John (Gus) Ferguson’s firm, Square Mile International, is clearly not exactly square – and Lillywhite is a grubby shade of black.
For once, I don’t have to write a blog myself – as Mr. Ferguson of Square Mile has written it for me. I did, however, have to resist the temptation to correct Fatty’s appalling grammar and spelling.
Fatty’s partner in crime is, of course, “adviser” David Vilka – who put retail, UK-domiciled victims into QROPS and then invested most or all of their pensions in Nunn and McCreesh’s toxic, illiquid, high-risk Blackmore Global fund.
So, if you have ever wondered how to promote unregulated toxic crap to pension savers, read on…..
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From: John Ferguson [mailto:jf@lillywhiteint.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 5 August, 2015 8:36 PM
Cc: Charlie Goldsmith <C.Goldsmith@curzoncapital.com>
Subject: Re: follow on……………….
Hi – yes good to meet you too, and glad you had a safe trip back.
As you said it would have perhaps been nice to have longer with you and we both felt there was areas in which we could work together and once we are all back from our various holidays no doubt we will be looking at ideas that we could explore together.
We intend to be in Dubai at end of November and have a busy schedule (already) so wouldn’t be able (this time) to build in a HK detour but if you are able to be in Dubai that time then perhaps it could be a good opportunity to spend longer discussing opportunities.
The relationships with our Introducers as we explained is relatively straight forward but to recap – Lillywhite International acts as a ‘hub’ co-ordinating the flow of business between ‘introducers’ (unregulated and unauthorised entities such as Manish’s operation) who are often looking to fund their own product (again such as Manish and Christianson) and the regulated IFA firms, and the Pension Trustees.
I think confusion probably lies in that historically GFS could take direct business or business from unregulated firms. In the UK for some years now, it has not been possible for a firm such as Manish’s or Aspinal Chase etc to give advice, get information from a ceding scheme, submit business to a QROPS or to earn fees from anything that could constitute ‘a regulated activity’ under the FSMA.
Lillywhites controls a number of regulated IFA firms, and has string links with Life Offices (providing bond wrappers) and Trustees (providing QROPS).
We offer a service to the Manish’s / Aspinal Chase’s of the world and our IFA’s will sign off the business, provide the advice, deal with the pension and invest a proportion of the fund into the investments these introducers are trying to raise subscriptions on. We have bespoke Bond arrangements at NIL commission to comply with RDR in the UK, and the funds don’t pay the IFA any commissions – again to comply with RDR.
In terms of fees etc, I’m sure in the same way your agreements are private we have various agreements with our introducers and they are confidential.
So as i said relatively open and simple relationship – nothing can be submitted to our panel of QROPS without being signed off by our IFAs and so EVERY piece of business you receive from these guys is actually via a Lillywhites Adviser – The majority will be via either Aktiva Wealth Management or Square Mile International.
Where i do think we could have a very serious chat is using your distribution in Asia for a couple of funds that we can split the distribution fees with you on, and thats definitely where id like to have a further discussion. our two main brands are www.atsgfunds.com and www.lillywhiteint.com
Speak soon
Gus
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As always, Pension Life would like to remind you that if you are planning to transfer any pension funds, make sure that you are transferring into a legitimate scheme. To find out how to avoid being scammed, please see our blog:
“We offer a service to the Manish’s / Aspinal Chase’s of the world and our IFA’s will sign off the business, provide the advice, deal with the pension and invest a proportion of the fund into the investments these introducers are trying to raise subscriptions on.”
This is a frank admission that a) Nunn & McCreesh were aware that my pension was being invested in their own fund from first contact by Luke Averill (a director of Blackmore according to his LinkedIn profile) and b) the “adviser”, David Vilka, unauthorised to transfer my pension according to the FCA, was not acting in my best interest because it is clear he was “offering a service to Aspinal Chase” in order to “invest a proportion” into Nunn & McCreesh’s own fund – the other proportion went into Ferguson’s fund – Symphony!
This could not have stated clearer that this was a deliberate objective by Nunn, McCreesh & Vilka to get my pension for their own enrichment regardless of my best interest!
Thank you Mr Ferguson. This might just be the lead Action Fraud were looking for and guess what mate – I am going there and also the FCA! You so have handed me a gift on a plate.
Stephen Sefton
We creep ever closer to bringing these scum to justice. It is hard work, but we will get there. Stephen, you have been one of the most tenacious and determined victims I have ever known – and I genuinely believe you will help bring these criminals to justice.
Assuming that email is genuine, no doubt the internet providers can confirm, it beggars belief.
We have IFAs (independent advisers), that apparently have permission to provide advice to UK customers, happy to sign of a promotion to raise funds for unregulated projects. Not independent at all, but complicit.
FCA asleep at the wheel again.
FCA was not asleep – it was dead (and still is). I have stood in the (hideous) foyer of the FCA and pretty much done everything except take all my clothes off and sing Puff The Magic Dragon – and still they ignored me. It is pathetic, embarrassing and disgraceful. The email is genuine, btw. And there are plenty more where that came from.
I am here because I am dealing with my 65 year old father-in-law who received ‘advice’ from Aspinal Chase to transfer his £90k pension to a Maltese QROP (Harbour Retirement Scheme) from where it has been ‘invested’ in Blackmore Global funds which has very high fees, non existent growth, and a lock-in period of 10 years. I have only been looking at this for 2 days but it seems blindingly obvious that these people (Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreeish) are carrying out nothing short of organised crime!!!! It is very sad and disappointing to hear that it seems they can carry on with no come-back.
I just got an email today from David Vilka of Square Mile to say that they have sold the company to Planet Pensions Limited.
This firm is not trading according to Companies House and is not regulated as far as I can see.
Will Planet Pensions be taking over the liability of the current pensions? Is this a case of frying pan and fire? How can an unregulated firm take over a supposedly regulated firm?
It remains to be seen whether there is a novation agreement in place – which would mean that Planet would take over the liabilities of Square Mile.