealth – This firm has been around a long time – flogging insurance bonds to unsuspecting victims. The firm was an agent of well-known scammers Inter Alliance – the “network” of which Continental Wealth Management was also a member. Abbey Wealth is now licensed by the Central Bank of Ireland. If you’ve ever wondered why so many firms like Ireland, it’s because regulation there is as flaccid as a marshmallow. Another reason why Quilter International is so active there with its insurance bonds – so beloved of so many pension scammers. Abbey boasts a flock of “advisers” who claim to be passionate about financial services – including Ben Noifield who states he is CII qualified (the CII register says otherwise). The rest of the sorry team are an assortment of unqualified salesmen masquerading as advisers.

    No mention of professional indemnity insurance, and no reference to their murky past as part of the Inter Alliance shambles.

    Alexander Peter – No information about if or how the firm is licensed; who the advisers are and whether they are qualified; who is in charge, what professional indemnity insurance they hold.

    Harrison Brook – This firm claims to be a member of the Nexus Global network. But there is no access to the agency agreement and no link to any professional indemnity insurance details or information about who is in charge and who the “advisers” are (and whether any of them are qualified). The question also has to be asked: why don’t firms get their own license rather than joining a network? Ding dong!

    Seagate Wealth – No information about how (or if) this firm is licensed. It states on the website: “We work in conjunction with fully regulated and authorised companies”. So presumably that’s an admittance that they are not regulated or authorised. There’s no information about who controls and is responsible for the firm, and nothing to state how any of the team members are qualified. Perhaps one of the biggest alarm bells about this lot is that they are mostly ex AES International and stole the Spanish client book back in 2015.

  • Manita Khuller Award – Justice Against All Odds

    Manita Khuller Award – Justice Against All Odds

    Brave pension scam Manita Khuller took on rogue QROPS trustee FNB and won. Also a Quilter International victim, and scammed by unlicensed Eric Jordan and Colin Bloodworth of Professional Portfolio International, this brave and determined woman took her case to court in Guernsey and won.

    The recent awards given to Quilter Cheviot and Quilter International by International Adviser (sponsored by Quilter) must have sickened and disgusted many Quilter (OMI/Skandia) victims. Editor Kirsten Hastings’ saccharine and gushing words of praise will have been seen as offensive in the extreme by the thousands of victims who have lost their pensions and life savings in Quilter International death bonds.

    While there were, indeed, some very decent firms given well-deserved awards for excellent service and innovation, the prizes handed out to the sponsors of the event were just plain wrong. International Adviser Editor Kirsten Hastings should hang her head in profound shame. She knows full well how many people have been ruined by Quilter. She knows Quilter’s victims are dying – and some have died. She is fully aware that many more are contemplating suicide and that most are facing a bleak Christmas and poverty for the rest of their lives. And yet she can still publicly praise a company which she is fully aware has facilitated investment fraud on a massive scale; congratulate them warmly, and smile broadly while cocking a coquettish nod at the distraught victims as she played canned applause.

    I’m going to add an award which was conspicuous by its absence; an award for a brave and determined woman who stood up in the flaccid jurisdiction of Guernsey to a negligent pension trustee: FNB International. Home to many scams and scammers, Guernsey had for many years hosted pension scams – until eventually de-listed by HMRC. A well-known tax haven, Guernsey does have an ombudsman for financial services (albeit a weak and ineffective one) – but he refuses to hear any complaints about matters relating to the height of Guernsey’s disgraceful past.

    The heroine so who richly deserves a medal is Manita Khuller – victim of Quilter International, FNB International Trustees and Professional Portfolio International. Between them, these three negligent and culpable parties conspired to cause the destruction of her two final salary pensions worth £330,000 ($430,921/€386,574). The Guernsey Court denied Ms Khuller’s original claim for restitution – and, at first, all seemed lost and it looked like the scammers were going to get away with it. But, unprepared to go down without a fight, Khuller sought an appeal based on the gross negligence of the unregulated adviser – Professional Portfolio International, which FNB had used while she was living in Thailand.

