Tag: STM Fidecs

WHAT IS WORSE? A SCAMMER OR A SCAMMER’S LAWYER?

Scammers are loathed by victims, regulators, police, ombudsmen and financial services professionals whose professional reputations are compromised by the nefarious practices of the scam merchants. But however damning the hard evidence is about the scams and the various promoters, introducers, advisers, administrators behind them, the scammers still protest their innocence.

Even when there are announcements and articles in the public domain confirming criminal investigations, winding up petitions, arrests, Pensions Ombudsman’s determinations, regulatory intervention and sanctions, the scammers still try to protest that they are innocent and that the damage done to the victims is everybody else’s fault but theirs.

But as soon as I publish something on the Pension Life blog, to inform and warn the public, the scammers’ solicitors swoop like vultures with their cease and desist letters – threatening defamation proceedings. Never mind the £ millions lost to hundreds or even thousands of victims – many of whom are worried sick about losing their pensions; never mind the tax demands which are driving the victims to complete despair and could result in HMRC making them bankrupt; never mind the heart attacks, strokes and other fatal illnesses brought on by stress and sleepless nights. The scammers’ solicitors pull out all the stops – even going so far as to threaten the Pension Life web host and complain to Google about Pension Life’s website blogs.

I’ve been through this with – among others – Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions – who actually took me to court for upsetting his “picky” clients (Ward didn’t even turn up); Paul Baxendale-Walker, the disgraced former barrister (struck off) and porn star; XXXX XXXX of Global Partners Ltd and The Pensions Reporter (now under investigation by the SFO);and now Peter Moat of Fast Pensions (see Sam Brodbeck’s article of 1.7.2017).

In fact all these solicitors – including DWF, Mishcon de Reya, Carter Ruck, Manleys Law, Molins & Silva et al, all bleat that the Pension Life blogs are harming their clients by “causing reputational damage generating huge financial damages and danger of losing business interests and opportunities”. But not so much a squeak about the huge financial damages the scammers they represent cause to the victims who are in danger of losing their homes.

And not a word about the crippling financial damages the scammers they represent cause to the victims who are in danger of losing their homes.

Below is the email exchange between Peter and Sara Moat’s solicitor Monica Caellas and me dated 27th June 2017. Worth noting she has not responded. Perhaps her website, email and telephones have been hit by the same virus as appears to afflict the Moats and Fast Pensions?

Ms. Brooks:

We hereby contact you in name and on behalf of our clients, Ms. Sara Grace Moat and Mr. Peter Daniel Moat, in connection with the statements set forth in the article “Peter Moat and Sara Moat – Fast Pensions” (hereinafter, the “Article”) included in the website https://pension-life.com/peter-moat-sara-moat-fast-pensions/ since May 18, 2017. I am enormously relieved that you have contacted me and would be most grateful if you would be kind enough to act as intermediary in relation to many hundreds of victims who have been scammed out of their pensions. As you can imagine, this is an extremely worrying time for these people and some of them are now receiving tax demands from HMRC as the Moats were operating pension liberation fraud as part of the “package”.

Some of the statements of the Article are extremely serious and could be constitutive of various crimes sanctioned by the Spanish Criminal Code; among them, serious offences of defamations and calumnies. I do not agree that the Moats’ actions include defamation and calumnies – but they certainly involve pension, tax and investment fraud.

FAST PENSIONS is a UK Limited Company licensed by HMRC. No it is not. HMRC do not license companies in the UK. HMRC registers pension schemes, but this implies no approval or license.

Ms. Sara Moat is the sole Director and the sole shareholder of FAST PENSIONS. Her husband, Mr. Peter Moat is the owner and administrator of Blue Property Group, a Group of corporations that has nothing to do with FAST PENSIONS. From a corporate point of view you are correct, however, Peter Moat was the controlling mind behind the company and has been masquerading as “James Porter” in his communications with the victims to attempt to conceal his involvement. Also, I think you will find that Blue Property Group has gone bust and owes money to creditors all over the Costa Blanca.

With the Article you have caused serious confusion against third parties and it is hurting my clients and their companies. I regret that neither the victims nor I will have any sympathy whatsoever with any hurt your clients are experiencing. They have hundreds of victims’ pensions in limbo – and despite numerous Pensions Ombudsman’s determinations, no transfers out (which is a UK citizen’s legal right) have been facilitated. The victims of this scam include several deaths whereby the deceased pension member’s family has not been able to benefit from the pension fund as required by law in the UK.

