By Chris Lang
Three weeks ago, Blackmore Bond’s mini-bond investment scheme collapsed into administration. The Financial Conduct Authority was warned three years ago about one of the boiler room operations that was cold calling pensioners to persuade them to invest in Blackmore Bond. But the FCA took no action.
Paul Carlier is a former foreign exchange trader who worked for 30 years for some of the world’s largest banks. In 2017, he was working in a WeWork shared workspace in London. Next door was a company called Amyma.
Amyma: “In a nutshell Boiler Room”
With only a glass partition separating the two offices, he could hear everything Amyma did. “In a nutshell Boiler Room,” he wrote in an email alerting the Financial Conduct Authority about Amyma’s operations.
One of the “investments” that Amyma was pushing was in Blackmore Group, a company that offered mini-bonds to retail investors. Blackmore Group and its subsidiaries invested the money raised in a series of property development projects.
Carlier told the FCA that Amyma was “pushing all manner of these bonds to pensioners,” and Amyma’s sales team claimed that the mini-bonds were “guaranteed by one of the world’s biggest banks”.
Amyma’s boiler room staff told the people they cold called that the company’s application for FCA authorisation was being processed. “They are not FCA authorised and laugh between each other when anyone uses that line on a call,” Carlier told the FCA.
Carlier received a reply from John Dodd, the Team Leader of the FCA’s Whistleblowing Team. Dodd told him he would pass the information “to the relevant areas to consider”.
Carlier urged the FCA to take action because “pensioners are clearly being targetted”.
A few days later, Carlier wrote again to Dodd at the FCA telling him Amyma was still pushing Blackmore Group’s mini-bonds.
“Just overheard the pitch again,” he wrote. “9.9% yield, interest paid quarerly. £75,000 maximum investment. All guaranteed.”
In August 2018, Carlier wrote again to Dodd. This time he copied his email to Andrew Bailey, then-Chief Executive of the FCA, Mark Steward, Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, and Jane Attwood, Head of Intelligence at the FCA. Bailey is now the governor of the Bank of England.
Carlier wrote that he’d seen an online advert for a Crossrail Property Bond offering 9.25% fixed returns. Clicking the link he found it was “a trading name of these Amyma cowboys who are still in business”.
He pointed out that Amyma was pushing these investments to non-sophisticated investors. “They were clearly targetting pensioners and their pensions,” he wrote.
Carlier raised his concern that the FCA had not contacted him either him or his colleagues who had “witnessed this firm in action first hand”.
Three weeks later, Steward replied. Here’s his response in full:
We have received reports about Amyma’s activities, and are making enquiries. In line with normal policy, we do not comment on operational matters, save in exceptional circumstances. I am sorry we cannot provide any further information at this stage.
In August 2019, Carlier wrote to Bailey, Steward, and Attwood again. He noted that Amyma’s website was back up, after having been offline. Amyma was “still marketing the same fixed return bonds,” Carlier wrote. “How is that possible given the information I gave you back in March 2017 and again in August 2018, when it was clear that you had ignored the first report I made?”
Carlier pointed out that “There are no circumstances under which this firm should be permitted to continue operating.” And he asked the FCA to explain why it had taken no action in response to his previous emails.
Here’s Steward’s response, again in full:
We are aware of these matters which are the subject on ongoing work on our part. Consistently with practice and policy, we do not provide details of our operational matters.
Amyma carried on its boiler room operations, pushing ever more pensioners into Blackmore’s mini-bonds. Amyma even took out an advert in the Police Federation’s October-November 2018 magazine:
Amyma and Sami Raja
In January 2019, Amyma had a passing mention on REDD-Monitor. Amyma was listed on Sami Raja Consultancy’s website as one of Raja’s “clients” (along with Heron Global Partners, Bar Works, and various other dodgy looking companies).
The focus of the REDD-Monitor post was Sami Raja, who on 18 January 2019 was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering in Southwark Crown Court. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, for miss-selling carbon credits to retail investors via two companies, Harman Royce and Kendrick Zale. The scam took place between January 2012 and August 2013.
Raja was not in court to hear his sentence. He fled to Dubai, and in May 2019 appealed his sentence and conviction.
A May 2018 discussion on MoneySavingExpert reveals that Amyma was advertising (via unsolicited emails) projects with returns of 500-800% with interest rates of 6-12%. Amyma stated that its clients were “under the rules of the FCA”.
Blackmore Bond collapses into administration
Blackmore Bond raised a total of £45 million from about 2,500 investors.
In October 2019, Blackmore Bond postponed interest payments to investors. One month later, it delayed again, with excuses about properties being “not yet completed”, but the company claimed that “contracts have been exchanged and completion dates are now agreed, so we expect to be able to be in a position to pay interest by the end of December”.
By March 2020, Blackmore Bond was using the coronavirus as an excuse for failing to give out interest payments due in October 2019, and in January 2020.
On 22 April 2020, Blackmore Bond went into administration.
