Tag: Salmon Enterprises

  • Pension Fraud Tax Epidemic

    Pension Fraud Tax Epidemic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    TIMELINE:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Dear Boris – when you’re PM…

    Dear Boris – when you’re PM…

    Boris Johnson for PM – sorting out pension scams?

    Hey BJ – just a quick note to wish you luck in the PM contest. If you win, please make it your priority to sort out pension fraud.

    Treating head lice – like fighting pension scammers – is a matter of the utmost urgency. Everyone knows that if you don’t kill the lice, they keep breeding and before you know it there’s a serious infestation. Same thing happens with pension scammers.

    The British government must now sort this urgent problem out – scammers must be treated like head lice.

    The problem is that for the past ten years, the British government – as well as HMRC, the Pensions Regulator, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious Fraud Office, the Insolvency Service, the Police, the FCA and Dalriada Trustees – have left pension scammers free to breed. Like head lice.

    Just to remind you Boris, you have pension scam victims in your own constituency and you represent their rights. And every single person in the UK exists to do one thing: RETIRE. So, the pension scammers defraud these people (thousands of them) out of what they have worked hard for all their lives.

    I know you’ve got a lot on your plate, but let me explain to you how pension scams work:

    One appalling example is the Salmon Enterprises case. Two former Inland Revenue officers – Andrew Meeson and Peter Bradley – set up a pension trustee company called Tudor Capital Management and registered a bogus occupational pension scheme called Salmon Enterprises. HMRC and the Pensions Regulator accepted the registration without question.

    In 2010, HMRC, the Pensions Regulator and the Crown Prosecution Service started to investigate Meeson and Bradley for tax fraud and money laundering offences. (After three years of “investigation”, Meeson and Bradley were jailed for eight years apiece).

    But, neither HMRC nor the Pensions Regulator warned the public or the industry. While one hundred victims were scammed out of their pensions, HMRC continued to confirm to ceding providers that Salmon Enterprises was an HMRC-registered pension scheme. And the Pensions Regulator deliberately concealed the fact that the trustees were under criminal investigation for fraud.

    So now HMRC stands to collect £millions in tax from the victims who have lost their pensions.

    At the same time as HMRC and the Pensions Regulator were facilitating the Salmon Enterprises pension scam, they were also facilitating the Ark scam.

    The main promoter of Ark was Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions SL and Premier Pension Transfers Ltd. HMRC met with Stephen Ward in February 2011 – after six months of communicating with him and expressing concern about the reciprocal “loans” he was facilitating. But still neither HMRC nor the Pensions Regulator shut the Ark schemes down. And 486 people got scammed out of their pensions and are now fighting off tax demands by HMRC.

    HMRC and the Pensions Regulator went on to register dozens more bogus occupational pension schemes by Stephen Ward. And so, after Ark, thousands more victims lost their pensions and got huge tax bills from HMRC. Many people reckon – understandably – that HMRC is even worse than the scammers.

    • The Pensions Regulator appointed Dalriada as independent trustee to ARK. But Dalriada said it was “not within their remit” to report Stephen Ward and the rest of the scammers who promoted and ran ARK.
    • The Pensions Regulator appointed Dalriada as independent trustee to CAPITA OAK. But Dalriada said it was “not within their remit” to report Stephen Ward and the rest of the scammers who promoted and ran CAPITA OAK.
    • The Pensions Regulator appointed Dalriada as independent trustee to WESTMINSTER. But Dalriada said it was “not within their remit” to report Stephen Ward and the rest of the scammers who promoted and ran WESTMINSTER .
    • And so it went on and on and on….and the head lice continued to breed. XXXX XXXX entered the arena and after running the Capita Oak scam (300 victims who lost £10 million between them), he went on to run the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund scam along with STM Fidecs – and another 400 victims lost over £20 million worth pension funds.
    • Stephen Ward also went on unchallenged, and scammed more victims out of millions in the London Quantum pension scam. (Also in the hands of Dalriada Trustees).

    So what next BJ? Are you going to make this a priority? You need to get all these scammers put where they belong – behind bars. You need decent regulation and law enforcement to put things right and stop this from happening again. You must make Britain a safe place for decent citizens to work hard and save for a pension without getting defrauded by scammers and losing the lot.

    Most of all, you need a tax amnesty to stop HMRC from destroying the victims of fraud. If you don’t do this, you might as well bring in a law to prosecute victims of rape.

    You also need to understand that pension fraud has moved on. Many of the scammers now use offshore pension schemes to get pensions out of the UK and into high-risk, toxic investments and insurance bonds that pay huge commissions and destroy the pension funds.

    Billions of pounds’ worth of life savings have been lost. Millions of pounds’ worth of tax liabilities have been demanded by HMRC unjustly – from the very victims who are now at their wits’ end through losing their pensions. The honour of Britain as a safe, well-regulated jurisdiction is trashed. The reputation of British financial advisers is compromised. The industry is riddled with non-compliant and fraudulent practices in all British expat countries.

    Boris, you need to promise you will sort this appalling mess out if you become PM.

  • Scammers are criminals. So why aren’t they in jail?

    Scammers are criminals. So why aren’t they in jail?

    Scammers are criminals, so why are they not being prosecuted?As 2018 draws to a close, a recap is in order to review the year’s progress in the war against pension scammers. Let us not forget – in the immortal words of the Pensions Regulator’s Lesley Titcombe: “scammers are criminals“. However, the sad truth is that most of them have not been prosecuted or jailed.

    The vast majority of the well-known pension scammers are still roaming free, busy thinking up yet more life-destroying schemes to make them rich and the victims poor.  Whilst the scammers enjoy champagne this New Year’s Eve, many victims will be worrying themselves sick about their bleak financial future.

    The Pensions Regulator, the Serious Fraud Office, the Insolvency Service, crime enforcement agencies and courts all seem to drag their feet when it comes to actually bringing charges against these criminals. Yet we see people being locked up for renting out caravans to help vulnerable homeless families! I would love it if this was a short and sweet blog, with many happy endings.  But, alas, the scams are plentiful and the victims are left uncompensated for their losses.

    Let’s have a quick round up of where we are with the scams and scammers.  And remember: all the thousands of victims want to see the scammers sent to jail and the keys thrown away so they can’t ruin any more innocent people’s lives.

    5G Futures

    5G Futures: in May 2013 Garry John Williams and Susan Lynn Huxley were suspended as trustees of the 5G Futures pension scheme, and from trust schemes in general. Pi Consulting was appointed as the new trustee by the Pensions Regulator.

    About 400 people had invested a total of £20m into the 5G Futures scheme – which was invested in high-risk, illiquid off-shore investments, with insufficient diversification making them completely unsuitable for pension scheme investments. There was no due diligence exercised by Williams and Huxley – and the scheme records were a mess.

    The scheme operated pension liberation through ‘loans’ to members. Williams and Huxley were found to have taken very high commissions on the investments – taking nearly £900,00 in one year alone.

    One of the most worrying things, however, is that the pension scammers don’t just leave the pensions industry and dedicate themselves to helping their many distressed victims – they start up all over again:

    Garry Williams and Sue Huxley went on to run Corporate Futures.eu

    Neither Garry Williams nor Sue Huxley has ever been convicted or jailed.

    Ark

    Stephen Ward: (this will not be the last time you hear this name in this blog) was the mastermind behind this scam (dating back to 2010).   It was his first known scam – but by no means his last one. What is left of the Ark fund, stands still frozen, in the hands of Dalriada Trustees, who continue to take their yearly costs and fees from what little is left.  Dalriada has done nothing to ensure the scammers are prosecuted – saying it is “not within their remit”. The victims of the Ark scam also have the heavy hand of HMRC hanging over them.  And let us not forget that it was HMRC who happily registered this scam and failed to withdraw the registration when they discovered that Stephen Ward was operating pension liberation fraud.

    Dalriada has never reported Stephen Ward to the police as it is not “within their remit” to ensure the scammers are prosecuted.

    In 2018 we saw Stephen Ward being banned from acting as a pension trustee. Eight years after his first scam, he has still not been imprisoned for the millions of pounds’ worth of life savings he has destroyed and the thousands of lives he has ruined.

    Other prominent figures in the Ark scam were Julian Hanson – who went on to play a key role in the Friendly Pensions scam; George Frost who went on to operate a new pension liberation scam using truffle trees as investments; Andrew Isles who went on to sell his accountancy business, Isles and Storer to LB Group; Peter Moat of Blu Debt Management who went on to operate the Fast Pensions scam.  None of these scammers has ever been convicted or jailed.

    Axiom

    Another pension liberation scam, which saw victims with HMRC tax demands of 55%. Rex Ashcroft of Wealth Protection International was one of the main introducers of this scam. According to his Linkedin profile, he offers business development strategy planning for the UK, Spain, Portugal and France.  He also offers “day-to-day application of wealth protection strategies”.  Ashcroft lied to Axiom victims telling them they could access part of their pensions and not pay tax on the cash they took out.

    Rex Ashcroft has never been convicted or jailed.

     

    Blackmore Global FundPension Life blog - Scammers are criminals, so why are they not being prosecuted? Blackmore Global

    The Blackmore Global Fund saw UK-based victims conned into transferring their pension funds into QROPS in Malta and Hong Kong between 2014 and 2016.  After the transfers, the funds were invested in the Blackmore Global UCIS fund (Unregulated Collective Investment Scheme) and the victims were locked in (unknowingly) for ten years.  Huge commissions were taken by the introducers, Aspinal Chase and David Vilka of Square Mile International and the fund managers Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh.  Victims locked into ten-year fixed terms are still waiting for a copy of an independent audit – which was promised back in 2016! Despite media attention from the BBC, victims still do not know how much of their pension fund – if any – is left.

