Tag: Serious Fraud Office

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

This 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.”

They 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.

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.

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.

October 24, 2018
STM Fidecs and the Gibraltar FSC – Evil lives on at the rock
STM Fidecs and the Gibraltar FSC – Evil lives on at the rock

I have read the report about what happened to the scammers at STM Fidecs in the wake of the Gibraltar FSC’s investigation and Deloitte’s so-called “expert report”.

Frankly, I am stunned. I have members who are victims of the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund and STM Fidecs and they are, understandably, stunned as well. I have met the people at the Gibraltar FSC and they had seemed decent guys |(but WTF do I know?!). Maybe they’ve all left, because the people I met appeared enthusiastic and conscientious. But perhaps they’ve been replaced by a bunch of malfunctioning robots, or ex-scammers or – much worse – ex STM Fidecs employees.

Serious Fraud Office investigating XXXX XXXX

The bottom line is that STM Fidecs scammed hundreds of victims out of their pensions. STM Fidecs took business from unlicensed scammer XXXX XXXX of Global Partners Limited (only had an insurance license with Marcus Groombridge’s firm Joseph Oliver) and then invested 100% of the victims’ funds into an illegal UCIS fund – run by XXXX XXXX (now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office – although I really don’t know what they are playing at because XXXX still isn’t behind bars).

The rest is history. The Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund is being wound up, and after paying the liquidation costs to Stephen Doran, of Doran + Minehane, there is unlikely to be much – if anything – left. Deloittes spent weeks supposedly investigating STM Fidecs’ books. I reckon the chumps at Deloittes probably spent most of that time on the golf course with Alan Kentish having a chuckle and a side bet about how feeble the Gibraltar FSC was likely to be. And, of course, they were right.

Now, of course, Deloittes and STM Fidecs are celebrating, as the GFSC has done nothing to stop this iniquitous, dishonest, incompetent and negligent firm from trading. Whether STM Fidecs bribed the Gibraltar FSC, or merely got them drunk on the golf course, we will never know. And it makes no difference. But certainly the matter has been brusquely brushed under the carpet and the hundreds of ruined lives have been conveniently ignored and forgotten.

Neither STM Fidecs nor the Gibraltar FSC has said a word about redress for the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund victims.

The only words spoken are that the Gibraltar Regulator has told STM Fidecs to “improve its compliance”. Improve?? How can you improve something that doesn’t even exist at all? We know that one victim (of scammers Holborn Assets) was bullied by STM Fidecs for trying to improve compliance and harassed for trying to stop obviously non-compliant transactions when she was employed by them. She was subsequently “paid off” and threatened with a gagging order.

“STM is now expected to engage with the Gibraltar FSC in order to discuss the Recommendations of the report, and agree a plan of action to implement them.” (according to the report by FT Adviser). Recommendations? Where are the sanctions? Where are the appropriate fines? Where are the bans to stop Alan Kentish and David Easton from ever practising in financial services again? Where is the cancellation of STM Fidecs‘ license?

With this in mind, here are some idiots’ guides as to how to become a pension trustee, and how to become a regulator. Both are equally easypeasylemonsqueasy – any old idiot or scammer could do it.

HOW TO BE A PENSION TRUSTEE IN EASY STEPS
1. Think of a catchy name: obviously inspired by the acronym STD, Alan Kentish came up with the name STM. FIDEC is an acronym for “Fighting Infectious Diseases in Emerging Countries”. Here’s my suggestion: Trussed4U – wadya fink?
2. Think of a jurisdiction with the most ineffective, pathetic and corrupt regulation – such as Gibraltar
3. Find an unlicensed scammer like XXXX XXXX who will transfer lots of UK-resident victims into an offshore QROPS and invest their life savings in whatever crap will pay him the highest commissions
4. Sit back and rake in the profits
5. Forget fiduciary obligations or anything with the word “trust” in it – only concentrate on the word “trussed“
6. Play golf with the regulator
HOW TO BE A REGULATOR
1. Join a golf club (that isn’t too picky about who it lets in)
2. Give licenses to as many scammers as possible – the more the merrier
3. Buy lots of blindfolds (to help turn a blind eye to scams and scammers)
4. Play lots of golf with the scammers and bent pension trustees who facilitate financial crime
5. When an advisory firm or a trustee firm gets caught scamming, slap a few people on the wrist with a wet fish
6. Write meaningless reports about robust compliance
HOW TO BE A SCAMMER
1. Find yourself a bent jurisdiction (such as Gibraltar)
2. Find a bent trustee who will accept business from any old unlicensed scammer (such as STD FIDEC)
3. Find a bent “umbrella” fund which will facilitate financial crime – such as Richard Reinert’s Nascent Fund
4. Find a Ponzi scheme such as Dolphin Trust which will issue “loan notes” at 10% interest per annum (and up to 25% in introduction commission)
5. Transfer hundreds of UK residents to a Gibraltar QROPS scam
6. Get the trustee to agree to invest 100% of 100% of the victims’ retirement savings in … your own fund!
See how easy it is to be either a trustee, a regulator or a scammer? But, equally, remember how easy it is to be a victim!