Between July 2016 and December 2017, Blackmore paid £5.1 million to a Brighton-based marketing firm called Surge Group. That’s the same company that made tens of millions of pounds in fees from marketing London Capital & Finance’s mini-bonds. London Capital & Finance collapsed last year. More than 11,000 people invested £236 million in London Capital & Finance and many also invested in Blackmore Bond.
100% avoidable
Of course, had the FCA followed up on Paul Carlier’s email in March 2017, at least one of the boiler room operations selling Blackmore Group’s mini-bonds would have been shut down.
Carlier comments that “In two years of reporting this firm and marketing of this product and submitting multiple reports, I was never engaged with and never provided with any update in respect to these reports.”
And had the FCA bothered to check the product that Amyma was selling, maybe, just maybe, they would have closed down Blackmore Bond as well. Carlier is convinced that’s precisely what the FCA should have done.
It was “100% avoidable”, Carlier writes on Twitter. “The FCA is responsible for every penny lost on the Blackmore Bond.”
Patrick McCreesh and Phillip Nunn
Blackmore Bond PLC was registered in the UK in July 2016. Patrick McCreesh and Phillip Nunn are the company’s directors. Blackmore Bond is controlled by Blackmore Group Ltd, set up by McCreesh and Nunn in February 2016. Blackmore Bond’s website currently states that Blackmore Bond is in administration, but, “Bondholders should note that the Administration only impacts the Company and the other entities within the Blackmore Group are currently unaffected.”
There are several companies carrying the Blackmore name, all with links to Blackmore Group Ltd. As a Frequently Asked Questions document on the Administrator’s website explains, Blackmore Bond and its subsidiaries bought several plots of land and buildings. Blackmore Bond set up 16 special purpose vehicles to buy the properties (Blackmore SPV 1 Ltd to Blackmore SPV 16 Ltd).
In some cases the SPV entered into joint ventures to buy the properties. Writing in the Evening Standard, Jim Armitage explains that, “Many of the developments have been mortgaged to other lenders, making it even less clear how much money will be left for bondholders.”
In addition to the Blackmore SPV companies, here are some of the other Blackmore companies (none of which have so far gone into administration):
- Blackmore Estates Ltd (incorporated on 10 April 2015, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by Blackmore Bond PLC).
- Blackmore Private Client Ltd (incorporated on 29 October 2015, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by Blackmore Group Ltd).
- Blackmore Estates Eco Limited (incorporated on 25 February 2016, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by Blackmore Group Ltd).
- Blackmore Group Services Ltd (incorporated on 17 February 2016, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by McCreesh and Nunn).
- Blackmore Longridge Limited (incorporated on 12 December 2016, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by Blackmore Group Ltd).
- Blackmore Asset Management Ltd (incorporated on 29 March 2018, McCreesh and Nun are directors, company controlled by Blackmore Group Ltd).
- Fortitudo (Staines) Limited (incorporated on 3 May 2018, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by Blackmore SPV 15 Ltd).
- Blackmore (Weybridge) Ltd (incorporated on 19 July 2018, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by Blackmore Group Ltd).
- Blackmore Real Estate Securities Limited (incorporated on 13 September 2018, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by Blackmore Group Ltd).
- Blackmore Capital Limited (incorporated on 7 March 2019, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by Blackmore Group Ltd).
- Blackmore International Limited (incorporated on 20 March 2019, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by Blackmore Group Ltd).
- Blackmore International (Korea) Limited (incorporated on 1 May 2019, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by Blackmore Group Ltd).
- Blackmore Briercliffe Limited (incorporated 27 September 2019, McCreesh and Nunn are directors, company controlled by Blackmore Group Ltd).
A Blackmore Estates corporate brochure describes the investment as follows:
In simple terms, investors subscribe to Loan Notes which provide Blackmore Estates with funding to facilitate residential and commercial property development projects. In return investors receive:
- A fixed return of 6.5% annually
- Flexible investment terms of 2 and 5 years
- 5% Bonus paid on 5 years deferred
- Asset backed security, you have a charge over the real estate assets of the company
- Minimum investment £5,000
The brochure states that, “If you are a UK resident, over the age of 18, we can accept your aplication [sic] for the Blackmore Estates Property Bond.” And the brochure includes three examples of people who are supposed to have invested in Blackmore Estates. Here’s one:
It may sound convincing, but it’s fake. As a Press Association article points out,
However, the picture next to Mr Donalan’s story is a stock image, with photos of the same man having been used to advertise a wigmaker in Sweden, a bakery in the United Arab Emirates, and a Belfast-based company producing memorial items for dead relatives, among dozens of others.
The brochure also names Katherine Barnard, 36, and Sheila Onslow, 46, in a similar way to Mr Donalan. Both images used for the two women are also stock photos.
Curzon Capital
Blackmore Estates’ brochure lists a company called Curzon Capital as its “Regulation compliance partner”:
Curzon Capital, 34 Clarges Street, London, W!J 7EJ. Curzon is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority to conduct investment business (FRN: 191520). They supply Blackmore Estates with regulatory compliance advisory services and act as an independent collection agent for investor funds.