    David Vilka, Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh have never been convicted or jailed.  Blackmore Global Group is still being promoted by Phillip Nunn!  Nunn and McCreesh had been the main lead generators in the Capita Oak scam – earning nearly £1 million in the process.

    Capita Oak

    This was another of Stephen Ward´s scams – on which he worked closely with his pensions lawyer Alan Fowler (ex Stevens and Bolton Solicitors) and his sidekick Bill Perkins.  Ward carried out the transfer administration for this scam which was mainly operated by XXXX XXXX who offered victims 5% Thurlston “loans”.   Over 300 victims are facing the partial or total loss of their pensions and are also now being pursued by HMRC for tax liabilities on the “loans”.

    Capita Oak – like Ark – was placed in the hands of Dalriada Trustees.  But Dalriada has never reported Stephen Ward – or any of the other scammers – to the police as it is not “within their remit” to ensure the scammers are prosecuted.

    Stephen Ward, Alan Fowler, Bill Perkins and XXXX XXXX have never been convicted or jailed (although XXXX XXXX is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office). 

    Continental Wealth Management

    Pension Life blog - Scammers are criminals, so why are they not being prosecuted? Stephen Ward’s firm Premier Pension Solutions (in Moraira, Spain) was the “sister” firm of Continental Wealth Management, run by scammer Darren Kirby.  This was one of the biggest single scams – known as CWM – with around 1,000 victims losing part or all of their life savings. Other scammers involved were Anthony Downs, Dean Stogsdill, Alan Gorringe, Richard Peasley, and Neil Hathaway.

    This scam was promoted by cold-calling victims and promising unrealistically high returns and “capital protection”.  Darren Kirby and Anthony Downs used the victims’ funds to invest in totally unsuitable, high-risk, fixed-term structured notes.  This scam saw huge commissions paid by the life offices – Old Mutual International, SEB, and Generali – as well as by the structured note providers: Leonteq, Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Canada, and BNP Paribas to this unregulated firm.  Let us not forget that this was without question financial crime and was facilitated by the life offices.

    Old Mutual International, run by ex IoM regulator Peter Kenny, was the leading life office which facilitated the CWM scam.  Generali and SEB also routinely accepted business from these known scammers and unlicensed advisers.

    Stephen Ward, Darren Kirby, Anthony Downs, Dean Stogsdill, Alan Gorringe, Richard Peasley, and Neil Hathaway have never been convicted or jailed.

    ELYSIAN FUELS

    James Hay and Suffolk Life were accepting Elysian shares for liberation purposes

    Another Stephen Ward creation which was operating 80% liberation with the full cooperation of the SIPPS providers James Hay and Suffolk Life.  The SIPPS providers and the victims could face tax charges of up to £20 million from HMRC.

     

     

     

    Despite clear evidence that Stephen Ward pushed this scam in emails to Alan Fowler and Bill Perkins, neither Ward nor Fowler nor Perkins have ever been prosecuted or jailed.

     

    EVERGREEN RETIREMENT TRUST NZ QROPS PENSION LOAN SCAM

    A New Zealand QROPS scam with Marazion pension loans

    When Ark got shut down, Stephen Ward went straight to New Zealand to set up his next pension liberation scam with Simon Swallow of Charter Square.  A further 300 victims were scammed out of over £10 million and conned into Marazion “loans” AND locked into the Evergreen scheme for five years.  After the five years victims were told: ´Despite our best efforts, Evergreen has not been as successful as we had originally hoped.´  Evergreen was wound up April 208.

    This scam was promoted by Darren Kirby’s Continental Wealth Management which cold called the victims.

     

    Stephen Ward, Darren Kirby, and Simon Swallow have never been convicted or jailed.

    Fast Pensions

    Pension Life blog - Scammers are criminals, so why are they not being prosecuted?Fast Pensions, run by Peter and Sara Moat was wound up by the High Court 30th May 2018, after the six companies and 15 occupational schemes were put into liquidation in March 2018. £21m was transferred into the schemes under Peter Moat’s set of Blu loan companies. However, there was no information on the pension portfolios and what happened to the investors’ funds.  Other persons named as being involved in this scam are Miss Jane Wright (who acted as a trustee) and a Mr Chapman. Maladministration was noted by the ombudsman back in 2016.  However, nothing was done to stop the Moats.

    It was determined that there is no doubt this was a scam.

    Peter and Sara Moat and their accomplices have never been convicted or jailed.

    Friendly Pensions Limited (FPL)

    Back in January of 2018, the Pensions Regulator asked the High Court to act on their behalf in the Friendly Pensions matter.  Scammers: David Austin, Susan Dalton, Alan Barratt and Julian Hanson (also involved in ARK) were ordered to pay back £13.7 million they took from their victims and banned from being pension trustees. However, Dalriada the independent trustee appointed by TPR to take over the running of the schemes, is in charge of confiscating the scammers’ assets for the benefit of their victims. (Who knows how long this could take: how long is a piece of string?) As yet, no compensation has been offered to the victims.

    David Austin, Susan Dalton, Alan Barratt and Julian Hanson and their accomplices have never been convicted or jailed.  However, there have recently been some arrests – so let us hope this results in maximum sentences.

    HEADFORTE AND SOUTHLANDS

    Two bogus “occupational pension schemes” set up for pension liberation fraud by Stephen Ward after the Evergreen QROPS scam hit the rocks (when HMRC removed Evergreen from the QROPS list).  Victims have no idea where or how their pensions are invested.  The pensions are allegedly invested in “The Treasury Plus Fund” (whatever that might be – and it is not likely to be anything good) and the trustee is Ward’s bogus trustee firm Dorrixo Alliance.

    Nobody knows the total aggregate value of lost pensions and tax liabilities Ward has caused – we hazard a guess at a figure in the region of £100 million +.

    Stephen Ward has never been convicted or jailed.

    Henley Retirement Benefit Scheme

    Another double act by Stephen Ward and XXXX XXXX.  This was the “sister” scheme to Capita Oak.  Ward did the transfer administration – from safe, well-known and regulated pension providers to this bogus occupational scheme run by XXXX.

    Neither Stephen Ward nor XXXX XXXX  has ever been convicted or jailed.

    Incartus and Bluefin Trustees

    Another pension liberation scam – placed in the hands of Dalriada Trustees by the Pensions Regulator.

    Incartus was placed in the hands of Dalriada Trustees by the Pensions Regulator.  But Dalriada has never reported the scammers to the police as it is not “within their remit” to ensure the scammers are prosecuted.

    None of the Incartus or Bluefin trustees scammers has ever been convicted or jailed.

     

    KJK Investments and G Loans

    £11.9 million worth of transfers were made, with the victims receiving approximately 50% of their pension as a loan and the promise of the rest being invested into a high-interest generating SIPPS. The loans were made from the pensions and therefore the victims have the usual HMRC tax demand letters.  Further to the victims’ misery, the other 50% of the funds was not invested as promised. Most of the funds were swallowed by high commissions paid to the scammers.

    None of the KJK Investments/G Loans scammers has ever been convicted or jailed.

    London Quantum

    Pension Life blog - Scammers are criminals, so why are they not being prosecuted?Another of  Stephen Ward’s many pension scams, this one was courtesy of his bogus pension trustee firm Dorrixo Alliance, his accomplice Gary Barlow at Gerard Associates, and introducers at Viva Costa International. Like Ward´s other scams, London Quantum scam was never set up for the benefit of the victims, but in the interests of Stephen Ward and his team of scammers to earn the maximum amount of commission out of the toxic, illiquid, high-risk investments.

    The London Quantum scam is now in the hands of Dalriada Trustees.

    London Quantum – like Ark, Capita Oak and Fast Pensions – was placed in the hands of Dalriada Trustees by the Pensions Regulator.  But Dalriada has never reported Stephen Ward – or any of the other scammers – to the police as it is not “within their remit” to ensure the scammers are prosecuted.

    Stephen Ward and Gary Barlow have never been convicted or jailed.

    Successful Pensions

    This pension liberation scam dating back to 2013 and 2014, involved around £1m of victims pension funds. Anthony Locke, was sentenced to a five-year jail term and Ray King, 54, who was employed by Lock, was given a three-year jail sentence.

    It is great that these two crooks received jail terms, however, they are relatively “small fry” in comparison to the other serial scammers who are still walking free!  The question remains: why have two minor players such as Locke and King been convicted and jailed while the “big fish” remain free to keep on scamming?

    Salmon Enterprises

    Pension Life Blog - Salmon Enterprises Scheme Pension Scam116 victims were scammed out of their pensions by James Lau of FCA-regulated Wightman Fletcher McCabe.  Victims were assured the loans they were given did not come from their pension funds and would not be taxable by HMRC.  The trustees of the scheme – Peter Bradley and Andrew Meeson (both ex HMRC) of Tudor Capital Management – were jailed for eight years for cheating the Public Revenue.  James Lau is currently under criminal investigation by the Insolvency Service. The victims are awaiting a verdict on whether they will still have to pay the tax penalties.

    James Lau has not yet been convicted or jailed – although he is clearly a wanted man.