    Roger Berry of Concept Trustees in Guernsey, commented on this: “The trustee sought to show that they could rely on the delegation to the adviser/manager to remove or qualify its duties as trustee and in any event, to be liable, the trustees had to be shown to have acted with gross negligence.”

    Mr. Berry spoke from significant first-hand experience – as he himself had been accepting investment instructions from AES International’s Stephen Ward (of Premier Pension Solutions in Spain) in the high-risk and toxic EEA Life Settlements fund as far back as 2010.  So, he knows all about the catastrophic consequences of accepting business from known serial scammers into obviously unsuitable investments. Berry is also familiar with the art of gross and grotesque negligence.

    Rather more eloquently, Henry Tapper covered the subject and asked some very pertinent questions about the Manita Khuller case:

    1. How she lost two guaranteed DB pensions with strong employer covenants
    2. Why PPI continues to operate throughout Asia under MD Eric Jordan
    3. Why Old Mutual and Skandia (now Quilter International) have yet again been found wrapping dodgy investments
    4. How a South African and now UK bank is owning  a Guernsey Trust in the first place
    5. What Geoff Gavey, Alan Glen and co were doing at FNB international to claim “trusteeship”.

    Perhaps, in years to come, people in the financial industry will discuss in hushed tones the epic and cautionary tale of Manita vs. Quilter.

    But What has Quilter got to do with a Guernsey-based pension trustee who accepted unregulated investment advice into toxic, high-risk, unregulated funds – LM and Mansion Student Accommodation?”

    The answer is, of course, EVERYTHING. A Quilter insurance bond should never have been used in a QROPS at all in the first place – and was only there in order to provide scammers posing as independent financial advisers with hefty, undisclosed commissions.

    This case was about FNB International, the guilty QROPS trustee who facilitated this scam. But, of course, this firm did not act alone. As in all the thousands of similar cases, the main protagonists started with the rogue advisory firm and ended with the rogue life (or, rather, death) office – in this case Quilter International. But similar cases involving this type of pension investment fraud involve SEB, Generali, FPI and RL360.

    Manita Khuller was advised to transfer her defined-benefit pensions by Professional Portfolio International, an unlicensed advisory firm based in Bangkok – where she was living at the time – into the Plaiderie QROPS. Of course, the reality was that her pensions should never have been transferred at all and would have been much better left where they were – safe in the hands of professionals and far away from the grubby paws of unlicensed scammers posing as financial advisers.

    Then, going down the well-trodden path of traditional pension and investment scams, PPI put their victim’s fund into a death bond for their undisclosed 7% or 8% commission, and then invested it entirely in high-risk, toxic, unregulated funds for further huge, undisclosed commissions. None of these three phases of the scam should ever happened: not the transfer out of her final salary pension scheme; not the purchase of the unnecessary, inflexible and expensive death bond; not the risky, inappropriate investments. But Quilter International facilitated it all – rewarding the scammers at PPI handsomely (as they do with so many unregulated scammers across the globe).

    Professional Portfolio International – run by Eric Jordan and Colin Bloodworth – claim, on their website, to: “strive to help each client grow, protect and enjoy their wealth”. But this, of course, is completely untrue. If they had their clients’ interests at heart, they wouldn’t have put Manita Khuller into a Quilter International bond in the first place; and they wouldn’t have invested her precious pension in high risk toxic crap in the second place. Their only motivation was, of course, their own fat commissions.

    Jordan and Bloodworth claim to have a “very knowledgeable and suitably qualified team of experienced advisers”. But this is clearly untrue – as any qualified adviser would know that an insurance bond serves no purpose inside a pension wrapper and wouldn’t be seen dead advising a valued client to invest in worthless rubbish such as LM and Mansion.

