Westway Holdings offers unregulated fixed-interest bonds paying 7.5%pa over a five year term.
Curiously, the return is 7.5%pa if interest is paid out to the investor annually, but only 7.34%pa if interest is rolled up and paid out at the end of the five years. The roll-up version is described as a “5 Year deferred income plan” and pays out 37.5% (7.5 x 5) plus a 5% bonus, for a total of 42.5%. A 42.5% return after five years is equivalent to 7.34% per annum compounded. This means that investors receive a lower return if they roll up interest, despite the use of the word “bonus”.
The statement in Westway’s brochure that their bonds pay “up to 8.5% annual return” is inaccurate. A bond which pays 42.5% at the end of five years does not pay a 8.5% annual return, the annual return is 7.34%. The use of compound annual return rather than simple interest is near-universal in the finance industry.
Status
Open to new investment.
Who are Westway Holdings?
Westway Holdings was incorporated on 3 September 2015.
Westway’s Holdings’ “About Us” page contains full details of the directors, who are Antony Marks (Director & CFO) and Richard Birch (Director of Operations).
Despite Marks being described as “CFO” (in a traditional corporate hierarchy, this means Chief Financial Officer, the second highest post next to the Chief Executive Officer), Companies House shows that he owns 80% of Westway Holdings and this, combined with his director bio being listed first, suggests that he is the head of Westway Holdings.
How secure is the investment?
These investments are unregulated corporate loans and if Westway Holdings defaults you risk losing 100% of your money.
Westway states that investors’ money is invested in Supported Housing for tenants such as people with disabilities, ex-offenders and substance abusers. Its income comes from the Government but investors should not confuse this with their investment being backed by the government. If the rent paid by the Government / other tenants is insufficient to pay investors a 7.5% return, investors may lose their money.
Westway makes clear on its website and brochure that the investment is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Bonds are secured against the assets of the company, with an independent trustee (More Group UK) appointed to monitor asset values to ensure that Westway’s debt does not exceed 90% of the value of their assets, and take control of the assets in the event that Westway defaults.
Before placing any reliance on the security backing the bond, investors need to assure themselves that in the event that Westway defaulted, the Security Trustee would be able to sell the assets for enough money to compensate investors. While the assets are revalued bi-annually by independent valuers, investors need to bear in mind that Westway’s assets (Supported Housing properties) are designed to be occupied by vulnerable tenants and cannot be sold as easily as a property occupied by private tenants who can simply be given notice. The market for such properties is likely to be restricted.
Should I invest with Westway?
As with any unregulated corporate bond, this investment is only suitable for sophisticated and/or high net worth investors who have a substantial existing portfolio and are prepared to risk 100% loss of their money.
This particular bond is described as asset-backed. Before putting any reliance on the security backing the bond, investors should undertake professional due diligence to ensure that a) the security exists b) in the event of default, the security could be easily sold and would raise enough money to cover all investors’ money c) the charge over the security has been properly and legally recorded.
Before investing investors should ask themselves:
- How would I feel if the investment defaulted and I lost 100% of my money?
- Do I have a sufficiently large portfolio that the loss of 100% of my investment would not damage me financially?
- Have I conducted due diligence to ensure the asset-backed security can be relied on?
If you are looking for “security”, you should not invest in unregulated products with a risk of 100% capital loss.
All of this information comes too late for investors such as myself. If the information had been published 6 months ago I might have thought twice about investing in the company especially if Jack Allen, (a former employee of Moneyseed had been more honest.
How can one retrieve their money if it was sold to investors by false promises by a third party agency?
Was the third party agency authorised by the FCA?
Curiously, you purport to be an expert on this bond when actually many of your statements are factually incorrect and seem designed to scare people. Particularly when talking about rates of return and risk factors. I would suggest that interested parties pay more attention to the Information Memorandum of the company’s bond that has been signed off under Section 21 of FSMA and Companies House records that clearly show all assets and charges over them as well as risks with mitigating factors, which you seem to have no interest in mentioning.
Are you regulated in any way? What are your credentials? [BrevEdit – Silly abuse removed.]
Feel free to point out which statements are factually incorrect.
Section 21 signoff by a company paid by the company asking you to lend them money is not a substitute for due diligence.
Westway Holdings’ last accounts filed with Companies House were unaudited.
This is a review about the inherent risks of investing in an unlisted micro-cap company. If you are looking for unverified assertions from the company asking for money, then you should pay more attention to the Information Memorandum.
You first.
Westway Holdings pay 8.5% per annum over 5 years not 7.5% as you wrongly report. The 5 year differed bond pays 10% per annum totalling 50% not the 42.5% you wrongly report. This is not compounded as, once again, you wrongly report.
Any Section 21 sign off is undertaken by an independent, FCA “authorised” firm who will conduct detailed due diligence on the statements made in the investor documentation. In essence, everything will be checked and verified by supporting documentation. This can be a time consuming and detailed process with every substantive statement in the investor document being checked against supporting third party evidence. For this reason, the Section 21 sign can in fact be considered a valid part of any due diligence.
I see no need to provide my credentials as I am not the one posting what will obviously be seen as an informed opinion. If you wish to put yourself forward as someone who potential investors should pay attention to, then I suggest you make sure you are in possession of the actual facts.
Finally, it is worth stating that every investor to date has received every coupon payment due, with over £2 million repaid upon maturity of historical bonds.
The article is clearly timestamped and was correct at the time of publication, as per Westway Holdings’ investment literature at the time.