Quite frankly, Gibraltar should be towed out to sea and sunk. It is a disgrace to the British nation. Just give it back to the Spanish and let them clean it up – they would soon kick the likes of STM Fidecs out and stop any further scams and scammers from operating on Spanish soil. Soil being the operating word.

Rather than going on about how utterly disgusted I am with the Gibraltar regulator, I will leave it to the eloquent words of one of the STM Fidecs/Trafalgar Multi-Asset victims to put this sickening disgrace into perspective.

VICTIM: “I have been quietly simmering away but feel I have to release my anger having again read the response from GFSC.

Firstly, do Gibraltar FSC actually realise over 1,000 individuals and their families are affected by the Trafalgar fiasco, who will potentially all suffer negatively in many different ways during their retirement years? On a personal level, I should have known better but was caught out by cleverness at a weak moment in my life, but many others I have spoken to had no understanding at all of financial affairs and put all of their trust in the hands of STM and all connected parties due to their apparent convincing knowledge and lies – shocking!!!!!

Due to my own personal research, I know of several other financial institutions who were offered and were involved in discussions regarding Trafalgar. But due to having correct procedures in place (unlike STM), they clearly ”smelled a rat”, and were far more ”ROBUST” in their approach. The only rat STM smelled was some form of hopeful ”Magic Money Tree” with no concern for its clients’ wellbeing – apart from its own pound note signs.

As you already know I have previously discussed this matter with my local MP and with your permission would like to highlight again the manner in which Gibraltar FSC have dealt with and inadequately reacted to STM’s performance. STM’s website highlights their glowing history and expertise, but at no point mentions their clearly poor basic audit and compliance mechanisms.

Hopefully, at some point in the future all the evil parties – including STM – in this matter are dragged through the courts, eventually embarrassed and humiliated by the press, and made to pay both financially and personally for their hideous crimes – I can only dream.

Still angry and in despair.

STM Fidecs/Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund Victim

That victim may well have lost her entire life savings thanks to XXXX XXXX and STM Fidecs. I am sickened and disgusted with our own onshore regulator’s pathetic failings: the FCA. But, quite frankly, the Gibraltar FSC makes the FCA look like Superman with TWO pairs of pants on outside their tights!

Interestingly, Justin Caffrey – who used to run Harbour Pensions in Malta – told me a year or so ago that he had been approached by XXXX XXXX who wanted to flog his toxic Trafalgar Multi Asset crap.

Caffrey claimed to have sent XXXX packing with a flea in his ear because he twigged straight away that XXXX was a no-good spiv. However, he had no such ethics when he invested victims’ pensions in Phillip Nunn’s Blackmore Global crap.

But now STD FIDEC has bought Harbour and Caffrey has been given the heave-ho. You couldn’t make it up!
June 16, 2018
Pension Scams: Investigations and prosecutions by SFO

The Serious Fraud Office has written to Frank Field – Chairman of the Pensions Select Committee. The SFO was responding to Frank’s request for details about pension fraud cases prosecuted by the SFO and about the fraudsters’ various scamming techniques.

It is obviously essential to recognise and understand these techniques so that police authorities, regulators, HMRC, the Insolvency Service and the government understand how these crimes work. They need to know how the criminals think, plan, scheme and execute their crimes. It is even more important to publish these details to educate and warn the public as to how to avoid becoming victim to existing and future scams.

The SFO reported two cases and described how they worked:

Sustainable Agroenergy (SAE) Plc, investors were told their investments were in biofuel products, that land was owned in Cambodia and planted with Jatropha trees – a tree with highly toxic fruit that could be used to produce biofuel.

Investors were told there was an insurance policy in place to protect the investments if the crops failed. There was already documented research to show that the Jatropha tree, was not as fruitful as originally thought. Gary West, James Whale and Stuart Stone, were convicted of fraud and bribery offences and sentenced to a total of 28 years imprisonment. They were given confiscation orders totaling £1.36m – most of which has now been paid and distributed on a pro-rata basis to investors eligible for compensation. Details of compensation.

In the Arck LLP case (not to be confused with the ARK pension liberation scam) the fraudsters promised investments would be used for a scheme to develop holiday resorts in Cape Verde. With assurances that the funds were in secure bank accounts which would not leave the UK, Arck LLP later forged statements to mislead investors about the losses.