    Jordan and Bloodworth’s website goes on to boast that “PPI is able to deliver the highest level of progressive financial planning and wealth management services”. And yet, it is clear this is not only a black lie, but that “planning and service” are the furthest things from their minds. The only things they care about, obviously, are fat commissions and conning victims like Manita Khuller out of their pensions and life savings.

    So, Manita Khuller was failed and scammed by three parties:

    • Rogue advisory firm Professional Portfolio International in Bangkok – run by Eric Jordan in Thailand and Colin Bloodworth in Indonesia
    • Rogue QROPS trustee FNB International in Guernsey
    • Rogue death office Quilter International (previously Old Mutual International/Royal Skandia)

    Manita Khuller – like thousands of other victims of Quilter International, QROPS trustees and unlicensed advisers – was a low-risk, retail investor – as is anyone investing a pension fund. But more than half of her pension – around £170,000 – was put into LM Managed Performance Fund, run by Australian-based LM Investment Management. This company is now in administration. Another big chunk was put into the Mansion Student Accommodation Fund which is now in liquidation.

    The risk-laden, unregulated LM Managed Performance Fund invested in residential properties on the Gold Coast, with some IFAs outside of the company issuing warnings about its health as early as 2011 (it collapsed in 2013); affecting the finances of some four and a half thousand investors.

    When she learned of the failure of LM, Manita began to look into her other holdings, discovering her pension pot of over £300k had been split into three different high-risk, unregulated funds designed for professional, experienced investors with a large supply of money they could afford to lose and an appetite for risk to match.

    Almost a third of her money had been invested in the Mansion Student Accommodation fund, and due to the fund’s liquidation her money had been frozen without her being able to access it at all. Speaking to This is Money, Manita commented:

    “No one with a moderate or low tolerance to investment risk should have had their money put into such funds.“

    And that, in a nutshell, is the crux of the situation. Quilter are far too willing to give terms of business to unlicensed scammers – with no relevant qualifications or regulations in place to ensure their professional obligations are not compromised by greed, lies and disloyalty. Quilter have been doing this for years now – and have made a fortune out of the sales of their expensive, unnecessary death bonds. They have perpetuated the myth for years that firms with only an insurance license (or even no license at all) can “advise” on investments as long as they flog their victims a death bond and then “pick” from the toxic investments on the death bond provider’s platform – obviously always choosing the investments that pay them the highest commissions (like LM and Mansion).

    So here is the award that Kirsten Hastings of International Adviser should have given:

    INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGER OF PENSION SCAMS

    (especially those facilitated by Quilter International)

    RELATED ARTICLES

  • Spanish litigation: Quilter Ireland, SEB and Generali

    Spanish litigation: Quilter Ireland, SEB and Generali

    Life offices who caused the death of victims and their life savings/pensions, will now face proceedings in the Spanish civil courts. Pension Life’s proceedings against the defendants are due to be launched before Christmas 2020. The defendants will be Quilter International (Ireland), SEB and Generali (which has changed its name to Utmost Wealth).

    In the past ten years or so, the life offices – Quilter, SEB and Generali (shamefully promoted by International Adviser) – have freely given terms of business to unlicensed, unqualified, unscupulous “chiringuitos financieros”. These scammers – some with no license at all, and some with only a restricted insurance license – have put thousands of victims into pointless, expensive insurance bonds. The scammers’ sole motivation for the use of these insurance products is the commission paid by the providers: somewhere between 5% and 8% (depending on the term of the bond).

    A bond is merely a “wrapper” (or container) and serves no purpose – other than a purported possible tax “efficiency” loophole. However, the so-called tax advantages are dubious at best outside the UK – and non-existent within a pension. In reality, any tax saved would be far outweighed by the high cost of the insurance bond.

    The real problem with these insurance bonds has been the high-risk investments offered by the bond providers on their “platforms”. Many of the investments are highly toxic, only suitable for professional or sophisticated (or reckless) investors, and are chosen purely for the commissions they pay to the scammers.