If Westway Holdings have since needed to increase the rates they offer, that doesn’t make the review wrong.
Unverified assertions from the borrower or someone working for the borrower are worthless from a due diligence standpoint.
Actual due diligence by someone independent of the borrower is required if the lender wishes to ensure that the Section 21 sign off isn’t another Independent Portfolio Managers.
Fair enough. I agree entirely that you do not need credentials to post your uninformed opinion.
This review is not an opinion piece. The facts stand for themselves.
If the only thing you can identify as a supposed inaccuracy is that Westway Holdings changed its rates after the article was published, then I think we have established that I am.
And?
I presume that now you are aware of the actual facts as of this date that you will be changing your post to reflect them. When will you be doing so?
I would urge you to contact Westway Holdings, request an Information Memorandum and read it prior to changing your post.
I do not change historic reviews based on minor changes to the interest rate post-publication.
Why not? Your review is inaccurate and obsolete and therefore is misleading, directly going against your whole ethos of providing a pertinent review. You plainly have no real interest in providing an accurate account and obviously have an ulterior motive.I shall be bringing this to the attention of the relevant regulators.
The imaginary regulator who ensures that everyone who writes an article about a financial product edits their article post-publication every time the provider changes their rates?
Yeah, I wouldn’t waste your time. I went to school with the chairman.
The article is accurate as at the date of publication, and everything other than the rates still stands.
Oh, and other than the bit about the directors. Richard Birch has left the company, and for reasons that are unclear, Westway owner Anthony Marks is no longer listed under the directors’ bios on the website, despite still being a director and still controlling the company (via a company registered in Estonia).
None of that alters the fundamental nature of the investment.
Just read the comments above, the actual facts are that Westway are refusing to pay out on an investment that matured on November 1st 2019.
Anthony Mark’s the major shareholder has lied over and over again to unfortunate investors in this very dodgy company.
He told investors, personally by phone in some cases that payment had been made, pure lies he strung people along and is still refusing to pay back investors in the Westway scam.
Director Joseph Griffin, also made promises regarding payment, also personally by phone in some cases, again this turned out to be false.
Griffin has now issued a statement trying to absolve himself of any responsibility regarding Westway.
It just shows what type of Company Westway are and the calibre of people who took investors money under false pretences.
I believe the next step will be a legal charge by the company (Direct Properties) who sold me this very bad investment against Westway, at least that’s what there director told me.
I agree totally with Colin Mundy. We were due to get our investment back on the 1st September 2019. We have been given every excuse under the sun by various directors etc. about why we have yet to see our money but it all appears to be lies!
It has got to the point where no-one will answer the phone, no-one will return our calls and no-one will respond to our emails. I am, quite frankly, disgusted by their constant lies, being told our money will be in our account by the end of the week! We were advised to invest with Westway Holdings through a company called Amyma which we now can not contact either! We were also sold the bond as being low risk, which it clearly wasn’t, and was told we would be covered by the FCA, which it is not. Next step for us may well be seeking legal advise.
From a quick scan Amyma Ltd used to be an Appointed Representative of FCA Authorised firm Equity for Growth (Securities) Ltd beginning 2/7/2018 and revoked 2/9/2019. I don’t want to get your hopes up but my understanding is Equity for Growth are liable for their agent and the advice they gave. So if you took out the scheme between those dates you MIGHT have recourse to compensation since they sold you an unsuitable investment. However I am no expert so don’t take my word for it.
Hi Fraid, Unfortunately we took out the scheme in 2016 so I assuming we are too early to benefit but thank you anyway.
Do not invest. You will get no assistance from anyone involved at Westway as for interest payments still waiting. Total loss. Still living in hope someone from Westway will contact Me.
So Westway have now committed to paying out investors on February 28th or within a week of this date.
They also say that all investors will receive a telephone call explaining everything and checking they have correct bank details.
I am still waiting for my phone call, this really is the last chance saloon for this company, if these latest promises turn out to be more lies then legal action is the only way and will be forthcoming.
Don’t know what the companies who sold, or are still selling Westway bonds are doing, as I’ve said before they need to take some responsibility.
Westway has now promised a full pay out of all capital plus interest tomorrow! 17/04/2020. This is the 4th deadline! The previous three were not actioned. I’m not holding my breath!
I to am not holding my breath, Joseph Griffin the MD of Westway keeps promising to back what he owes but it just doesn’t happen.
He says they have re financed and they had the money last Friday (or so he said) so if he has the money why is he not giving people there money back.
So the latest promise from Joseph Griffin has proved to be just as empty as all his other ones, all bond holders would be paid out by the end of this week he said, we have the funds on place he said and he said this before Easter.
Now he says there will be a further delay, until April 30th.
Joseph Griffin stated on the 9th of April that re financing was complete and Westway had the funds, but on the 17th of April not one investor has recieved a single penny and now he wants to hold onto the money for another two weeks.
I suppose if he really does have the money he will make a tidy sum on the interest by hanging onto it for another
couple of weeks, refusing to pay back investors when you have the money is not only dishonest it sounds like fraud.
It’s a safe bet that on the 30th April he will have another reason to hold onto the money, more interest for him at our
expence.
Watch this space.
Well it is the 30th April and no payment into my Bank Account, this is the 4th promise broken, I complained about 2 years ago about Westway Holdings because they were unable to answer simple questions I think it is about time I contacted Action Fraud.
You are absolutely right, Anthony Marks and Joseph Griffin have shown repeatedly that they cannot be trusted.
I have emailed twice yesterday and got no reply.
