Author: Angie

  • INTERNATIONAL ADVISER’S GLOBAL FINANCIAL SERVICES AWARDS 2025 By Gary Robinson

    INTERNATIONAL ADVISER’S GLOBAL FINANCIAL SERVICES AWARDS 2025 By Gary Robinson

    Gary Robinson of International Adviser celebrates global undisclosed commissions on June 25th 2025.

    Gary Robinson,  journalist and filmmaker, now heads up International Adviser. IA poses as a financial services news magazine. In reality, it is a rag for promoting the products of the life offices (more accurately known as death offices) such as Utmost International, RL360, Hansard and Investors Trust. This enriches the commission-hungry firms – such as DeVere, Guardian Wealth Management, Holborn Assets and Mondial in Dubai.  (See victims’ reviews below).

    Gary Robinson, also MD of Money Map Media, pictured above promoting Nigel Green of DeVere, claims:

    “Really exciting to bring back the IA Global Financial Services Awards 2025 where the shortlist is solely decided by our advisers, brokers and wealth managers.”

    Death Office Quilter - now Utmost - set to win awards for misrepresentation and undisclosed commissions.
    Death Office Quilter – now Utmost – set to win awards for misrepresentation and undisclosed commissions.

    But Gary’s “excitement” is disingenuous as he knows full well that the advisers, brokers and wealth managers are at the receiving end of the fraudulently-concealed commission machine operated by the death offices. This leads to sales of inappropriate and risky investment products. And the word “adviser” is grossly misleading as the majority of the firms don’t sell advice – they sell products for fat and destructive commissions.

    Gary’s predecessor was Kirsten Hastings.  In 2020, Hastings handed out awards to her paymasters to rapturous canned applause:

    “And the winner of international life group non-UK is Quilter International. Congratulations!”

    “And the winner of International Portfolio Bond is Quilter International.  Congratulations!!”

    “And the winner of Digital Proposition is Quilter International. Congratulations!!!

    Hastings said that Quilter had been “overwhelmingly nominated by the advisers”.  Hardly surprising since that’s where their juicy, fraudulent commissions come from.

    Kirsten Hastings of International Adviser gushing over Quilter International (now Utmost International).

    These undisclosed commissions come in two layers: 7% or 8% on the portfolio bond itself.  Then commissions of up to 19% or more on the toxic, high-risk assets on the investment platforms provided by the death offices. So the “advice” to get sucked into these products is certainly not “independent”.

    Five years later, the 2025 IA awards not only target the death offices but also the rogue jurisdictions which act as enthusiastic incubators for so much international financial crime.  IA Nominations for International Financial Centre of the Year include:

    Hong Kong, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. 

    All of which have harboured fraud, negligence and mis selling – with little or no intervention by the regulators.  

    Hong Kong is not as popular among fraudsters as Malta, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man.  However, in 2014 a group of conmen in Hong Kong – including Neil Masters, Michael Foggo, Mark Wearmouth and Chris Beale – launched the GFS Superannuation Scheme 2 occupational pension.  They then operated a multi-million-pound investment fraud in partnership with Czech broker Planet Pensions (aka Aktiva and Square Mile). 

    Neil Masters - Mastering the art of investment fraud.
    Neil Masters – Mastering the art of investment fraud.

    Hundreds of UK-residents were then conned into transferring their pensions to GFS in Hong Kong.  They lost everything in toxic, unregulated, high-commission investments.  Convicted criminals Mark Donnelly and Gordon Couch of Brite Advisors then tried to take over the scheme using Donnelly’s Hong Kong company Tribune – set up jointly with Nigel Green of DeVere.  Donnelly then bought Planet Pensions for £650,000 using money stolen from his Brite Advisors clients.

    The Hong Kong regulator did at least deregister the scheme when it realised it had been used for investment fraud – but then took no criminal action against the perpetrators.

    Guernsey and Jersey have also been involved with various investment scams over the past decade.  These include the 💲100 million unregulated collective investment EEA Life Settlements scam based in Guernsey and the £40 million Privilege Wealth payday loans swindle used as 100% investments in pension portfolios in Jersey.

    The Isle of Man hosts some of the World’s worst facilitators of fraud – including Hansard, Utmost, Quilter, Friends Provident International and RL360.  These firms have been responsible for the destruction of billions of pounds of life savings and are currently standing trial in the Isle of Man for misrepresentation and undisclosed commissions in two claims for £400 million worth of losses for hundreds of victims.  And these death offices have for many years paid millions of pounds in secret commissions to the worst of the commission-driven “advice” industry.  

    Hopefully Gary Robinson will give the audience, at the awards ceremony on 25th June, details of the crippling losses caused by Friends Provident International and Quilter International (now Utmost).

    The IA Award nominations for best international pension provider include Momentum Pensions in Malta.  This is astonishing as Momentum has the most Arbiter complaints of all the QROPS providers in this ineptly-regulated and corrupt jurisdiction.  The Malta Arbiter’s website clearly contains details of nearly 100 serious complaints against Momentum – most of which were upheld.  The Arbiter found that Momentum had failed to comply with the Malta financial services regulations and to have failed in its fiduciary duty to the scheme members.  And yet still the Malta regulator – despite the Malta Arbiter’s damning condemnation – has still not shut down Momentum (or STM for that matter – which came a shameful second to Momentum).

    Momentum Pensions had allowed millions of pounds’ worth of investments in toxic, high-risk structured notes by unregulated Spanish firm CWM.  Most of these failed, wiping out hundreds of members’ pensions.   The sole director of CWM has recently been convicted of fraud and sentenced to four years in prison.

    Momentum Pensions was not the only QROPS provider in Malta to facilitate investment fraud by rogue brokers.  This is borne out in detail through serious complaints published on the Malta Arbiter’s website also include Dominion Fiduciary Services, STM, Optimus, ITC and Mark Donnelly’s MC Trustees.  All these firms negligently allowed high-risk, high-commission, unsuitable investments by unscrupulous brokers (resulting in total loss for the victims).

    These Malta-based pension providers open the gateway to the death offices in the Isle of Man – who host the high-risk investments and facilitate the illegal commissions.  The Asset Review Team at Quilter International had reported concerns about this a decade ago:

    “Commerzbank and Leonteq structured products appear to be risky and not good value due to relatively high commissions.”

    The Asset Review Team also described the undisclosed commission arrangement operated by Nigel Green’s DeVere:

    “DeVere’s model is that they take 4% for advice plus an arrangement fee of 4%.  The 4% advice fee is disclosed.  The arrangement fee is not disclosed to the customer.  The client pays 104% for a structured product with an issue price of 100%.  If the client tried to exit the product on day 2 they would receive 96% for something that they paid 104% for.”

    (And let us not forget that this is just DeVere’s commission on the investments – they also receive up to 8% on the insurance bonds as well).

    Former IoM regulator Peter Kenny – as MD and CEO of Quilter International – did accept liability in 2018 for facilitating the CWM fraud.  He agreed to compensate the victims.  But then he realised this could compromise the £200 million claim against rogue structured note provider Leonteq – and reneged on the agreement.

    So, Gary Robinson, Head of International Adviser, before you start popping the champagne corks and handing out awards to firms which have facilitated fraud, why not announce a minute’s silence to remember the victims.  Describe the misery they have suffered; the poverty; the loss of a lifetime’s work to build up a pension; the broken marriages; the lost homes; the distress and depression.  And don’t forget the deaths.  NEVER FORGET THE DEATHS GARY.

    Gary Robinson of International Adviser celebrating global financial services fraud
    Gary Robinson of International Adviser celebrating global financial services fraud

    DeVere Reviews

    de Swaan 30 Mar 2025

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Stay away from DeVere at all cost

    A few weeks ago I wrote a review of the pathetic service that, for four years (from 2020 to 2024) I received from the Mexican subsidiary of de Vere Group. Today I received a message from Trustpilot informing that my review was removed for “containing possible defamatory accusations”. I have expressed to Trustpilot my absolute willingness to present the evidence for each of the arguments contained in that message, which I summarize below.

    1. de Vere Group is the typical financial company that will approach you with a lot of kindness and good treatment in the first meetings, but then it will basically disappear and it will be up to the customer to chase it to be served.
    2. de Vere Group has the highest personnel rotation you’ve ever seen in a company. In four years I had five financial advisors, which basically leaves the client in an absolute state of defenselessness, because there is no institutional strategy and invariably the advisor in turn will blame the previous one for the decisions and poor performance of your portfolio.
    3. De Vere Group has no incentive for its clients to do well (and it shows) because its commissions are totally unrelated to the financial performance of its clients. Always look for advisors whose fees are related to the performance of your financial boards.
    4. After the departure of each advisor, with de Vere Group it will be up to the client to pursue the company to be served again and it is impossible to demand that there be the slightest continuity in the strategy because the new advisor will start the relationship as if you were a new client and promote new strategies criticizing his predecessor.
    5. When they retire, each advisor will seek to get you to maintain the relationship with him or her by talking badly about the company they are leaving (and I don’t blame them)

    I have dozens of emails that can prove every word of what I expose here. I wish de Vere were as good a financial advisor as he is to accuse defamation.

    Date of experience: 30 June 2024

    Joe Dobert 24 Feb 2025

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Avoid

    They have possibly up to 10% markups on their structured notes and their advisors are not even aware of this. My recommendation: always compare with other providers.

    Date of experience: 24 November 2024

    David 15 Apr 2025

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    I have lost more than 80 % of what I invested in cash more than 18 years ago.invested USD 103,000 in a collective…

    I invested USD 103 000 in a collective investment bond with this company in Qatar in 2007. I was promised quarterly meetings with the advisor for him to give me advise. Subsequently, the company closed their Qatar office, closed their Dubai office, closed their Oman office, closed their South African office etc. As of 2025, My investment is worth USD 21000 and I am battling to get the money out of a company Utmost in the Isle of man. They are making me jump through hoops to provide them with all sorts of information before they will pay out. I have received no advice in 18 years, the bond has been handled by several organisations over the years and I have made several attempts to stop the constant fees. I hold De Vere totally responsible for the losses. What they are doing is destroying peoples lives by hiding behind their lawyers, the small print in their systems and collusion with other corrupt financial organisations.

