Category: News

  • 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.

  • Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund Judgement

    Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund Judgement

    High Court Rules in Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund Case against James Hadley and associates.

    In a recent High Court judgment, Judge Mr. Nicholas Thompsell found that the Cayman-Islands based Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund (TMAF) was involved in an illegal conspiracy to “extract commissions from the investments.” The defendants, who were also behind the 2013 Store First pension investment scam, were found guilty of acting together to establish TMAF and deceive investors.

    The claimant, Doran & Minehane, the liquidator of TMAF, argued that the investments were uncommercial transactions, potentially fictitious, or involved undisclosed self-dealing benefiting the conspirators. The investments were designed to exploit and misappropriate pension funds for the defendants’ benefit.

    The judge determined a deliberate intention to harm TMAF, stating that the arrangements aimed to generate commissions for the conspirators at the fund’s expense. The accused faced a range of serious accusations, including breach of financial services regulation, fiduciary duties, and involvement in unlawful means conspiracy.

    The victims, who suffered significant losses due to these schemes, have our sympathy. The court’s judgment establishes solid principles of liability, which may lead to a faster receipt of claimed monies and reduced legal costs for the defendants.

    For the full judgment, click here: High Court Rules in Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund Case against James Hadley and associates.

    The FSCS is now accepting claims for compensation of up to £85,000 for victims of the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund investment scam. James Hadley’s advisory firm – Nationwide Benefit Consultants – (which later changed its name to The Pension Reporter) had been an agent of FCA-regulated Joseph Oliver.

    This is a helpful lesson for victims and potential victims of pension and investment scams. The FSCS compensation payments will be funded by levies on the decent, qualified and ethical IFAs who don’t operate scams. Justice and education combined in one bitter pill.

  • TOP 3 WORST LIFE OFFICES

    TOP 3 WORST LIFE OFFICES

    For over a decade, life offices (more accurately known as “death” offices) have been the centre of millions of pounds’ worth of destroyed pensions. So here we are going to name the top 3 worst life offices…

    These are just some of the things they’ve been up to:

    • Collaborating with scammers: unregulated, rogue firms posing as “advisory” firms
    • Giving terms of business to firms run by people with criminal records for embezzlement, fraud, theft and proceeds of crime (as well as murderers, drug dealers and prostitutes)
    • Paying hidden commissions to unlicensed, unqualified advisers with a long track record of scamming
    • Accepting obviously forged investment dealing instructions from the scammers
    • Reporting on huge losses in pension portfolios without warning the victims not to use the scammers responsible any longer
    • Continuing to charge disproportionate fees even after the loss of half or more of the pension.  (There are, in fact, some victims whose entire portfolios have been destroyed – but the death offices keep on applying their charges long after there is nothing left)
    • Offering high risk, toxic investments paying huge commissions to unqualified advisers and scammers on their investment platforms
    • Failing to disclose the secret commissions paid to the scammers 
    • Failing to treat investors as “retail” or unsophisticated investors
    • Failing to obtain confirmation from the victims that they understand the risks involved in both the insurance bonds and the toxic investments – which are only suitable for professional investors

    In fact, much of what these death offices have been up to is outright fraud.  The public needs to be warned.  The existing victims are suffering terribly – dealing with poverty and extreme distress.  Some of them are dying; some of them have died – killed by the death offices’ and the scammers they do business with.

    The most important thing of all is to try to prevent further victims.  But this is difficult because so many scammers are still aggressively selling their victims these toxic, unnecessary and expensive death bonds.  Also known as “portfolio bonds”, “offshore bonds” and “wrappers”, these products pay the scammers huge commissions which are hidden from the victims.  

    So who are the three worst offenders:

    David Kneeshaw - CEO of FPI and RL360
    David Kneeshaw

    Number 3. Friends Provident International – based in the Isle of Man and run by David Kneeshaw  – Executive Director and Group Chief Executive Officer.  Kneeshaw also runs RL360 – another death office – which bought Friends Provident International a couple of years ago for a quarter of a billion pounds.  Friends Provident International has a long history of investing its victims’ life savings and pensions in toxic, risky funds such as Axiom Legal Financing, LM Managed Performance, Premier New Earth,  Premier Eco Resources, and Kijani .  These investments were high risk and unregulated as well as only suitable for sophisticated or professional investors.