I have emailed them several times, but they haven’t had the courtesy to reply. They are not answering their telephones either.
Last promise was “early this week”. Has anybody received anything? I wonder what this week’s excuse will be.
Nothing yet, but have been promised it will be today, not holding my breath though.
I to was told that they would start to pay out early this week so on Monday I asked which day I would be paid, no response to date.
Don’t expect a reply. They don’t have the courtesy. Only an answerphone message on their telephone, and my personal adviser won’t answer my calls – even though I call his home number. I wonder what they are frightened of?
I have been looking into Westway Holdings for a while and would be interested who promoted its bonds to investors and who arranged investments.
I wouldn’t like to print here the name of the person who sold me this investment. All I will say is that he has changed his personal mobile phone number, his direct office number, and his email address. Also he will not answer his home telephone number.
The Company that introduced me to Westway Holdings was Pegasus Property Investments Ltd, although their website is open the phone does not answer and according to Company House they were dissolved in March 2020. I have now contacted Action Fraud regarding Westway. and would urge others to do the same.
Sent from my Huawei phoneThe Company that introduced me to Westway was Direct Properties and I am in constant contact with them. They are at least putting pressure on Joseph Griffin and his sidekick Anthony Marks. I was informed by them yesterday that my money would be paid into my account later that day. Its now 24 hours later and still nothing. Am now waiting for reply from Direct Properties.
Any news today?
Nothing in my account … I had a personal email promising that all the money would be in my account by the early part of this week. Hmmm!
I see Joseph Griffin has been removed. I wonder what is going to happen next.
Where did you see that ?
I got a communication from Westway.
Dear Mrs Gaisford
It is with regret that we have to inform you that the Westway board have terminated the appointment of Joseph Griffin as director of the company.
In the interim, westway holdings OU is appointed as corporate director and has been charged with taking over and overseeing the current restructuring of the company with immediate effect.
Please expect a further update and contact details within the next 48 hours.
Westway Holdings Admin Team
Tel : 0203 405 8733
23 Austin Friars, London, EC2N 2QP
Copyright © 2020 Westway Holdings LTD, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website, you are a member of our website or you are an investor with us.
Our mailing address is:
Westway Holdings LTD
23 Austin Friars
London, London EC2N 2QP
United Kingdom
Thanks, I received it the next day.
I am not completely convinced that this is not Joseph Griffin just putting out the story.
I have asked for a name of the person, after all who is Westway OU.
Westway OU would be an Estonian company. I recognised the abbreviation for an Estonian company immediately. Registering companies in Estonia can be done for two tokens off a packet of breakfast cereal.
Why a company which runs supported housing in the UK should want a subsidiary in Estonia is unclear to me. I can’t remember there being any mention of Westway having business interests in Estonia.
The Ariregister shows three companies called “Westway” which could conceivably be related (Westway Finance OU, Westway International OU and Westway OU). I couldn’t go further than that without paying for documents.
I am dealing with a number of companies at this time of Covid 19 all socially isolating, all of them answer the telephone except Westway Holdings who insist on emails. Anyone could have been answering an email with the name of Joseph Griffin. We need greater transparency from Westway.
I actually managed to get my Westway adviser to answer his phone on Friday, because I called his home number, and got a right wigging for calling him, especially as it was Bank Holiday! He said he wasn’t answering his phone because he was tired of saying the same thing to everybody who contacted him. (He had no idea what was going on).
Do you think that it is a good idea to use, “safeorscam” to follow up our efforts to get the bonds redeemed
So another week begins and another promise from Westway that they will repay investors the money they obtained via a finacial scam.
Joseph Griffin has been relieved of his duties, so they say, this may or may not be true but the man now holding investors money will be Anthony Marks no doubt assisted by accountant Richard Baptiste..
We will all be paid out by the end of this week they said.
Watch this space.
Colin Munday.
How about this from Ipsum today?
We have come across reports that Westway Holdings has either been put into administration or that it is going to be or that it may be petitioned in court by a creditor that it is put into administration.
We had no way of checking the veracity of this information over the weekend, but will endeavour to do so today.
We are also not clear what this would mean for the plans that were/are in place to redeem bondholders if the reports are true—again, we will endeavour to establish what facts we can today.
I know that this is a trying time for you, so I will be writing to you as soon as I have concrete information, together with a report on our understanding of what this means for you as a bondholder and what you can expect next steps to be.
Yours sincerely,
Constantine Pagonis
Who is Constantine Pagonis please.
I am a newcomer here. Can anyone offer knowledge of the ‘safeorscam’ organisation’s credentials in the matter of Westway Bondholders and any legal action from a group of disgruntled investors? I get a very strong impression Westway are not going to pay up….
Oh no – not the dreaded “payment platform” excuse. As we said previously, a Constantine Pagonis company is involved in the Westway Holdings investment. One of Mr Pagonis’ companies provided “back office services” for five scam oil companies. Our clients closed down four of those companies. They have dozens of emails referring to “payment platform” issues being the reason why investors were never paid. As soon as we see the payment platform excuse we know they’re trying to hide the bank account which is paying the money.
In the case of the oil companies the use of “payment platforms” was to hide the true source of the payments from investors. Considering that the Westway Holdings Fake Bond doesn’t exist and it had the involvement of a newly incorporated company with a Romanian citizen and an Estonian company as directors, it makes us very nervous about the source of funds allegedly available to repay investors.