    Pension Life blog - Scammers are criminals, so why are they not being prosecuted?Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund

    This fund, created by XXXX XXXX, loaned most of the £21m invested by hundreds of victims to Dolphin Trust. Dolphin Trust is a UCIS which was illegal to be sold to UK residents. The Trafalgar Multi-Asset fund was suspended back in September 2016 and victims are still waiting to find out if they will ever get their money back.

    This scam was facilitated by STM Fidecs in Gibraltar – one of Europe’s biggest QROPS providers.  The regulator did order Deloittes to carry out an inspection into STM Fidecs’ books, but no action was taken against STM Fidecs for their part in this scam.

    STM Fidecs accepted transfers into the QROPS by UK-resident victims “advised” by XXXX XXXX – even though he was not licensed to give financial advice.  And then XXXX’s clients were 100% invested in XXXX’s own fund.

    XXXX XXXX has not yet been convicted or jailed – although he is clearly under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

    Westminster Pension Scam

    Another of the schemes under investigation by the SFO.  This liberation scam with more than £3 million worth of (now worthless) investments was registered and administered by Stephen Ward.

    Windsor Pensions

    A no-frills pension liberation scam run by Florida-based Steve Pimlott.  This scam has been going on for years and there is no sign of any let up – despite the fact that the regulators and ombudsman are well aware of Pimlott’s modus operandi.  Pimlott doesn’t bother with any attempt to conceal the loans with fancy “loans” or complex mechanisms to try to “distance” the liberation from the pension transfer.  He uses QROPS and a fraudulently-set-up bank account in the Isle of Man (of course!).  HMRC catches many of the victims and charges them 55% tax on the liberated amount.  Pimlott charges around 15% for the liberation.

    Steve Pimlott has not yet been convicted or jailed

    What a sorry state of affairs that out of all the pension schemes I have mentioned here, only one of them has seen the scammers jailed. Serial scammers like Stephen Ward and XXXX XXXX seem to slip the noose of justice again and again.

     

     

  • Tackling Caravan Crime – Chancellor Philip Hammond

    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?………

     

     

  • The wheels of the law don´t seem to turn at all

    The wheels of the law don´t seem to turn at all

    Pension Life Blog - Where the wheels of the law don´t seem to turn at all - Friendly Pensions - David AustinThis week Henry Tapper wrote a blog entitled, “The wheels of the law turn (too) slowly”.  He exposes the fact that when it comes to financial crime the justice system in place just isn´t enough.  I think he was being generous with his title.  The wheels of the law don’t just turn slowly – they just don’t turn at all. Friendly Pensions has been in the news this week.

    In the case of Friendly Pensions, we know ringleader David Austin is guilty of setting up 11 fake schemes, with toxic investments including a truffle farm. We know that he and his partners in crime, Susan Dalton, Alan Barratt and Julian Hanson (also connected to the Ark Scam), are guilty of scamming 245 pension savers out of £13.7 million. We knew all of this back in January 2018, yet no arrests have been made!

    The FCA has, however, just yesterday, managed to enforce the following:

    “David Austin, 52, has been banned from serving as a pension trustee and disqualified from working as a company director for 12 years. His business partners Susan Dalton, Alan Barratt, and Julian Hanson have also been barred from trustee roles.

    David Austin’s daughter, 25-year-old Camilla, has been banned from serving as a director for four years for helping him with the scheme.”

    Pension Life Blog - Where the wheels of the law don´t seem to turn at all - Friendly Pensions - David AustinThey have been asked to pay the money back but by the looks of their social media accounts, I don´t think there is much left.  Camilla’s Facebook and Instagram accounts show her sunning herself on beaches and yachts around the world, and posing at luxury alpine ski resorts. David Austin is pictured on a gondola in Venice. They certainly got to enjoy the proceeds of their many victims’ pensions.

    Camilla Austin was a central part of the operational side of the Friendly Pensions scam.  She and a number of her girlfriends went into nursing homes and approached elderly, frail and vulnerable elderly people.  They easily conned them into signing transfer request forms – all that is required to get their hands on millions of pounds’ worth of pension funds.  And, of course, we all know that the ceding providers do nothing to stop fraudulent transfers.

    As Henry points out, banning these people from acting as trustees or directors, does little to deter past, present and future pension scammers. A ban is barely a slap on the wrist as far as we are concerned; these scammers can still launch any number of future dodgy schemes by simply finding the next crooked stooge – just as XXXX XXXX used the idiotic Karl Dunlop to be a director in the Capita Oak scam.

    Keeping pension savers safe from financial crime should be at the top of the list – but, instead, it is at the bottom.  Pension scammers are left free to commit their crimes over and over again.  Take Julian Hanson: he was busily scamming dozens of Ark victims out of more than £5.3 million worth of pensions back in 2011 and 2012, yet he was not prosecuted or jailed.  Hence, he was still able to get “friendly” with David Austin and go on to scam hundreds more victims out of their pensions.

    Remember the Capita Oak, Henley Retirement Benefits and Westminster pension scams?   These were scams run by XXXX XXXX of Nationwide Benefit Consultants.  However, XXXX was never brought to justice and so went on to operate the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund/Victory Asset Management scam (STM Fidecs acted as the trustees here).  So hundreds more people were again scammed out of their pensions.  XXXX is currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office – but effectively still free to operate more scams.   We already have our suspicions about his connections to new scams.

    Capita Oak was registered by HMRC on 23.7.2012 (PSTR 00785484RM) by Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Transfers of 31 Memorial Road, Worsley and Premier Pension Solutions of Moraira, Spain. Ward was responsible for the ARK debacle – also with Dalriada – the scam that was to create the birth of Pension Life.

    Pension Life Blog - Where the wheels of the law don´t seem to turn at all - Friendly Pensions - David Austin

    Despite investigations being made into these schemes, Ward was still able to go on and create the CWM monster scheme that saw around 1,000 victims conned out of their pension funds. Ward is hovering somewhere between his collection of luxury villas in Florida and the Spanish Costa Blanca – but at least he is no longer doing pension transfers.  Over the past nine years, Ward can be linked to dozens more pension scams that have left thousands of victims’ funds decimated.

    These cases are just the tip of the iceberg.  We must not forget Philip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh´s investment scam Blackmore Global. This was in the wake of them doing the lead generation for the Capita Oak and Henley Retirement Fund scams.  The Insolvency Service has wound up these schemes, yet Nunn and McCreesh remain free to defraud more victims as they have never been brought to justice.

    David Vilka of Square Mile International was one of the main promoters of the Blackmore Global Fund scam.   He “advised” dozens – possibly hundreds – of victims to invest their pensions in this scam (despite the fact that he is neither qualified nor regulated to give investment advice).  Again, he has never been prosecuted or jailed, so still remains at large – free to continue scamming people out of their pensions.

    We published the Top 10 Deadliest Pension Scammers blog back in February 2018. In this blog, you can read about Fast Pensions and the Moats, as well as Steve Pimlott of Windsor Pensions. Whilst the Fast Pensions scheme has been wound up by the high court and placed in the hands of Dalriada, neither Sara nor Peter Moat is behind bars.

    Pension Life Blog - Where the wheels of the law don´t seem to turn at all - Friendly Pensions - David Austin

    You can see a depressing pattern here: these words are about cold, hard facts.  The authorities are leaving known scammers free to keep scamming.

    Victims of these scams have been left in misery and financial ruin.  Some have taken their own lives. Yet the perpetrators, those guilty of these repeated financial crimes, are free to do as they please.

     

    This area of financial crime really is where the wheels of the law don´t seem to turn.  Shame there aren’t any regulators capable of doing any regulating, or law enforcement agencies capable of enforcing the law.

  • SALMON ENTERPRISES TAX TRIBUNAL VERDICT

    SALMON ENTERPRISES TAX TRIBUNAL VERDICT

    Pension Life Blog - SALMON ENTERPRISES TAX TRIBUNAL VERDICT - James Lau - Salmon Enterprises victims must wait until after easter for the verdict on the Salmon pension scamSALMON ENTERPRISES TAX TRIBUNAL VERDICT:

    The Salmon Enterprises victims will have to wait until after Easter for the verdict on the Salmon Enterprises Tax Tribunal appeal.  This will be a very anxious time for the victims of James Lau – currently under criminal investigation – and the directors of Tudor Capital Management currently serving eight-year jail sentences for cheating the Public Revenue and money laundering offences.

     

    The anxiety will inevitably be shared by the Ark victims – as HMRC now want to push ahead with the Tax Tribunal appeals as well (after seven years of dithering).  The Salmon Enterprises determination may well have an impact on the Ark appeal so there will be hundreds of people desperate for news after Easter.

    Pension Life Blog - SALMON ENTERPRISES TAX TRIBUNAL VERDICT - James Lau - Charles Bradley - recent cases include the O'Mara appeal and Salmon EnterprisesIn the Salmon Enterprises appeal heard in London on Tuesday 20th March, HMRC was represented by Charles Bradley of Pump Court Tax Chambers.  A distinguished and gentlemanly young barrister with a double first in history at Cambridge, it remains to be seen whether his arguments for HMRC’s case based on interpretation of legislation and authorities will outweigh our arguments for justice and morality.  Perhaps history will surprise us all after Easter.

    I would like to pay tribute to the dignity and courage of the appellants at the Salmon Enterprises hearing.  Having traveled down from the north of England, and spent many days preparing themselves mentally and intellectually for the ordeal before them, my heart went out to them both.  A teacher and an IT analyst, both victims had worked hard all their lives and led exemplary lives before falling victim to this scam at the hands of criminals.