    Paul Thomson - CEO of Generali/Utmost
    Paul Thompson

    Number 2. Generali (now known as Utmost International) – based in Guernsey and with the head office in London.  Utmost has terms of business with the worst of the scammers in the advisory community – paying the illegal, secret and abusive commissions and featuring the worst of the highest-risk investments (including structured notes with a risk to the investor of total loss).  Run by Paul Thompson – who claims to have over 30 years of industry experience as an investment banker.  Generali – or Utmost – has a track record even worse than Friends Provident International’s.  The same secret commissions are paid to the same scammers – with the same result – crippling losses, poverty, misery – and even death for the victims.

    Peter Kenny - ex chief exec of Quilter/Old Mutual International
    Peter Kenny

    Number 1. Old Mutual International (now known as Quilter International) – Based in the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland, this death office used to be run by Peter Kenny who was a former Isle of Man regulator.  But being a former regulator didn’t stop Kenny from doing business with the worst of the unlicensed pension scammers and allowing them to forge signatures on investment dealing instructions.  Being a former regulator didn’t stop Kenny from paying out millions in illegal commissions to the dross of the offshore financial services community – for illegally-sold death bonds and unregulated investments and structured notes.  Quilter International was sold to Utmost International last year (2021) for nearly half a billion pounds.  Because there’s money in misery; there are fortunes to be made out of trading with criminals; there are huge profits to be made out of contravening pretty much all of the EU regulations.

    All of the worst three life/death offices are still doing a roaring trade.  Business has returned to pre-pandemic levels.  Europe is their biggest market – with many of their victims based in Spain, Italy, Germany and other expat countries.  

    International Adviser – the advertising and marketing rag for the death offices – reported last week that not only was business booming for the death offices, but was now exceeding pre-pandemic levels.  In 2020 they wrote £58 billion worth of business.  And in 2021 it was £68 billion.

    But these huge numbers mean nothing to the victims who have lost their homes, their marriages, their retirement futures.  Three quarters of a billion pounds may mean nothing to the likes of David Kneeshaw, Paul Thompson and Peter Kenny.  Sometimes fifty grand can mean the difference between life and death for a victim of the death offices.  With Friends Provident, Utmost and Quilter International likely to do £78 billion worth of business in 2023, there will be even more misery, destitution, and death for the victims.  And the scammers will already be counting their future profits from the illegal commissions.

  • Fraud in Spain – Julius Baer

    Fraud in Spain – Julius Baer

    Spain is, sadly, the World’s capital of wealth scamming.  For more than a decade, wealth planning has been perverted and converted into a commission-laden fraud.  This financial crime has relieved thousands of victims of their pensions and life savings.

    Originally a private Swiss bank, Julius Baer now wants to diversify into the Spanish wealth market.  Hopefully, this is very good news.  To date, Spain has been dominated by the dross of the commission churning machine.  Some genuine, professional, qualified, fee-based financial advice in Spain would be welcome and also essential to clean up this crime-ridden territory.

    Julius Baer has created a new team which includes Claudio Beretta and Claudia Linares.  So just to give them a few friendly, helpful tips, here’s my message to them – which I hope they will accept in the spirit in which it is given.

    If this newcomer to the Spanish market can bring proper fee-based financial advice to British expats in Spain, Julius Baer could change financial services the World over. The absurdly-stupid EU regulator: ESMA allows firms with only an insurance-mediation license to provide investment advice on portfolios held within insurance bonds. This, of course, facilitates most of the financial crime in Spain and the rest of Europe.

    This widespread fraud – encouraged and handsomely rewarded by the death offices – oils the wheels of the illegal commission machine. These freely-spinning wheels result in herds of unqualified “advisers” (including drug addicts, convicted killers, prostitutes and fraudsters) conning thousands of victims out of their pensions.

    Julius Baer proudly reports that it has created a new team, headed by Claudio Beretta and Claudia Linares, which includes Jorge Saavedra Doménech and Carlos Navarro Sabán.

    This team is looking to provide services in the fields of wealth planning and wealth management. Julius Baer reports this constitutes;

    “the overall Bank’s strategic conviction to further strengthen their presence in Western Europe and particularly in Spain.”