Dr Constantine Pagonis (“unlucky Constantine Pagonis” as he is known in this office due to the number of bad investments his companies are associated with) was also a key player in the Allansons Litigation Funding scandal where investors are facing losses of £20m.
Another of his companies was involved in the Solari Energy scam which was orchestrated by Matthew Stone and Duncan Clark of Renovare Fuels Ltd. Both men, through their lawyers, have declined to answer questions about their involvement in that scam. They have never actually denied being involved. More on that scam to come.
I’ve just received this from Ipsum:
Subject:Ipsum Invest Ltd
From: Ipsum Invest Ltd
To: sfgaisford
Date: Wed, May 20, 2020 10:02 am
Dear Mrs Gaisford,
Current events and consequent financial pressures mean that, unfortunately, Ipsum Invest is drastically reducing the scope of its operations and costs are being cut. We are going to cease being an Appointed Representative of Met Facilities (and so no longer carry out any regulated activities); and we are sadly reducing our workforce.
Our main role has been to arrange investments made via our website; we supplemented this by being a conduit of information between you and the investment providers you invested with. With regard to this latter role, I will be writing to you again within the next few days setting out exactly how you can easily continue monitoring and managing the investments you made through us.
Since the beginning of the year, we have been keeping you informed of the process for the early redemptions of the Westway Property Bonds, putting ourselves in place to assist Westway with redemption payments to our investors. Although not in control or responsible for that process, we kept a close eye on it with our clients’ interests in mind. We had very much hoped to be in place to assist with the payments, but events have moved in a way which means that this won’t be possible. I will be writing to you in more detail about Westway later today or tomorrow once we have full details.
It is a matter of great regret to me that Ipsum Invest has to take these steps, and I’d like to thank you for your custom. I founded Ipsum Invest four years ago almost to the day—and, with a great team, an innovative website platform and excellent support from our principal Met Facilities, we forged a business we are proud of.
Yours sincerely,
Constantine Pagonis
Ipsum Invest Administration Team
0203 405 4538
Heron Tower,
110 Bishopsgate,
London EC2N 4AY
ipsuminvest.uk
I got the email also from Ipsum…I have to say I fear the worst on the Westway front but am also very concerned about 4 other bonds I have invested in through the Ipsum advice…I did some due diligence before going forward and they seemed okay but then so did Westway !!!
Hello Susan … please keep me/us informed with any additional that you discover. Thanking you Alan Preston
No wonder Constantine Pagonis is proud that he “FORGED” such a business to be proud of!!!!!!
Surely, anyone who invested in things like this on the advice of Ipsum should be complaining to their principal Met Facilities LLP about the suitability of that advice?
According to the FCA register, their complaints email address is [email protected].
Hi All – I found out that the founder of Westway Anthony Marks was previously known as Mark Anthony McGovern and that he changed his name when he leftprison for his former scam.
That’s interesting. Now I am really worried.
OMG, that’s really news, but he acts like a crook anyway.
I hope it’s genuine.
Dear Mrs Susan,
Latest information, just received.
We can now confirm that there is a court hearing scheduled for tomorrow afternoon to deal with the appointment of administrators to Westway Holdings Ltd.
We will write to you once we have heard the outcome of that hearing and with any other information which we can provide.
Yours sincerely,
Constantine Pagonis
Hi Susan … please keep us posted about news about Westway being in administration. Many thanks
I have spoken to Macintyre Hudson LLP will be representing Westway Holdings at 12:05 at The High Court of London tomorrow seeking an Order for liquidation and once this order has been obtained, it cannot be challenged. Apparently, the winding up and administration commenced from 15 May 2020.
Kimberley Reid of Macintyre Hudson LLP said that although she will be attending the court, she is not formally representing them as it was forwarded to her from Westway’s solicitors
Kimberley would be very keen to hear from anyone involved in Westway Holdings with any relevant information that she can use in court in relation to the £20m owed to investors so that she can try ensure your name is on the list as a bondholder and follow the money trail. She also knows of the three different names that Anthony Marks uses in business and has been informed by numerous parties that their activities are a scam. [email protected] Tel: 020 7429 4100
Anthony Marks, Anthony Mark Williams and or Mark Anthony McGovern – the Director of Westway Holdings all the same person.
Louise at Direct Property Investments asked me to join a DPI – Action against More Group today. Check companies house, More Group have assets of about £3k and a picture of their offices appear to be very shabby small offices. There will be very little chance of obtaining any repayment of your investments through them.
I will have an update of the High Court proceedings tomorrow afternoon so that I can provide an update.
Thanks Lorraine. More Group may not have much by way of assets but as accountants they should have PI insurance? If nothing else I would like to get their directors personally struck off their professional bodies – the only reason I invested was because of their security letter
I may be naive, but how come a High Court hearing can suddenly be made the next day? All the information we have been receiving has obviously been fake. What happens if they don’t get a liquidation order? Are they then forced to realise the funds that they have?
The Westway Holdings insolvency hearing is today. See:
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/court-lists/list-cause-rolls2/insolvency-and-companies-list
Investors who were advised and / or had their bonds arranged by Appointed Representatives of FCA authorised firms may well have recourse (initially through the FOS) against those authorised firms.
There is also the issue of misleading financial promotions approved by FCA authorised London Court Limited. For example: https://westwayisa.com/wp-content/uploads/im/Westway-IFISA-Investment-Memorandum.pdf
I would be very interested to hear how victims came to invest in Westway Holdings as I am in touch with the FCA on the matter,
Hi Susan, I have not called Kimberley back as yet but will update this post as soon as I clarify a few facts.