    Date of experience: 15 April 2025

    Guardian Wealth Management Reviews

    R Reames 6 Nov 2023

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Poor communication

    Poor communication. Happy to take their fees but with no portfolio management. Allowed my investment to lose almost 40% with no intervention.

    Date of experience: 06 November 2023

    Martyn Kilburn 30 Sept 2023

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    #leavemealone

    I would have not even bothered writing a review but skybound wealth keep hassling me about my investment. I looked on website reviews and they are all 5 stars. I can only imagines they have been left by the friends and family of skybound wealth. For me the whole investment thing was a bit of a mummer’s farce. I can only describe it as imagining you had two uncles visiting your house. 1. Uncle skybound wealth/uncle jimmy saville and 2. Uncle guardian wealth/ uncle rolf harris. Either way they seemed alright at the beginning but in the end violated you financially.

    Date of experience: 30 September 2023

    Holborn Assets Reviews

    Chad Kassis 17 Dec 2024

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Save Your Money And Go Somewhere Else

    Holborn Assets has been one of the most disappointing companies I’ve ever dealt with. A few years ago, I entrusted them with a significant investment, expecting the typical services of a reputable asset management firm, regular updates, performance reviews, and professional portfolio management. Unfortunately, none of these expectations were met. Most of my emails went unanswered, their performance was subpar, and their high annual fees were completely unjustifiable. I was paying 3% annually for literally nothing! I initially thought the issue might be with our manager, but even escalating concerns to his superiors and their superiors proved futile. In reality, Holborn Assets seems to function more as a glorified sales operation than a legitimate asset management firm. If you’re looking for a trustworthy investment partner, a company that does the bare minimum of customer support, I strongly advise looking elsewhere. Save your money and your peace of mind! I will be writing an in-depth blog and video posts to document and share this awful experience!

    Date of experience: 15 December 2024


    Steve Poll
    10 Nov 2024

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Verified

    Lost over 40% in a moderate risk fund over 7 years

    We invested a lump sum with Holburn Assets in 2017 with a risk profile of moderate (so, not high risk). By 2023 we had had enough of the fund depreciating in value each year. Having requested early exit from the scheme, it took 10 months to get our remaining monies transferred out. Whenever we or our new financial advisor provided information required to complete the exit, yet another request for even more information would suddenly appear.

    By the time we paid the early exit fees our investment had depreciated by over 40% (and that’s before you allow for inflation).

    When we complained to Holburn Assets we were told that the low amount of monies we got back was due to the exit fees. While these exit fees were high, most of the losses were from their poor investment and high annual fees. At no time did they suggest we move the monies into another fund.

    Our new financial advisor (who has performed well so far) summed up our experience with Holburn Assets very well – excessively high annual costs and extremely poor performance.

    Date of experience: 10 October 2024

    Verified

    Mondial Reviews

    M Robinson 8 May 2025

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Beware!!!!!!

    Beware. Mark Donnelly owns a large stake in this company. Mark is a convicted criminal in the UK. He oversaw the collapse of Brite Advisors which was forcibly liquidated by Australian regulator because of massive irregularities – Mark then quickly left Australia to come to the UAE.

    Date of experience: 09 May 2025

    15 May 2024

    Be Careful!

    Be Careful!
    A major Owner of this business was the owner of the firm of advisors that managed my retirement savings. Margin loans were raised by the firm of advisors, using our retirement assets (which were supposed to be held in trust) as collateral. Money went missing and the loans were not repaid. The firm has been placed in receivership by Australian Authorities. Our retirement assets are now frozen.

    Date of experience: 15 May 2024

    Useful3Share

    MU

    12 May 2024

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    My UK offshore retirement fund (QROPS)…

    My UK offshore retirement fund (QROPS) is now frozen, until the Receivers of Brite have figured out where the missing funds went and how much is left of retirement investors Assets. These assets (supposedly held in trust) were used by Brite as collateral for margin loans, to expand their portfolio of clients and to buy luxury cars. Brite stopped paying the loans, were placed in receivership and investors assets were frozen. The owner of Brite is a major owner of Mondial Dubai, think twice before investing there.

    Date of experience: 12 May 2024

    British Expat in Colorado

    8 May 2024

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    AVOID

    I don’t know about how Mondial operated previously, but recently I understand a certain Mark Donnelly acquired 75% controlling ownership. He had previously led Brite Advisors globally which was shut down by regulators in Australia early in 2024 after reporting issues and a significant hole was ‘discovered’ in client’s pensions Assets under Management – I would NOT recommend getting involved with ANY company associated with him.

    Date of experience: 01 May 2024

  • CWM Fraudster Jody “Smart” Jailed in Spain

    CWM Fraudster Jody “Smart” Jailed in Spain

    ALICANTE CRIMINAL COURT CASE

    CWM fraudster Jody Smart has been convicted and sentenced to jail in Spain. Jody Smart of Continental Wealth Management (CWM) has been found guilty of fraud in the Alicante criminal court. The judge found she was responsible for deliberately swindling £370,000 out of two victims – Tim and Sally. And a third victim also lost £800,000 but sadly passed away several years ago.

    DENIA CRIMINAL COURT CASE

    Ironically, Jody – along with Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions – escaped prosecution in the simultaneous criminal trial in the Denia criminal court. This had been for a £100 million fraud committed against 1,000 victims – represented by 17 individual lead complainants.

    In the Alicante court proceedings, Jody Smart appeared as defendant alongside her accomplices Alan Gorringe (Company Secretary of CWM) and Patrick Kirby (brother of Darren Kirby). But, Alan Gorringe died and Patrick Kirby escaped.

    ABOUT JODY SMART THE CONVICTED FRAUDSTER

    Former “fashion designer”, swimming pool cleaner, porn model, would-be actress (“Drug Dealers Birds”) Jody stood alone in the dock – convicted of continuous crimes of swindling, fraud and misappropriation. Also mentioned in the judgement were the crimes of obtaining an illicit financial benefit for the company and for herself.

    HOW JODY SMART’S FRAUD WORKED

    The court heard that in 2017 Jody convinced one victim – Tim – to pay CWM £299,000. CWM had promised him that they would use his money to buy him a house on the Costa Blanca. Jody instructed Tim to pay £99,000 to CWM and £200,000 to Christine Walker – wife of a CWM employee Eddie Walker.

    But when Tim went to sign for the purchase of the house, Jody demanded even more money. She informed him that he had lost all the money he had originally paid. He therefore lost both the house and his £299,000.

    Also in 2017, Jody gave the other complainant, Sally, a job as an admin assistant. Jody then swindled her into “lending” €70,000 to the company. Jody promised that she would repay the loan in 12 monthly instalments plus interest – totalling €75,600.

    However, as the company was on the brink of failure anyway, Jody sacked Sally a month later. Then she informed her that CWM was closing. Jody never repaid the loan.

    THE ALICANTE COURT JUDGEMENT

    The Alicante court judgement held Jody criminally responsible for the crime of continuous fraud. Jody tried to claim that it had been her partner Darren Kirby and Alan Gorringe (Company Secretary) – who were responsible. She said they had managed the day-to-day operations of the company.

    But the court ruled that this attempted defence was inadmissible. The sole director cannot exempt or exonerate themselves from the responsibility or criminal liability for the activities of the company. The judge was aware that Jody had “closed her eyes” to the fraudulent activities of Darren Kirby and Alan Gorringe. But Jody chose to ignore them because she was benefitting personally (and “succulently”) from their activities.

    The court ruled that Jody had deliberately concealed the fact that Tim and Sally would never get their money back. So this constituted swindling, deception and clear fraud.

    JODY SMART’S CRIMINAL SENTENCE

    Finding Jody guilty, the judge sentenced her to four years and three months in prison. He also ordered her to pay back the money swindled out of Tim and Sally. Plus a further fine. Plus legal costs.

    THE EVEN BIGGER FRAUD

    But this is far from the end of the story. This trial only covered a tiny portion of the fraud perpetrated by Jody Smart and her various accomplices. In addition to defrauding Tim and Sally, Jody defrauded 998 other victims out of their pensions and life savings. This ruined many lives and caused several deaths.

    In the two years while CWM was finally collapsing, Jody paid herself at least €996,435.86 from one CWM bank account. Plus, Jody and CWM received a total of €3,391,876.28 in commissions which they concealed from the victims. This money came out of the investors’ own money. The only hint that Jody and CWM would receive these illegal commissions was in the client care documentation which stated:


    In most cases we are remunerated by the institutions we place business with.  The remuneration is typically paid by commission directly by the institution and recouped generally by annual management charges.

    This is a “half secret” commission. The fraudsters do not disclose how much commission they receive and how this will affect an investor’s portfolio’s performance. Fraudsters never explain to the victims that the commissions come directly out of the victims’ own funds. Victims themselves are unaware that they pay back the institutions through spurious and loaded “management charges”.

    Fraudsters such as Jody Smart never explain that the reason for using an insurance bond is for the commission. The insurance bond in no way benefits the victims. And such fraudsters never explain that they choose every investment purely for the further commissions they earn.

    Jody Smart and Darren Kirby - partners in crime
    Jody Smart – convicted fraudster – and her partner Darren Kirby who escaped

    JODY SMART’S ACCOMPLICES

    So who else was complicit in Jody’s and CWM’s fraud? There is a long list of further accomplices:

    • Darren Kirby – “shadow” (or “de facto”) director
    • Alan Gorringe – company secretary (deceased)
    • Dean Stogsdill – CWM adviser/salesman
    • Anthony Downs – CWM adviser/salesman
    • Neil Hathaway – CWM adviser/salesman
    • Stephen Ward – Premier Pension Solutions
    • Martyn Ryan – Global Financial Options
    • Momentum Pensions – Malta
    • STM Pensions – Malta
    • Corinthian Pensions – Gibraltar
    • Pantheon Pensions – Gibraltar
    • Old Mutual International – Isle of Man and Ireland
    • Generali – Isle of Man and Ireland
    • SEB – Ireland
    • …and many others….