    Hopefully, Julius Baer will avoid death offices and unlicensed spivs. And, even more essential to the fraud-saturated Spanish market, Julius Baer must make it clear there will be no secret or half-secret commissions involved – and concentrate purely on proper fee-based advice which is qualified and truly independent.

  • Pension Scams Explained – Stage 2

    Pension Scams Explained – Stage 2

    Our last blog in this series recreated the offshore pension scam process. We covered the set up and hard sell.  The slick salesman prepared the unwitting victim and convinced him his pension would be better off out of the UK.

    The silver-tongued spiv, Darren, posing as an adviser, conned his new client with no problem at all.  The poor victim was duped into believing he should transfer his pension into a QROPS – an overseas pension scheme.  The con worked because the experienced scammer pressed all the right buttons:

    Your pension will be looked after better, it will be cheaper to manage, you’ll pay less tax, you won’t lose half of it when you die, you’ll get to choose your own pension investments!

    Of course, the scammer, didn’t point out that once out of the UK, John’s pension would have no protection.  Complete control of the money would be squandered will now lie in the hands of the unqualified, unlicensed scammers.

    The victim, John had stressed:

    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.

    But sadly he’s played right into the scammer’s hands.  His precious pension will be transferred into a QROPS and then into an insurance death bond:

    John: I worked for thirty years to build up that pension and I don’t want anything to happen to it.

    Darren: So, let’s look at all the ways you can improve your pension and make sure its protected.

    But far, far from improving or protecting the investor’s pension, the scammer has removed the precious retirement fund from the safety of the UK.  He’s sent it off to Malta or Gibraltar and then on to the Isle of Man or Guernsey.  The money is now well beyond the protection of British regulation or compensation. 

    John had stressed how he wanted low risk, but has now signed dozens of forms – and this will guarantee that his pension will be exposed to high risk.  Darren didn’t give him a chance to read or understand these long and complex forms.  And the most important form of all was a blank investment dealing instruction.  Once this has been signed by John, the scammer can copy it dozens of times and invest the pension money in whatever pays the highest commission.     

    Blank dealing instructions

    The whole point of this scam is for the scammer to make money out of the victim by a whole series of hidden commissions.

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

    But what will actually happen is that the scammer will openly charge three or four – or more – percent in set-up fees, plus one or two percent a year service charge.  But, under the table, he will earn a further 7% hidden commission from the death office – such as Quilter International, Utmost International, RL360 or Friends Provident.

    Darren: Right. And then we can start investing your pension and making it grow – so you’ll be able to have a happy and healthy retirement.

    John, and all the other victims, will be a long way from being happy or healthy.  Because the death office has a platform that the scammer will use to pick the highest-commission investments.  So John’s pension fund will be used to line the scammer’s pockets for the next ten years – as he will be stuck in the death bond for that long.

    Commission based

    Investments that pay the highest commissions – such as structured notes and unregulated collective investment schemes – are also the highest in terms of risk.  John’s pension can now only lose money.  And as the value of his hard-earned retirement savings goes down and down, the scammer’s commissions will keep on going up and up.

    John, along with all the other victims, will end up losing part – or all – of his pension.  He may well lose his home, see his marriage break up, develop depression or a life-threatening illness.  He may even take his own life.     

    But John and his dire poverty will be long forgotten by the slick, silver-tongued scammer.  He’ll be busy rubbing his hands with glee at his next batch of victims.  Because there’s plenty of them and this form of pension fraud is showing no sign of slowing down any time soon.

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  • THE BOLLOCKS OF OLD BAILEY

    THE BOLLOCKS OF OLD BAILEY

    I don’t often disagree with highly-regarded pensions expert Henry Tapper.  Too much respect and awe.  But his recent blog: “The Balls of Old Bailey” (about Andrew Bailey) merits a polite argument.  It has made me cross – not cross with Henry, per se.  But cross with the failure of Britain’s culture, government, regulation and legal system to address justice justly (or at all).

    Henry has questioned the point of revisiting the balls-up made by former FCA CEO Andrew Bailey and has suggested that “we need to move on”.

    The point of examining Bailey’s sickening catalogue of balls-ups is that we must make sure it never happens again.  Part of that mission is to follow the example of the criminal justice system: we don’t give convicted criminals a jolly good talking to – or even a good bollocking.  We take away their liberty and put them in prison.  This is called a “deterrent”. 