Curzon Capital is an interesting choice of company as a compliance partner. Curzon Capital is a Mayfair-based investment company, incorporated in the UK in June 1999. Christopher Derricott is the company’s Chief Executive Officer. The most recent Financial Statement for the company (year ended 30 June 2018) states that, “The main source of income for the company during the year was derived from small corporate debt securities ‘minibonds’ where it provided compliance services which involved the issue of debt securities”.
On 4 November 2018, Curzon Capital lost its FCA authorisation. Unfortunately, the FCA website doesn’t give any further details.
In 2013, Curzon Capital was the subject of a 2013 investigative report by Ben Laurance in The Sunday Times. Laurence wrote that Curzon Capital co-ordinated an “elaborate plan” to “conceal the true ownership of a huge shareholding in London-listed Regal Petroleum”. Laurence traced the ownership back to Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk.
Curzon Alternative Investments is a 100%-owned subsidiary of Curzon Capital, incorporated in Bermuda. In 2011, Curzon Alternative Investments set up a CIS Natural Resources Fund, also in Bermuda. This fund bought shares in Regal Petroleum.
CIS Natural Resources Fund had only one subscriber – Daletona Global, registered in the British Virgin Islands. The director of CIS Natural Resources Fund, Androulla Christofi, explained in September 2011 that, “The beneficiaries of the discretionary trusts, which indirectly control Daletona Global Limited, are Mr Victor Pinchuk, Elena Pinchuk and their family members.”
In 2017, journalist Nick Kochan asked the FCA about Curzon. The FCA replied, “concerning Curzon, we are not able to confirm or deny whether an investigation has taken place”. The FCA is at least predictable.
Nunn McCreesh LLP, Jackson Francis Ltd, Capita Oak Pension Scheme, Store First Limited
Blackmore Estate’s brochure includes some information about Nunn and McCreesh:
Both men specialise in funds based in tax havens: Isle of Man, British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar. The two founded a company called Nunn McCreesh LLP in August 2012. The company was dissolved in October 2015. According to the FCA’s website, the company became an agent of an FCA authorised firm (Sage Financial Services Limited) in January 2009, and lost its appointed representative status in October 2017.
The Telegraph reports that Nunn and McCreesh’s “early work included drumming up leads for Jackson Francis Ltd, an introducer for the Capita Oak Pension Scheme.” The Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Capita Oak as part of a major investment fraud investigation. Investors lost £120 million in Capita Oak’s pension fund.
And the Independent reports that an investigation by the Insolvency Service found that Nun McCreesh LLP received almost £900,000 in commissions beteen March 2012 and May 2014 for generating leads for Capita Oak.
Jackson Francis and other boiler room operations cold called people about their pensions, and convinced more than 1,000 people to transfer their pensions. The money went to Capita Oak and Henley Retirement Benefit schemes and was then invested in a company called Store First Limited.
Store First has appeared in several posts on REDD-Monitor.
In December 2015, BBC Radio 4’s “You and Yours” put out an excellent programme based on investigative reporting by Shari Vahl about Store First, including the role of the Jackson Francis boiler room in promoting Store First as a pension investment. Store First claims to have 5,000 investors who have handed over a total of £250 million.
Aspinal Chase and Blackmore Global
Nunn and McCreesh were also directors of a company registered in Gibraltar called Aspinal Chase. The company operated out of Manchester and cold called pensioners and advised them to transfer their pensions to an unregulated offshore fund called Blackmore Global. Nunn and McCreesh were also directors of Blackmore Global. (Needless to say, Nunn and McCreesh deny any wrongdoing at any stage of their careers.)
Aspinal Chase worked with an unregulated Czech financial advisory firm called Aktiva Wealth Management (renamed as Square Mile International, then Michalska Holding, and now Planet Pensions).
Aktiva Wealth’s job was to provide “financial advice” to convince pensioners to transfer their savings to Blackmore Global.
In January 2018, a You and Yours programme interviewed people whose pension was transferred to Blackmore Global. One them, Stephen Sefton transferred a £415,000 pension to a fund in Malta and to Blackmore Global, on the advice of David Vilka at Square Mile International. When he contacted the FCA, they told him that Square Mile International was not registered to give financial advice.
Square Mile International was listed as an authorised company on the FCA Registry, but it is only regulated for insurance mediation, not for giving advice about transferring pensions.
The fund in Malta is a professional investor fund, not intended for retail investors like Sefton.
Most of Sefton’s money went to Blackmore Global. In the You and Yours programme, BBC presenter John Douglas explains that,
Then there’s that other fund, Blackmore Global, where most of his money went. We know the managers of a pension scheme on the Isle of Man were worried about that; they sent a letter to their clients who’d already invested in Blackmore Global saying they’d concluded it posed an unacceptably high level of risk.
The letter from the Isle of Man pension fund stated that “they’d become increasingly concerned at the lack of financial and accounting information that was available for Blackmore Global, so they’d removed it from their list of approved investments,” Douglas says.