    These two appellants – like the Ark victims – have endured years of worry and damage to their health since they were scammed in 2011.  I was immensely proud of them as they stood in the witness box and represented, effectively, all victims of the Salmon Enterprises and Ark cases.

    Pension Life Blog - SALMON ENTERPRISES TAX TRIBUNAL VERDICT - James Lau - Margaret Snowdon OBE - PASA CHAIR - Stated "It is morally wrong to tax victims of fraud."As I listened to the case put forward by HMRC, and the testimony of their witness, the words of Margaret Snowdon (speaking at the Transparency Task Force Symposium in November 2017) kept ringing in my ears:

    “It is morally wrong to impose tax penalties on victims of fraud”.

    Margaret was appointed an OBE in 2010 and has, uniquely, for six years running been named as one of the Top 50 Influential People in Pensions and was awarded for her outstanding contribution to the pensions industry by the PMI in 2012.

    **********************************************************************

    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.

     

  • Top 10 Deadliest Pension Scammers

    Top 10 Deadliest Pension Scammers

    Pension Life blog - Top 10 deadliest parasites - Pension life investigates the 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 InternationalPension Life Blog - top 10

    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 ManagementPension Life blog - James Lau & Tudon Capital Management - Salmon Enterprises compared to liver flukes in the top 10 deadliest pension scammers they are 9

    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.

    Pension Life Blog - top-10-deadliest-pension-scammers - Square Mile international

    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)Pension Life blog - Continental wealth management compared to pinworms in top 10 deadliest pension scams they were number 7

    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 McCreeshPension Life blog - Nunn and McGreesh compared to Echinococcus Granulosus in top 10 deadliest pension scams they were number 5

    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.

    Pension Life blog - Steve Pimlott of Windsor Pensions compared to Trichinosis in top 10 deadliest pension scams they were number 4

    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

    Pension Life blog - Fast Pensions compared to Dientamoeba Fragilis in top 10 deadliest pension scams they were number 3

    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.

    Pension Life blog - Steve Ward compared to Microsporidia in top 10 deadliest pension scams they were number 2

    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

    Pension Life blog - HMRC compared to Toxoplasma Gondii in top 10 deadliest pension scams they were number 1

    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.

    Pension Life blog - Beware of Hector the tax inspector - HMRC happy to serve huge tax demands to victims of pension scammers despite their role in the crime

    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.

    **********************************

    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.

  • BSPS – Pension Dilemma for Steel Workers

    Pension life advises British steel workers to consider their pension options careful so they don't get scammed. BSPS pension decision to avoid fraud and listen to Henry Tapper (The Pension Ploughman), Al Rush, Darren Cooke

    The BSPS dilemma for steelworkers is clearly difficult with very little time to consider options and make a wise decision which will affect them for the rest of their lives.

    There’s a whole team of willing voluntary professional advisers trying to provide some guidance to help people avoid making the wrong decision.  This team includes eminent pensions experts including Henry Tapper (The Pension Ploughman), Al Rush, Darren Cooke and many more.

    I’d like to contribute to this excellent initiative to help the scheme members – but I can’t advise how to do things right; I can only advise how not to do things wrong.

    Henry Tapper, Al Rush and Darren Cooke – plus other qualified, licensed advisers generously giving their time to help the BSPS members – will give sound guidance as to the right decision to make.  The Pensions Advisory Service will also help.

    Here are some pointers from me – someone who represents hundreds of victims of pensions scams and has seen all the tricks, lies, false promises and smoke/mirrors in the pension scamming business.

    1. Check that a proper adviser is licensed – in other words: regulated.  You can check this out on the FCA register.  Here is an example: check out Darren Cooke’s firm, Red Circle.  You will see that his firm is regulated (or licensed by the FCA – Financial Conduct Authority) to carry out personal pension and stakeholder pension advice.  Remember, unregulated means SNAKE OIL SALESMAN.  And beware the “introducer” – which is another word for snake oil salesman.  If you find the so-called adviser is not regulated – run like hell!
    2. Beware “free” financial advice.  Go to Tesco and ask if they have any free milk.  Go to the Post Office and ask if there are any free stamps.  Go to an accountant and ask if he will do your accounts for free.  Go to your local car dealer and ask if there are any free cars.  There ain’t no such thing as free.  Everything has to be paid for – but make sure that all the charges, fees, commissions etc., are openly declared.  If someone promises you free financial advice – run like hell!
    3. Run a mile from “get rich quick” investment schemes.  Your pension has to be invested in boring, safe, traditional assets which will grow steadily and safely.  If you are offered something exciting and sexy – like eucalyptus plantations; car parks; football betting; overseas property “opportunities” and truffle trees – run like hell.  If you are told that your pension will get “guaranteed returns” of 8%, 10% or 12% – run like hell!
    4. If you are told you can have some cash out of your pension other than your 25% tax free at age 55 – or the rest at the marginal tax rate – run like hell!
    5. If you are cold called – run like hell!

    Remember, you are a sitting duck – and it is open season.  Also remember, the good guys like Henry Tapper, Darren Cooke and Al Rush – as well as all the other decent, honourable, ethical advisers who are volunteering their time free to help you avoid the scammers – can give you some invaluable, generic guidance.  But someone who is offering to transfer your pension into another scheme is giving you advice.

    So what is the difference between actual advice and general guidance?  Let us take the example of a medical practitioner: you know a doctor – say a GP –  at your local tennis club.  You are concerned about your health in general and the fact that you are putting on weight and get breathless going upstairs.  The doctor might suggest – as in suggest – that you consider going on a diet and taking some exercise, but that you also consult your GP.  That is an informal and friendly (as well as well-meaning and common sense) suggestion.  But it does not constitute formal advice.  A specialist would look for deeper issues such as blood pressure, signs of diabetes and any other underlying conditions to be investigated – and would prescribe specific treatment.

    If all else fails, drop me an email and I will try to help: angiebrooks@pension-life.com – but meanwhile, please buy some good running shoes!

    Meanwhile, take a look at just a few of the schemes for which Pension Life is representing groups of victims who have lost their life savings to the same – or very similar – scammers who will inevitably be targeting you now:

    Ark

    Axiom UPT

    Blackmore Global

    Capita Oak

    Continental Wealth

    Fast Pensions

    KJK Investments and G Loans

    London Quantum

    Park First

    Salmon Enterprises

    Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund

    Westminster

     

     

     

     

     

  • FENNER MOERAN QC AND THE SHARP STICK (Ark debARKle)

    FENNER MOERAN QC AND THE SHARP STICK (Ark debARKle)

     

    Fenner Moeran apologised for his gaff but the damage was done when he proposed using a big sharp stick on the Ark victims
    Fenner Moeran QC proposed using a big, sharp stick to intimidate the Ark pension scam victims

    Fenner Moeran QC, of Wilberforce Chambers, for Dalriada Trustees in the High Court Beddoe proceedings in June 2017, sought the court’s permission – using the term “sharp stick” in his pleadings – and directions to use the Ark victims’ funds to force them to repay their Ark MPVAs.

    • Beddoe proceedings: arguably (apparently) Dalriada could have been pursued by Ark victims without MPVAs for not pursuing repayment from those with MPVAs and conversely could have been pursued by Ark victims with MPVAs.  So, to be on the safe side, they spent a quarter of a million quid of the victims’ funds on the Beddoe proceedings in the High Court.

    And here we need to look at the meaning of the terms – MPVA and sharp stick:

    MPVA

    MPVA is an anacronym for “Maximising Pension Value Arrangements” – a euphemism for pension liberation.  The rules are that if a person is under the age of 55, he or she can’t access any part of their pension without incurring an unauthorised payment tax charge of up to 55%.  So all pension liberation scammers think up clever ways of fooling potential victims into believing there is a legal “loophole” to circumvent this rule.

    The point of a pension liberation scam is not to provide members with a bona fide pension scheme designed to provide an income in retirement, but to make the scammers loads of money.  First there is the transfer fee: in the Ark case it was relatively low at 5% – although Stephen Ward was charging an extra fee on top of that of up to £2k per transfer.

    And then there are the investment kick-backs.  We still don’t know how much the Ark scammers earned out of the speculative, illiquid, high-risk properties they purchased in various dodgy offshore jurisdictions.  But it will have been very lucrative.  In subsequent scams, the scammers earned huge commissions such as 20% from Dolphin Trust; 30% from Park First; 46% from Store First.

    By the time the Ark victims realised they'd been scammed it was too late and there was no parachute. Stephen Ward had already bailed out and was working on his next pension liberation scam.
    By the time the Ark victims realised they’d been scammed it was too late and there was no parachute

    The scammers always promise spectacularly high returns on the investments with assurances such as “guaranteed 8% per annum”.  In the case of Ark, the victims were told they would receive up to 9% a year on the growth of the value of “high-end London residential properties” in which the pensions would be invested.  This, of course, was a lie.  But by the time alarms started to ring and the victims realised there was no way out of this toxic flight with no parachute, it was too late.

    But let us revert to the portion of a transfer which is liberated.  This can range from 5% to 85% depending on the structure of the scam.  And it is given various names or labels such as “cashback”; “thank you”; “refund of fees”; “trousers”; “loan”.  The favourite word used is “loan” because the scammers claim that “loans are not taxable”.  There is no intention for the money ever to be paid back – that isn’t the point of the exercise.  The scammers know the victims would never be able to repay the funds.