Please note the following for all investors: Westway Holdings Limited had a remote Skype hearing in Room 9 at the High Court, Rolls Building, Fetter Lane EC4 1NL before Judge Prentis Insolvency and Companies Court at 10:30am Ref: CR-2020-002337.
If you all review the fourth comments by blogger “Mark” that is actually Anthony Marks having a hissy fit defending his bonds as he did not want investors spooked until after he had carried out his financial scam!
Also Susan, please be careful of Constantine Pagonis investments and read Safe or Scam’s comments online.
I have made an official report on Action Fraud, BBC Crimewatch, the FCA are interested in the activities on unregulated companies selling and promoting unregulated bonds.
Finally, Some investors were advised to invest with Westway Holdings through these companies and put in excess of £20 million in Westway’s pockets. Most are now uncontactable:
Amyma; cannot be contacted. People were sold the bond as being low risk, which it clearly wasn’t, and told they would be covered by the FCA, which it is not.
Pegasus Property Investments Ltd; although their website is open the phone does not answer and according to Companies House they were dissolved in March 2020.
Constantine Pagonis;
Ipsum Invest Administration Team
Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AY ipsuminvest.uk 0203 405 4538
Read Safe or Scam’s post on the multi-million pound investment scams this man has been involved with.
Direct Property Investments; 19 Market Street, Altrincham WA14 1QS Tel: 0161 820 4651
Black Castle Property UK Ltd; were copied into an email sent from Joe Griffiths as the other company that brought in investors to Westway. No answer to their phones
The Terraces Tannery Court, Tanners Lane, Warrington, WA2 7NP Tel: 01925 204820 [email protected] their website https://www.blackcastle-properties.co.uk
Hello Mark,
Not sure whether you have the following information but may be useful to others who have been caught in this honey trap:
More Group Capital Services Ltd. Company Number: – 08341972
Address: 65 Compton Street, London EC1V 0BN
Phone: 020 7648 8960 & 50 Email: [email protected]
Ruairi Lauglin-McCann. – [email protected] Telephone: – 07877 832 478
Mike Conroy: – [email protected] Telephone: – 0207 648 8960
Atul Sharma: – [email protected] Telephone: – 0207 648 8950
James Daniel Mould and John Conroy
More Group Capital Services (MGCS) was the security trustee for Westway Holdings Ltd. More Group has advised one or two clients that they withdrew as Security Trustee around August
time last year (2019). It appears that the bondholders were not notified of this. The Security Trust Deed specifies that, if a trustee retires, they are obliged to notify each of the bondholders and that a new Security Trustee should be appointed. This clearly did not happen and, as far as we can tell, the trust deed that is still registered at Companies House is still valid so, it appears to us that MGCS still have obligations under that deed. This shows that MGCS holds a fixed and floating charge over all of the assets of Westway Holdings. The deed was signed in 2016 by Anthony Marks, Director of Westway Holdings Ltd and by Rauiri Laughlin-McCann, Director of More Group Capital Services Ltd.
Tony marks from Westway is actually Mark Anthony McGovern a convicted Fraudster and money Launderer jailed for 7 years but only served 3
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-17760236
Many thanks for your hard work Lorraine. I feel that I have some support. I was browsing the web for investments (not very seriously) because my building society interest was going down and down. Out of the blue, came several telephone calls from various firms. (I’ve no idea how they found my number). In the end, I fell for a very plausible young man from Westway. When the bonds came from Ipsum, I was surprised, because I didn’t know who they were.
As I understand things I am not sure if we have any recourse to Ipsum invest. It was they who approached me with the Bond Offering. They certainly “sold” the story to me and indeed the level of due diligence they had conducted. What I now see is a very thin veneer and an attempt to distance themselves from any accountability.
Thanks Lorraine – just called More Group as I have not received any reply from Mike Conway. Lady who answered phone said that they had two people dealing directly on Westway – Atul Sharma who you already gave details about and someone else [email protected] – Will send them both same email I sent to Mike Conway a few days ago and let you know of any response.
I was sold the Westway investment by Ryan James at Magpie Wealth – who also sold me Magna Global which equally looks a scam. When I informed him about what had happened he called me up at 7PM and seemed shocked – not sure if he is just a lowly salesman in the chain who didn’t know or didn’t care about the investment he was pushing or whether he knew all along it was suspect – hence anyone else who knows about him / Magpie Wealth then I would be interested to hear from you.
All bondholders should be receiving a letter in 2 weeks time from Macintyre Hudson Llp Contact details: 6th floor, 2 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU Tel: 020 7429 4100. Don’t jump the gun investors as although she confirmed that they will try and realise maximum repayment of funds for creditors they are still awaiting full confirmation as to whether they are being officially appointed.
Although Westway Holdings obtained in excess of £20 million from investors there may only be say £5 million that they might retrieve. Anyone appointed will have to follow the money trail therefore, if they do get appointed they will require any information/documentation that we all can help with. In anticipation, I forwarded relevant information to Kimberley and just received the following email:
“Dear Lorraine
Thank you for your call and email below.
I am awaiting to hear the outcome of the hearing, it was adjourned again until 3.30 due to other cases over running.
As discussed, once our appointment is confirmed we will notify all creditors. Any information that you have will be useful, so please continue to forward this to me.
Kind regards
Kimberley Reid
Restructuring & Recovery
Senior Case Administrator”
We all need to be a united team to try and retrieve our monies back from this crook! Be safe everyone
Dear Investors,
I am not in any way a legal representative or professional business advisor but was a vulnerable investor like some others as my mother had just died when I took out this investment with Westway Holdings Limited.