You and Yours spoke to “Paul” who had invested £100,000 in Blackmore Global after being cold called by Aspinal Chase, offering him a free pension review. When he got the letter from the Isle of Man pension fund, Paul phoned Aspinal Chase, who sent him a reassuring letter, explaining that Blackmore Global was performing well and that the advice from his financial advisers was that fund fits his circumstances perfectly. Aspinal Chase listed Paul’s financial advisers as Square Mile International. Based on Aspinal Chase’s letter, Paul left his money with Blackmore Global.
Of course, Paul didn’t know that Nunn and McCreesh were directors of both Aspinal Chase and Blackmore Global. In an email dated 5 August 2015, Square Mile International’s John Ferguson wrote that,
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.
Yet Nunn and McCreesh told the BBC they had no financial relationship with Square Mile International. They also said that Aspinal Chase never cold called.
The email was copied to Charlie Goldsmith at Curzon Capital.
Blackmore Global’s website gives an address in the Isle of Man. That company is Blackmore Global PCC Limited, but thanks to the Panama Papers, we know that in December 2014, a company called Blackmore Global Finance Limited was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. Blackmore Global Finance’s address is in Morocco, care of an intermediary called Basileus Holdings Offshore.
Another related company, BG Finance Holdings Ltd was also registered in the British Virgin Islands. Every year, Blackmore Global paid a management fee to BG Finance Holdings amounting to 2.5% of assets under management. Blackmore Global paid 25% of net returns on the investment to BG Finance Holdings.
Stephen Sefton actually managed to get his money out of the Blackmore Global fund, but only after 18 months of repeatedly emailing and complaining. Square Mile International subsequently offered him £6,000 if he signed a confidentiality agreement. Sefton told the BBC,
“I actually believed I had a right to restitution with no conditions, no strings attached, no signing anything that says you’re going to shut up and not talk to anyone. So no, I didn’t sign it. I told them in no uncertain terms what they could do with it.”
Sefton reported his concerns to Action Fraud, but Action Fraud wrote to him saying it had not identified any leads to follow up.
The real scandal is the total failure of all the authorities in the UK to take any meaningful action against the criminals behind these schemes. Over and over again the same faces turn up embezzling hundreds of thousands of pounds from vulnerable savers and investors. Until these individuals are punished, there will be no end to this misery.
@Jonathan Price (@BCPres) – Thanks. This is the second post in a series looking at how utterly useless the UK authorities are in dealing with scammers. FCA seems to think it’s done its job once it puts a warning notice on its website, or getting a website taken down. The first post was about Action Fraud…:
Planet Pensions went into liquidation and was effectively sold to Brite Advisors in Hong Kong.
If you want to know what the guy behind Planet Pensions is up to, look here https://audaciaplc.com/
@Brian M – Thanks for this. That explains why John Ferguson’s 2015 email about offering a “a service to the Manish’s / Aspinal Chase’s of the world” was copied to Charles Goldsmith…
That is by far the most comprehensive article I have read to date concerning the nefarious activities of Nunn & McCreesh. One could almost think I had written it myself, it leaves very few facts out. However, it leaves out some, that I can plug in here.
There are a small number of names that just keep cropping up when looking into the history of Nunn & McCreesh. To complete the picture, there is also Brian Weal, a founding director of Blackmore Global in 2014 until he came to blows with the Gibraltar Financial Services over what they described as “serious corporate governance failings” in respect of the management of the Advalorem Value Asset Fund with his co-director Minette Compson – the latter it seems has re-surfaced as Minette Coetzee
https://bondreview.co.uk/2020/04/08/symtomax-to-sue-bond-review-over-third-party-comments/
https://www.fsc.gi/news/advalorem-value-asset-fund-limited-advalorem-90
and:-
https://www.fsc.gi/uploads/downloads/BrianWeal-DecisionNotice.pdf
Brian Weal was also reported on by David Marchant of Offshore Alerts – https://www.offshorealert.com/Home.aspx – for his part in the Belvedere scam as a Director of Kijani Resources Ltd.
However, we must not forget the thousands of victims of Blackmore Global, who were specifically targetted to transfer their UK defined benefit pensions into offshore schemes known as QROPS – Kreston Isle of Man, the one mentioned in the article above; Optimus & Harbour (taken over by STM Fidecs) in Malta and GFS in Hong Kong – just four that I have evidence of.
I feel some of the investigative journalism should be directed at these offshore schemes that, as trustees, have a duty of care – a legal obligation to act in the best interest of their members. They permitted these transfers on the advice of unregulated advisers, such as David Vilka mentioned in the above article. These jurisdictions were, in my opinion, negligent and turned a blind eye to what was a rampant pension scam and they knew it.
However, since my experience in the scam, Malta has changed its rules and only regulated advisers are permitted as investment advisers to these schemes. This change followed a very damning complaint I made in early 2017, but I have no evidence that was what triggered the change. [Just to point out an error in the article above that implies my money was half-inched via the IoM Scheme – it was not, Paul, mentioned above, was in the IoM scheme, I was in the Optimus Scheme in Malta.]
Blackmore Estates, mentioned above, was a sub-fund of Blackmore Global. Around 2017, Blackmore Bond subsumed the Blackmore Estates. I know this because one member of Angie Brooks facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/498072800835888/ – told me he was invested Blackmore Estates originally – c.2015 – but his “share” was converted into Bonds after the commencement of Blackmore Bonds and so now he is a victim of the collapsed Blackmore Bonds.