    The use of the word “loan” in some schemes is merely a marketing term used to fool people into believing they won’t be taxed on the money.  And the scammers have no interest in whether the victims ever get taxed or not – because by the time HMRC gets around to sending out tax demands, the scheme will have collapsed and the scammers will be long gone and far ahead on their next scams.  They never stick around to help mop up the train wreck left behind.

    Sometimes there are elaborate “loan” agreements or contracts – such as in Ark.  But sometimes there are brief, amateurish documents such as in Evergreen (Stephen Ward’s “Marazion loans”) and Capita Oak (XXXX XXXX’s “Thurlstone loans”).  And sometimes the scammers don’t even bother with loan documentation at all – such as in James Lau’s Salmon Enterprises.

    Often, the victims are surprised when they receive “loan” documentation and alarm bells start ringing.  But the scammers assure the victims that this is “just a paper exercise” or “administration to make sure HMRC don’t try to tax the money – because loans aren’t taxable“.

    In the Ark scheme, the victims were told the amounts liberated would not be taxable because they didn’t come from the members’ own scheme, but from another scheme.  And this is why 14 schemes were set up to work in pairs so that up to 99 people in each pair of schemes could swap cash from their transfers.  So this was an artificial mechanism structured purely to operate the liberation – using the label “MPVA” to dress the payments up as something more glamorous and bona fide than just a dollop of unauthorised cash in a person’s trousers.

    Very few of the victims were told their cash would ever have to be paid back.  The MPVA agreements never once mentioned the word “loan” but did mention the word “discharge” and suggested that the MPVA would be automatically “discharged” after a period of years.

    Some victims were told the MPVA would be settled or repaid out of the growth that the Ark pension would enjoy (because of the wonderful investments!).  It was explained that the MPVA would grow at 3% a year but the pension fund would grow at 9%.  But the member would never have to pay the MPVA off out of their own pocket.

    Other victims were told the MPVAs would never have to be paid at all because of the reciprocal nature of the transfer/payment structure.  It was explained thus: two “paired” members in different schemes would each have a reciprocal MPVA of – say – £50k.  If they both decided they never wanted to pay the MPVAs back, they would just treat them like equal IOUs and agree to simply tear them up.

     

    The Tolleys authoritative manual on pensions taxation by Stephen Ward
    The Tolleys authoritative manual on pensions taxation by Stephen Ward

    Now remember, the victims weren’t told these things by any old spivs – they were told them by Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions and his various accomplices (e.g. Fraser Collins, Terry Tunmore, Paul Clarke etc). Stephen Ward was back then – and still is now – a regulated financial adviser of many years’ experience, as well as the author of the Tolleys Pensions Taxation Manual, (and Level 6 CII qualified).

     

    The same assurances were also given to numerous victims by George Frost, of Frost Financial, a regulated mortgage and insurance broker.  And the victims who received the advice on the merits of entering into the Ark scheme believed they had every right to believe and trust professional, qualified and regulated advisers who assured them the MPVAs would never have to be repaid and that their pensions would be safe and secure.

    HMRC does not care whether a sum of money accessed from a pension before the age of 55 is called a loan, thank you, cash back, fee refund, MPVA or any other euphemism for “liberation”.  They don’t care whether it is repayable or whether it is ever repaid or not.  They don’t care whether it comes directly from the member’s pension scheme, or from somebody else’s pension scheme, or via some convoluted arrangement designed to conceal the source of the money – such as Stephen Ward’s Evergreen/Marazion pension/loan scam.  If a member makes a pension transfer and receives a sum of money as a result – irrespective of where it comes from – HMRC will issue a tax demand of up to 55%.

    To illustrate how pension liberation scams range from the very simple and transparent to the highly complex and opaque, here is an example of one arrangement which Stephen Ward and his merry men, Alan Fowler and Bill Perkins, were involved with in 2013 – after Ark, Evergreen, Capita Oak and Westminster pension scams had all been suspended:

    From: Stephen Ward <SWard@ppsespana.com>

    Subject: Re: a solution for you !

    Date: 17 October 2013 20:58:15 BST

    To: billperkins <billperkins62@gmail.com>

    Cc: Alan Fowler <fowlerpts@gmail.com>

    Thanks to you both for your understanding…. Am unused to non delivery! The arrangement I heard about today works like this as an example (ignoring fees) and this is the simplistic version … 

    1.  Client borrows 16k or thereabouts (this is available in the package) 
    2.  He gets a non recourse loan (which will not be repaid) of £84k 
    3.  He buys shares in Xco for £100k.   These are listed on the CISX (name is Elysian) 
    4.   Transfers £100k to James Hay SIPP 
    5.   SIPP pays member £100k for the shares 
    6.   Member repays the 16k and trousers £84k 

    My IFA connection has done 40 of them so far.  Advice to transfer to the SIPP is from an FCA regulated IFA.  James Hay and Suffolk Life know the full structure and are happy with it.

    Regards Stephen 

    The FCA-regulated IFA to whom he was referring was Angela South of Magna Wealth.  She soon made a hasty exit from the collaboration with Stephen Ward when victims realised this was a scam and threatened to report her to the Serious Fraud Office.  Victims who participated in this scam have now received tax demands from HMRC and Elysian Fuels is now worthless.

    SHARP STICK

    Dalriada’s QC, Fenner Moeran, seemed like a very sharp cookie.  His skeleton argument (which we never got to see), and his opening speeches, started with the assumption that the MPVAs were definitely loans; that there was no question that they were loans and that the members knew and accepted that they were loans.

    The judge, Sarah Asplin, accepted this without question and there was no debate on the subject.  Kim Goldsmith’s QC, Keith Bryant, sat as quiet as a corpse and made not one single interjection or objection – even though he was sitting next to Kim who knew perfectly well – and must have told him – that the victims were not aware the MPVAs were loans.  Indeed, they were categorically assured that the MPVAs would never have to be repaid.

    Even more astonishing was the fact that Dalriada was aware the victims never knew the MPVAs were loans. Dalriada’s Sean Browes and Brian Spence, as well as Pinsent Masons’ Ben Fairhead and Ian Hyde, had attended various meetings with the Ark Class Action and gone through this issue numerous times.  They were also fully aware that one victim was horrified when she was subsequently told the MPVA was a loan and she immediately called Dalriada and asked to repay it.  But Dalriada had refused.

    Furthermore, dozens of Ark Class Action members had completed HMRC’s 10-point questionnaire (the Q10) which specifically asked about the arrangements and what they had been told about the need to repay the MPVAs.  This is evidenced at HMRC’s question 8:

    8: “DETAILS OF WHAT YOU WERE TOLD ABOUT THE NEED TO REPAY THE LOAN”

    Here is a typical response to this question by one of the victims:

    “I was told that although on paper it would be an official 25 year loan, that because of the nature of the way the loans were set up, i.e. the quid pro quo arrangement, whereby as one person received their monies from the other members scheme and vice versa, if there was a request for any monies to be repaid in the future from each member, each would tear up each other`s IOU and be quits, so to speak, as already stated.”

    Stephen Ward – BA (Econ), ACII, APFS, APMI, ex examiner for the pensions management institute and for the CII, confirmed that the Ark scheme was designed by specialist pensions lawyer Alan Fowler – head of pensions at Stevens and Bolton.

    Ward went on to explain how the MPVAs worked: “The best way to understand this is in terms of my lending you £100 and you lending me £100.  If I do not repay you and you do not repay me then we are both in an equal position. Conversely, if I repay you and you repay me then the position is identical to that which would arise if neither party had repaid the other”.

    These statements have been made to HMRC by Ark victims on countless occasions – and Dalriada has always been perfectly well aware of this.  And yet Fenner Moeran used his sharp stick to knock these evidenced facts completely off the table – so that the judge was never made aware of them.  Mind you, Keith Bryant QC was no better – because he didn’t bring them to the judge’s attention either.

    I would go so far as to observe that Fenner Moeran should have used his sharp stick to point the judge to these evidenced facts – and Dalriada should have made sure he did so.  By omitting to do so, both Fenner Moeran and Keith Bryant allowed the judge to come to the incorrect conclusion that:

    “members who received the MPVA loans agreed to repay them. That’s the point of a loan. It’s not a gift. They cannot now complain about having to repay them. They can complain about having to repay them earlier, but that’s a cashflow issue which is vastly overwritten by the capital harm that is suffered by the non-recipient members”

    Fenner Moeran merely leaned on his sharp stick and did nothing to correct the judge.  As I was sitting behind him, I couldn’t see whether he was smirking – but I have a feeling he might have been.  The judge was wrong on three counts:

    1. The members with MPVAs did not agree to repay them – they were told they would never have to

    2. They can most certainly now complain about being asked to repay them as they were never told they would have to and did not budget to do so

    3. The capital harm suffered by members without MPVAs was mostly caused by Dalriada who did not reject their transfers after 31.5.11 but allowed transfers to continue right up until the end of August 2011

    Having glossed over the facts smoothly, and directed the judge to her incorrect conclusion, Fenner Moeran then addressed the issue of ascertaining whether the Ark victims were in a position to be able to afford to repay the MPVAs.  And then he produced, with a confident flourish, his pièce de résistance:

    “The chances of getting ascertainably or enforceably more accurate information increases when you have the sharp stick of litigation behind it.  If we want to see if we’re actually going to get any of this money back, the chances are that we’re going to have to wave a very large stick“

    Fenner Moeran ought to be an intelligent person.  In the full knowledge that a few feet to his right sat Kim Goldsmith, an Ark victim who had gone through six years of hell courtesy of Stephen Ward and George Frost and all the other scammers, and that a number of other victims were sitting at the back of the courtroom, he still made such an unbelievably stupid and offensive statement.  He apologised later “I deeply and sincerely apologise for any misunderstanding or upset caused”.