I am incensed by the fact that greedy unscrupulous touts and scam artists took part of my inheritance for what was my mother’s hard earned money as she had her own business and worked 6 days a week.
Reading your comments, it is of my opinion that the following actions should be considered as the way forward:
1. Type up a full diarised statement starting from how, when and by whom you were first approached by. Your memory will be jogged by emails received and sent. Do a file, print to PDF within your Outlook messages so that you have PDF copies of all documentary email evidence. Your Word document diary should end today up.
2. Ensure you have names, addresses, emails, phone & mobile numbers of all affiliated parties connected to Westway Holdings Limited and the companies connected to them. You can retrieve some of this information from the blogs from this website and Safe or Scam.
3. If you have bought any other investments from the introducers of your Westway Holdings Bond test them in writing, ask to redeem these other bonds because of hardship and get their response in writing.
4. Look into suing these introducers for the fee they earned plus expenses due to negligence 6 months ago in not demanding More Group Consulting to seek recompense from the assets of Westway Holdings when they defaulted in their interest payments in 2019. These introducers also failed to inform investors that Westway Holdings Limited stopped being Regulated in 2018 which is another reason a lot of us invested.
5. Seek proof from More Group by emailing them requesting an actual fully executed document stating that More Group no longer represent Westway Holdings Ltd as a Charge in default to investors dated August 2019. I requested this yesterday.
6. Consider suing More Group for negligence in their duties of not notifying investors of their intention to quit thereby they have to stand by their original agreement as they are still listed on Companies House as Charges. We still have not received any hard evidence that they quit. They should have insurance otherwise they would not have initially committed to such a responsibility.
7. Ask your bank to provide you with the full banking details of Westway Holdings from which you received your interest payments – add this to your statement. Please note that the account that you made the bank transfer to Adam & Company plc to Curzon Capital is now “Inactive”.
8. It is in my opinion that we have no hope in suing Westway Holdings Limited directly or the Directors etc. as this is a sophisticated international scam and they will be absconding as Mark Anthony McGovern has done in the past.
Should any of you have any questions requiring further information I may have, please feel free to ask.
Have you all seen the latest statement (27.5.20) from Constantine Pagonis, or would you like me to put it up here?
Please post it.
I’m going to have to type this out as my machine doesn’t want to copy and paste at the moment!!
From: Ipsum Invest Ltd, Wed May 27.2020 1.02 p.m.
Dear Mrs Gaisford
Following my email last week, we can now confirm that the hearing took place on 23/5/2020. This confirmed that two joint administrators from MacIntyre Hudson were validly appointed with effect from 15/5/2020 and that a third joint administrator from Quantuma was also appointed from 23/5/2020.
The administrators will provide their initial report in 8 weeks. This will estimate the financial position and lay out a strategy to realise assets. It will also explain the priority of distributions, in which secured creditors have the top priority.
You should now expect that your main reliable source of information regarding Westway is from the joint administrators. We will be ensuring that they have full and correct contact details for you, together with details of your Westway investment.
We are, of course, very unhappy with this turn of events. All investment opportunities which we onboarded and arranged deals in, including the Westway bond, underwent thorough due dilligence by both us and other professional and regulated companies, and we are distressed that the investment you made in Westway has not gone according to plan. We very much hope that the administrators will be able to realaise the assets of the compant in a reasonable timescale and to a value enabling the full repayment of Westway’s debt to you.
Yours sincerely,
Constantine Pagonis.
Ipsum Invest Administration Team
0203 405 4538, Heron Tower
110 Bishopsgate, London EC2N4YA.
This person speaks about due diligence, how on earth can anyone conducting due diligence on a company not find out that the majority shareholder and director has been to prison for the same scam, that is a complete joke.
And, by the time they pay for these rich, influential administrators, there won’t be anything left for us.
I have been trying to contact my Westway adviser. Funnily enough, he is not answering his home telephone, and his direct Westway email and telephone numbers have been removed. Now to add insult to injury, they are adding cowardice.
I have just received a call from Carter Lee Financial saying that some Asian investors would buy my bonds in Westway, and that I could get my money back plus about 2% in a matter of weeks.
Now, why would any company want to do that? The caller, Charles De Fretas (?) will be calling me back tomorrow at 12.30, after they have sent me an email, presumably asking me for my details. No telephone number was left on my phone.
Once bitten, twice shy I think. Can anyone shed any light on this sort of transaction?
It’s a recovery scam.
Other Westway Holdings investors are very likely to be similarly targeted.
Anyone who calls you out of the blue claiming you can get your money back is a scammer.
Many thanks for your help. I thought as much. I’m learning my lessons – but slowly.
As with all scammers they will be very convincing when they call you back. There will be talk of takeover bids and Non Disclosure Agreements. They will say you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Only later will it turn out you have to make a series of small payments to unlock the deal. It’s called recovery scam and is unfortunately a standard followup when these companies go bust. More details here: http://www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart/recovery-room-scams
I have received a letter from MacIntyre Hudson entitled “Westway Holdings Limited (“the Company) In Administration in the High Court of Justice-Number 0902337 of 2020.
I would suggest that everyone gets in touch with them. All the scammers will do is ask for money to release your funds, once you pay them “POOF” they disappear..
I would avoid like the plague any of these’ recover your asset’ offers as they are scamming vultures. Ipsum are not to be trusted- look at all the weird English usage in the post from Susan G.
