Tag: Tolleys Pensions Taxation

  • CAPITA OAK – THE GINGER SCAMMER

    CAPITA OAK – THE GINGER SCAMMER

    In the Capita Oak pension scam, the “Ginger Scammer” – XXXX XXXX – is reported to have earned over £200k in transfer/administration fees alone. It is not known how much he earned in investment introduction commissions.

    The Ginger Scammer can afford to stump up some cash for the benefit of the victims of the Capita Oak and Henley Retirement Benefit Scams. Over a thousand victims are facing the partial or total loss of their pensions and are also now being pursued by HMRC for tax liabilities on the Thurlstone liberation “loans” operated by XXXX XXXX

    Here is the email sent to the lawyers acting for XXXX:

    Dear Dick

    I am setting out below the redacted tax appeal in respect of “Mr. X”.  He had the largest transfer in Capita Oak – and by definition the largest Thurlstone loan (operated by XXXX XXXX and Tom Biggar) and resulting tax demand.
    Mr. X’s case was the subject of a Pensions Ombudsman’s determination where Capita Oak was clearly stated to be a scam.   Undoubtedly the Ginger Scammer is familiar with the Ombudsman’s determination: https://www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/PO-3590.pdf
    Further, I am sure you have seen the FCA sanction against IFA Popplewell:
    £128 million worth of pensions investments is an awfully big number and I am sure that after all the money your client earned out of these scams, he can come up with sufficient funds to place in a secure account for the benefit of the victims who are now being pursued by HMRC for tax on the Thurlstone “loans”.  Although it is a matter of public record that XXXX earned well in excess of £200k in transfer fees in Capita Oak alone, it is inevitable that he will also have received some introduction commissions.
    The Thurlstone loans were operated by XXXX XXXX and therefore he must take responsibility for the tax liabilities on behalf of the victims.  Can you please both get back to me by return.  Ignoring this situation and turning your back on the Capita Oak victims is not an option.
    Regards, Angie
    ——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
                                                                                                                                                  

    HMRC Specialist Personal Pension Schemes Services – Attn Lynn Faulkner                                            11 April 2017

    Fitz Roy House

    Castle Meadow Road

    Nottingham NG2 1BD,

    United Kingdom

    Dear Ms Faulkner

    Ref: Mr. X: UTR: 9227156060 – Amount of Assessment: £31,473.89


    Please accept this as the appeal and request for     postponement of the tax sought by HMRC on behalf of the above-named taxpayer in respect of the protected assessment issued.  The grounds are as follows:
     

    1.       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.  

    2.       Capita Oak was also registered by the Pensions Regulator (PSR12006487) who had placed Ward’s Ark schemes in the hands of Dalriada Trustees – yet allowed him to register a further scheme with no regard to the risk that it might be a scam (as indeed it was).

    4.       This taxpayer – along with 300 other victims – was given the Thurlstone loan on the basis it was definitely not taxable by an individual who purported to be a financial adviser.  Had the victim known this would be treated as an unauthorised payment, he would not have gone ahead with the transfer. 

    5.       The Thurlstone loans were processed by two CII members practising as financial and tax advisors. They would have known there was a risk the loans would constitute unauthorised payments and result in tax assessments by HMRC.  

    6.       Once the transfer request had been signed by the victim, there was nothing further he could have done to influence any further transactions since these would have been outside of his control.  The trustees, Imperial, and the Thurlstone loan company were by now in total control of the transfer, investment and loan.  The victim had zero input or influence over what happened subsequent to the transfer being executed by the negligent ceding providers. 

    7.       There appears to be no evidence whatsoever that Capita Oak was set up for the purpose of providing an income in retirement for the members.  It must be questioned, therefore, whether it even constituted a pension scheme at all – save for the valid HMRC and tPR registration numbers.  As supported by the Insolvency Service’s witness statement, the following are compelling reasons why this was a bogus pension scheme from start to finish:

     ·         The trust deed was forged

    ·         The sponsoring employer – R. P. Medplant Ltd was stated to be in Cyprus

    ·         The sponsoring employer – R. P. Medplant Ltd did not exist – although there was a company registered in Cyprus called R. P. Med Plant Ltd (which was also used for the subsequent Westminster scam).