In particular, the Article expressly and roundly states “There have been a number of Pension Ombudsman determinations which expressed concerns about the maladministration of the unlicensed firm [Fast Pensions] owned by the Moats”. Yes. This is in the public domain on the Pensions Ombudsman’s website.

In this sense, you claimed that a number of very distressed and worried members of the Fast Pensions scheme had contacted you, while those four hundred worried members have not directly contacted FAST PENSIONS itself. I cannot comment on how many worried members have directly contacted Sara and Peter Moat (masquerading as “James Porter”) direct. Many may have attempted to do so but the Moats have made this impossible by disabling their website and emails and not answering their phones. Their claims that the website, email and phone number have all been hit by a “mystery virus” are simply not credible.

As a consequence of the alleged existing claims you contacted Mr. James Porter, the person in charge of leading with any pension queries for Fast Pensions and that has nothing to do with Mr. Moat, despite your suggestions of identifying them as the same person. That is not correct. Peter Moat contacted me, pretending to be “James Porter”.

Anyhow, and after being correctly assisted by Mr. Porter, you claimed that he takes days to respond and you interpreted that as a “deliberate attempt to make it difficult to contact anyone at Fast Pensions”, which is untrue, since all queries have been responded to and dealt with quickly. I am afraid you do not know the facts. Numerous victims have attested to the fact that their desperate pleas to transfer out have been ignored.

If there were clients with concerns they would contact FAST PENSIONS in the First instance to get these resolve. Why don’t you try contacting Fast Pensions and let me know how “fast” they respond? A journalist tried to contact them just now and got this response: Your message wasn’t delivered to james.porter@fastpensions.co.ukbecause the domain fastpensions.co.uk couldn’t be found.

Moreover, in the Article you have made several statements that make Mr. Peter Moat, Ms. Sara Moat, FAST PENSIONS and all of Mr. Peter Moats companies look like a scam. Then I have done my job properly. They are all a scam.

For example, by trying to link Mr. and Ms. Moat as well as FAST PENSIONS to Mr. Sthephen Ward. Also, and more seriously, you stated that you are afraid that the professional environment of Mr. and Ms. Moat “has undeniably got all the hallmarks of a typical, bog standard scam”. And you insisted: “It looks, feels, smells like a scam”. And I stand by all of that. And so does the Pensions Ombudsman.

As a consequence thereof, there are actually a huge number of parties affected by the Article, Peter Moat and his associated companies, Ms. Moat and FAST PENSIONS. The unjustified reputational damage caused by the Article is generating huge financial damages and is putting Mr. Peter Moat and his companies in danger of losing business interests and opportunities. Perhaps you would like to ask some of the victims how they feel about poor Mr. and Mrs. Moat losing business interests and opportunities?

Based on all the foregoing, and without prejudice to the express reservation of legal actions that correspond to my clients, through this communication you are FORMALLY REQUIRED TO IMMEDIATELY REMOVE THE ARTICLE FROM THE WEBSITE AND STOP DISSEMINATING IT THROUGH INTERNET. I will happily reach an agreement with you Monica: you get Sara and Peter Moat to return all the victims’ pensions to them immediately – in full plus interest – and I will remove the article.

Otherwise, we will be forced to exercise the corresponding judicial actions, especially criminal ones, to protect our clients in defense of his freedom and other rights that protect them. I hope you will exercise criminal judicial actions against your clients who have scammed hundreds of victims out of their pensions. Meanwhile, a little friendly advice – as a Spanish lawyer you clearly do not understand UK law, so please tread very carefully. You clearly do not know the facts and are in danger of defending a party which has clearly contravened UK law and compromising your own standing as a legal practitioner in Spain.

Sincerely,

Mònica Caellas

Advocada

Aribau 198, planta 5                 José Abascal 56, planta 6

08036 Barcelona                       28003 Madrid

Tel. 0034 934 152 244              Tel. 0034 913 103 008

Fax 0034 934 160 693              Fax 0034 913 915 158

www.molins-silva.com

July 3, 2017
STM GROUP: THE TRAFALGAR MULTI ASSET PENSION INVESTMENT SCAM

No image for now.

It is rare for me to say nothing. On this occasion, STM Group has stated they are going to stick their heads in the sand and zip their lips. They have facilitated a financial crime…….OK, enough said. For now. I will leave it to STM Group/Fidecs to decide what goes into this blog. They have until close of play tomorrow, Friday 26th May. Then we can either deal with this discreetly and privately – or we can do it all publicly. With every sordid detail exposed in the public domain, to the regulators, the police (who are already investigating, with victims making their reports to the Serious Fraud Office) and the press. And, of course, the Stock Market. Your call STM. Silence is not golden. It is distinctly brown. Get your lawyers to talk to me if you want, but let these victims have some answers if you have any conscience.