    But the damage had already been done – and you can’t un-say what has been said – especially when every word is recorded and transcribed.  On behalf of Dalriada Trustees, he had deliberately misled the judge, and then proceeded to demonstrate clear contempt for the suffering of the Ark victims.

    Interestingly, the judge had not remonstrated with Moeran for his crass comments – and Keith Bryant had not objected to the stupid and insensitive words.  Throughout the rest of the proceedings, the judge remained – in my view – dominated and steered by Moeran.  No attempt was ever made to disclose the truth about what the victims were told about repayment of the MPVAs by Stephen Ward, George Frost, Andrew Isles or Alan Fowler.  And no explanation was ever given as to why Dalriada had not pursued these parties for having duped, misled and defrauded the Ark members.

    ROYAL LONDON V HUGHES

    This may seem like a completely off-topic piece of this report, but please stick with it – it will be worth it because it is the whole point of this report.  Nearly 18 months before the Ark/Dalriada/Beddoe proceedings in the High Court, another case was heard: Royal London v Hughes.  A pension scammer had tried to do exactly what the Ark scammers had done so successfully and profitably for nearly a year: transfer hundreds of secure pensions into a pension scam.  But one ceding provider – Royal London – had blocked a transfer request.  They strongly suspected the receiving scheme was a liberation scam – unlike the many ceding providers in the Ark case who handed over hundreds of transfers willy-nilly without question or due diligence – the worst of which was Standard Life.

    Hughes complained to the Pensions Ombudsman that her transfer request had been blocked by Royal London.  The Ombudsman did not uphold her complaint because he agreed with Royal London that the receiving scheme had all the classic hallmarks of being a scam – including the fact that the scheme had been registered as an occupational scheme and Hughes was not genuinely employed by the sponsoring employer.  Exactly the same as Ark (and many of the subsequent scams).

    Counsel for Royal London argued that “Hughes had to be an “earner” to be able to transfer”.  He tried to support the Ombudsman’s view that the legislation required Hughes to be an earner in relation to a scheme employer”.  This counsel obviously knew well that victims were made all sorts of promises and assurances and often not told the truth about the arrangements within pension scams.

    Royal London’s QC would have been aware of the Ombudsman’s concerns that pension liberation may well have been behind Hughes’ enthusiasm to transfer her pension.  And he will have known only too well that potential victims were systematically lied to and probably told that their “loans” (or whatever euphemism was used) were not repayable.  And he would have known that the intended liberation “loans” were never intended to be repaid and that the victims would be told that the loans never needed to be repaid.

    This QC will have been thoroughly briefed by his clients, Royal London, and may even have consulted with the Pensions Regulator who would have given him thorough details on how pension liberation scams worked.

    Funnily enough, this same QC acted for Dalriada Trustees in the Justice Bean High Court Ark case so he knew jolly well that the Ark MPVAs were never supposed to have been repaid by the members but from the growth of the funds themselves.  In fact, in November 2011, Justice Bean reported this very issue at Clause 14 of his ruling:

    “The financial modeling (of the Ark schemes) assumed an average rate of return of 9% over a 25-year period for a sufficient sum to be generated to discharge the MPVA obligation“.

    So this particular QC had intimate, first-hand knowledge of how pension liberation schemes worked in general and represented Royal London in their quest to defend their right to prevent further victims of pension liberation scams.  He also knew intimately how Ark worked in particular.

    Fenner Moeran of Wilberforce Chambers represented Dalriada Trustees in the Ark case
    Fenner Moeran of Wilberforce Chambers

    He knew perfectly well that the victims were told they never had to repay their loans (or MPVAs/cash backs/thank you’s/trousers).  And he knew that the Ark MPVAs were supposed to be “discharged” from growth in the schemes and NOT from the victims’ own pockets – as reported by Justice Bean.  But he failed to bring this to the judge’s attention.

    Who was this QC?  I will give you a clue – he had a big, sharp stick.  Perhaps he should have gone to Specsavers and read the MPVA agreement where this was clearly stated.

     

     

     

  • ANATOMY OF A PENSION SCAM – eBOOK

    Every time I think this book about pension scams is done and I can put it away, a new scam or scammer pops up and I have to rethink it.  And every time I add in a new sentence or paragraph, the formatting and pagination need to be adjusted.  But, however imperfect and unfinished it may be, it is available on Amazon:

    It has been much harder to write than I ever thought it would be.  But nowhere near as hard as it is for the victims who have to live with the consequences of losing their pensions and investments – and gaining tax liabilities.

    The purpose of this book is to warn the public against current scams and scammers (the same ones who have been doing it since 2010) and encourage the police and regulators to criminalise all forms of scams.  The Pensions Regulator’s Lesley Titcombe has clearly stated that scammers are “criminals” and it is hoped they will all be prosecuted.  The victims and the ethical members of the financial services industry want to see a zero-tolerance policy and a military-style campaign to stamp out this horrendous crime wave.

    Evidence suggests that in the past seven years, there have been many £ billions lost to pension and investment scams – there are no precise “official” figures.  But the dreadful fact is that the scammers who were targeting victims back in 2010, continued doing it in 2011; and 2012; and 2013; and 2014; and 2015, and 2016.  And they are still doing it today.  Happily and profitably.  And nobody has stopped them or brought them to account for the horrific financial damage and distress they have caused.

    It is hard to decide which is worse: the vicious, greedy, cold-hearted scammers or three sets of inept government or the feeble authorities who let them get away with it.  Repeatedly.  But it has to stop.  A military-style, zero tolerance campaign has to be waged against all the guilty parties until every last one of them is brought to justice.

    The tragic thing about these scams and the misery and financial ruin caused to so many thousands of victims is that this disaster was preventable.  HMRC were warned by the industry about the potential for scams if the role of compulsory professional trustee was removed pre 2006. In a letter of March 2004 a specialist pension solicitor warned:

     “It is essential that schemes offering self-administration and wide investment choice should have in place an independent person who has sufficient control of scheme assets to prevent abuse and sufficient knowledge and experience to know abuse when he sees it.

    That does not necessarily mean that the system of pensioneer trustees should be retained in its current form but, if it is abolished without an effective replacement, we envisage that within the next 5 years the degree of abuse of such schemes by both incompetent and dishonest individuals will:

    • further stain the reputation of pensions generally; and
    • severely embarrass the government responsible for letting it happen.

    Reputable professionals in the industry and the Government share a common aim of building a system of tax rules that is simple but is robust enough to last for a working lifetime without major overhaul. Such a system needs to contain adequate protections against abuse.”

    The warning was ignored.  And precisely what was predicted would happen, happened.  And it will go on happening until and unless government, HMRC, regulators and police take responsibility for their failings and put in place robust measures to clean up the mess of the past/present and prevent future disasters.

    This clear warning was brought to my attention by Martin Tilley who is director of technical services at Dentons Pension Management.  Martin has written some excellent blogs and articles on the subject of pension scams and my favourite has to be this one:

     http://www.retirement-planner.co.uk/9344/cleaning-up-pension-scams-with-soap-operas

    I know the government is jolly busy at the moment with Brexit.  But earlier this year there was a government consultation on pension scams – and still no word about what the battle plan is.  In fact, neither Damian Green (Secretary of the DWP) nor Richard Harrington (Pensions Minister) will engage at the moment as they claim there is no point until after the consultation.

    But they didn’t say how long after: three months? three years?  With every day that they dither about, more victims will lose their life savings; more damage will be done to the reputation of the industry; more expensive will it become for the State to support those who have no retirement income; louder will be the ticking of the pension scam time bomb.

    Richard Harrington recently stated that Britain can’t afford to implement transitional arrangements for 1950s-born women who weren’t notified their State pension age was going to be increased from 60 to 67.  He reckons this would cost the country around £30 billion.  With scams reportedly costing the British public £11 billion a year, the cost of supporting these thousands of victims throughout their retirement will be staggering.  Plus the cost to the NHS (because of the amount of mental and physical health damaged caused by the stress of being scammed) will add to this enormous cost.

    If you have read this blog from start to finish, it will have taken you seven minutes.  During that time at least one person will have been scammed out of their life savings.  If you read the Anatomy of a Pension Scam ebook from beginning to end, it could take you up to five hours if you read slowly and carefully.  Think how many people could be scammed in that time.  Avoidably.

     

  • COMPLAINT AGAINST HMRC – REGISTERING PENSION SCAMS

    COMPLAINT AGAINST HMRC – REGISTERING PENSION SCAMS

    COMPLAINT AGAINST HMRC 30.12.2016

    RE ARK PENSION AND OTHER PENSION LIBERATION SCHEMES

    COMPLAINANTS:

    VICTIMS OF PENSION SCAMS AND MEMBERS OF THE PENSION LIFE GROUP ACTION:

    AND MEMBERS OF THE PENSION LIFE GROUP ACTION:

    AND MEMBERS OF THE PENSION LIFE GROUP ACTION:

     

    1. BACKGROUND:
    2. HMRC’S OBLIGATIONS AND OBJECTIVES:
    3. WHAT HMRC MUST NOW DO TO PUT THINGS RIGHT:

    BACKGROUND

    This complaint against HMRC for registering pension scams is one of a series of complaints against public bodies which have collectively failed British citizens and UK pension savers by omitting to take timely action to prevent and warn potential victims.  The multiple failures of HMRC, the regulators, the DWP and the police authorities have contributed to numerous pension disasters – all of which could and should have been avoided.