    ·         The scheme was set up purely as the “super fund” of a bunch of known, serial scammers, to earn investment introduction commissions of 46% out of Store First’s store pods

    ·         The scheme’s own bank – Barclays – didn’t know it was a pension scheme – and when Barclays eventually realised this, they blocked the account

    ·         No arrangements were ever made to communicate with the members.  Once the various scammers in their respective roles had earned their fees and commissions, they all simply walked away and abandoned the scheme and the members

    ·         The transfer administration was carried out by Stephen Ward, Level 6 qualified CII and author of the Tolleys Pensions Taxation Manual.  After the disasters of both Ark and Evergreen, Ward would have known he was condemning all the victims – whether transferring from personal or occupational pensions – to certain financial ruin and potential unauthorised payment charges

    ·         The unauthorised payment charges arose from the Thurlstone loans and the tax should, therefore, be sought direct from the extremely wealthy scammers – not from the victims of the large-scale Capita Oak scam.

    Angela Brooks – Chairman, Pension Life Group Action 

  • Three words about pension scams

    Three words about pension scams

    Three words about pension scams

    Can I have a word please?  In fact – can I have three words?

    free

    loophole

    sophisticated

    Now, these are not just any old words – they are the keys the scammers use to unlock victims’ savings and make huge amounts of money out of destroying innocent people’s retirement income:

    http://www.professionaladviser.com/professional-adviser/feature/2441535/revealed-the-top-three-watchwords-in-pension-liberation-scams

    Let´s look at these words in more detail to see how they become part of the language of fraud:

    “Would you like a free pension review?”  The answer is so often a heart breaking “yes please!”  This leads on to the scammers telling a bunch of lies about how the existing (often final salary) pension is no good and needs to be transferred offshore and invested in store pods, car parks, holiday resorts, care homes, student accommodation, derelict German government buildings and forestry.

    “Would you like a free pension transfer?”  Again, people who don’t understand the question think “free” means “free”.  It doesn’t.  So often, the transfer ends up costing a huge amount in hidden fees and commissions which are not disclosed up front and often only discovered years later.

    “You can access your pension free of tax”.  That old chestnut!  When you are told that by the author of the Tolley´s Pensions Taxation Manual, it is hard to figure out for yourself that it isn’t true.  But it isn’t.  Or, at least, HMRC don’t think it is true and they send you fat tax bills.

    “You can access your pension free of tax because of a legal loophole”.  The scammers claim that because the liberation is a loan (which doesn’t need to be paid back) there will be no tax.  Again, the scammers and HMRC don’t sing from the same hymn sheet and HMRC inevitably demand 55% tax on the “loan”.

    Scammers try to fool victims into thinking they are regulated.  One loophole often used is to become a tied agent of an offshore firm which is regulated to create the illusion that the scammer’s firm is regulated.  Only too late do the victims realise this is not the case; there is no regulation in force and therefore no safety net when the inevitable happens and the pension fund is worthless.

    In both knitting and crotchet, loopholes are an essential part of creating a jumper because they are used (and exploited) to put the next stitch in; the next row; the next part of the pattern.  And this is how the world of the pension and investment scammers works.  And the jumper gets bigger and bigger as every day the scammers find more ways to trick, con, deceive, defraud and scam thousands of victims out of their savings.

    The scammers frequently trick victims into agreeing they are “sophisticated” investors in order to invest in high-risk, illiquid assets and UCIS (unregulated collective investment schemes).  The victims often think the use of the word sophisticated is a compliment and they don’t realise this is just one of the many weapons in the scammer’s arsenal to help market the toxic wares.

    The scammers’ business models become increasingly sophisticated as the industry and regulators struggle to keep up with their methods of scamming.  The scammers got very rich selling other people’s funds for enormous commissions.  Now they sell their own funds and conceal what the assets of the funds are.  But, of course, the underlying investments are the same old same old toxic rubbish.

    The scammers use very sophisticated terminology to bamboozle the victims into believing the investments are desirable: “highly diversified and non-correlated investment portfolio providing maximum growth”; “asset classes have not only attracted the attention of the fund managers but also many astute investors”; “state of the art markets (such as store pods)”.

    In fact, this whole stinking mess can be summed up by the phrase: “no such thing as a  free sophisticated loophole”.

    Often scammer aren´t even qualified to give any financial advice, make sure you know what qualifications they need to advice you on your pension transfer.

    Click here to make sure you know what questions to ask when transferring your pension.

    Trolley’s Pension Scam Guide

  • Pension Liberation “Loans”

    Email to Michael Bridges, Compliance, HMRC from Angie Brooks, ARK Class Action – re pension liberation loans.