It is now likely that the Blackmore Global victims pension’s are also financially damaged by the collapse of the Bonds company because of their “interest” in Blackmore Estates.
Since the unregulated Blackmore Global fund has no obligation to produce audited accounts – and to date never has – the extent of the damage to these victims pension’s is not known. I aver the Global fund is practically empty by now but these victims will as yet be unaware and will continue to haveridiculous fees draining the remainder of a drastically reduced pension pot – but the fees get paid as a percentage of the original capital transferred!
Yet another angle journalists could usefully exploit is the role played by many UK pension trustees. These transfers into Blackmore Global were taking place from mid-2014 onwards when Blackmore Global and Aktiva were formed. This was 12 months after the launch of the Scorpion Campaign by the Pensions Regulator in an attempt to halt the rise in pension scams.
This campaign required UK trustees to carry out extra due diligence on the transfer requests and warn their members they might be in a scam before the transfer took place. Many, if not all were clearly not dischrging that obligation or these transfers would not have taken place in so many numbers. I have evidence the Optimus Scheme (that I was in) was transferring in c.100 new members per month in 2015 alone – a conveyor belt of UK DB pensions funnelled into Blackmore Global!
I made a complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman in 2018 accusing my ceding provider of maladministration – I was successful but it was a ridiculously long and tedious process that didn’t conclude until Feb 2020 – another long story!
Apart from the shortcomings of the FCA and Action Fraud, described above, other players in the chain of events – ceding trustees/administrators and receiving trustees – also had a part to play and these too should be put under the spotlight.
It turns out the very system designed to protect people from scams, first fails them and then later abandons them at every step.
One other thing. That Blackmore Estates brochure claims to have FSMA 2000 S. 21 signoff – albeit by Curzon Capital – say no more ….
Part of that sign off process requires the authorised company to ensure the information in it is accurate and truthful. If, as the article above claims, the “tesimonials” are fake then the S21. signoff failed by allowing what is essentially fraudulent misrepresentation. That sounds like a failure of the authorised company.
I am no expert but if the authorised company failed in its review and sign off then there should be some retribution …. possibly compensation from the FCA even, to the victims that were sold the investment on a fraudulent brochure ….
You might want to do a little more digging into JF.
Harlequin, Premier Children Services Ltd, Hartmann Capital, Victory House Group and the list goes on and on.
https://international-adviser.com/hartmann-capital-winding-wake/ Mentioned here. The London based company referred to never filed any accounts it would appear.
@Manish – Thanks, but I can’t help but think that its the Financial Conduct Authority and the City of London Police that should be doing more digging regarding John Ferguson.
I transferred my pension fund in a scheme Blackmore global on the advice of David vilka I. 2014 & was tied I for 1 years
I was promised returns of between 8 & 9 % on my return .
I raised concerns numerous times to aspinall chase , square mile Financial Services. European financial planning group. Over how my pension was performing and if my investment was safe .
Was assured my invest was safe each time .
I contacted Blackmore global after receiving a letter saying they had contacted efpg for a financial statement and each time they put in the request the deadline was missed each time .
I’m now aware the whole of the company has gone in to administration.
I’m not even sure whether I’m going to see the Money I invested nearly £90000 it might not seem much but is money I can Ill afford to lose .
I’ve had a company contact me in relation to getting compensation They will take a 20% cut off whatever they recover .
Can anyone in similar situation advised me who I contact where can look to recover the money off my own back please.
@Victor Hammond – Sorry to hear about this. You say you had a company contact you – I assume that was out of the blue. You don’t give any details, but it’s almost certainly a “recovery room” scam. When you’ve been scammed, the scammers trade your details and try to con you again. Here’s a 2015 post with more information about recovery rooms:
Hi Chris
Yes I was contacted by aspinall chase out of the blue not exactly sure when .
I have some paper work which I can go over tomorrow and post more details .
The main point of contact was David vilka.
When had no correspondence from him for while chased him up if didn’t hear back from him I contacted aspinall chase .
My pension was transferred to Blackmore Global
This company was based in Gibraltar.
Aspinall chase were based in Manchester & were ones that cold called me .
Are the fca responsible for compensating those that have been scammed .
. Will post more tomorrow once gone over all my paperwork.
@Victor Hammond – The FCA is “responsible” in the sense that it could have acted in 2017, when Paul Carlier warned them about Amyma. Blackmore Bond’s mini-bonds were not regulated by the FCA.
In your first comment, you write that, “I’ve had a company contact me in relation to getting compensation They will take a 20% cut off whatever they recover.” I’m worried that this is a recovery room scam – can you provide more details about the company that contacted you claiming they can get compensation, please? Name, website, email address, phone number, etc. Either here, or by email – [email protected].
Yes will post more details later on paperwork is at my partners in relation to the company claiming they can get me compensation.
Like you I’m a bit sceptical now about anything like this and anyone that contact me out of the blue .