    All directors of the above companies (and more) are also criminally liable for their part in Jody’s/CWM’s fraud. Jody will now face further criminal charges. She was clearly legally responsible for all CWM’s frauds. Not just the cases of the two complainants, Tim and Sally. They determinedly, bravely and successfully brought Jody to justice.

  • PLANET PENSIONS S.R.O. – HELL ON EARTH FOR PENSION SCAM VICTIMS

    PLANET PENSIONS S.R.O. – HELL ON EARTH FOR PENSION SCAM VICTIMS

    Since 2013, thousands of clients of Planet Pensions – previously known as Aktiva Wealth Management and Square Mile International Financial Services – have been scammed out of their pensions.

    John Ferguson and David Vilka of Planet Pensions (Square Mile/Aktiva) advised UK residents to transfer their pensions into QROPS including:

    • GFS SCHEME 2 SUPERANNUATION SCHEME 2 (HONG KONG)
    • QUARTERMAINE (HONG KONG)
    • EFPG (GIBRALTAR)
    • OPTIMUS (MALTA)
    • KRESTON (ISLE OF MAN)
    • HARBOUR PENSIONS (MALTA)
    • PANTHEON (GIBRALTAR)
    • CORINTHIAN (GIBRALTAR)

    The clients were conned into these transfers on the basis that it would be in the interests of making their pensions perform better. It was also claimed that the clients would pay less tax. None of the promises, assurances and advice was true:

    LIES TOLD TO VICTIMS BY PLANET PENSIONSTHE TRUTH
    “A QROPS falls outside the Lifetime Allowance rules for UK pension schemes.  If your pension grows to above 1.25m you will suffer a 55 percent extra tax charge”

    Most of Planet Pensions’ victims had pensions which were below £50k in value and were never likely to reach anywhere near £1.25m in value – so this would never apply.
    “At age 55 you will be able to access a cash lump sum”Had the victims left their pensions in the UK, they’d have accessed the 25% tax-free lump at age 55
    “The QROPS is of course approved by HMRC”HMRC never “approves” any QROPS schemes. They register them – there is no approval.
    “Your pension will be invested in funds which are not traditionally available in the UK, giving you access to a broad range of asset classes”There is a good reason why risky, unregulated assets are not available in the UK – it is illegal to promote them to retail investors. Victims would be likely to lose their pensions (which is exactly what happened)
    “With a wide range of high growth asset classes utilised, the high performance funds chosen by our investment team are ideally suited to your pension investment”None of the high-risk/high-commission assets were suitable for pension investments – and they all failed (destroying thousands of victims’ pensions)
    “The investment enables you to invest in investment funds which will contain a carefully managed risk assessed portfolio”There was nothing to “manage” – once the pension money was invested in the assets, the money was trapped and would inevitably be lost
    “A QROPS allows a wider choice of investments, which gives you the potential to grow the fund further than your current scheme”This is true! Many QROPS allow fraudulent investments such as those chosen specifically for the high commissions paid to the scammers

    Of course, none of this – either the transfer (by a UK resident) to a Hong Kong QROPS – or the subsequent high-risk investments, was in the interests of the victims. This was only in the interests of the scammers who earned commissions from the unregulated investments. These included:

    • Blackmore Global PCC Ltd
    • Swan Holding PCC Ltd
    • Christianson Property Capital Ltd
    • SN Granite Investments Global
    • Drake Incubator PCC – GRRE
    • EcoVista PLC
    • Curzon Alternative

    In the GFS QROPS scheme in Hong Kong, Planet Pensions worked with a variety of unregulated “introducers” to help recruit victims. These included Scott Campbell of 3V Financial, Andrew Blackburn of St James International, and Aled Williams of Nicholas Street Tax.

    The QROPS application forms, which showed which adviser each victim had appointed, were forged to show the name of the introducer rather than the name of the adviser. This was done by removing the adviser declaration page, and inserting a new page showing the introducer as the adviser – rather than Aktiva Wealth Management (one of Planet Pensions’ former names).

    Planet Pensions also often claimed that Aktiva Wealth Management was acting under the regulation of Paul Brown’s Worldwide Broker – using the Dutch AFM as the regulator. Paul Brown has strenuously denied that he ever allowed Aktiva (Planet Pensions) to act as an Appointed Representative of Worldwide Broker.

    John Ferguson and David Vilka of Planet Pensions (aka Aktiva, aka Square Mile) have clearly worked closely with Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh of Blackmore Bond and Blackmore Global infamy. Both Blackmores are being wound up – causing hundreds of victims to lose over £90 million of pensions and life savings. It is clear both investments were run fraudulently by Nunn and McCreesh (both of whom have now been bankrupted).

    Ferguson and Vilka also worked closely with Manish Gambhir of MG Finance and Christianson Property Capital (yet another failed mini bond). Another associate of Ferguson and Vilka was Tom Fraser of EFPG in Gibraltar, as well as Mark Donnelly of Brite Advisors in Australia, South Africa and the USA.

    Ali Hussain of The Sunday Times covered the Mark Donnelly and Brite Advisors story in 2024:

    “Missing expat pensions: Some 10,000 people put their money into a financial firm run by advisers who investigators say have transferred millions to their own accounts. Bosses at Brite – led by Mark Donnelly – transferred millions of pounds to their personal accounts or other companies.”

    Ali Hussain – Saturday April 27 2024, 6.00pm, The Sunday Times – wrote that:

    “The savers are victims of a network of financial advisers working for a firm called Brite Advisory Group, which is run by Mark Donnelly, a convicted fraudster who stole football merchandise relating to David Beckham. Donnelly’s right-hand man was a financial adviser who fled UK after duping a 91-year-old dementia sufferer out of £170,00. Investigators claim that instead of investing savers’ money in pensions, bosses at Brite took millions of pounds and transferred it to their personal accounts or other companies they ran around the world. Some of it is alleged to have been used to buy rival businesses; some was used for personal loans to directors and their wives. About £250,000 was allegedly used to buy two Porsches.”

    And one of the rival businesses Donnelly bought was Planet Pensions (aka Aktiva Wealth Management and Square Mile International Financial Services. Donnelly paid £650,000 – using Brite Advisors’ clients’ money.

  • POST OFFICE V LIFE OFFICE

    POST OFFICE V LIFE OFFICE

    The Post Office scandal is routinely referred to as being the worst betrayal of justice in British history. It is hard to argue that there could be anything worse than what the liars and fraudsters at Post Office Limited and Fujitsu (and their various lawyers) did to hundreds of innocent sub postmasters. But the Life Offices – including Utmost International – and many of the brokers with whom they have terms of business – certainly come a close second.

    The Post Office scam was led by Paula Vennells – an ordained Anglican Minister. She was CEO from 2012 to 2019. It is hard to figure out which bit of the Ten Commandments she omitted to read, especially “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not bear false witness”.

    Listening to the testimonies in the Post Office Horizon Enquiry led by Sir Wyn Williams, it is clear there is a sub-group of human beings who have little right to call themselves “human”. This includes the bosses at Post Office Limited and Fujitsu (as well as their various lawyers) who knowingly sent hundreds of innocent victims to prison (including a pregnant woman). Having extorted money from their victims to repay the “shortages” falsely reported by the Horizon software, the Post Office bosses then paid themselves whopping bonuses.

    There is a great deal of information, background and commentary on the Post Office scandal – including Nick Wallis’ excellent book “The Great Post Office Cover Up“; Computer Weekly’s excellent, comprehensive coverage; the British government’s own report; and even a television docudrama which reconstructed the appalling events in Mr. Bates vs The Post Office.

    The Post Office/Fujitsu scandal was the subject of a public enquiry which exposed the appalling events and profound negligence and criminality by Post Office and Fujitsu bosses and staff. Thanks to the exceptional diligence of the barristers who represented the victims and expertly dragged the truths, half truths and lies out of the perpetrators, the public can finally see the truth.

    What remains to be seen, however, is what compensation the victims of the Post Office and Fujitsu fraud will receive. Hundreds of sub postmasters were wrongly convicted of false accounting and theft, and in numerous cases made to pay back the money they had never stolen, and often sent to prison. Hundreds of lives were ruined and some victims committed suicide because of the shame of being viewed in their close-knit communities as guilty of theft and false accounting. Taking into account the wider interests of the families of the victims, however, this atrocity has ruined thousands of lives.

    The Post Office has, reportedly, spent hundreds of millions on legal fees – to defend its position, deny responsibility and culpability, and delay paying out compensation to its victims. Figures vary, but it is clear the Post Office has spent way more on its own fees than it would have done had it simply paid fair compensation to its victims.

    While the Post Office/Fujitsu enquiry is now complete, the civil litigation against the Life Offices is currently going through the Isle of Man courts. And, like the Post Office, the Life Offices are throwing millions of pounds at their lawyers to try to evade paying their victims the redress they deserve.

    There are numerous similarities and differences between the Post Office scandal and the Life Office scandal (Utmost International, SEB, RL360, Investors Trust etc). The bosses at the Post Office and Fujitsu had a limited, finite pool of victims in the UK – whereas the Life Offices had – and still have – an unlimited pool of victims globally. Plus, the Life Offices did not falsely prosecute their victims or send them to prison. But they still ruined their lives nonetheless.