May 25, 2017
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
THE ROT OF GIBRALTAR’S “GOLDEN SA-TURD-AY AWARD”

What a wag that Michael Howard was on Saturday. But his timing is brilliant as we do have one little “mess” which needs sorting out urgently, and a bit of a hole – about the size of Howard’s mouth – in regulation and financial crime prevention in Gibraltar: the STM Fidecs/Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund pension scam.

Known for many years as a haven for crooks, tax evaders, swindlers, fraudsters, money launderers, drug traffickers and assorted rascally turds, Gibraltar is also home to STM Fidecs. Allegedly a pension “trustee” firm. So, this blog is addressed directly and unashamedly to STM Fidec’s Alan Kentish and David Easton.

“Alan and David, the word “trustee” has got the “trust” bit in it for a reason. Members are supposed to be able to trust a pension trustee to ensure that investors are not advised by a two-bit, unregulated, serial scammer. And further, that they are not advised by a two-bit, unregulated, serial scammer who is also the investment manager of the very UCIS scam he is promoting to UK residents who should never have been put in a QROPS in the first place. And further still, that the investors’ pensions are not 100% invested in that high-risk, toxic rubbish which is illegal to be promoted to UK residents.

Talking of words, I was curious as to what “Fidecs” actually means and when I Googled it, I got “fighting infectious diseases in emerging countries”. Well, that’s about right if you ask me. And who asked me? Victims of the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fraud (£21 million suspended and arguably worthless). And a dying elderly man to whom you caused immense anguish by refusing to release a portion of his pension so he could have life-saving cancer treatment – and whom you gagged when eventually you did relent (although he had told me all about before you gagged him).

And talking of gagging, what about the woman you gagged because she worked for you and objected strongly to the amount of business you were signing off which was non-compliant and would put investors at risk? She happened to know what she was talking about because she had been a victim of the scammers at Holborn Assets in Dubai who came close to losing her all of her pension – so she knew her stuff. So you gagged her too – but not before she had told me every detail – as she is a member of the Pension Life Group Action.

So, Al and Dave, I am sure it goes without saying that you won’t be gagging me, and a detailed report is being prepared for Messrs. Coles, Crossman, Tricker, Ashton, Barrass and Garner. It would be nice if you came forward, admitted your negligence like men and put your professional indemnity insurers on notice without squirming and slithering around.

Let’s see if you are men; whether you can put the “trust” back in “trustee”, take the turd out of Saturday and kick the rot out of Gibraltar. Then Lord Howard can take his foot out of his mouth and Gib might have a chance of rescuing its tarnished imagine as the harbourer of financial crime.”

April 2, 2017
TRUSSED BY A QROPS TRUSTEE?

Philip Hammond’s surprise 25% tax on QROPS transfers will leave many advisers and trustees floundering as the industry tries to make some sense of the long-term consequences for expatriates and their pensions. The uncertainty of the “five-year” change of circumstances rule will leave a huge question mark over the offshore landscape.

But while the industry ponders the fall-out of the Hammond organ, the “elephant in the room” is far more sinister: offshore trustees who have accepted business from scammers. This has been a serious problem since at least 2011, and the fall-out is £ millions of pounds’ worth of pension losses and sometimes tax liabilities for the thousands of victims.

Regulators, ombudsmen and financial crime units are now being sent detailed reports on thousands of cases where trustees have either been in league with the scammers or simply turned a blind eye to obvious scams – putting profit before due diligence (either accidentally or deliberately). The distinction between the varying shades of grey is sometimes somewhat subtle, but it always has the same outcome: pension losses for the victims.

The jurisdictions affected include New Zealand, Guernsey, Malta and Gibraltar principally (although not exclusively). Whatever problems there may be with Hammond’s 25% blow job, the culpability of rogue trustees will hopefully now become a hot issue – and victims will stand a better chance of obtaining redress for their losses.

In Guernsey, from 2010 onwards, Concept Trustees was routinely accepting business from Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions. Although Concept was warning some victims that Ward had provided no evidence of regulation or professional indemnity insurance – and refusing to communicate with him – this did not stop Concept from accepting transfers and dealing instructions from Ward. Concept should never have been offering members investments in toxic, high-risk funds such as EEA Life Settlements and Connaught Property Loans. In fact, the FSA had issued warnings about EEA in February 2010, but Concept continued to offer this to low-risk, cautious investors in the full knowledge that it was an entirely unsuitable investment for a pension fund.