Last Friday I filled out and returned all the necessary documentation to MacIntyre Hudson the administrators for Westway Holdings Limited through the advice of the agents who sold me the bond, Direct Property Investments. This is now the first option out of three of trying to retrieve monies owed by Westway. Administrator’s Email: [email protected]
Well done Lorraine.
If anyone is interested, look on this site. This is the company that has been pestering me. https://safeorscam.net/carter-lee-financial-scam/
THE NEXT TIME THEY CALL YOU, RECORD THE TELEPHONE CONVERSATION THEN PASS IT TO THE POLICE.
This is a real scam, Westway holding collaborated with another regulated company called Copia wealth to deceive the investors.
They agent told me that Copia Wealth is the Bond provider while Westway deals with the property aspect of it
.So, I called Copia wealth to confirm this information and they agreed to be working with this agent.
In also called the FCA to confirm that Copia Wealth was regulated before Investing my money but I now realised that the money was actually invested with Westway not Copia wealth.
The question is how to get the money now Westway has gone into administration. They new administrators are not helping the matter by not updating people.
.
Has anyone else been approached by Anderson Recovery? Rang up sounding very plausible!!
Recovery scammers only need to be as plausible as the people who convinced you to invest in Westway in the first place to take even more of your money.
If you have been approached by people claiming they can get the money back it is a scam. Any recovery is in the hands of the administrators.
If you were advised to invest in Westway by an FCA-regulated firm you do have recourse to the FOS and FSCS but should still ignore any cold calls.
It’s about time we had an update on proceedings. They don’t have the courtesty or efficiency to keep us up to date – probably too busy counting their own assets.
It is unlikely that any monies will be paid out of the administration but investors could potentially look at the FCA companies who signed off the promotional materials for the investment. Both companies are still active as it stands so these would inevitably go to FOS but both the FCA and FSCS have confirmed they will accept claims in relation to misleading promotional materials so while it may be a very long process it’s better than doing nothing.
As investors will have all been introduced by unregulated third parties this may be the only course of action available to obtain your initial investments back.
Several fellow investors have mentioned they have signed with a Barrister to pursue this further as they wouldn’t understand how to do this, so while people should always consider issuing a complaint themselves to save on fees, this could be a route for people who are unsure how to proceed.
Better to get something back than nothing at this point, as I assume there is practically no chance we will ever see the return of our investments.
anyone planning to sue the introducers, is there a group already on board with this, I’d like to join.
I am in the process of writing to the Financial Ombudsman.
Susan
I so did and the FCA & Financial Ombudsman were not helpful , please let us know the outcome, you might have a better luck
All they told me and I quote
””
the product documents state that this isn’t covered by the FSCS so if the firm have gone into administration you would need to contact the administrators to find out where you stand with regards to the money you’ve invested
””
The introducer I used is not FCA registered
Although, I have provided documents proving that the introducer, mislead me to believe that it was FCA regulated and an ISA wrapper investment.
It is very clear to me that FCA & The Financial Ombudsman, are not interested in helping us.
We might stand a chance if we go after the introducers as a group of investors, how do we start this ? anyone know please post it here
John could you please let me how to contact the same Barister as other investors
Who was your introducer?
I like the idea of us all going together to comfront these rogues. Lets do something about it.
Has anybody been contacted by Elite Chambers who are sending a courier to collect documents from us? I presume this is a scam. Can anyone help.
I’ve not heard from them, although I have heard from
Good Investment Advisors. They reckon they can get my money back in four weeks for a commissio1n of between 2% and 7%. I tried looking for them in the FCA site – but I’m not very clever at that and kept going round in circles. If they could get my money I would willingly pay them, but I not parting with any more money until I see a return.
Thanks Susan for your reply. I’m pretty sure they are scammers; called out of the blue and getting NI numbers and sending a courier to collect utilities and passport! My father in law invested through Ipsum!
If anyone contacts you out of the blue claiming they can get your money back, it is a scam.
Westway investors’ details was apparently leaked to recovery scammers by persons unknown with access to the investor database.
Westway is already in administration in the hands of MHA Macintyre Hudson who will handle any recoveries (if there are any).
Thank you for your reply. That’s exactly what I thought. Our bonds were bought through Ipsum Invest (another crooked firm). Should we be contacting them to try and recover our money in the first instance or should all of our dealings be through Macintyre Hudson? Thank you for your help
Ipsum Invest was FCA regulated from June 2016 to May 2020 (first as appointed representative of Kession Capital, then MET Facilities).
If you were advised by Ipsum to invest in Westway between these dates you should make a formal complaint to them that the bonds were unsuitable for your risk profile. If they fail to redress you within eight weeks you can go to the Financial Ombudsman, and if they go bust you can claim from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
If you were advised outside these dates you can still complain to Ipsum but will not have recourse to the FOS and FSCS, making recovery much less likely.
This is a simple process (not like going to court) and you do not need a claims management company.
Quoting Mark Taber post June 8th on this page…
https://bondreview.co.uk/2020/06/01/westway-holdings-collapses-into-administration/
Ipsum Invest were acting as an Appointed Representative of MET Facilities LLP so anyone who was sold Westway Holdings bonds by Ipsum Invest could have a claim against MET Facilities using the FOS.
Is anyone pursuing this route? I would be happy to help.
Brev beat me to it by 3 minutes
Thank you so much for your reply. It’s all very confusing. All ours were done in 2018. 2 x 50 k and 1 x 20 k. We will look through the files and work out what we can. We are hoping to pursue this and would be very grateful of help. Thank you so much .