    Let’s compare some of the tragic similarities between both scandals:

    The Post Office was headed up by an ordained Anglican minister (Paul Vennells). She should have known better.Quilter (Old Mutual) (leading player in the Life Office scandal) was headed up by a former Isle of Man regulator (Peter Kenny). He should have known better.
    The Post Office knew that Fujitsu’s “Horizon” accounting software was full of bugs and could not be relied upon. Horizon would inevitably report false statistics and financials.The Life Offices knew many assets offered on their investment platforms were high-risk, high-commission and bound to fail. These investments would inevitably cause severe losses.
    Fujitsu is a key “strategic supplier” to the UK government, making £100m a year from this work, and has won 150 new contracts worth £2.04bn since the 2019 court ruling that Fujitsu’s Horizon IT system caused accounting errors that were blamed on the sub-postmasters. The Life Offices (Utmost, RL360, Hansard etc) are still to this day used extensively by virtually all offshore brokers and QROPS providers. Posting eye-watering profits and AUM, the Life Offices continue to flourish but offer to pay no compensation to their victims.
    Fujitsu’s clients for these lucrative contracts include the Home Office, HMRC, the Foreign Office, the MoD, and the DWP. Plus the £2.4bn lifetime contract Fujitsu still has with the Post Office for the Horizon system.

    Life Offices continue to provide unnecessary insurance bonds for virtually the entire offshore financial services market. These products serve only to pay undisclosed commissions to the brokers and provide no benefit to the investors.
    Fujitsu and The Post Office have jointly caused millions of pounds’ worth of financial losses and damage to hundreds of sub postmasters. Still only pitifully small amounts of compensation have been paid to the victims. Life Offices have caused many hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of financial losses to thousands of investors. Still no compensation has been paid or received.
    The Post Office continues to pay a herd of lawyers millions of pounds to fight against paying just compensation to the sub postmasters who were victims of this scandalous crisis.Life Offices Utmost International and Friends Provident are paying lawyers in the IoM to fight against paying compensation to the victims of investment fraud and undisclosed commissions.

    WHICH IS WORSE? THE POST OFFICE SCANDAL OR THE LIFE OFFICE SCANDAL?

    It really is hard to say. In both cases, thousands of people’s lives have been ruined. Marriages have been destroyed, homes and businesses lost and unnecessary deaths have occurred. The Post Office (and Fujitsu) had a limited and finite pool of victims (only the sub postmasters and their families in the UK) – whereas the Life Offices have an infinite pool of victims across the globe. And this scandal continues to this very day – entirely unsanctioned.

    Save for the outstanding justice and compensation due to the sub postmasters, and the impending criminal proceedings against those responsible at The Post Office and Fujitsu (and possibly some of the lawyers who helped cover up their fraud), this matter is over bar the shouting. By contrast, the Life Offices are continuing full blast with the same business model which has destroyed countless lives, families, marriages and life savings.

    The Post Office/Fujitsu victims will still have to wait many years for their rightful compensation – while the lawyers continue to get rich and the government prevaricates feebly. There are faint signs that Paula Vennells and Nick Read may yet serve time behind bars. But at least something is being done, and there is a legal process in place. However, the Isle of Man and Irish governments and regulators have shown zero interest in the fraud committed and facilitated by the Life Offices.

  • Utmost Leonteq Fraud

    Utmost Leonteq Fraud

    In 2018, Old Mutual International (now Utmost International) announced it was suing structured note provider Leonteq. This was over a series of rogue structured notes with an extra layer of secret commission paid to scammers without Utmost International’s knowledge (allegedly). These notes had failed because they were so enormously high risk. The result was thousands of Utmost’s victims losing huge amounts of their pensions and life savings.

    On 28th May 2024, it was announced by QROPS trustees and Old Mutual (later renamed Quilter and now owned by Utmost International – formerly Generali) that Leonteq had settled out of court for the damages caused by these toxic structured notes to thousands of investors. 

    This announcement was reported by Momentum Pensions in Malta – among other QROPS trustees.  Some victims of offshore pension scams facilitated by Old Mutual, Generali, Utmost, RL360, SEB and other life offices will get some compensation for a small part of their huge losses.  

    Old Mutual International, the life office responsible for thousands of ruined lives in Spain and beyond, announced in 2018 that it was suing structured-note provider Leonteq.  There had been a series of extra toxic, high-risk notes for which Leonteq had been paying scammers additional commission “under the table” (i.e. not disclosed to Old Mutual).  In early 2023 the matter was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

    But this is no real compensation for the years of distress and poverty the many thousands of Utmost’s victims have gone through.  Lives have been ruined.  Families torn apart.  Homes lost.  Victims have died miserable, lonely deaths – leaving distraught and destitute spouses and partners.

    It had originally been reported that Old Mutual had been suing Leonteq for somewhere between £94 million and £200 million.  The basis for this action was undisclosed commissions – which is fraud.  But Utmost (along with all other life offices) had been quite happy to pay millions in undisclosed commissions to the vast array of scammers who sell their offshore bonds and toxic investments (such as structured notes).  But while Utmost had no problem with these outrageous commissions being kept secret from the victims, they objected to the Leonteq commissions being hidden from Utmost themselves.

    Momentum is taking further advice on the legalities and tax implications of paying this compensation to pension scheme members.  Presumably, STM, SEB and other QROPS providers who had facilitated this fraud will be doing likewise.

    While this is indeed welcome news for the thousands of pension savers whose lives were ruined by these failed investments, it does leave many unanswered questions:

    • Why did the life offices such as Utmost give terms of business to the scammers in the first place?
    • Why didn’t Utmost ensure the scammers disclosed the commissions on the insurance bonds and also on the investments?
    • Why did Utmost allow retail investors’ money to be invested in professional-investor-only, high-risk investments?
    • Will Utmost be paying compensation for all the other structured notes which were toxic and which failed?

    Utmost’s answer to these questions would, obviously, be: “We didn’t give investment advice”.  And this is the excuse they will make when they testify in the Isle of Man court – where Signature Litigation and Forsters are suing them and Friends Provident International for £400 million for this very crime.

    Utmost and all the other life offices did not – indeed – give investment advice.  However, they did act on the investment instructions (often forged) of unlicensed scammers – and reported on the resulting crippling losses for thousands of policyholders.  Despite being fully aware of these losses, Utmost continued accepting investment instructions (often with forged investor signatures) for years – paying the same undisclosed commissions to the same scammers, with the same resulting losses. 

    In fact, Utmost International continues with this fraud to this very day. And now there is evidence that they are paying even higher undisclosed commissions to the very same scammers who have already ruined so many lives for well over a dozen years.

    Utmost had not been the only life office involved in the Leonteq structured note scandal.  Friends Provident International, Generali, Investors Trust, Julius Baer, RL360 and SEB had all been similarly culpable.  But it looks like Utmost had been the only one to sue Leonteq for this fraud. 

    And let us be clear, undisclosed commission does constitute fraud – irrespective of whether it is committed by the scammers, Leonteq or Utmost International.

    There had been many scammers involved in the receipt of the Leonteq extra (under-the-table) commissions.  Known as “Chiringuitos Financieros” by the Spanish regulator, the CNMV, they included Finsbury Financial, Chase Buchanan, Square Mile (later known as Planet Pensions) and – of course – the notorious Continental Wealth Management in Spain.

    Perhaps the biggest question which remains unanswered is why the regulator – the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority – has done nothing to sanction the likes of Quilter, Utmost, Friends Provident and RL360?  The regulator’s Chair – Lillian Boyle – has been in place since 2015 so she must have known perfectly well how much fraud had been facilitated by the life offices.  

    Boyle had previously been the CEO, Director and Chair of Isle of Man international life companies and their overseas subsidiaries and branches.  So she must have had intimate knowledge of how the secret-commission fraud worked.  And yet she has stayed silent.  

    The IoM FSA’s Chief Executive is Bettina Roth.  She has worked for the regulator in the Cayman Islands (that well-known jurisdiction for dodgy financial dealings – including the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund investment scam).  And yet she too has stayed silent.  Both Boyle and Roth must know that the Isle of Man is under the spotlight with nearly half a billion pounds’ worth of claims against the death offices for fraud (and a billion more in the pipeline).

    The IoMFSA’s own website claims it is “responsible for protecting consumers, reducing financial crime and maintaining confidence in the financial services sector through strong prudential supervision”. And yet the very financial crime that Old Mutual and Utmost International have been committing for more than a dozen years – under the very nose of the regulator – is ignored.

    It is indeed great news that Leonteq has paid up. But, did that payment include all the extra-commission paid on the toxic structured notes?  And any interest, damages and compensation for the losses and the fraud?  And what about the other structured note providers whose toxic products caused just as much (and sometimes more) damage to thousands of victims?  

    Royal Bank of Canada, Nomura and Commerzbank also listed their toxic products on Utmost Internationals’ investment platforms.  A multitude of scammers (who had terms of business with the life offices) used these to ruin their low-risk, retail victims.  Did any of these big financial institutions care that they were facilitating financial crime on a massive scale – and ruining thousands of lives? 

    With the IoM regulator silent, this massive international fraud continues to this day.  The life offices are still paying the scammers huge undisclosed commissions for both the insurance bonds and the investments listed on their platforms.  In fact, the bond commission can be as high as 9% – for a product that nobody needs and which only serves to facilitate fraud against the policyholders.

    In 2018, Utmost International commissioned a report on the Leonteq structured note scam from https://www.futurevc.co.uk/ – a consultancy firm which specialised in structured products systems and research analytics.  Their Managing Director, T. M. Mortimer, analysed a test sample of 100 notes and reported the below fees and commission figures:

    Fee LevelNumber of Occurrences
    Less than 6%9
    6% – 8%4
    8% – 12%21
    12% – 16%26
    16% – 20%14
    20% – 24%12
    24% – 28%6
    28% or more8
    100

    Mortimer concluded: “In my view a total fee of 8% taken between Leonteq and its associates would be reasonable.  This corresponds to the entries in the first two rows in the table.”  

    This means that only 13% were reasonably (i.e. viably) priced.  The remaining 87% were vastly overpriced with extortionate commissions paid to the scammers.  

    The insurance bond scam continues to flourish in all the typical British expat destinations – from Spain and Portugal to Thailand and the Middle East.  Life offices such as Utmost International and RL360 continue to fuel the global undisclosed commission fraud machine – with scammers posing as financial advisers and selling over-priced products rather than proper financial advice.  