    Chiringuitos – such as the notorious Spanish firm Continental Wealth Management (which collapsed in 2017) – love insurance bonds; esoteric, unregulated investment funds; and structured notes. This passion comes not from any benefit provided to the victims, but from the huge commissions they (the scammers) can earn if their high-pressure sales techniques are effective.

    One group of scammers – including Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions, Paul Clarke of AES International (now Roebuck Wealth), Darren Kirby and Jody Bell/Smart/Kirby/Pearson of Continental Wealth Management – is currently facing fraud charges in the Denia criminal court.

    The fraud behind the insurance bond scams is, of course, facilitated and encouraged by the insurance companies themselves. One group of victims – who have lost hundreds of millions in risky, unsuitable investments such as LM, Axiom and Premier New Earth – has already issued proceedings in the Isle of Man civil court. Pension Life is preparing to issue another for the losses caused by other toxic funds and structured notes – also in the Isle of Man civil court.

    Many of the culpable life offices base themselves on the tiny, dreary Isle of Man. It is a well-known tax haven for companies and individuals who are not prepared to pay their fair share of tax – and it also routinely harbours scams and scammers (due to limp regulation and ineffective governance). The failures of the IoM’s legal system – as part neither of the UK nor Europe – are well known and heavily exploited by institutions with nefarious intentions. Known, serial scammers such as Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh of Blackmore Group based their Blackmore Bond (promoted by Surge Group – which also promoted the collapsed London Capital & Finance “mini bond”) and their Blackmore Global fund there.

    And – of course – Quilter, Friends Provident International and RL360 are all based on the Isle of Man (referred to by many as the “Isle of Scam”).

    In Spain, virtually every insurance bond ever provided has been sold to the victims illegally (in contravention of the Spanish insurance regulations). Few victims are ever made aware of the serious drawbacks of these products:

    • inflexibility of the fixed terms of up to ten years
    • annual fees are based on the original premium (amount invested) – which means that when investment losses occur, the fees have an ever-increasing damaging effect on the remaining funds
    • bond providers will accept investment instructions from unqualified, unlicensed, known scammers
    • obviously low-risk, retail investors (such as those in a pension) will be invested in high-risk funds
    • when losses start to appear, the bond providers do nothing to challenge the reckless, irresponsible conduct of the scammers with whom they have terms of business
    • some victims, whose entire portfolio has been wiped out by the investment fraud facilitated by the bond providers, continue to be charged annual bond fees
    • victims’ signatures on investment dealing instructions are frequently forged or copied

    The Isle of Scam courts will be watched with intense interest by thousands of Quilter, FPI and RL360 victims (whose life savings have been wiped out) over the coming year. But, meanwhile, the Spanish courts will get to hear the cases against providers based in Ireland. All victims of Continental Wealth Management have been asked to obtain their documents for the litigation from Trafalgar International. Any who have not received an email from Pension Life can contact Trafalgar’s Tony Barnett direct on:

    information@trafalgar-gmbh.com

     

    The letter of authority which needs to be sent to Mr. Barnett in order to participate in the Spanish civil proceedings against Quilter International, SEB and Generali (Utmost Wealth) is as follows (victims can copy and paste this text into a document if necessary):

    URGENT Letter of authority to Antony Barnett of Trafalgar International GmbH

    Mainzer Landstrasse 49, 60329 Frankfurt am Main Germany

    Dear Mr. Barnett

    Letter of Authority to provide documents relating to pension, insurance bond and investments/losses

    Please accept this as my letter of authority for you to discuss, communicate and deal with Angela Brooks of Pension Life who is acting as my Representative on the subject of my affairs in respect of my pension,  investments and losses arising as a result of Continental Wealth Management S.L./Continental Wealth Trust S.L.