Duff & Phelps, the Administrators of Blackmore Bond, recently filed a Statement of Proposals with Companies House.
It’s bad news, I’m afraid. A short summary is available on 247:
Blackmore Bond investors to get only £5 million back from £47 million of property deals
Here’s what Duff & Phelps’ report says about the value of the properties (page 15):
And Duff & Phelps advises that the Bondholders are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme:
My Dad was cold called/conned a few years ago (around 2014) and transferred his British pension overseas into a QROPS without understanding any implications. The money is now in Gibraltar (it was in a fund in HK first) which i see is mentioned in this article. He dealt with a ‘financial advisor’ at Square mile at the time which i believe has now been purchased by CB financial claims. The money now we have been told (by EPFG) has been invested in building new property abroad and because of “Brexit” the funds are tied up. I am really concerned my dad has lost his money and I am not sure what he can do. I have been in touch with a financial advisor and they are trying to get the money back into the UK but they can only do so much especially when the company are now not responding.
There are so many companies involved it just feels so corrupt to me. Square mile, EPFG, now CP financial claims. Can the FCA do anything here? Can anyone offer any advise. I would really appreciate it.
So sorry to hear this about your dad Michelle.
Seems a lot of people have been scammed by these companies.
I was contacted/ cold called / early in 2014 by a company called aspinall chase based in Manchester.
Like your dad I transferred my British pension overseas in to a qrops on the advice of a person named David vilka .
I’ve kept all documentation from everyone of the companies involved in this .
Yes the funds are in Gibraltar ( I don’t know anything about hk my funds were transferred to efpg and was told money was tied in for 10 years .
Was told my investment would yeald between 8 & 10 % in interest.
Yes I believe the money has been invested in property they only reason I know that is reading information that Chris Lang posts .
I was never told that my funds had been invested in property by efpg .
Can you remember who you spoke with their at all if not no worries.
I am unsure of who to contact other than a financial advisor.
I did ring the fscs for advice but was told would need all relevant info and documents to hand for them to be able to advise me further .
The company went from aspinall chase to efpg that is ones am sure money was transferred to .
The company then became square mile then planet pensions took over that didn’t last long .
I’m not really sure where c.p financial claims comes into it other than they reckon they can get my money back if they can I’ve no idea how long this will take wouldn’t imagine it’s going to be a quick process .
I’m going to see if I can get to speak to a financial advisor before I do anything else & I need to do more digging as to where cp financial claims fit in .
They contacted me out of the blue and am wondering where they got my details from unless like everything else my details and private information where sold on .
Contact the fscs and the fca and not sure if is worth doing but possibly action fraud .
Just wondering if the more people that report them it will make others be a bit more wary about anyone that calls,phone,s or write,s to you out of the blue and please if your unsure about something or a company just be careful and always seek advice .
I’m still digging and trying to find the it as much info about these companies.
Yes you’re right they don’t even answer calls or email .
If I can be of anymore help let me know and will help you as best as I can .
Regards
Vic
@Victor Hammond and @Michelle Walton – I’m very sorry to hear about this. Before going any further I should point out that I’m not a financial or legal expert. A few years ago I started writing about investment scams involving carbon credits on REDD-Monitor. There is a lot of overlap between the scammers selling carbon credits as investments, and other investment scams (like this one).
A while ago I wrote a post about what to do if you’ve been scammed into investing in carbon credits. I know you didn’t buy carbon credits, but the principle is the same. It’s not much, but it’s worth working through the list:
I’m worried about CP Financial Claims. First, the company contacted you out of the blue. That’s always a red flag.
Second, CP Financial Claims argues that claims could be made to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. I have two observations about this:
(i) The Administrators argue that it is not expected that the FSCS will accept claims from any Bondholders – see my comment above, with a screenshot from the Administrators’ Statement of Proposals.
(ii) There is a form on the FSCS website that you can fill in yourself: https://claims.fscs.org.uk/PreScreening/EnterDetails. CP Financial Claims charges you 20% of the money you handed over to Blackmore Bond, which seems like an awful lot of money for filling in a form.
Thanks so much for your responses.
@Victor Hammond it sounds the same as my dad, He was contacted by Square Mile and also dealt with their financial advisor at the time. So that made it feel safer i guess. I have since spoke to this advisor who explained the way this pension works to me. The whole thing is just such a scam. He did also deal with David Vilka and the advisor i mentioned. His paperwork does not say he is tied in for10 years. He only got a statement for 2019 because he complained to Square mile and asked for it. Just feels to me they have gone off with peoples pensions and hope they forget about them.
He has appointed a financial advisor who is trying to get in touch with EPFG to get the money out. To which they said “It is in property and tied up”. A decent credible pension provider would not put money into property. Especially with Brexit looming, it could even be a lie who knows. I think like you said if enough people make a stand they will have to do something. I feel a solicitor might be the next option. Also to me CP Financial services also seem dodgy to contact out of the blue and charge a hefty fee as said above. What a mess. But thank you for getting back to me – would be nice if we could communicate on email somehow.