    Leonteq is still doing a roaring trade – thanks to the offshore scammers and the life offices. The secret-commission fraud still flourishes unhindered. Utmost International and Friends Provident International are throwing millions at defending the Signature and Forsters actions brought by thousands of victims. The regulators remain silent.

    Every day more victims are created.  How many more victims need to be ruined before something is done to put a stop to this huge-scale offshore financial crime? Leonteq may have paid up – but now the life offices themselves (including Utmost International, RL360 and SEB) need to pay up too.

  • Pension Scams Explained

    Pension Scams Explained

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    John: So how much would all this cost me?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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  • 2021/22 Roundup for Pension Life

    2021/22 Roundup for Pension Life

    2021 was a tough year for everybody in the world. But for Pension Life it was especially frustrating because courts and law firms were severely held up as they got to grips with the challenges of Covid, travel restrictions and working remotely.

    Attending hearings and meetings by video conference was a hit-or-miss affair. The success of the communication depended on the reliability of the wifi, the quality of the microphone and camera, the ability of the participants to manage (often complex) IT issues.

    Zoom court meeting where an attendee couldn't turn off a cat filter

    Holding virtual meetings with lawyers working from home often became challenging when interrupted by small children or pets (or partners in the background nipping to the bathroom wearing only a towel).

    The term “beware of the dog” took on a whole new meaning – as well as extending to the cat and budgie. Conversations became disrupted by all sorts of background sounds, and it was frequently possible to miss important bits of a conversation because of noise pollution. This was made even more challenging when trying to work in Spanish and wearing a mask and glasses.

    But still the essential task of working towards pursuing those who carried out or facilitated the scams and preparing claims for victims of pension scams continued. Albeit more slowly and haltingly than normal.

    So, here is a brief round-up of the main developments for Pension Life from 2021 and the plans for 2022.

    Ark – Tax Tribunal trial for pension scam victims

    Judge Peter Kempster
    Judge Peter Kempster

    After a frustrating ten-year wait, the pre-trial conference took place with Judge Kempster and all the parties involved in the Ark Tax Tribunal trial. With desperate attempts by HMRC to put the trial off until the end of 2023, the trial date was finally – thankfully – set for December 2022.

    There are more than half a dozen different categories of appellant; member who did receive a loan; member who didn’t receive a loan; member who did make a loan; member who didn’t make a loan; member who paid their loan back; member who paid the tax on the loan…….

    Most of the appellants have dropped out of the trial for one reason or another. I think the reality of actually appearing in court and being subjected to HMRC’s barrister’s inevitably hostile cross examination may have finally sunk in for some people. We are now down to just two appellants – one represented by me and one by Rebecca Sheldon from Old Square Tax Chambers. Essentially, this will be a contest about who is going to have to pay the tax: those with a loan or those without a loan.

    The next eleven months will see an increasingly urgent series of communications between the court, the appellants and their representatives. In the background, there are now two separate All Party Parliamentary Groups trying to lobby parliament for an amnesty for victims of pension and investment fraud who are facing tax penalties.

    Also, the FCA has asked pension scam victims to submit evidence following an investigation into the activities of Premier Pension Solutions, AES Financial Services and International Pension Transfer Specialists (all involving Stephen Ward and Sam Instone).

    Capita Oak – Tax liabilities and recovery of Store First assets

    Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions with his mythical employer
    Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions with his mythical employer

    Capita Oak was a bogus “occupational” pension scheme set up with a mythical employer in Cyprus by Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions and his pensions lawyer Alan Fowler. The scheme remains in the hands of Dalriada Trustees (appointed by the Pensions Regulator).

    With £10 million of the 300 members’ funds invested solely in Store First, and “loans” paid out by a Gibraltar company called Thurlestone, the victims remain trapped and unable to withdraw their tax-free 25% lump sums, or access a retirement income.

    Dalriada had rejected an offer to sell the store pods back to Store First several years ago. There may be another offer this year – although it is unlikely to be as high as the one Dalriada previously turned down. Sadly, whatever offer is made and accepted, a large chunk of this money would be used up in paying trustees’ and other fees (such as legal costs).

    There had been a large crew of scammers behind the Capita Oak scheme – as well as the parallel Henley and Westminster schemes. Two significant figures among those who operated and distributed these scams were Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh.

    Despite the Insolvency Service carrying out a comprehensive investigation into these cases, Nunn and McCreesh were not sanctioned by either the Insolvency Service or the FCA for carrying out regulated activities illegally. Nunn & McCreesh went on, in 2014, to set up the Blackmore Group and launched the Blackmore mini bond which was promoted by Surge Group (which also promoted the London Capital & Finance mini bond which is now being wound up by Duff & Phelps).

    Nunn and McCreesh also issued the Blackmore Global investment fund which is now reported to be worthless. The destruction of the original value of the fund is believed to be due to investing in over-priced, speculative property. Any remaining value was extinguished by paying out hefty commissions to the introducers and “advisers” who promoted the fund.

    Adams v Carey

    In 2021, the Appeal Court ordered the SIPP provider Carey (now Options and owned by STM) to reinstate appellant Russell Adams’ pension. Adams had been “advised” by unlicensed scammer Terence Wright of Country Land and Property in Spain. The advice had been to transfer his pension into a Carey SIPPS and invest all of it into Store First.

    The Appeal Court decided that Carey should have rejected the advice as there had been an FCA warning about Terence Wright. However, Christine Hallett – CEO of Carey – deliberately ignored this warning and accepted Wright’s instructions to invest not just Mr. Adams’ pension in Store First, but also hundreds of others.

    At one point, Hallett finally realised that she had been wrongly accepting pension transfers from Terence Wright, refused to accept more transfers, but continued to act on Terence Wright’s investment instructions and invested £millions more in Store First.

    Lord Justice Newey, Lady Justice Rose and Lady Justice Andrews inside a Store First Store Pod

    The Appeal Court determination has set a powerful precedent for hundreds more victims to take similar action to have their original pensions reinstated. Ironically, the Store First store pods are now doing well and more storage facilities are going to be built. However, the fact remains that store pods are not suitable assets for a pension, as they are illiquid and – as Justice Andrews ruled – they are “hard to value”.

    Acquisition of Quilter by Utmost

    Monsterous wedding of Utmost & Quilter

    In 2020, RL360 acquired Friends Provident International. And late in 2021, Utmost (formerly Generali) acquired Quilter (formerly Old Mutual International). So, as hundreds of millions of pounds have changed hands across these two buyouts, deceased victims of fraud facilitated by these four death offices will inevitably turn in their graves.

    Former CEO of Quilter, Peter Kenny, has moved on to even greener pastures as he “pursues different opportunities”. Kenny, who – in 2018 – promised to pay compensation to some of the victims (two of whom have since died), will have done very nicely out of the Utmost acquisition.

    As a former regulator, Kenny should certainly have known better than to do business with the hordes of unlicensed scammers. Who knows – perhaps he will use his ill-gotten gains to set up a charity for death office victims in 2022….

    GFS – Hong Kong QROPS gone bad

    In 2022, the pension-scam focus will drift as far offshore as Hong Kong. Bogus occupational schemes had originally been the speciality of Stephen Ward (Ark, Capita Oak, Westminster, Henley, London Quantum etc). But, in 2014, a group of scammers set their sights on a bogus superannuation scheme in Hong Kong.

    In the UK, anyone with any kind of earnings can join an occupational pension scheme. A person does not need to be employed by the sponsoring employer – as determined by Justice Morgan in the Hughes v Royal London case. This does, of course, sound completely barmy and opens the doors wide for all sorts of scams and scammers.

    However, in Hong Kong, a person can only – by law – join an occupational (superannuation) pension scheme if they are genuinely employed by the sponsoring (principal) employer.

    In 2014, a group of scammers got together. This included John Ferguson, David Vilka and Charlie Goldsmith of the Square Mile group, and Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh of Blackmore Group.

    David Vilka (right) & John Ferguson (left) of Square Mile making toxic investments
    David Vilka (right) & John Ferguson (left) of Square Mile

    Hundreds of mainly UK-based pension holders were conned into transferring their pensions into the GFS QROPS in Hong Kong. The money was then invested in toxic UCIS funds and unregulated mini bonds.  Of course, none of these British victims was employed by the employer.

    The investments included Blackmore Global, Christianson Property Capital, Swan, GRRE and other investment scams. In total at least £27 million was invested – some of it in insurance bonds such as Quilter, Utmost, Hansard and Friends Provident. An attempt was made to transfer some of the funds into Gravitas bonds (a death office in Mauritius), but this was thwarted in 2015 when a new trustee took over.

    In 2022, the Hong Kong version of the Pensions Regulator (the MPFA) will be deregistering the GFS scheme and a liquidator will be appointed. The liquidator will need a robust shovel to dig through all the toxic rubbish assets and recover several million pounds’ worth of stolen cash.

    The good news for some of the members, however, is that Square Mile is now in liquidation. This means that there is a valid claim on the Financial Services Compensation Scheme of up to £85,000 per victim.

    FSCS claims will be made for qualifying GFS members early in 2022 and hopefully this will result in at least some victims getting part or all of their pensions back.

    CWM Criminal Trial – awaiting court’s decision

    The trial against the members of Dénia-based Continental Wealth Management finally concluded in December 2021. The criminal proceedings had been held up for a year due to COVID. But finally, the last of the defendants testified before the judge and procurador. These included Darren Kirby and his girlfriend Jody Smart (formerly Bell, Kirby and now Pearson). While Jody did appear and testify in court, her former boyfriend Darren Kirby remains on the run.

    “Advisers” Dean Stogsdill, Neil Hathaway and Anthony Downs also appeared – along with Darren Kirby’s original partner and co-founder Paul Clarke. Clarke had left CWM early on to run AES Spain for Sam Instone – and continued to operate Darren Kirby’s business model by scamming victims into illegally-sold death bonds and structured notes. Clarke now runs a new firm called Roebuck Wealth under the German license of Trafalgar International.