    What did Old Bailey do that was so bad?  The answer is, indeed, a long list – starting with British Steel, Toby Whittaker’s Park First and Neil Woodford’s Fund, and moving on to London Capital & Finance and a long list of other mini-bond scams – including the Blackmore Bond.  Bailey should have stopped that entire horrific catalogue of investment fraud if he’d been doing his job properly.  He could – and should – have prevented hundreds of thousands of victims from losing their life savings and pensions in all of those investment scams.

    The advantage to be had from putting the bollocks – and preferably the head – of Bailey on the block is to send out a warning to future FCA bosses.  They all need to understand that they are public servants, and that with huge salaries come huge responsibilities.   Current overpaid bosses Nikhil Rathi, Christopher Woolard and Charles Randall must be reminded that running the FCA is a serious public duty – and not just an easy stepping stone to an even bigger and better job (however badly they fail consumers).

    Bailey’s numerous failures were rewarded with an eye-watering salary followed by promotion to governor of the Bank of England.

    But Bailey’s balls-up is by no means unique.  He’s in good company with a whole raft of over-paid public servants who have betrayed the public:

    • Post Office boss Paula Vennells was awarded a CBE for falsely prosecuting hundreds of innocent Post Office subpostmasters for fraud – even though she knew full well they were innocent.  In arguably the biggest scandal of corruption and injustice in British history, Vennells oversaw the wrongful conviction and sometimes imprisonment of 700 victims.  Many of these people were financially ruined, lost their homes and committed suicide.  One pregnant woman was sent to jail, and many marriages and families were destroyed. 
    • Former HMRC boss Dave Hartnett was caught arranging “sweetheart” deals with tax evaders such as Goldman Sax and Vodaphone.  And now he’s “got no shame” (according to Margaret Hodge) in taking up another over-paid job with Deloittes. 
    • Former HMRC boss Lin Homer was rewarded for her vast catalogue of disasters and failures with another huge salary and a £2.2m pension
    Paula Vennells (left), Dave Hartnett (middle), Lin Homer (right)
    Paula Vennells (left), Dave Hartnett (middle), Lin Homer (right)

    But to revert to the failings of Andrew Bailey, Henry has suggested that we need to “move on”.  However, those who have lost their life savings and pensions because of the FCA’s defects will have great difficulty putting their losses and harrowing ordeals behind them.  Living in abject poverty won’t help them forget.  They will certainly never forgive the fact that Andrew Bailey could have prevented them becoming victims of investment scams such as mini bonds, Store First, Park First, the Woodford Fund and Blackmore Global etc.

    Henry’s blog concludes that Andrew Bailey, as Governor of the Bank of England, has a great deal on his plate: cost of living crisis, looming recession and Brexit.  But does anybody seriously think that such a negligent, lazy, incompetent person is capable of dealing with that lot – when he couldn’t even listen to frantic whistleblowers such as Paul Carlier, Mark Taber and Brev at Bond Review who were offering to do his job for him?

    In an entirely different blog, however, Henry talks about the sad case of MP Neil Parish:

    This silly twerp got caught looking at lewd images on his mobile in the House of Commons.  His excuse was that he thought porn was spelled “tractor”.  Parish has now resigned and his political career is almost certainly over.  His wife might also be quite cross.  He probably won’t be rewarded with a promotion, a CBE or any kind of public “moving on”.

    Tractor girl

    What Parish did was foolish.  But he didn’t cost thousands of people their pensions and life savings; he didn’t ruin hundreds of subpostmasters’ lives and send some of them to prison or to their deaths; he didn’t aid and abet hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of tax evasion; he didn’t overcharge millions of taxpayers or lose their records.  

    Parish embarrassed himself and was caught doing something unbelievably silly – that hurt nobody except himself (and his own family).  But the price he will pay for this will be crippling and may have ruined his life.  Meanwhile, Bailey, Vennells, Hartnet and Homer have evaded any kind of sanction and gone on to glittering success, awards and eye-watering pensions.

    Move on?  Anybody?