@Chris Lang – funny you mention about Carbon credits as this is what they got my dad with in the first place. They cold called him about those he actually bought some, but my brother managed to get the money he invested back by having a very stern conversation with the company. A few days later they called back and got him with the pension (but also said to him on the phone how much money he would have made if he had kept the credits) these people have no conscience. I will fill in the form on the FSCS site thanks for sharing that.
Thanks again for your help
Michelle
Hi Michelle
Yes does sound like the same as say I was contacted by aspinall chase , then company became square mile then planet pensions .
I dealt with their financial advisor as well and was appointed David vilka .
The whole thing stinks and how these people sleep at night I’ve no idea .
Your dad got one step further than me I was on at square mile to get me a statement and got fobbed off each time .
I certainly can’t afford to lose the money i it in to the fund and won’t be letting this go till get my money back .
That is going to be my next step appointing a financial advisor to get in touch with efpg to get my money out .
Should that fail I will instruct a solicitor to take on my case on a no win no fee basis .
Surely if efpg invested the money then surely it should be just as easy to return people’s money back to them & as you say what credible pension provider what put money in to property with brexit looming .
I agree I’m not sure I trust cp financial services either been lied too so many times over this I don’t know who or what to believe anymore.
Cp financial services charge 20% fee & vat on top this & is on my compensation so they said for being wrongly advise & also loss of interest on my investment.
Like you want for your dad I just want my funds returned .
Thanks again for getting back to me Michelle
Hi, I am the Stephen mentioned in the above article (even though in places the journalist spells the name wrong!).
I would just like to point out that all those victims who transferred defined benefit pensions into offshore QROPS and subsequently into Blackmore Globa, post Feb 2013 which is everyone since they started transfesr in 2014, have a strong case against their ceding pension provider.
After the Pensions Regulator launched its Scorpion Campaign in Feb 2013, trustees/administrators were required to carry out checks according to the guidelines and warn members they might be caught in a scam. One of the procedures they were expected to have is to engage directly with the member for more information about the transfer and send the member the Scorpion leaflet. In my case none of that happened.
You have to look at your own situation and decide if the ceding provider failed you and a complaint to the pensions ombudsman, for maladministration, will most likely result in you having your losses restored. (see also a successful complaint PO-12763). I made a successful complaint. It’s a free process, albeit tedious, but you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
It’s a shame that ALL journalists who report on this story FAIL to mention this and consequently leave all victims thinking they have no recourse to recovering their money! There is a path out of this. Here’s another tip. IF you use a lawyer to help you write the complaint etc. the Ombudsman will not award you the legal fees you incur, only the restitution of your pension. So if you can, do it all yourself.
There is a time limit of 3 years from when you learned you had lost all your money to submit the complaint. FIRST however you are expected to go through the company’s (your ceding pension provider that is) Internal Dispute Resolution Process (IDRP) and then the Ombudsman – I said it was tedious but certainly is not impossible – been there done it!
Do you have links to who contact re idrp I am a victim of the Blackmore global collapse & not sure who to turn to as company that advised me has ceased trading too .
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Regard
Vic
@Stephen – Thanks for this comment and sorry about spelling your name wrong. I’ve corrected it.
@Victor @Michelle
Your ceding pension provider – i.e. the UK pension provider/adminstrator that you transferred FROM is the first place to make your complaint to.
They will have what is called an Internal Dispute Resolution (IDRP). Your complaint will be for maladministration for not following the Scorpion guidelines of Feb 2013 in the transfer of your pension to the QROP.
HOWEVER, you must first remember exactly what your pension provider did during the transfer process. I had the communications of mine on file but I also submitted to them a Subject Access Request (SAR) for a copy of all communications between them and third parties during the period from my request to transfer until the money had been transferred to Malta. They have a legal obligation to comply with the SAR – they might charge you £10 administration but that’s all they can charge.
They were required, by the Scorpion guidelines, to engage directly with you and warn you the transfer had the charcateristics of a scam and send you the Scorpion leaflet – that had more details on spotting a scam.
Now, I too was transferred by Aspinal Chase and advised by David Vilka so I know the transfer had the characteristics of a scam.
Your pension provider can’t stop the transfer because you had a legal right to transfer but having warned you, they were required to note your response. If you insisted on procedding then they had to transfer. If they didn’t warn you then your case for maladministration gets stronger.
The question you have to answer is a) did they warn you and send you the Scorpion leaflet? and b) did you ignore the warning and proceed? If the answer to a) is no then you could have a strrong case. If the answer to a) is yes and the answer to b) is yes then you probably don’t have a case. Sorry.
When you have completed the IDRP process with your pension provider (the UK one that transferred it) and (as is usual) they deny any responsibility, you can then submit your complaint to the pensions ombudsman ( https://www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/making-complaint ) and include a copy of your complaint to your pension provider plus their response.
The ombudsman service will first assign an adjudicator that will get a response from your pension provider to your complaint and assess your case. The adjudicator will first try to “broker” a deal between you and your pension provider if he/she thinks the Ombudsman is likely to uphold the complaint. If you don’t like the “deal” you can choose for your complaint to proceed to the Ombudsman who has the final say. It takes a while, so don’t expect an instant result.