    Quilter TOB

    In December, the last of the victims appeared in the Dénia court to testify. The judge has now heard 17 victims’ testimonies, and seen the documentary evidence of the investment scams operated by the various members of the CWM team – headed up by company director Jody Smart/Bell/Kirby/Pearson. One victim passed away in early 2021, so the re-starting of the criminal proceedings sadly came too late for him.

    Also in 2021, Jody denounced me for sharing a photograph of her dressed as a prostitute. I did indeed share the photo – as did hundreds of other CWM victims as it was all over social media. Everyone who saw this revolting picture felt and expressed the same disgust. It became ever more astonishing that Quilter, Utmost and SEB had been accepting investment instructions from this woman’s firm.

    The judge dismissed the accusation against me.  The photo is now irreversibly in the public domain. (It was so graphic that it can unfortunately never be “unseen” – and would put even a rhinoceros off its lunch).

    This will, hopefully, encourage death offices such as Quilter, Utmost, RL360 and Friends Provident, to be a bit more discerning in 2022 about the parties to whom they give terms of business and from whom they accept investment dealing instructions.

    Malta Arbiter Appeals – Civil Court upholds most of the Arbiter’s determinations

    Since 2017, around 70 victims of pension scams complained to the Malta Arbiter. The complaints were that QROPS trustees had accepted transfers and investment instructions from unlicensed and unqualified advisers. Many of the complainants reported that their pension funds were placed into insurance bonds and then invested in high-risk investments which were only suitable for professional investors.

    These investments – many of them toxic structured notes from providers such as Commerzbank, Leonteq, Royal Bank of Canada and Nomura – were placed on the insurance bond providers’ platforms. From here, the scammers who had terms of business with these providers could pick and choose the highest-risk investments which paid them the most commissions. These providers included Quilter (formerly Old Mutual – recently taken over by Utmost/Generali), Utmost and SEB.

    Millions of pounds’ worth of pensions were destroyed in the past decade. The Arbiter upheld most of the complaints against the QROPS trustees, but only awarded the complainants 70% of their net investment losses. This was on the basis that the defendants were only partly responsible, and that the advisers as well as the insurance bond providers were also culpable – and contributed to the losses.

    The defendants appealed against the Arbiter’s decisions. In late 2021, the first civil court decisions were issued – dismissing the defendants’ appeals. The rest of the appeal decisions are expected during 2022 and are expected to uphold the Arbiter’s decisions.

    Civil Cases against life offices in Spain

    A determination obtained from the Spanish insurance regulator confirms that virtually all insurance bonds are sold illegally by the scammers who peddle them across the Iberian peninsula and the Balearics.  This is because there are very specific regulations which must be observed when advising on any insurance products – and the scammers operating in Spain routinely ignore these.

    Spanish legal experts advise that insurance bond providers have indeed facilitated fraud, abusive practices and contravention of EU and Spanish laws and regulations.  There are therefore strong cases against the insurers which will be pursued during 2022 – with the first claims due to be issued during the first quarter of the year.

    Spanish Justice

    Obviously, the strength of the civil cases against the insurance companies will be reinforced once the criminal court issues their determination in the CWM case. 

    The civil claims will be seeking rescission – i.e. the reversing of the single-premium payments and subsequent unlawful investments in unsuitable, high-risk investments. 

    Civil Cases against life offices not in Spain

    While Spanish law is fairly unique, and does not resemble the laws of England, the Isle of Man, Ireland or Guernsey (where the majority of death offices are based), there are thousands of pension scam victims who are not based in Spain. 

    Preparations are now being made to bring civil cases against all insurance companies such as Quilter, Utmost, Friends Provident and RL360 who have facilitated fraud and mis-selling (resulting in serious loss for the victims).

    There are already several groups trying to get civil litigation against these insurers off the ground.  One is being brought by Signature Litigation against Quilter and Friends Provident – mainly for the investment losses caused by the failure of UCIS funds such as LM, Axiom and Premier New Earth.

    The other cases are being brought by Forsters LLP.  This case suffered a setback when their funder – Affiniti – went bust in November 2021 and is now being wound up by Quantuma:

    Forsters’ clients have also been told they can make claims against the QROPS providers in Malta for the losses not covered by the Malta Arbiter’s awards.

    Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund – Cayman Islands

    The victims of the STM Fidecs/Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund pension and investment scam are now mostly out of time to bring civil claims in Gibraltar.  The scammers behind the investment of the funds transferred into the STM Fidecs QROPS are now under criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.  Once convicted, this should help with the criminal proceedings being launched in Gibraltar – although this does not stop the criminal proceedings from going ahead anyway.  As they are criminal, as opposed to civil, the time limits do not apply.

    Much of the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund was invested in the Dolphin Trust investment/loan scam – later re-named as the German Property Group.  This fund was paying out huge commissions of around 19% to the scammers who introduced thousands of victims to the “loan” scheme.  There is now mounting evidence that Dolphin was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme and that many of the purported property purchases were fictional. 

    In summary, progress this last year has indeed been slow due to the pandemic. However the legal teams and professional advisors have never slowed down in their efforts to bring redress and justice to the victims.

  • Pension Scam Investments

    Pension Scam Investments

    The world of pension and investment scams is dominated and driven by commissions on investments (usually unregulated). The scammers’ strategy is always identical: get the pensions away from the safety of a reputable pension provider and into the hands of a SIPP, a SSAS or a QROPS. One purported benefit of these types of schemes is that the member has control over where the funds are invested. This means that the scammers have control over where the funds are invested. These types of schemes are open to abuse by unscrupulous commission hunters whose only mission is to fill their own pockets – at the expense of the victim. Once transferred, the victims’ retirement funds are controlled by the scammers and invested in unsuitable, unregulated investments which pay fat introduction commissions.

    It could be argued, however, that not all the investments are necessarily bad. There are some basic rules for pension investments – so let’s take a look at the different types and how they could (or should) fit into a pension portfolio.
    Store pod full of toxic funds
    • Funds. Funds come in all shapes, sizes, flavours and types. As long as the funds are regulated, have a good track record, are appropriate to the risk profile of the individual investor and are competently managed by qualified investment professionals, they can be appropriate for a pension. However, pension scheme members must not be locked into any funds, and the charges must be transparent and affordable. There must not be any hidden commissions, and any one fund should form part of a diverse portfolio.
    • Bonds. Bonds are term loans with supposed “guaranteed” returns or interest. They are not regulated investment products, so there is no guarantee or protection in the event that they fail (as they often do). Typically, they are sold to victims as being “asset backed” and with unrealistically high returns or interest. They also typically pay high commissions to the scammers who promote them. These should be avoided at all costs as they are entirely unsuitable, risky and illiquid for retail investors – and so many of them are out and out scams.
    • Structured Notes. These are “derivatives” and are very complex instruments which are only suitable for sophisticated or professional investors. They also pay hefty commissions to the scammers who use them indiscriminately to “churn” their victims’ funds. Churning means investing the same sum of money multiple times in different structured notes to generate the maximum amount of (hidden) commissions. An experienced and sophisticated investor might want to consider having a small part of a pension portfolio invested in structured notes – as long as the commission taken by the “adviser” is low enough (or preferably non-existent).
    • Property. Residential property cannot form part of a pension’s underlying assets. However, commercial or agricultural land or property is acceptable. The main problem with property, however, is that it is illiquid – so it should only be used with extreme caution as part of a diverse portfolio of well-spread assets. Property also typically attracts high commissions and can frequently be used and abused by scammers. Store pods and car parking spaces fall into this category, along with holiday accommodation, forestry and industrial units.

    The key to building a sensible and appropriate portfolio of assets for a pension is to ensure that only a licensed and qualified adviser is used to recommend the investments. Such professionals should only be charging for advice – and should not be earning commission on the investment products which are sold. If an adviser is receiving commission from the investment provider, then he cannot be independent – and should not be giving advice at all.

    store pod full of toxic mini-bonds

    The key to making sure that the whole pension investment package is in the interests of the investor – rather than purely in the interests of someone posing (often fraudulently) as an adviser – is to look at each stage in the process.

    What I mean by the “package” is this:

    A. The transfer out of the existing pension scheme should be in the interests of the investor

    B. The transfer in to the new pension scheme should be in the interests of the investor

    C. The investment of the pension fund should be in the interests of the investor – and not just the adviser (or introducer)

    D. There must be no offers of “loans” or “cashback”

    The timeline of the past eleven years is littered with sordid and tragic examples of the whole “package” being nothing but a scam. But often this is true even when one of the component parts is legitimate or even harmless. It is the combination of all the elements which can, together, produce a fatal result: loss (to the investor).

    In the UK, every pension scheme member has a statutory right to a transfer from one HMRC-registered scheme to another HMRC-registered scheme. However, this can often be a terrible move if it results in the investment of the money falling under the control of a commission-hungry scammer who has no regard for the interests of the victim.

    store pod full of structured notes
    The most risky part of any pension transfer “package” is always the investment. Here are some examples:

    Capita Oak

    Bogus occupational scheme set up by a squad of known, serial scammers with a mythical sponsoring employer (in Cyprus). Promoted and distributed by boiler-room cold callers and “introducers”. 300 victims’ pensions transferred into the Capita Oak scheme, and all £10 million of their funds invested in Store First. The scammers behind the scheme earned up to 46% in commission. The scheme was placed in the hands of Dalriada by the Pension Regulator. Dalriada reported that the investments were worthless and Store First was placed into liquidation in 2019.

    Carey Pensions

    Hundreds of victims’ pensions were transferred to the Carey SIPP scheme purely so their funds could be invested in Store First. With the same result as in the Capita Oak scam, victims found that the “guaranteed” returns of 16% did not materialise. This was because the 16% had been paid “accidentally” to the scammers. One such victim – Russell Adams – took his case to the High Court and lost. But the judgement was overturned in the Court of Appeal and Carey must now reinstate his original pension. Other SIPP providers involved were Berkeley Burke, Montpelier (Curtis Banks) and Lifetime (Hartley).