    Name: …………………………………………………………………………Signature: …………………………………………………………

    Address: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

    ……………………………………………………………………………………Passport Number: ……………………………………………..

    Please provide the below copy documentation/information to Angela Brooks by return.  These documents are required immediately for litigation in the Spanish Civil Court due to be issued next month.  I intend to be a claimant in these proceedings against the life offices Quilter International Ireland, SEB and Generali (Utmost).

    1. Pension transfer advice (Premier Pension Solutions or Global Financial Options)
    2. Client contract, agreement and confirmation with CWM and Inter Alliance (For when CWM was with Inter Alliance)
    3. Client contract, agreement and confirmation with CWM and Trafalgar (For when CWM was with Trafalgar International)
    4. Fact find and risk profile
    5. Insurance bond fees schedule
    6. Insurance bond advisor transfer letter (from Inter Alliance to Trafalgar)
    7. Insurance bond application
    8. Insurance policy document
    9. Latest valuation statement
    10. Latest full transaction history from inception to date (or point of redemption)
    11. Latest estimated bond surrender value
    12. Copies of all investment dealing instructions since inception
    13. Closing insurance bond statement (where bond has been surrendered)
    14. Closing pension statement showing all charges and amount remitted (where pension has been redeemed)
    15. Confirmation and full details as to how CWM’s insurance mediation/investment advice was licensed
    16. Details of all fees and commissions charged by CWM, Inter Alliance, Globalnet and Trafalgar
    17. Any correspondence relating to queries or complaints
    18. Trafalgar’s professional indemnity insurance policy and schedule
    19. In the case of a Quilter bond, confirmation as to whether it is Isle of Man or Ireland

  • Quilter: Critical or Hypocritical?

    Quilter: Critical or Hypocritical?

    • Fraud Alert
    • Quilter Logo

    Recent data obtained by Quilter (formerly Old Mutual International and Royal Skandia) under a freedom of information request has further highlighted the issue of financial education, or rather the lack of it, with many casualties of fraud ‘unaware they may have fallen victim‘ to such a scheme.

    Quilter plc (the well-known asset/wealth management company, “life office”, and old friends of ours) has recently acquired figures clearly showing an absence of any kind of appropriate action from the ironically-named Action Fraud organisation. This data demonstrates that despite 400 pension fraud reports having been submitted to the inept crime-reporting centre in 2019 alone, as few as 26 of these cases were passed on to the police to investigate – representing just 6.6% of the total cases they handled.

    YearPension fraud reports received by Action FraudPension fraud reports reviewed by NFIBPension fraud reports disseminated to the police and other agencies
    20151353208208
    20165479797
    20174096262
    20183464638
    20193944626
    Up to July 2020161*N/K** 24*
    Christopher Copper-Ind @intlinvestment
    14 September 2020

    *Figures omit February 2020 bulk upload of retrospective reports to avoid misrepresenting case volumes in 2020.

    ** Figure not disclosed in the FOI response

    These same figures show that this year (as of July 2020), of the 161 pension fraud reports that were received by Action Fraud, only 24 have been disseminated to the relevant police force for investigation after the information was reviewed by NFIB (the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau). While this may represent a slight statistical improvement on previous years, this is neither good enough nor in any way acceptable – both for the victims of financial fraud, and the honest, decent, hardworking IFA’s out there who have seen the reputation of their profession suffer greatly at the hands of fraudsters and scammers alike.

    The time has come to call out the thieves in their midst!

    Scams, and the lack of an active regulator in place to ensure their non-proliferation, undermine the reputation of the industry itself – and of any decent advisers out there.

    The supposed altruism behind the actions of Quilter, who have seen the story of their plucky attempt at standing up for the little guy circulated by almost every major financial publication available in the UK, and by a fair few online and overseas English-language webpages/articles besides, is questionable at the very best – and a downright attempt at pulling the famous ‘Kansas City Shuffle‘ (when everybody looks right, you go left) at worst. I would like to use this opportunity to call “bull-“, as I believe I have heard my American friends say when faced with a claim that is clearly one of the more than 50 shades of bovine excrement currently available from all major stockers of the substance.