I wish I could have some help too.
I’ll let you know how we get on.
Bless you and thank you.
Hi Susan; I need to work out where to go from here. Ipsum Invest were FCA regulated for a short window of time. The investments they were selling were for sophisticated investors (that doesn’t mean retired people with a few quid in the bank!). It seems to me that they used a third party to direct you to them (so Ipsum) didn’t direct sell and then that third party promptly disappeared. Pagonis is a known crook and he was fronting Westways back office. ??
Absolutely correct. But the fellow who contacted me said that I was a “sophisticated investor”, and naively I was flattered. So when I invested I told Ipsum that that was what I was. I still don’t know what it means!!!
No a sophisticated investor is not someone with a bit of spare cash that listens to Money box live on R4. “Sophisticated” does not mean “clever”. It has a specific definition, meaning a member of an angel investment network, a previous investor in unlisted companies, a private equity professional, or a director of a company with a turnover over £1 million.
So, I was conned again!
Well you and everyone else that gave these oxygen thieves 25 million! Never ever act on unsolicited emails, letters or telephone calls. Don’t feel stupid they are professional scammers! And they will be accessing this site for their next victim!
Thanks for that Helen. So, on this site we could name names, which would hurt them. I know that the fellow who conned me wants to clear his name with the FCA. He phoned me and asked me to change my comments about him, and because I wouldn’t, things turned nasty.
I hope you reported him!
The next day I received a very “novel” account of my dealings with this person, indicating that it was all my fault. Hence I am in this predicament.
How long will this take. I was persuaded by a company called your options who were allegedly backed up by the FCA regulated More Group.
Nothing is moving with the administration process. Should I seek legal help or go through FCA.
That’s what I’m wondering too. Should we be trying to reclaim our money through the brokers/compensation scheme or do we need to wait for administration to be over.
Did anybody use Your Options in the initial set up of these bonds. They seemed legit to me.
There is absolutely nothing coming forward from the administrators.
I agree. No comments. Wouldn’t you think that they would keep us up to date with what is going on – if anything? So many administrators, all using our money to pay themselves. There will be nothing left.
After reading the latest admin report. Looks like that’s it then.
No chance.
Any ideas how we can pursue. I was introduced by a company called Your Options who convinced me.
Surely that can’t be it. Where is the fraud squad? What can we do? I’d like to know how much of our money was spent on all the administrators.
I was introduced to Westway Holdings by Pegasus Property Investments in 2017 and made a small investment. After a few months I detected problems to my introducer but nothing was ever done. I put a factual review on Google after a few weeks two other reviews appeared to say how good Westway was. My introducer left Pegasus and they themselves no longer exist. We just have to wait for the administrators to sort this mess out.
The latest report shows that investors will get less than 10p return for every £ invested. We need to challenge the introducers if they are still around.
La maison21
I’m all in my introducer still around , we can join forces to set up a group, are you able to start up and I will oblige
The introducer sent me docs which stated as follows
”” This document is a summary of information contained
in the Information Memorandum issued by Westway
Holdings Ltd. The Information Memorandum was
approved as a financial promotion (under Section
21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000)
by London Court Limited which is authorised and
regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA
registered number 146522).”’
Could I make a claim against LCF !
Forget the introducers they have wiped their hands clean of investors unless your broker happened to be Regulated.
All information about Westway Holdings can be verified by calling the administrators & City of London Police. There is also a website link which should have been given to all investors from the administrators to update us on the court proceedings.
I strongly suggest investors contact City of London Police and give a statement if you want justice – McGovern (Anthony Marks) & his other con associates locked up. I know many of us have already lost a lot of money in this bad investment however, I have been advised that a group lawsuit against the security trustees would make the costs minimal and investors have a good case since they breached their Contract with us multiple times. Let me know if you are interested in joining & I will publish the UK based solicitors details who specialises in this area
Thank you for your assistance. I would certainly like to fight these scammers.
Since my last post, I have now started a UK litigation group to try and get bondholders monies back. We have in excess of 80 members to date in this lawsuit and these numbers are quickly growing. If you want to keep informed of what is going on or join this litigation, please join our members only forum on the Group page of Facebook and search for Westway Holdings. We have 132 members who all bought Westway bonds. It is a very supportive group with likeminded people who are all in the same situation.
Thank you for taking this on. I’m with you all the way.
Thanks Susan, I look forward to you joining the Westway Holdings Facebook group. Use my name – Josie as a referral
When is this matter likely to be resolved?
I really need my money back.
Administrations often take years and result in zero or minimal returns to creditors.
If you have financial difficulties it would be best to forget about Westway and proceed as if you’d never had the money in the first place. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
so many devious crooks we need someone who has lots of experience in crooks ways and fight them at their own game
Perhaps we could employ one of their ex crooks. In their field, they certainly performed well.
Hi Lamaison21, my Mother was introduced via Your Options as well. She has invested her life savings and I am trying to help her. She has no idea where to turn for help. Can anybody please tell me if there is any hope of getting her money back for her?
Hi Hannah, very unlikely to get any money back from this. There is a very good FB group, Westway Holdings, maybe join that, lots of info on there, but it’s not very hopeful that there will be any returns.
this blog/forum seems to have dried up in terms of new contributions in the last year…has the FB group ‘taken over’?
I can advise that a recent email from Symphony asset management appears to be AN Other scam as communicated from the Operation Sabik team and it should not be engaged with.