    London Quantum

    Another bogus occupational scheme – run by the notorious Stephen Ward. 100 victims were scammed out of their pensions for the sole purpose of investing their funds in high-commission, unregulated funds and bonds. Investments included Quantum PYX – a forex trading fund; Dolphin Trust – now in liquidation; Park First Glasgow; Colonial Capital Loan Notes; The Resort Group holiday flats in Cape Verde and The Reforestation Group in Brazil. The scheme was placed in the hands of Dalriada by the Pension Regulator. Dalriada reports that most of the investments are worthless.

    GFS Hong Kong QROPS

    A group of known unlicensed scammers – including Square Mile in the Czech Republic – advised hundreds of UK residents to transfer their pensions to this Hong Kong scheme. All the victims had their pensions invested in worthless, high-commission, unregulated funds and bonds such as Blackmore Global, Swan, GRRE, Granite and Christianson Property Capital. The scheme is now being re-registered by the Hong Kong regulator – and the funds are deemed to be worthless.

    Continental Wealth Management

    Unlicensed CWM, based on the Costa Blanca in Spain, defrauded 1,000 British expats out of £100 million worth of pensions and life savings. Victims had their funds invested in high-risk (and high-commission) structured notes which were only suitable for professional investors. The clients’ signatures were forged on the investment dealing instructions. Most of the structured notes suffered catastrophic losses, and what little remained of the victims’ funds were further eroded by the high fees on the illegally-sold insurance bonds provided by Quilter, Utmost and SEB. The CWM crew – along with Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions (who signed off all the pension transfers) – are now facing criminal charges of fraud and forgery in Spain.

    A pension scheme is a bit like a store pod. It is a container – no different to a cardboard box or shopping trolley. By itself, the scheme (or the pod) is harmless. The harmful ingredient is the greedy, unlicensed introducer or “adviser”. Fill a shopping trolley with unhealthy foods, alcohol and cigarettes and you have a recipe for an untimely death. Fill a store pod with flammable chemicals, and you risk an explosion. Fill a pension scheme with high-risk, high-commission, toxic investments, and you have the perfect recipe for poverty in retirement.

  • CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST UNLICENSED FINANCIAL ADVISERS

    CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST UNLICENSED FINANCIAL ADVISERS

    Denia Courthouse
    Denia Courthouse

    CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST UNLICENSED FINANCIAL ADVISERS:

    Last month saw the first of the CWM pension scam victims testifying in the criminal court of Denia, Alicante.  Nine brave people re-lived their ordeal in front of the judge.  They answered the judge’s questions, and were then cross-examined by the defendants’ lawyers.

    Darren Kirby in front of CWM office
    Darren Kirby in front of CWM office

    The complainants who testified were all clients of Continental Wealth Management (CWM) run by Darren Kirby and Jody Smart (pictured below), as well as Premier Pension Solutions (PPS) run by Stephen Ward.  PPS was an “agent” and “partner” of AES Financial Services run by Sam Instone. (PPS and AES are now under investigation for their role in the 2011 Ark Pension Liberation scam).

    It is hard enough for a pension scam victim to be reminded of their ordeal at the hands of callous, greedy scammers.  But to have to recount in graphic detail the methods used by the scammers was hard for them to bear.

    The scammer’s typical arsenal of weapons comprises a series of lies – adeptly used to trick the unwary into handing over their pensions and life savings.  The victims who testified in Denia know these lies all too well.  And now, so too does the judge:

    Cyrus regulator logo

    LIE NO. 1: “We’re fully regulated”.  This, of course, was completely untrue.  CWM operated, purportedly, as a member of the Inter Alliance “network”.  And Inter Alliance was not only unregulated but had been fined by the Cyprus regulator for providing regulated services without legal authorisation.

    Jody Bell of CWM
    Jody Smart of CWM

    LIE NO. 2: “Yes, I’m fully qualified”.  This, again, was untrue.  Few – if any – of the people working for CWM had any financial qualifications.  They were mostly poorly-educated salesmen with the gift of the gab.  They had learned a well-used and very clever script which was designed to mislead and defraud their victims.

    Toxcic insurance bond providers; Quilter, Utmost & SEB

    LIE NO. 3: “The case for transferring your pension into a QROPS is overwhelming”.  In the case of final salary pensions, this was never true.  A guaranteed income for life from a company pension final salary scheme can almost never be bettered.  Most personal pensions should also have been left where they were.  In fact, all pensions would have been better off avoiding ending up in the hands of CWM – even if a QROPS had been the right option.

    LIE NO. 4: “Your pension needs to be in an insurance bond (Quilter, SEB or Utmost).  This is for protection and tax efficiency”.  This was never true. The bond provided no protection, no tax savings, no flexibility.  The 7% commission paid to the “adviser” was not disclosed. 

    LIE NO. 5: “Your money will be invested in blue chip companies and you will get high returns and low risk.”  High returns come with high risk – and the high commissions (paid to the scammers) were hidden from the victims.  Toxic structured notes were used for all the victims – and these are complex investment products which were only suitable for professional investors. 

    There were, of course, many other lies – including the fact that when the toxic structured notes and unregulated funds failed, these were “only paper losses”.  Plus the fact that the investors’ signatures were forged or copied on the investment dealing instructions.

    Structured Note Providers

    The second half of the complainants will be heard by the court on 9th and 10th December 2021.  Once the court has heard from all these victims (minus Bob Bowden who sadly passed away recently), the fate of the defendants will be decided by the judge.  Let us all hope this will herald an end to these types of pension and investment scams. 

    Perhaps “the end” will be just the beginning.  A new dawn for an offshore financial services industry which sells proper financial advice – and not just commission-laden products.

    CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST UNLICENSED FINANCIAL ADVISERS

  • FCA Investigates Ark and AES

    FCA Investigates Ark and AES

    Screenshot of International Adviser's article on FCA's questionnaire for Ark victims
    FCA finally waking up to do some work

    The FCA seems to have woken up. It only took eleven years. Eleven years of laziness, torpor, disinterest and deliberately ignoring the problem. But, completely out of the blue, the FCA has suddenly got bored with crapping on bathroom floors and has decided to do a spot of rather belated regulating.

    The object of this sudden fit of uncharacteristic activity, is the Ark pension scam. This was operated between 2010 and 2011 by a team of scammers. This team included so-called financial advisers, introducers, a pensions lawyer and an accountant. The principal architect of the six Ark schemes, however, was Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions in Spain. His Spanish firm specialised in (pretty much what it said on the tin) pensions. In particular pension transfers.

    Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions
    Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions

    From August 2010, Ward’s company Premier Pension Solutions (PPS) was run as an agent of AES Financial Services – which was regulated by the FSA (now the FCA). Before this, Ward’s company was in the Inter-Alliance network in Cyprus. Coincidentally, the “sister” firm Continental Wealth Management (CWM) was also a member of the Inter-Alliance network. PPS and CWM worked together in close collaboration. CWM often did the cold calling and warm up act for Ward’s various pension scams – including the New Zealand Evergreen liberation scam.

    An agency agreement was in place between Ward’s firm PPS and Sam Instone’s firm AES. But the agreement specifically excluded pension transfers. Which was pretty odd, bearing in mind pension transfers were PPS’ main activity. This resulted in Ward’s firm giving victims the false impression that the pension advice he provided was regulated. Which, of course, it wasn’t. The exclusion in the agency agreement between PPS and AES was, naturally, hidden from clients and victims.

    Complaints directed at Ward about the various pension scams he had been operating over the years were always firmly rebutted. Ward always claimed that his own activities were the responsibility of AES as the regulated party – and that it was up to Instone to decide what PPS could and couldn’t do.

    International Adviser Logo
    Kirsten Hastings from International Adviser has published some excerpts from the FCA’s questionnaire about Ark, PPS and AES:
    • A questionnaire has been sent by the FCA to customers of AES Financial Services (which also traded as International Pension Transfer Specialists (IPTS), Premier Pension Solutions (PPS) and Premier Pension Transfers (PPT).
    • These clients invested or transferred pensions into schemes managed by Ark Business Consulting and/or the Ark pension schemes.
    • The questionnaire was sent to consumers to gather more information about their dealings with these firms.
    • They have until 17 October to respond.
    • Director of AES Sam Instone told IA: “We are absolutely certain AES Financial Services Ltd has never provided any advice at all in relation to Ark schemes, so it seems like a strange questionnaire.”

    Sam Instone seems to have forgotten that AES Spain was run by rogue “adviser” Paul Clarke for some years – after leaving unlicensed firm CWM in 2010. Clarke advised several victims to transfer into Ark. And good old Sam himself advised his own Dad to transfer into Ark. I guess three destroyed pensions – with accompanying tax penalties – can be easy to forget?

    Sam Instone opening up about putting his dad in financial ruin
    Kirsten Hastings goes on to talk about the history of Stephen Ward’s Ark scam:
    • In May 2011, Dalriada Trustees was appointed by The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to take over schemes marketed by Ark Business Consulting.
    • TPR took action following concerns that the Ark schemes were being used for pension liberation.
    • According to Dalriada, such schemes generally have high charges and invest money in risky and esoteric vehicles.
    • They also put members at risk of having to pay large sums of tax.
    • The latest Dalriada update to members states it is “not able to place a value on any members’ benefits at the time and are therefore unable to make payments to members”.

    Kirsten also mentions some further points in the FCA questionnaire:

    Kirsten Hastings editor at International Adviser
    Kirsten Hastings editor at International Adviser
    • Did the client (Ark victim) approach the firm or vice versa?
    • Where was the client based when these services were provided?
    • Would clients be willing to sign a witness statement?
    • What regulatory protections was the client told there were?

    All Ark victims would certainly be more than happy to sign a witness statement to evidence what Stephen Ward, PPS and AES did, wrote, promised, assured and persuaded.

    The regulatory protection, of course, for anyone advised by Stephen Ward’s Premier Pension Solutions (which was most of them) in the Ark scam, was Sam Instone’s AES Financial Services – according to all the documentation.

    Ward promoted the Ark £27 million scam during 2010 and 2011 – cases being documented on PPS headed paper announcing that the firm was a “Partner” of AES and regulated through AES. Ward would have earned at least £1 million through the Ark scam – all of which would have been paid through AES.