I suspect you both are likely to have a decent case because it could well be similar to mine but only YOU know the exact details. Put the work in and you may get your pension back.
I suggest you also read PO-12763 which is also a successful case of maladministration in a pension transfer https://www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/2018/po-12763/police-pension-scheme-po-12763 It is what I used in my complaint.
You have nothing to lose. The Ombudsman service is free.
When I invested £5000 into a 4 year maturing bond offering 7.9 % giving me a quarterly interest payment of £98
when I took this bond out in 2017 I was then told after the 2 nd or so payment that I will now be liable to have a 20% deduction in line with HMRC tax at source policy (sending a letter to this effect), but I still got this full quarterly (without any tax deduction) at the time I got worried that my retirement pension money I had invested with them was about to be lost with this company as it sounded like a big scam as I saw some good reports from some well known investment companies at the time still thinking my investment was safe ?.
But knowingly in the back of my mind I would lose the £5000 before the bond matured in the 4 years ( but in fact only 8 quarterly payments were made (2 years).
When they moved out of Brighton to Manchester I should have known there was something fishy about this at the time but could not afford to enrol a solicitor to delve into this company as it sounded they were fraudulently taking pensioners money and dwindling it away without any fear they would be caught sooner than later, because they had at least 4 years to use our money before they had to return a penny and I feel the interest payments they were paying came out of the £45 million they took from us the investors, of us.
Now I feel with an on going case against them will take years to unfold and we will lose all our hard earned money.
Lastly the FCA should be ashamed of their delaying tactics as too may schemes that are operating illegally in this country cannot it seems be brought to task and left to destroy some honest peoples lives.
Hi. Myself and a friend were provide Blackmore International Bonds investment opportunity by an investment company. We have been receiving, what I can now only believe to be, smoke and mirror emails from Patrick McCreesh, and Oak Fund Services. I would be very intetested to know why the investment company advised us on the opportunity after learning from your article, the situation others have found themselves in and why the regulatory have done nothing to stop this organisation. We both invested in 2019. Do you think we have a case to join with other investors in the UK (we are both overseas), do we have a case against the investment organisation for lack of die dilligence? Any assistance would be much appreciated. Lily
Having also been caught in this net of deceit by people who pressure you into giving a lot of your pension away by offering high returns but knowing themselves they are just conning you out of your hard earned cash whilst they buy expensive items for their own needs and run away when it’s time to fulfil their promises and does the FCA turns a blind eye to companies that are surely doing it on a regular basis but have a get out clause that these companies are not registered with them, otherwise they would not do it to us.
I also feel bitter that the administrator’s have given us hope over the past year but now seems they have gone also to sleep these past Two months when I last had any communication from them.
Lily, I honestly wish I knew what to do myself too as these people who rip you off with their clever talk and should be put out to dry and suffer as we have from their big ideas that never come to anything.
Having choice words for them I wont say here ?, but I have now learned to never trust anyone again.
My partner and I invested £20,000 in Blackmore Bonds, all our life savings. They were described as IFISAs and we were led to expect that our capital was insured and at least we would get it back should anything go amiss. As we all know investors have lost everything.
We plan to take a class action. I will post more as the plan takes form.
Hi Melanie.
Sorry to hear you & your partner invested 20,000 in Blackmore bond .
I have invested over £80,000 in Blackmore bonds .
I was like you lex to believe they were ifisa and was assured my money was safe and would get it back should things go wrong .
I’m unsure who to approach as to retrieving my money .
Who did you have dealings with initially and was you cold called .
The guy I had dealings with was David vilka & square mile.
Regards
Vic
I have also lost all my savings, a great deal of money, which should have gone to my son. I feel very bitter and very stupid and don’t know where to turn. Oak Fund Services, the administrator, is asking for money to pursue a claim but this feels like throwing good money after bad.
My dad passed away and had a government pension which was transferred to Blackmore global. I’ve had contact wit a company called Melville claims who have stated that his pension is now with optimus pensions. I’m really unsure of how to proceed with anything.
I’ve contacted this Warren that Melville told me to email but I’ve had no response.
Can anyone help me in which way to go forward as I’m at a loss. I’m doing this on behalf of my mother who is disabled and it’s just adding to her stress.
@Sam – I’m very sorry to hear about this. I have a few questions, if you don’t mind. How did you have contact with Melville Claims? Did they contact you? If so, how did they get your contact details? How do they explain that the pension went to Optimus Pensions? Who is Warren? Does he work for Melville Claims? Could you send any emails from Melville Claims (you can redact any personal details) – my email address is [email protected]. Thanks!
@Vik @Victor Hammond- i am conducting an investigation in yo David vilka and square mile and their association with Philip nun and Patrick McCreesh, is there any chance I could get in touch with you?
Hello narava
Yes that is no a problem for you to contact me regarding David vilka .
Forgot square mile , Phillip nun & Patrick creesh . Would be interesting as to where exactly our money went to & why the fca didn’t step in sooner
Could we have a teams call? or how could we get in touch? WhatsApp is good for me as well