Last year, REDD-Monitor wrote a series of posts about Renwick Haddow’s latest scam, Bar Works. The most recent post was in July 2017, after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a legal complaint against Haddow. The complaint alleged that Haddow fraudulently raised almost US$38 million from investors.
Haddow faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
Towards the end of July 2017, AFP reported that Haddow had been arrested in Morocco:
Police said only that a 49-year-old Briton had been detained in the northern city of Tangiers on Wednesday in response to a notice issued by Interpol on July 17…
A source “close to the investigation” told AFP that the man arrested was Haddow. He appeared before the public prosecutor in Tangiers and was transferred to Salé prison near the capital Rabat. Haddow had apparently arrived in Morocco a month earlier, from the United Kingdom.
In December 2017, the website FinanceFeeds reported that the US government is in the process of extraditing Haddow. According to FinanceFeeds,
the SEC understands that the United States government is in the process of extraditing Haddow and that the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York recently learned that Haddow has consented to extradition.
There are at least five private legal cases against Haddow, his accomplices, Bar Works, and related companies, in addition to the SEC and FBI cases.
Maria Nikolova, a journalist with FinanceFeeds, has written a series of articles about Haddow and some of the legal cases relating to his scams.
Chinese investors suing JPMorgan Chase
In November 2017, 27 Chinese investors who lost money to Bar Works took out a case against JPMorgan Chase Bank. Bar Works investors paid into a JPMorgan bank account. According to the complaint, they believed that the bank account was a sign that Bar Works was a legitimate business.
The Chinese investors are suing JPMorgan for failing to spot the suspicious transactions from Bar Works’ account, including transfers to 27 countries that the US Department of States lists as major money laundering countries. For example, about US$6.3 million was transferred to Morocco, the Isle of Man and Mauritius, which are all money laundering centres.
Nikolova writes that,
The plaintiffs assert seven causes of action against JPMorgan: (i) knowing participation in a breach of trust; (ii) aiding and abetting embezzlement; (iii) aiding and abetting fiduciary breach; (iv) aiding and abetting conversion; (v) unjust enrichment; (vi) commercial bad faith; and (vii) gross negligence.
In January 2018, the defrauded investors requested that JPMorgan provides all documents and electronic data related to Bar Works, including details of anyone who opened a Bar Works account with JPMorgan.
JPMorgan objected to the investors’ data request. The investors claim a total of $3,050,000 in damages.
New York Court orders Haddow and Bar Works to pay US$7.3 million
In December 2017, Judge Lorna G. Schofield issued her final default judgement against Bar Works and other defendants. She ordered Haddow and Bar Works to pay a total of US$7.3 million.
Nikolova reports that, “The Court found that the defendants had violated the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.” Bar Works breached the contracts they had with investors. Haddow and his wife Zoia Kyselova are held personally liable for the obligations of the Bar Works companies.
SEC wins default judgement against Bar Works
Also in December 2017, in the California Northern District Court, the SEC secured a default judgement against Bar Works. Nikolova reports that, “Judge Edward Chen ordered that a constructive trust is imposed on Bar Works Capital’s property in San Francisco (615 Sacramento Street) in the amount of $1.61 million.”
The SEC had already obtained a final judgement against Bar Works Capital in another case. Under the judgement, Bar Works Capital was liable for US$1.61 million. But the company failed to pay the penalty.
So all in all it seems the investor who believes in SEC – an institution exactly created for this purpose – is only at the bottom of the food chain and the company fails to pay the penalty???
If Barworks fails to pay, then how do investors get there money back?? Any feedback please, or emailme0014@gmail.com
Excellent report and it seems that 2018 is a year of justice! 40 years in prison- He deserves it.
Hi Chris thanks for this article and update. I made my application to sec by website.
How I can have some follows up and recover part of the money ?
Will sec contact me ?
Thanks for anyone can help me to understand the process.
Thanks for this excellent reporting. But is this scam connected to REDD in any way? I’m not sure I understand how the POD working concept has anything to do with REDD.
@Manasi Karthik – This scam is not connected to REDD. I started writing about investment scams after boiler room companies started selling carbon credits to retail investors. (Some of the carbon credits did not exist, some came from genuine projects, but the scammers bought them very cheap and sold them for way more. In any case, the carbon credits were a bad investment, as they are worthless.)
Renwick Haddow ran Capital Alternatives – a network of scam companies. Part of the network was a company called Capital Carbon Credits that claimed to have a 50,000 hectare REDD project in Sierra Leone.
@Martino Andrea – I’m sorry, I don’t know how the SEC process will work in this case. I would suggest contacting SEC and asking them about the next steps.
Any news on Our Space? Are they legit?
Hello all, we are very late to the party online but we invested in bar works and made an application to the sec with no response. Bizarrely we have just been contacted by a Chinese company interested in buying our “asset”. I suspect another scam. Anyone else had this? Matt. shedgirl5@hotmail.com
he deserve more than 40 years in jail
I have had contact from Asia Beijing Corporation, offering to exchange my “toxic” asset (Bar Works) into new shares in a company called Ant Financial Services Group, who need UK shareholders on-board in order to list with the Stock Exchange…??
Offer seems too good to be true, no finance involved, so my immediate thoughts are it’s another scam – anybody else received the same?
@Stephen Cummins – It is a scam. Asia Beijing Corporation contacted you – how could they know that you had invested in Bar Works (other than your name is on a sucker list)? A search on Google for “Asia Beijing Corporation” gives no results whatsoever.
Ant Financial Services Group is a real company. Unlike Asia Beijing Corporation, you can read plenty news stories about the company.
Did “Asia Beijing Corporation” give you a phone number, office address, email address, or website?
Thanks Chris. I sent a request to sec. Let you know all when they will answer
Great article. I’m sure many investors are following this story closely and hoping for liquidation of assets to possibly be distributed to recover some of their losses. I know I am.
The UK agent for Bar Works has taken money supposedly to release my investment and refused to return it. More worrying he has not submitted a claim on our behalf. Is there a contact point in the US who would ensure I could lodge my claim? Any help would be much appreciated.
@Alan Wylde,
I put this post up on another blog a couple of days ago. It contains a link to the SEC site for reporting your investment.
“@DK,
The SEC may contact you at the end of all the actions if they have a complete list of all investors. However, to be on the safe side you should register yourself here https://www.sec.gov/oiea/Complaint.html. if you do that you should not be missed off when everything is finally resolved.
There are a couple of actions you may be eligible to join. You will find some details if you go back through all the posts on this blog. Alternatively, drop a line to barworksfight@gmx.com.”
Who was the agent that took money from you to recover your investment ? How much did he take and what exactly did he say it was for ? Other investors need to be warned about this person/company.
Anyone know who is representing Haddow?
I am a UK Citizen and struggling to get any response from the authorities in the US.
Have you tried calling Justin Rodriguez by phone
Sorry who is Justin Rodriguez and how do I contact him ?
He is from SEC, when you logged you complaint, his contact details are at the bottom of the email you would have received, if not google him Justin V. Rodriguez he is on the task force, when calling have your OMB number it’s possible he is on Twitter although I have not tried yet is a slow process, please comment when you speak to him, all investors would appreciate an update
Thanks Mick
Hi his there any class action case against barworks where all investors can get there money back or at least part of what they invested.
Hi regarding updates about this situation. This is not good for my health please keep me updated for this process
hi friends if there is a whatsapp/telegram group of the harmed investors that will help. please let me know. ankush.joshi@gmail.com