    When Ark went tits up, Ward launched his next pension liberation scam: Evergreen Retirement Benefits QROPS in New Zealand – with his accompanying 50% Marazion “loans”. Again, all advice was given on PPS headed paper announcing that the firm was an AES partner and regulated through AES. This meant another 300 victims lost more than £10 million worth of pensions. It also meant that PPS and AES between them earned at least £1 million from the scam (10% of transfer values). These fees were paid direct to AES.

    When Evergreen collapsed (as all PPS pension scams eventually did) in 2012, Ward set up the Capita Oak scam. Another 300 people lost over £10 million – all invested in Store First store pods. Again, all pension transfers were done by Ward. Alongside Capita Oak, Ward carried out all the transfers for Henley (another 250 victims losing £8 million in Store First) and Westminster (another 79 victims losing £3.3 million in other toxic, high-commission investments). All these schemes are currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

    Throughout this era – during which all business done by PPS went through AES – Ward ran multiple, multi-£million pension scams – mostly involving liberation fraud:

    • Bollington Wood
    • Capita Oak
    • Dorrixo Alliance
    • Endeavour QROPS
    • Evergreen QROPS
    • Feldspar
    • Halkin
    • Hammerley
    • Headforte
    • Henley Retirement Benefits
    • London Quantum
    • Southlands
    • Randwick
    • Randwick Estates
    • Southern Star QROPS
    • Superlife QROPS

    The above list comprises QROPS which were used abusively, and bogus occupational schemes.

    All these PPS scams resulted in many hundreds more victims losing millions of pounds’ worth of pensions. Many of these unfortunate people were also persuaded by Ward to liberate their pensions, and so they would have faced crippling tax penalties as well.

    Ward’s final triumph in his long-running pension scam campaign was London Quantum. He proudly announced this scheme saying that “Ark is history” and that he was now going straight. Still trading as an AES partner and agent, Ward conned 100 victims into the London Quantum scheme. This was invested in the usual high-risk, high-commission and entirely inappropriate assets (including Dolphin Trust loans and car parking spaces at Park First Glasgow). London Quantum ended up being classified by Dalriada Trustees as being “probably worthless”.

    In the Ark Pensions scam, it is clear why so many victims thought PPS was a properly-regulated firm – AS AN AGENT AND “PARTNER” OF AES:

    Premier Pension Solutions letter to victim about transferring pension to access Pensions Reciprocation scheme

    Premier Pension Solutions SL …..is an authorised agent of AES Financial Services Ltd authorised to conduct investment and insurance business. AN AES INTERNATIONAL PARTNER.

    In the subsequent £100 million Continental Wealth Management pension and investment scam, Ward continued to “advise” hundreds of victims to transfer their precious pensions into the hands of known scammers – in the full knowledge that their pensions would be invested in high-risk, high-commission rubbish funds and structured notes:


    Premier Pension Solutions letter to victim about transferring pension to QROPS

    Premier Pension Solutions form sent to client to retrieve details

    But Stephen Ward was a bit more than just an “agent” and “partner” of AES. He was also an integral part of the AES management team – and boasted that he was Director of International Pensions. When all the pension scams finally collapsed, leaving thousands destitute and desperate – as well as hounded by HMRC – Ward and Instone set up IPTS: International Pension Transfer Specialists. This new venture was run from Ward’s office in Moraira – although they tried to hide this by using a PO Box at nearby LettersRUs. And so the misery continued…..

    Stephen Ward in the front row of Sam Instone's AES International
    Stephen Ward in the front row of the AES team of “experienced experts”.

  • Utmost Fraud approved by EU Commission

    Utmost Fraud approved by EU Commission

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

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

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

    Death offices - Quilter & Utmost facilitate pension fraud

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


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

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

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

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

    Utmost Fraud approved by EU Commission

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Friends Provident International logo

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

    RL360 logo

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

    Leonteq provide toxic structured notes

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

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

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

    Utmost Fraud approved by EU Commission

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Pennick Blackwell another firm affiliated with Quilter & pension scams.

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

    Kristoffer Taft of Pennick Blackwell
    Kristoffer Taft of Pennick Blackwell

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

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

  • Goodbye Bond Review

    Goodbye Bond Review

    Brev at Bond Review has been doing the FCA’s job for it for more than four years. He (or she) has warned the public on the excellent Bond Review blog about the dangers of investment scams in the form of “bonds”. While the FCA have sat around doing little of any use – except keeping the cleaners busy in the men’s toilets – Brev has performed the function of an essential lighthouse for potential victims.

    Sadly, Brev has announced his (or her) retirement. Having saved potentially thousands of victims from financial ruin, we all wish this magnificent keyboard warrior well. Thank you from all of us who care about exposing investment scams in the face of the FCA’s sickening failure to prevent them.

    Goodbye – from Brev at Bond Review

    Regular readers will probably have noticed that the output of Bond Review has continued to drop recently.

    In the first year of Bond Review I reviewed over 60 investment schemes that were being promoted to the public; in the past 12 months I’ve reviewed a third of that number.

    Bond Review comments on FCA ignorance of minibond scams
    FCA has repeatedly ignored minibond warnings & complaints for years

    Although there are still far too many high risk investment schemes being promoted with impunity to the general public by search engines and social media, there are signs that the tide has lessened somewhat. When Bond Review was founded, there was a constant stream of people signing up for consumer finance forums asking whether London Capital and Finance was a safe investment. That is no longer the case, at least not to nearly the same extent.

    In 2017 minibonds were mostly ignored by the press other than very occasional articles warning investors of the risks (and sometimes promoting them). They were also, as covered here extensively, completely ignored by the FCA. That is certainly no longer the case, with the collapse of London Capital and Finance (along with lesser schemes) hitting the mainstream press and the subject of Parliamentary enquiries.

    But the main reason I am bringing the blog to a close is that I simply don’t have the time any more. Maintaining the trickle of bi-weekly articles (with regular lapses) has often meant staying up past midnight (and drinking too much wine) simply because it was the only hour in the day available. I have a full-time job, a family, a sports club to get back up off the ground after being shut down during the pandemic, and the blog. Something has to give.

    Bond Review has saved investors millions
    Bond Review has saved investors millions

    I remain proud of what Bond Review has achieved. I know for a fact that as a result of my reviews, millions of pounds whose owners could not afford to lose them have been saved from high-risk investment schemes which subsequently collapsed. I know this because the people that ran them told me so in the course of their legal threats.

    All I have done for three and a half years is to post the facts, and nothing but the facts, about the risks of unregulated investments, so that investors can make their own minds up. At times this meant my coverage was open to charges of being “anodyne” or “mealy-mouthed”, but it was sticking to what was verifiable and in the public domain that allowed me to stand behind my coverage for this long.

    I considered going public with my identity but have nothing to gain from doing so. At least three different people have been identified as Brev by various idiots posting spam online. None of them are me.
    Bond Review remains anonymous
    Brev remains anonymous

    I originally called this article “Indefinite hiatus” but then I remembered how annoying it was when I was reading webcomics twenty years ago and authors would forever be going on “hiatuses” (hiati?) that left you forever wondering whether they’d come back. So no hiatus, just an unambiguous goodbye, and an end to three and a half years that has often been stressful, draining, fascinating, heartbreaking and (emotionally) rewarding in equal measure.

    Thanks to all the readers who have read this far. In the early weeks of writing Bond Review I got excited whenever my pageview count went up by 1 (and even more excited when it wasn’t from me). For many weeks posting articles felt like shouting at the bins. The stats, comments and messages of support all helped keep me going for as long as I have.

    Oz, writer behind MLM
    Oz, writer of Behind MLM

    A special thanks to everyone who donated. If anyone feels they have been shortchanged by the sudden cancellation, get in touch via the Contact link above and I will happily refund any previous donations to their source. The handful of recurring donations to Bond Review have been cancelled at my end.

    A final credit goes to Oz, the writer behind the website BehindMLM.com, which was a huge inspiration for Bond Review. If there are any readers of both they will have noticed a few similarities of style which are partly homage and partly lack of imagination on my part. It showed that it was possible to shine a light on an under-covered part of the financial world and keep it going in the teeth of concerted and relentless opposition. How Oz has kept it going for a decade (with a much higher output than I ever had) is beyond me.

    Comments on all articles will be closed in a week on June 1st. I will continue to pay the hosting bill to keep Bond Review up for another year. It will then close for good on 25 May 2022.

    I can continue to be contacted via the contact link here.

    All of the investment-scam bonds that Bond Review has blogged about
    All of the investment-scam bonds that Bond Review has blogged about

    Have you thrown in the towel due to legal action?

    When I started Bond Review I knew I needed to be prepared to stand up for myself in court, or there was no point in writing articles on this subject in the first place. A total of 13 different investment schemes have made legal threats to me. None of them have gone to court. Until today I had (unless memory fails me) withdrawn one solitary article from publication: a report on Blackmore Bonds‘ brief sponsorship of the Kent Police rugby team.

    So any suggestion that I have been intimidated into shutting down the blog is a perfectly reasonable guess but incorrect.

    Nor have I been paid off. I have never (despite offers) accepted money to remove any article from Bond Review, and never will.

    A number of articles have been pulled from view today because keeping them up for another year is not worth the time and money it would require. This should not be misinterpreted as an admission that anything in them was false. I cannot comment further. There are special circumstances and anyone who thinks I might be persuaded to pull other articles for no reason (before the website closes) should save their breath.

    FCA shit on the floor

    Brev has been careful not to lay too much overt criticism at the door of the FCA. This may have been a conscious effort not to divert too much attention away from the fraudulent, risky bond investment itself. Or it may have been in order to focus attention on the necessity to educate consumers. Whatever the real purpose, Brev pulled no punches in the blog which did openly slam the FCA’s disgusting culture of laziness, slovenliness and negligence in this powerful blog: “FCA officials shit on the floor, as well as the bed“.

    Bye bye Brev x 😘