    To put this complaint into perspective, and highlight how HMRC have failed in their public duty over a period of many years and in many difference cases, it will be helpful to explain an exchange which happened in 2011 in the Salmon Enterprises case.

    In the matter of TM8648, the Pensions Regulator and HMRC had been investigating the directors of Tudor Capital Management, a pension trustee and administration firm, for offences involving dishonesty, deception, fraud, cheating the Public Revenue and money laundering.  This process had started in early 2010 and tPR’s Determinations Panel met several times over the next couple of years or so.  The directors of Tudor Capital Management – Peter Bradley and Andrew Meeson (ex HMRC tax technicians) – were eventually jailed for eight years.

    HMRC did nothing, however, to prevent these two suspected fraudsters (Bradley and Meeson) from registering further pension scams while they were under criminal investigation.  These further scams included Hollywell, Pennines and Mendip – all operating pension liberation – well over a year after the criminal investigations had been launched.

    In the Salmon Enterprises case – one of 25 registered by Tudor Capital Management, one victim’s ceding provider – Nationwide Building Society – was concerned about a transfer request in excess of GBP 200k and sought confirmation of Salmon Enterprises’ HMRC registration.  HMRC responded in June 2011 to confirm that the scheme was indeed registered under Section 153 of the Finance Act 2004 – but made no mention of the trustees’ criminal investigation.  Richard Farrell, Compliance Manager of Nationwide, then expressed further doubts to HMRC: “My concern about the scheme administrator, Tudor Capital Management, is based on the fact that an article appeared in the pensions press on 21.10.2010 stating that four people connected with Tudor Capital Management have been arrested on suspicion of fraud, cheating the Public revenue and money laundering”.  HMRC replied that they were unable to disclose any information regarding Tudor Capital Management due to their “strict rules on confidentiality”.

    Clearly, HMRC could and should have taken steps to de-register the Salmon Enterprises scheme but failed to do so.  In the full knowledge that the scheme was being run by suspected fraudsters and was operating pension liberation, HMRC stood back and allowed 116 people to transfer into Salmon Enterprises, and then issued tax demands for unauthorised payment charges on the entire amount of all the transfers.

    This echoes HMRC’s conduct in the Ark schemes: they were aware of the reciprocal “loan” system being operated by the trustees in quarter three of 2010.  They made “enquiries” repeatedly until the end of the year and had a meeting with the operators at the end of February 2011.  But still HMRC did nothing: did not de-register the schemes and did not issue any warnings to potential victims.  At this time, there was GBP 7 million in Ark.  By the time tPR eventually placed the schemes in the hands of Dalriada Trustees, there was GBP 30 million in Ark.  HMRC had stood by for more than six months, and done nothing to prevent hundreds of victims from being scammed.  But then sent out the tax demands for 55% tax on the “loans”.

    HMRC registered the Ark and

    schemes as occupational pension schemes in 2009/10 and will claim they had no obligation to perform any due diligence at the time of registration – and indeed that they had no responsibility for consumer protection.  They will also claim that when a scheme is first registered – and before anyone transfers into the scheme – there is no evidence that there is anything wrong or that a scheme is being used fraudulently for liberation.

    But, at some point before, during and after the registration of the Ark and Salmon Enterprises schemes, HMRC, the Crown Prosecution Service and tPR were already investigating Tudor Capital Management for fraud and were in regular communication with the operators of Ark.  Tudor Capital Management had registered 25 different pension schemes in total – one of which was Salmon Enterprises.  But long after HMRC knew the directors of Tudor was suspected of fraud, they left all these schemes operating and scamming hundreds of victims. In the full knowledge that both consumers and the pensions industry see HMRC registration as a robust reassurance that a receiving scheme is bona fide, HMRC took no action to warn the public as widely as possible that scams and scammers were proliferating, nor to warn the industry and make ceding pension trustees’ legal responsibilities and obligations clear to providers.

    In fact, at the height of the flourishing growth of Ark, one ceding provider – HSBC – was contacted by a member for reassurance that the Ark scheme was indeed bona fide.  HSBC assured the member that the only thing they were required to check was that the receiving scheme was HMRC registered.  HSBC concluded that as the Ark scheme was indeed HMRC registered, there was no reason to perform any further due diligence.

    During the same period, the disgraced former barrister Paul Baxendale-Walker was registering hundreds of pension schemes for liberation purposes.  So, 2010 was a fertile and busy year for the scammers with large numbers of bogus occupational schemes being registered by HMRC and thousands of victims being scammed into losing their pensions.  HMRC were not only fully aware of this, but had been investigating the criminal element of various schemes along with the Crown Prosecution Service for many months.  Indeed, the first recorded pension liberation scam was investigated by HMRC in 1999 and the pair behind this fraud were jailed in 2003 – although not for defrauding the public but for defrauding HMRC.

    So, from 2010 onwards, nobody at HMRC decided to “call time” on this obvious large-scale fraud and implement any degree of policing or researching schemes at the point of registration – to put in place some form of prevention rather than waiting until after thousands of lives had been ruined.  Indeed, in the Ark case, HMRC had stood by between September 2010 and February 2011 and left the promoters and administrators to get on with building up a head of steam to the point where there was around £7 million in transfers (and presumably, half of that given out in MPVA loans).

    From late February 2011, when HMRC met with Craig Tweedley and Stephen Ward, until the appointment of Dalriada on 31.5.2011, a further £23 million was transferred into Ark while HMRC allowed hundreds of victims to proceed to probable financial ruin.  HMRC could have suspended the schemes at any point while they conducted their investigations – and indeed Craig Tweedley repeated offered to do so.

    Ark, Tudor Capital Management/Salmon Enterprises and Baxendale Walker’s various schemes accounted for around £200 million worth of lost pensions and at least a further £60 million in tax liabilities.  And yet since 1999, when Russell and Ferguson were jailed for five years for cheating the Public Revenue, the only criminal action taken by HMRC was against TCM directors Peter Bradley and Andrew Meeson who were jailed for pension tax fraud against HMRC.  No action has ever been taken against any of the scammers for defrauding ordinary citizens.  Thanks to HMRC considering consumer protection was not within their remit, the scammers have all been left to go on to set up and run dozens of further scams and ruin thousands more lives over the next several years.

     

    1. HMRC’S OBLIGATIONS AND OBJECTIVES:

    HMRC have stated that their role is to “protect the valuable tax reliefs given to pension savings”.  But if this were so, the question must be asked: why did HMRC do no due diligence at the point of registration of these various scams?  Active consumer protection may well not be part of HMRC’s specific roles, but equally avoiding consumer damage should be an automatic matter of common sense and decency on the part of HMRC. It is well known that consumers and even industry professionals have assumed that HMRC registration strongly implies some form of “approval” – and indeed even former Pensions Minister Steve Webb used the term “HMRC Approval”.  It makes no sense for HMRC to register so many pension schemes in the full knowledge that they could be used for scams without carrying out even the most basic checks. On the HMRC website, the Taxpayers’ Charter is published: “Your rights – what you can expect from us”:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/your-charter/your-charter

    1.1 Respect you and treat you as honest

    “We’ll treat you even-handedly, with courtesy and respect. We’ll listen to your concerns and answer your questions clearly. We’ll presume that you’re telling us the truth, unless we have good reason to think otherwise.”

    How can it possibly be “even handed” to pursue the victims of scams so vigorously for unauthorised payment tax charges when no action is ever taken to pursue the scammers who caused the situation in the first place?  This is inequitable.  It is neither courteous nor respectful to demand tax which has arisen through no fault of the victim because they have been defrauded.  HMRC has not listened to the concerns of the victims – either at meetings or in correspondence and has not answered any questions either clearly or at all in the Ark matter.  For five years, HMRC has given confusing and contradictory answers to the question of if/how/where they intended to try to tax the Ark loans and claimed to be consulting tax experts.  In the Salmon Enterprises case, HMRC have claimed they did not believe the loans were loans because there were no loan agreements produced by James Lau.  Even though all the victims have made clear statements they were told the loans were indeed loans and that this was why they were not taxable, and HMRC has admitted they have had meetings with Lau, they are still treating the victims as though they are not telling the truth and denying their Protected Assessment appeals.

    HMRC does not operate in a vacuum.  HMRC has the power to influence outcomes for thousands of people and make the difference between financial ruin and financial stability; literally the difference between life and death for some people.  Respect for their fellow man should be at the heart of HMRC’s operation.  Taxes come from people – human beings.  But it is not enough to claim to treat people with courtesy and respect – HMRC have to actually do it.

    In their appeals against HMRC’s demands for unauthorised payment taxes, victims have repeatedly informed HMRC that they were victims of fraud, that they were told the transaction used a lawful tax “loophole” and that the “loan” would definitely not be taxable.  And yet still HMRC treat the victims as though they were the dishonest ones and pursue them relentlessly for the tax, while completely ignoring the dishonest scammers themselves.

    1.2 Provide a helpful, efficient and effective service

    We’ll help you understand what you have to do and when you have to do it.