    Quilter has, in the past ten years, facilitated hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of pension scams with their “fertilizer”-based products.

    Previously operating under the name Old Mutual International, OMI or Old Mutual for short, Quilter has helped the serial scammers behind all kinds of financial skullduggery get away with murder (or should I say fraud, to be more specific) under the – cough – “watchful” gaze of their CEO Paul Feeney, and Peter Kenny (another old friend of this publication).

    It seems that almost every shady offshore firm has been taking advantage of Quilter and other life offices just like them being asleep at the wheel, with hordes of unlicensed investment firms popping up with increasing frequency and success in virtually every expat jurisdiction (especially Spain: e.g. Darren Kirby and Jody Smart at Continental Wealth Management).

    Quilter are (at least partially) to blame. The well-known asset management company’s lack of responsibility when it comes to selling inappropriate products to any suitor who comes a-calling is – at this point – bordering on criminal negligence. (And that’s if you remove the border…)

    Quilter are fully aware that the statistics they’ve obtained (£30,857,329 lost to UK pension scams since 2017) are downright misleading. They fall woefully short of demonstrating even the losses incurred by their own (Quilter’s) facilitation of financial crime in recent years generally – and the last three years particularly.

    ‘Tip of the Iceberg‘ indeed! Even the Titanic was given some sign of the peril hidden in the depths of the Atlantic as it hurtled to its certain and untimely demise!

    Yet when it comes to financial fraud and investment scams (particularly those that involve unsuspecting clients’ pension pots), there is almost no pre-emptive warning given to the public, except for massively underestimated figures produced by the very people who have been clearing the way for the scammers from day one. And by that, I do – of course – mean the life offices (like Quilter/OMI) themselves.

    I would like to take this opportunity to quote Jon Greer, who is the Head of Retirement Policy at Quilter. Mr Greer said: “We are entering a period of considerable economic uncertainty, and one in which generating a decent return on your investments will be extremely challenging. This is the ideal environment for scammers to thrive and it is no surprise to see huge amounts of money still being lost each year at the hands of criminals.

    The fact that it is so hard to investigate and prosecute pension scams is effectively handing pension scammers a get out of jail free card. If you are mugged, it’s highly likely that the police will investigate, but lose your life savings to a pension scammer and your odds don’t look good.

    – Jon Greer, Head of Retirement Policy @ Quilter

    “Pension scams and other investment frauds are extremely complex, they can span multiple jurisdictions, and can often go uncovered for years before the victim realises their money is gone. This all makes investigating the scams incredibly time-consuming and expensive, which is why the police have to prioritise those few cases where they have a chance of success.

    “The government have taken action on unsolicited pension calls with the ban on cold calling, but scammers are sidestepping the legislation and moving online. Movement on the regulation of search engines and social media platforms has been painfully slow and the regulation has failed to keep up with the evolution of scammers.

    “The government has a perfect opportunity to bring the regulation into the 21st century by including financial harms within scope of the forthcoming Online Harms Bill. This will mean that, for the first time, search engines and social media platforms will be bound by a statutory duty of care to tackle harm caused as a result of content or activity on their services.”

    “In doing so, search engines and social media providers will be legally required to remove suspected scammers immediately on notification, and not allow them to operate in the first place, or face sanctions from the new regulator,” he said.

    As you can see Mr. Greer, and by association Quilter, talk a good fight and hit on almost every relevant point a consumer would want to hear from a company of their standing and stature within the financial industry; projecting themselves as a shining light – pouring their beacon out over the surrounding landscape and frightening any existing/would-be scammers out from their hiding places, while at the same time calling on the government for harsher penalties and swifter action to be taken (measures which Quilter themselves, and companies just like them, have blocked on numerous occasions).