At around the same time, Gower Pensions in Guernsey was accepting business from Dubai-based Holborn Assets. The firm was not licensed for pension or investment advice in Spain – or for any activity beyond wearing an expensive suit, regurgitating convincing, high-pressure sales patter and having an impressive leather-bound portfolio. Despite several years of communication with both Gower and Holborn, a derisory amount of compensation for heavy pension fund losses has been offered (and refused).

In 2012, New Zealand’s Evergreen Retirement Trust launched a pension liberation scam with Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions. Three hundred victims – mostly Spanish residents – transferred their UK pensions (aggregate value of around £10 million) to Evergreen and obtained 50% “loans” from Ward’s Cyprus-based Marazion loan company. The loans were financed by the assets of the scheme and the victims were tied in to both the loan and the pension scheme for identical five-year periods. This particular chicken is coming home to roost later in 2017 and it will be interesting to see how the various parties in New Zealand and Spain who were behind this scam will try to escape liability and culpability.

In the last couple of years, pension scammers have moved away from the bogus occupational scheme approach and into QROPS – which they find even easier to use, abuse and lose. In 2015, Malta-based Integrated Capabilities started accepting transfers into their Optimus scheme from unlicensed scammers in the Czech Republic. These same scammers were also the distributors/promoters of one of the toxic, high-risk UCIS funds being used as the assets of the scheme. Despite Optimus having Lombard Bank (purportedly) as Investment Manager, there seems to have been an absolute lack of due diligence or transparency. In fact, had Integrated Capabilities bothered to look a little closer at the scammers they were getting into bed with, they would have seen that one party had been a cold-calling operation behind the Capita Oak £10 million scam.

But Gibraltar’s STM Fidecs probably takes the biscuit – or even the whole shopping trolley. In 2014, STM started accepting transfers from UK residents by an unlicensed firm which had also been involved in Capita Oak and other scams. This firm was not only the adviser but also the investment manager to the toxic UCIS fund that the victims’ pensions were invested in. This fund – the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund – was invested entirely in German property development loans (which pay handsome introduction commissions to the introducers) and is now suspended and being wound up.

While it is clear that Hammond hasn’t a clue about pensions in general or QROPS in particular, his 25% surprise may have had unintended consequences in that it will shine the spotlight firmly on negligent offshore trustees who facilitate financial crime – either through omission or commission. Whether the regulators, ombudsmen and financial crime units in New Zealand, Guernsey, Malta and Gibralta will order these trustees to compensate their victims remains to be seen. The survival of these offshore jurisdictions as “safe havens” for financial business depends on them cleaning up their act and outlawing unlicensed operators profiting from trustees’ lax approach to due diligence.

The future of the QROPS may be uncertain, but the future of pension trustees such as Concept, Integrated Capabilities and STM Fidecs should be very clear: no dealings with scammers; no toxic UCIS investments; no failing to compensate victims who suffer pension losses through negligence and/or fraud.

March 13, 2017
STM’s Trafalgar Wind Up?

STM Trafalgar Pension Scam

Seriously–is this yet another wind up? STM want to be voted as “National Public Champion”?

All of STM’s allegedly world-leading people will have known that it was illegal to promote a UCIS to retail UK residents. Unless STM’s claims about their excellent pensions team are just a wind up?

After International Investor’s expose of the wind up of the failed £21 millionTrafalgar Multi-Asset fund:

http://www.internationalinvestment.net/products/suspended-trafalgar-multi-asset-fund-wound/

not many of the hundreds of victims who may stand to lose part or all of their pensions will be voting for STM. International Investment’s Helen Burggraf reported that the Trafalgar fund’s investors were advised of the wind up on 13th January 2017 by Richard Reinert of the Nascent Fund (an umbrella fund containing the Trafalgar fund).

STM, who failed to provide details about how the wind-up is likely to work, have apparently whined that they had been “unfairly singled out” as a well-known trustee because they had kept their victims “informed about the fund’s problems”

STM, whose stake in Trafalgar accounted for 75% of the total fund value, failed to answer urgent questions about their role in the victims’ impending losses in the fund which, according to International Investment was “managed by Victory Asset Management, run by two of the people involved in the Capita Oak pension scam.”