     

    11 November 2015

    Dear Mr. Bridges,

    Re: Pension Liberation “Loans”

    Thank you for calling me yesterday and for discussing the various aspects of the pension transfers and “loans”.  Some important points arose from our discussion, and I feel it would be valuable to get these recorded and addressed.
    The first issue was whether any of the members/victims ever asked their existing/ceding providers if they could provide a loan.  It has never occurred to me to ask this question so – by copying in a number of members to this email – I am reaching out to ask them this specific question:
    “Did you ever ask or consider asking your original pension provider – e.g. Standard Life, Aviva, Royal Mail, NHS etc. – whether they could provide a loan?”
    If I get any replies I will let you know.  I suggest the answer will be a resounding “no” – but rather than assume the response I will leave it to the experts, i.e. the victims themselves, to answer this question.  (I think you will find the answer in the Q10’s anyway.)

    How do Pension Liberation “Loans” work?

     Victims of different scams were told different things, and the “loans” were structured in different ways.  Some were told the loans were repayable; some that they were not repayable; some received elaborate loan documentation; some received nothing.  However, the common fact is that they were all told in no uncertain terms that the “loans” were not taxable.  Many of the scammers went to great lengths to try to create the illusion that there was no connection between the loans and the transfers and that it was entirely a coincidence that they both happened at the same time.

    Elysian Fuels

    In fact, in a recently-published case: Elysian Fuels (£240 million now valued at £zero) the participants were told by financial advisers that the 84% “loans” were not taxable and that regulated SIPP providers James Hay and Suffolk Life were fully aware of and “happy” with the “loan” structure.  I have copied and pasted the emails outlining this scheme below for your information.

    Tax Compliance

    The point I am trying to make is that if an “ordinary man in the street” is assured by an IFA, a solicitor and a SIPP provider that a transaction is tax compliant, there is no reason for him to question that assurance.  What makes matters worse for the victims (and better for the scammers) is that the vehicles for the scams – whether an occupational scheme, QROPS or SIPP,- are registered by HMRC in the first place.  This gives the illusion that there is something “safe” or “approved” about the entire structure and indeed the scammers often use the term “HMRC approved” to dupe the victims.
    I have copied James Hay into this email and hopefully – as a regulated SIPP provider – they will come back with some further professional and regulated views on how and why pension liberations/loans/maximising arrangements (or whatever “label” is used to describe the liberation mechanism) are so easy to sell as “tax free” transactions.  Hopefully someone at James Hay will be able to provide some enlightening “inside” information and views on the subject.
    I could tell that you felt impatient with the fact that so many people believed these various liberation scams were legitimate and tax compliant.  With the greatest of respect, I would point out that as you work for HMRC in Compliance, it is your job to be an expert on pensions taxation.  But the victims don’t tend to have that knowledge or education and won’t have read Tolley’s Pensions Taxation (420 pages) http://www.amazon.com/Tolleys-Pensions-Taxation-2014-2015-Stephen/dp/0754549356.
    You also pointed out that if there was no loan agreement or contract, then there was no loan.  Each scam worked differently, and as far as I can see the only one with a proper, enforceable loan contract was the Evergreen QROPS/Marazion loan scheme run by Stephen Ward from Spain.  The word “loan” was merely a four-letter word – sometimes accompanied by the term “non recourse” as in the James Hay/Elysian example below.  We could debate “when is a loan not a loan?” all day long, but the bottom line is that the victims were misled and defrauded.  In some cases by a government consultant on pensions; and in some cases an added layer of apparent respectability enhanced the illusion that the transaction was safe and compliant by involving FCA-regulated IFAs and SIPP providers.
    Another scheme for pension liberation was Salmon Enterprises which worked with the trustees Tudor Capital Management.
    All in all, it is a disgraceful state of affairs, and I am afraid HMRC themselves have played their own part in helping facilitate these scams for the past five years – resulting in ruin for many thousands of victims while lining the pockets of the scammers.
    Regards, Angie

    From: Alan Fowler <fowlerpts@gmail.com>
    Date: 17 October 2013 21:28:21 BST
    To: William Perkins <billperkins62@gmail.com>
    Subject: Fwd: a solution for you !

    Interesting….but I’m amazed that reputable SIPP providers will countenance this.   Who’s making the loans?  I’m not sure I see how the SIPP pays the member (or anyone for that matter) £100k – with what/who’s money?  And won’t the SIPP need to verify that the shares in Xco are actually worth £100k.   That said, if the IFA is doing these, it seems the process works………..

    Regards,  Alan
    ==============
    Begin forwarded message:
    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>
    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 Elysium)
    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 ….
    Fees ….. On transfer to SIPP ( need to agree the commercials with the IFA)
    Regards
    Stephen
    Sent from my iPad