    HMRC gave many of the victims no warning of their intention to issue Protected Assessments (tax demands) and accused the victims of not declaring their pension “loans” on their tax returns when the victims had had no idea the loans would be taxable.  But there was no question of HMRC telling the victims anything or giving them any warning of the position.  

    We’ll deal with the information you give us quickly, efficiently, and keep any costs to you at a minimum.

    HMRC have spent five years messing about with the Ark cases – giving contradictory and confusing information and opinions on the possible tax outcomes.  To call this dealing “quickly” is totally untrue and misleading. 

    We’ll put any mistakes right as soon as we can.

    It was a mistake to have registered the Ark schemes in the first place.  And once HMRC knew or suspected – in Q3 2010 – that Ark was operating pension liberation, HMRC should have de-registered the schemes immediately.  When HMRC held their meeting with Craig Tweedley and Stephen Ward in February 2011, they should have agreed to suspend the schemes – at the point when there was £7 million in the schemes.  Instead, HMRC did nothing until tPR placed the schemes in the hands of Dalriada Trustees on 31.5.2011 at which point there was £27 million in the Ark schemes – and over the next three months a further £3 million was transferred in.  Had HMRC taken action back in Q3 2010, or December 2010, or February 2011, hundreds of victims would have been saved £ millions in lost pension funds and tax liabilities.  This was indeed a grave mistake, and HMRC has done nothing to put this right.  Quite the reverse in fact.

    1.7 Tackle those who bend or break the rules

    We’ll identify those who are not paying what they owe or are claiming more than they should and recover the money. We’ll charge interest and penalties where appropriate and be reasonable in how we use our powers.

    There is no evidence that apart from the four known prosecutions in the past thirteen years, that not a single one of the many other serial pension scammers has ever been brought to justice.  Many – if not most – of these scammers have actively practised tax evasion themselves and had sheltered the £ millions earned out of scamming thousands of victims over a period of many years by sending the proceeds of their crimes offshore.

    The Ark, Salmon Enterprises, Baxendale-Walker victims did not consciously or deliberately bend or break the rules.  They were defrauded by bent financial advisers (and/or “introducers” posing as financial advisers – some regulated, some unregulated); a solicitor; an accountant and many other professionals.  And HMRC know this perfectly well. 

    This complaint against HMRC concludes with the fact that in the full knowledge of who the scammers were, they allowed them to continue registering, promoting and operating new scams for years – in fact right up until the present day – unhindered.  The scammers who were running the Ark schemes went on to run Capita Oak, Westminster and London Quantum.  And even when HMRC were handed the evidence they still did nothing.

    It is hard to quarrel with the victims who strongly suspect that HMRC themselves are guilty of a scam: allow the registration of a scam in the full knowledge that it is operating pension liberation, leave it to defraud hundreds of victims into participating, and then levy GBP millions worth of tax dem

    3. WHAT HMRC MUST NOW DO TO PUT THINGS RIGHT:

    • Declare an immediate amnesty for victims of pension fraud.  HMRC’s failure to de-register scams was what led to the scammers defrauding the victims.  This is akin to rape victims being punished in Middle Eastern countries, while the perpetrators are left free to re-offend as often as they like without sanction.  The pension fraud victims have been through years of hell and should now be left alone by HMRC tormentors to get on with what is left of their lives in peace – and to try to find a way to avoid poverty and deprivation in retirement as most of them have lost their pensions.
    • Pursue the perpetrators vigorously for tax evasion.   Most of them have earned vast fortunes since 2010 and enjoy high standards of living complete with helicopters, private planes, sports cars, country houses, offshore property portfolios and champagne lifestyles.  These are the people (and their assets) that HMRC should be pursuing – and not the hard-working, conscientious, innocent people who were defrauded by these monsters in the first place.
    • Compensate the victims for losing their pensions avoidably.  HMRC has failed to de-register so many schemes over so many years, and has caused financial ruin which could so easily and simply have been prevented and so many innocent people saved from the wretchedness of the past six years.
    • Put in place a system of policing and properly approving pension scheme registrations.  This should include (inter alia) the following basic and obvious steps:
    1. Check that the trustees/administrators of a scheme are not under criminal investigation
    2. Check that the registrants have not been involved in previous scams
    3. Check that the registrants’ address has not previously been used for scams – e.g. 31 Memorial Road, Worsley
    4. Check that an occupational scheme is genuine i.e. set up by a sponsoring employer which trades and employs people
    5. Check that an occupational scheme’s sponsoring employer actually exists
    6. Check that a scheme has a trust deed which is not forged
    7. Check that evidence that a trustee, administrator or scheme is a scam has not previously been provided to HMRC
    8. Check that legislation works. If it doesn’t, report it to the government and get it strengthened.  The “not my job/responsibility/concern” approach is invalid and flies in the face of what a body of public servants should be doing – i.e. serving the public.

    It is no good for HMRC simply to protest that when a scheme is first registered, there is no evidence that there is anything amiss.  Taxpayers are supposed to be diligent, and there are severe penalties for failing to be so.  The same applies to HMRC: it is supposed to serve the public – not fail and betray them.

    Finally, HMRC must engage with all the other responsible authorities and be VIGILANT against pension scams.  One of the most important examples of HMRC’s failure to carry out any due diligence is the case of the Barratt and Dalton scam (now in the hands of Dalriada Trustees).  One of the main promoters of this scam was Julian Hanson who was a leading promoter and introducer in the Ark matter – and was responsible for GBP 5.5 million worth of transfers – second only to Stephen Ward’s GBP 10.6 million worth of transfers.  And yet neither HMRC nor tPR nor any of the other public bodies (staffed by highly paid employees with healthy final salary pensions) bothered to pick up on this.

    HMRC must now put their failures right, compensate their victims and put together a coherent plan to avoid this kind of negligent, incompetent performance in the future.

     

    What is a Pension Scam?

     

     

     

     

     

  • Life at Pension Life Fighting Scams – Behind the Scenes

    nikki-behind-the-scenes

     

    My name is Nikki Mitchell.  Lets peep behind the scenes at life at Pension Life, fighting pension scams.  I’m the newest member of the team. I started in June 2016 – there was a lot to learn in six months.  I am PA to Angie, but most importantly I handle a wide variety of tasks.

    Angie has been defending people scammed out of their pensions since 2013.  My colleague Sue Halfyard’s role is member administration.  She completes all the essential documentation that we, HMRC, Dalriada Trustees and the solicitors need.  Sue also liaises with HMRC on the unauthorised payment tax appeals and helps Angie prepare for the Tax Tribunals. Elizabeth is our website and blog-writer and is currently on maternity leave.

    Our website is not only a place to inform people of the work we do, and how we can help people who have fallen foul of pension scammers, but it also serves as a platform to warn others about scammers, so that hopefully we can stop them losing their life savings.

    We are currently dealing with over 30 different schemes:

    Ark; Axiom UP; Barret and Dalton; Baxendale Walker; Capita Oak; Confiance; Continental Wealth Management; EEA/Concept Trustees; Elysian Fuels/SIPPS; Evergreen QROPS; Headforte; Henley; Holborn Assets/Gower Pensions; Holbrook Capital; KJK Investments; Ledger and Simmons; London Quantum; Malvern; Mendip; RL360; Hansard/Trafalgar; LM; Optimus Retirement Benefit Scheme No 1; Peak Performance; Pennines; Salmon Enterprises; Store First SIPPS; Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund/STM Fidecs; Tudor Capital Management; Westminster; Windsor Pensions.

    Sadly, most months we hear about new ones.

    Day to day work in the office consists of managing Angie’s crowded diary, keeping the accounts, liaising with members to keep them abreast of new developments, preparing scheme and member files for the legal teams, responding to the demands of HMRC and various trustees. I also work on campaigns to raise awareness of pension scams, or to campaign for changes in the law to protect pension investments.

    My first few weeks passed in a whirl of new jargon and abbreviations – UTR, Q10, MPVA EIS, PCLS, etc. Some days I spend the day designing and completing databases with members’ information for the solicitors.  Other days I’m number crunching the transfer and loan amounts for an individual scheme.  Some days we all have to change direction as there has been an urgent development. A recent example of this was the Standstill Agreements sent out by Dalriada – the trustees of the Ark Pension schemes. Our first member received an agreement in August 2016.  We have warned all the members that they will be receiving one, and worked with our solicitors to redraft the agreement to protect the members’ interests.

    Being a small, busy team in a hectic office, there is never a dull moment.  Aside from the daily nitty-gritty of the work, there are also the heart-breaking accounts of the members who have been scammed out of their pensions. Consequently, I have felt disbelief at the cruel contempt of the scammers. Reading members’ stories of how they were conned into investing their entire pensions or life savings into dodgy, illiquid schemes is utterly heart-breaking. Speaking to people who have lost everything – their homes, their marriages and their health – through the actions of these arrogant, greedy con-men fills me with horror.

    The greatest shock to me since joining Pension Life has been how the scammers have continually got away with fraud and theft for years.  Also, how ceding providers routinely transfer pensions with hardly even the most rudimentary checks. It has amazed me how so many different types of pension scams are allowed to be set up time and time again, with no thorough controls by HMRC or the regulators.  Moreover, I can’t understand why it takes so long for the scams to be shut down – long after they have been identified.

    We may be a small team here at Pension Life, but with the government’s recent realisation that cold calling needs to be outlawed and the consultation on pension scams:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/pension-scams

    we are hopeful that there may finally be light at the end of the tunnel for existing victims and jail for the scammers.