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  • The Web of Pension Scams

    The Web of Pension Scams

    On the web of pension scams It seems as though criminal convictions against pension scammers might be getting popular. More than a decade has gone by with virtually none of the usual suspects getting jailed – despite a few criminal investigations (that, so far, have not resulted in convictions). Is the system really that hopeless or do these criminals just know how to work it? Probably, both. But is it getting any better?

    Almost all scammers and scams are, in some way, related or connected. If the earliest scammers (circa 2010) had been prosecuted and put behind bars, much of today’s damage could have been prevented.

    Now that there is an intricate web of them passing around their tricks of the trade, it’s no wonder they’ve all been able to bypass the laws and regulations.

    Two scammers have, however, recently been brought to justice:

    Alan Barratt and Susan Dalton have recently been convicted and jailed for a £13m pension fraud – involving alleged pension investments in truffle trees.

    Much of the £13m ended up in the hands of well-known scammer David Austin – who committed suicide after being caught in another pension scam (using his daughter Camilla as the “front man”).

    Susan Dalton & Alan Barratt
    Susan Dalton & Alan Barratt

    The Barratt and Dalton scheme, was also promoted by Julian Hanson – one of the main promoters of the £27m Ark pension scam in 2010/11. Hanson’s vigorous promotion efforts resulted in £5.5m worth of Ark victims (100 in total). One of Hanson’s co-scammers was the notorious Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions who was the “architect” behind the Ark scheme – along with Andrew Isles of Isles and Storer Accountants. Hanson, Ward and Isles were never prosecuted and so went on to operate and promote millions of pounds’ worth of further pension scams – ruining many thousands more lives.

    Ryan Playford
    Ryan Playford

    Sue Dalton, after moving on from the Barratt and Dalton scheme, went to work at Continental Wealth Management in Spain – reporting to head scammer Darren Kirby and his partner Jody Smart (who was the sole director of the company). Dalton’s extensive experience in pension scamming made her a hit at CWM. Ironically, Hanson has not been jailed along with Barratt and Dalton.

    Jumping forward to the present day, another jail sentence has been handed down to drug dealer Ryan Playford. In February 2022, he was convicted and imprisoned for drug-related offences:

    Playford got 15 years for supplying cocaine and canabis. Clearly a wrong-un, and someone who has no respect for the law or for the wellbeing of people’s lives who would inevitably be ruined by drug abuse.

    Drugs

    But what does Playford’s drug conviction have to do with pension scams – you may ask? We have to go back a decade to discover the answer:

    In 2008, Playford and an associate – Natasha Beesley – registered a drug company in Cyprus: R. P. Med Plant. Presumably, the authorities were convinced that by “drugs”, this meant legitimate drugs for medicinal purposes.

    Stephen Ward
    Stephen Ward

    In 2012, however, the pension scammers pounced on this Cyprus company as being the ideal sponsoring employer for another one of Stephen Ward’s pension scams: Capita Oak. Ward and his pension-lawyer friend Alan Fowler, used R. P. Med Plant Limited (Cyprus) as the so-called employer for an occupational scheme – registered by HMRC and the Pensions Regulator.

    Ward and Fowler forged signatures on a trust deed for their new pension scam, and slightly changed the name of the employer to R. P. Medplant Limited (so that nobody could find it easily on the Cyprus Companies House register). It seems likely that Ward and Fowler must have known Ryan Playford somehow, in order to be able to get their hands on his drug company.

    Patrick McCreesh
    Patrick McCreesh

    Capita Oak then became the vehicle for the scamming of 300 victims into investing their entire pensions in Store First store pods. Ward took charge of all the victims’ pension transfers, while another group of scammers took care of the cold calling of thousands of potential victims and signing up of the actual 300 victims.

    Phillip Nunn
    Phillip Nunn

    This group of scammers included Nunn and McCreesh who masterminded the £80m Blackmore Bond and Blackmore Global Fund pension and investment scams.

    Capita Oak’s 300 members were not the only victims invested in Store First store pods. There were thousands more in the Henley Retirement Benefits Scheme and various SIPPS including Carey (now Options and owned by STM), as well as Berkeley Burke and Rowanmoor. There have so far been no convictions – other than Playford’s for drug dealing.

    Store First

    This interconnected web of lies and deceit will keep on spreading unless these criminals actually fear the consequences of their actions. Let’s keep the convictions coming and not just save them for drug lords.

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  • 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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