Clay and Clark – the Arck fraudsters – pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and forgery. Clay was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison, while Clark, was sentenced to two years in prison. Confiscation Orders of £344,244.07 and £178,522 were made against Clay and Clark respectively. To date, the SFO has recovered over £500,000 and is currently identifying potential victims for compensation.

The SFO is also conducting investigations into Capita Oak Pension and Henley Retirement Benefit Scheme, various Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPS) as well as other storage pod investment schemes. This investigation also includes the Westminister Pension Scheme and the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund.

It is thought that over a thousand individual investors have been affected by this alleged fraud.

The amounts invested in these scams totals over £120m.

Around 300 victims of the Capita Oak scheme were given “Thurlstone” loans operated by scammer XXXX XXXX. Now victims face crippling tax bills from HMRC as the loans are deemed to be unauthorised payments.

The Henley Retirement Benefit scheme is the sister scheme to Capita Oak. Both schemes were administered by Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions and Premier Pension transfers.

Westminister Pension Scheme: Stephen Ward AGAIN!

Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund: hundreds of victims have been affected by this toxic, high risk UCIS fund (Unregulated Collective Investment Scheme) which is illegal to be promoted to UK residents. All these victims were “advised” by unlicensed XXXX XXXX to transfer into an STM Fidecs QROPS and then invest 100% of their funds in Trafalgar – his own fund.

How, you may be asking, are these people getting away with scam after scam? Especially Stephen Ward. His company, Premier Pension Solutions(PPS) has close connections with ARK, Evergreen Retirement Trust Qrops, CWM, Headforte, Southlands, London Quantum to name just a few. Ward is a clever “chameleon”, hiding his past scams and reinventing himself each time with ever changing new skins.

A common feature in a number of these frauds is the offer to investors of an unrealistically higher or secured rate of return. Pension Life has many members who have suffered at the hands of not just the schemes listed above but also the repeat fraudsters operating them.

Some victims are facing more than a 73% LOSS! on their pension investments. Others are facing huge tax bills from HMRC.

Click here for more blogs by Pension Life on other groups involved.

January 9, 2018
SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE REQUESTS PENSION AND INVESTMENT SCAM REPORTS

The Serious Fraud Office has asked victims of the Capita Oak, Henley, Westminster and Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund scams to make a report so that these crimes can be investigated.

But I am urging all victims of ALL scams to also make reports to the SFO, please.

This story was first published by International Investment journalist Helen Burgraff on 22.5.17 and heralds a welcome start to the much-needed initiative to bring pension scammers to justice.

Unfortunately, the pension landscape – both in the UK and offshore – is no better now than in the days of the Wild West. Back then, first the Sheriff’s Fraud Officer had to catch his horse; check the horse wasn’t lame; saddle up; then whistle for his tame injun to help him track the thief. Finally, once his water bottle was filled, the brave sheriff set off with his companion, Raging Bull, by around lunch time. Usually, they had tracked the thief down drinking whisky in a saloon by tea time, and after a dusty skirmish, he was thrown in jail by supper time.

Almost exactly two years ago, on 27.5.2015, the Insolvency Service published a witness statement on the £120 million Store First fraud which saw more than 1,000 victims lose their pensions and gain tax liabilities. The statement clearly named 18 scammers involved in these cases – many of whom had been visited at their offices. And yet, not a single one of these criminals was prosecuted or jailed.

Of course the blooming obvious happened – all the scammers went on to operate further scams and ruin thousands more victims’ lives. The cold calling firm, Nunn McCreesh, went on to operate the toxic UCIS fund, Blackmore Global; many of the cold callers upgraded their operations to “introducers” and the Ginger Scammer promoted himself to fund investment manager in the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund (£21 million now suspended).

Scrap heap investments: Toby Whittaker’s Lootin’ Airport

Whatever all the rest of the scammers are doing, it won’t be making good the damage they caused back in 2012/13. And Group First is now launching a new Park First car park at Luton Airport. Doubtless there will be healthy investment introduction commissions for the scammers to con hundreds of investors and pension savers into losing their life savings. Perhaps Toby will name this new venture “Lootin’ Airport”.

Meanwhile, I have discovered one of the advantages of having police officers among the members of the Pension Life Groups. You get the benefit of a wee bit of inside information and I hear that a bunch of the scammers have been arrested. About time!

Meanwhile, the Ginger Scammer’s lawyer is complaining about an image on the Pension Life website. Trouble is, I can’t work out which one it is – I’ve searched and searched and I can’t find a single offensive photo. But then what is offensive to one person is inoffensive to another. I called the Ginger Scammer’s lawyer a “dick” once – maybe it should have been “tick”.

May 24, 2017