    And all this “bright light-shining” has served its purpose: leaving regulators, government and public alike too dazzled to notice the wrongdoing going on behind the source of the so-called light and within Quilter‘s very own doorstep!”

    The narrative that Quilter/Old Mutual/OMI would have you believe is a ridiculous one, one of the main reasons I have written this piece is to challenge that narrative; and hopefully make you (the reader) think about a company that damns financial fraudsters and scammers alike with one hand, while secretly feeding them with the other.

    The grim reality is substantially different from the one that Quilter aim to project for themselves. That being said, it makes my reply to J. Greer’s well put comments even easier:

    “Actions speak louder than words, and all we’re hearing is a deafening silence. If you truly believe the message your company has spent tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pounds to tell us – by buying article space from any major financial publication that would have you, and getting them to run the story you wanted to put out there.

    It’s time to put your money where your mouth is, quite literally; and begin funding the financial education sorely needed in schools and workplaces throughout the country that will serve to prevent the kind of investment-based crime you claim to stand against!

    “Oh and maybe, just maybe, improve upon your company’s policies so that you do not sell the very products that facilitate thieves who have stolen hundreds of millions of pounds by misselling those same products in just the last few years, whilst simultaneously trying to absolve yourselves of any blame.

    “To put it simply: don’t take your definition of “action” from Action Fraud…”

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  • International Adviser Awards

    International Adviser Awards

    International Adviser Awards create buzz around Quilter’s, FPI’s and RL360’s facilitation of investment fraud and scams.

    I am deeply flattered that International Adviser has invited me to enter for this year’s “Best Practice Adviser Awards”.  The invitation was sitting – sparkling like a princess – in my inbox this morning.  So, how could I refuse?

    Pension Life is not, of course, an advisory firm.  But I am sure International Adviser can think of a separate category for a firm which works towards bringing rogue “advisers” (in reality commission-hungry salesmen) and death bond providers to justice for the many scams they carry out and facilitate.

    International Adviser’s awards are, apparently, “designed to recognise financial advisers within the industry that are beacons of excellence in promoting best practice”. 

    No doubt this also means acknowledging those which are beacons of fraud.  Until the “chiringuitos” of the financial services world are shut down and jailed, best practice will always be held back.

    Spain certainly leads the field internationally (which isn’t exactly difficult) when it comes to warning about the very types of scammers which have traditionally had terms of business with Quilter, FPI, RL360, SEB and Generali: the “death bond salesmen” who have destroyed millions of pounds’ worth of pensions and life savings.

    International Adviser gives four reasons for entering the Best Practice Adviser Awards 2020 competition:

    1. Highlight the success of teams within your business
    2. Promote the key strengths that set your firm apart from the rest
    3. Gain recognition within your industry for excellence in best practice
    4. Use the winner’s logo

    As International Adviser informs me that the total value of this “amazing” package is over £10k, I thought I would give it a go – what have I got to lose?!  Here are my responses to the above four points:

    1. The teams within my business have got eight scammers in court on criminal charges of fraud and forgery. These scammers were illegally selling Quilter (OMI/Skandia) insurance bonds – as well as SEB and Generali.  Plus we’ve got nearly thirty more lined up ready for the criminal and civil courts in multiple jurisdictions in Europe and the UK.  All these scammers were putting cautious investors into high-risk, toxic investments offered by the insurance companies.
    2. Promoting strengths that set Pension Life apart from “the rest” is slightly tricky because the only other firm that I know of which does anything similar is Niall Coburn’s firm – Coburn Corporate Intelligence.  As published by International Adviser on 2.6.2020, Coburn is using Daniel Spendlove of law firm Signature Litigation to sue Quilter (aka Skandia, OMI, TitsRUs) and FPI (now owned by RL360) for millions of pounds’ worth of investment losses caused to thousands of investors.
    3. Gaining recognition for excellence will, of course, be very welcome – especially when a bunch of chiringuitos and overpaid executives at the death offices are behind bars.
    4. I’m already experimenting with how my letterhead will look with the winner’s logo on it.  I think the 30-second video will definitely feature Peter Kenny and David Kneesup in orange suits, and the daily bulletins will advertise the banning of commission-laden insurance bonds.