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STM claim to have over 50 “dedicated and highly-skilled” people in their pensions team and that their level of expertise has made them world leaders in the field of QROPS. Perhaps one of these wonderful people can explain why hundreds of UK-domiciled investors were transferred into a Gibraltar QROPS on the advice of an unregulated adviser who was also the Trafalgar fund manager into which 100% of these pensions were invested.

STM will surely have no trouble providing an explanation as to why victims’ pensions were 100% invested into one UCIS which was 100% invested in loans to a German property developer.

All of STM’s allegedly world-leading people will have known that it was illegal to promote a UCIS to retail UK residents. Unless STM’s claims about their excellent pensions team are just a wind up?

February 1, 2017
Life at Pension Life Fighting Scams – 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.

January 2, 2017
As Easy as A Zero Tolerance approach to pension scams

Zero Tolerance approach to pension scams

It is rare for me to want to copy somebody else’s work, but Dalriada Trustees’ Neil Copeland wrote a very good piece on 20^th December 2016 about three “hurricanes” which hit us this year: Altmann, Brexit and Trump. With an astonishing degree of imaginative and creative inspiration, Neil referred to this as being “as easy as A, B, T”.

http://dalriadatrustees.co.uk/archives/2016-as-easy-as-a-b-t-altmann-brexit-trump/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DalriadaTrustees+%28Dalriada+Trustees%29

It is probably fair to agree that Brexit and Trump came into the “cataclysmic tsunami” category when considering what possible effect both of these surprises might have on pensions. I think the answer is probably a resounding “don’t know”, but we do all – of course – hope it will be good, positive and helpful. Maybe even some of George Osborne’s dreadful “freedoms” damage might be repaired?

I particularly liked Neil’s quote that “one of the reasons Trump ran for president was that he was sick and tired of people laughing at America” The interesting parallel, of course, is that victims of pension and investment scams are sick and tired of the pension scammers laughing at regulators and law enforcement in the UK and offshore.

Neil also observed that Brexit may have been a bit of a surprise, but now nobody has a “Scooby” what the eventual end result will be. (Least of all the British government!). While we are used to our country being run by incompetent ditherers, we must all hope that Neil is right when he says there are some clear post-referendum messages for pension trustees and that these comprise of understanding liabilities, investments, sponsors covenants and developments. What Neil failed to do, of course, is mention that the offshore trustees in traditionally dodgy jurisdictions such as Malta, Gibraltar and Guernsey, will have a jolly good chuckle at this prediction. They will undoubtedly continue to ignore regulatory and due diligence obligations as they accept business from unregulated chiringuitos and see low-risk investors put into high-risk, toxic, illiquid funds that benefit nobody except the scammers.

Interestingly, Neil tackled the three hurricanes in reverse order, with A for Altmann coming last. He felt sure the red Baronness was a “lovely person” but believed she had undermined the credibility of the role of pensions minister. He reminded us that she had repeatedly refused to do anything about pension scams, referred to the victims as “fools” and claimed banning cold calling was too difficult. She also claimed it was “officials” who stopped her from banning cold calling (presumably the same officials who told her she couldn’t help the WASPI victims?). Perhaps Ros simply didn’t have a “Scooby” how to do it – and anyway preferred drawing pretty-coloured boxes. Altmann was subsequently quoted as saying that it was unacceptable to say the government couldn’t bring in a cold-calling ban. She clearly feels happier being outside the tent.

Neil commented that now the Government has announced it is going to ban pensions cold calling, perhaps Ros feels a little silly. And if she does have the grace to feel humility for her failure maybe Richard Harrington will take up the challenge of undoing the damage she has done to the image of the pensions minister’s role.

I think 2017 will have to focus on many challenges faced by Britain and the rest of the world. But for the sake of British citizens everywhere, I hope Brexit and Trump will result in some positive developments for the pensions and investment world. I also hope that Harrington and the whole of the DWP will at last take seriously their obligations to sort this unholy mess out once and for all. We need a ZERO TOLERANCE APPROACH and must stop fannying about with weak regulation which is not fit for purpose.

I hope everyone who is interested in helping rescuing the pension industry and pension scam victims will respond to the government consultation:

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

I also hope that all concerned will explain to the government that regulatory and law enforcement failures have led to many scammers repeatedly coming up with new ways of making fortunes out of victims and fools out of regulators. The chiringuitos have profitably built up huge portfolios of ruined British citizens in the UK and are now happily scamming away offshore with help from firms in Gibraltar, Malta and the Cayman Islands. Zero tolerance is now the only option.

December 24, 2016
STM FIDECS QROPS and Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund Disaster (Suspended)

Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund – DISASTER.