    I assume my only competition will be the surfing, polo-playing Coburn who describes himself as “being committed to lending his critical thinking and expertise to complex regulatory, compliance and due diligence matters”.

    Coburn advertises himself as being B.A. LL.B, LL.M, Dip. Bus. Admin. I assume part of the above means he can swim and drive a bus. No doubt Signature Litigation find those qualities helpful.

    Even if I don’t win International Adviser’s prestigious award, I am hoping my entry will foster a warm and fuzzy friendship with International Adviser Editor Kirsten Hastings. Ideally, she and I can sit together at the trial of Quilter International/FPI/RL360. We can talk girlie stuff and I can teach her how to write shorthand during the boring bits.

    Not entirely sure where the trial will be held, but it had better be a venue as big as Wembley Stadium to accommodate the inevitable large crowd which will want to attend. This will include thousands of victims of Quilter International, FPI International and RL360. Many of these victims have lost their life savings, so they will no doubt want to be present to see the likes of Peter Kenny, Steve Braudo, Paul Feeney, Steve Weston and David Kneesup brought to justice.

    I predict that the death offices will try to hang the chiringuitos out to dry and blame the failed investments on their “inappropriate advice”. This is another reason why the courtroom will need to be big enough to accommodate a huge number of people: scammers from across the globe will need to be wheeled in to testify. The death offices will claim that all they did was make the bombs; it was the scammers who hurled them into the crowds of victims.

    The court may want to ask the death offices why on earth they gave terms of business to so many unqualified, unlicensed spivs.

    Any sober judge will struggle to understand why Quilter, FPI and RL360 accepted so many dealing instructions from barely literate con men (and women) – including a convicted murderer, several psychopaths, a long line of coke-snorting confidence tricksters/forgers, an alcoholic bar manager, several well-known serial scammers (including Stephen Ward) and a prostitute.

    Even if Pension Life doesn’t win the coveted International Adviser award, I guess we’re likely to come second in our category. I wonder what the prize will be – lunch with Peter Kenny perhaps?

  • The Sound of Silence (and Deafening Disgrace)

    The Sound of Silence (and Deafening Disgrace)

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

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

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

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

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

    CWM scammer Neil Hathaway caught stealing copies of The Oliver Press which exposed him as facing fraud charges.

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

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

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

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

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

    Jody Smart (aka Jody Bell and Jody Kirby) showing off her talents and assets.

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

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

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

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

    All these firms, and their so-called “advisers” (in reality just poorly-qualified salesmen) have several things in common:

    • They all recommend pension transfers even if it is in the client’s interests to leave the pension where it is (in the UK)
    • They all lie about the merits and advantages of QROPS
    • They have all decided – before they know the first thing about the client – that he is going to be put into an insurance bond
    • They all seek out investments which pay the highest (hidden) commissions – irrespective of whether these funds are any good (which they usually aren’t)
    • They rarely have any relevant financial services qualifications
    • Their firms are frequently unlicensed for insurance mediation or investment advice
    • They are all committing a criminal offence every time they sell an insurance bond in Spain (and possibly other jurisdictions)

    A few of the scammers are now facing criminal charges in Spain. Several scammers are under investigation by the Insolvency Service and/or the Serious Fraud Office. A couple of “life” offices are facing civil proceedings in the Isle of Man. A QROPS provider is facing civil proceedings in Gibraltar. Another QROPS provider is facing criminal proceedings in Hong Kong. A fund manager is about to face criminal proceedings in the Isle of Man. The tide is beginning to turn against the global trend of financial crime.

    When all’s said and done:

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

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