“Gibraltar is a highly regulated and transparent jurisdiction, coupled with the benefits of a Gibraltar-based regulatory regime.” Well, we will see won’t we!!

STM is now writing to their distressed members who are invested in the suspended £20 million Trafalgar Multi-Asset fund. STM are stating:

“All members who invested into the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund were introduced by Global Partners Limited, Nationwide Benefit Consultants Limited, and/or The Pension Reporter. NBCL provided advice based on their appointed representative status granted by the Portuguese regulated firm – Joseph Oliver LDA. In April 2016 Joseph Oliver LDA revoked the permissions granted to NBCL. This resulted in the directors and employees of NBCL, no longer having permission to give financial advice.”

But – come on guys – there is no evidence that Global Partners or NBC or The Pension Reporter were ever regulated for pension or investment advice. Only insurance advice. So the fact that Joseph Oliver LDA dumped them is irrelevant. So why did STM accept any of these people at all?

All of these people were undoubtedly low-risk, low-net-worth, unsophisticated investors – but they were all put into a high-risk, illiquid Unregulated Collective Investment Scheme (which is illegal to be promoted to UK retail clients). So, where was STM’s due diligence?

And what did STM know about the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund? They obviously knew the investment manager was also the adviser (a clear conflict of interest). STM claims to be “a leading provider of international pensions with over 40 years’ experience providing bespoke planning for high-net-worth individuals in managing personal pension schemes.” So why accept members who are neither international nor high net worth?

STM goes on to claim they are “at the forefront of developing best practice in the administration and delivery of a QROPS. Our business model and processes are built around our clients to ensure we deliver only the highest standards of client care.” So STM has accepted hundreds of members who are UK resident and low risk into a QROPS 100% invested in one single UCIS and whose adviser is also the investment manager of the fund? I would hardly call this the “highest standards of client care” but rather the lowest standards of negligence.

So what are you ridiculously hopeless lot going to do about it? Call yourself pension trustees? I wouldn’t trust you with my used tea bags!

December 6, 2016
Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund
TRAFALGAR MULTI ASSET FUND (SUSPENDED)

After the disasters of failed pension schemes Capita Oak, Henley and Westminster (aggregate of £20 million lost to over 500 victims through investments in Store First store pods – wound up by the Insolvency Service), there are now concerns about the suspended Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund of £20 million. The board of directors have published the below report and are investigating how this fund came to be mostly invested in one asset: Dolphin property development loans.

In fact, Dolphin was one of the assets of Stephen Ward’s London Quantum scam which is now in the hands of Dalriada Trustees (appointed by the Pensions Regulator). Dalriada stated a year ago that Dolphin was not a suitable investment for a pension scheme and yet the investment manager of Trafalgar has invested most of the fund in Dolphin.

The unlicensed adviser to the victims was also the investment manager of the Trafalgar fund. The advisory firm, Global Partners Limited – which then changed its name to The Pension Reporter – was an agent of a firm called Joseph Oliver and was not licensed to give pension or investment advice.

Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund (Suspended) shareholders report (excerpts):

Board’s significant concerns with respect to the conduct of the Investment Manager:
- Repeated and consistent failure to carry out and maintain records of proper due diligence with respect to investments
- Making investments which involve inappropriate or unjustified risk, particularly in allowing the over-exposure to two counterparties and allowing loans to suspected related parties without any disclosure of interests to the Board
- Repeated and consistent failure to ensure that the position of the Fund is properly protected by having appropriate, properly executed legal documentation in place
- Repeated failure to provide the Board with relevant information with respect to investment activity e.g. variations to the arrangements with investments in Dolphin and Quantum
- Inability to answer straightforward questions put forward by the Auditors
- Providing misleading and even dishonest information to the Board
- Transacting business on behalf of the Fund knowing that the Board had suspended subscriptions and redemptions
- Failure to make investments which are appropriate for the Fund
The question must also be asked of STM Group WHY DID THEY ACCEPT BUSINESS FROM AN UNLICENSED ADVISER AND ALLOW THEIR VICTIMS TO HAVE 100% OF THEIR PENSIONS INVESTED IN A FUND WHICH WAS A SCAM? THE TRAFALGAR MULTI ASSET FUND WAS A UCIS WHICH IS ILLEGAL TO BE PROMOTED TO UK RESIDENTS. STM ARE ENTIRELY NEGLIGENT AND CULPABLE FOR ALLOWING THIS SCAM TO HAPPEN AT ALL.
September 13, 2016