We review Liberty House Capital Artesian Water – Hanover Merchant Capital’s scam reboots

Liberty House Capital are currently marketing a three year investment in “Artesian Water” offering 6.4% income per year with “up to 30% aggregate return” after three years.

The investment is substantially identical to an investment promoted by Hanover Merchant Capital which I reviewed in June last year.

Hanover Merchant Capital collapsed some time around November 2018. At present total losses to investors look likely. Its UK entity is currently in the process of being liquidated and the liquidator’s report is pending. Its Swiss entity has already gone through liquidation; the Swiss company was extinguished as it held no assets to recover.

Despite the collapse of Hanover Merchant Capital, investors continue to be strung along by director Bruce Rowan with nonsensical claims that the court-ordered involuntary liquidation of HMC is a mere admin exercise, and that investors will be repaid in July 2019 (investors were previously promised repayment in January). The purpose of stringing them along is likely to be to extract more money from them in the future.

A number of similarities indicate beyond doubt that Liberty House Capital is run along similar lines, very possibly by ex Hanover Merchant Capital personnel:

• • The promise of a “30% aggregate return”
  • The claim of “NO Capital Depreciation” “Secure Underwritten Investment” “Excellent Profit Share”
  • The premise of investment in “Artesian Water” (from New Zealand in HMC, Australia in LHC)
  • Identical irrelevant waffle about how “The United Nations estimates that by 2050 over two billion people in 48 countries  will lack sufficient water” and so on in the investment literature

The main difference between the old shell and the new one is that Liberty House Capital, in a blatant pisstake of its potential victims, uses a lion-head logo that bears a striking resemblance to that of Stratton Oakmont (of Wolf of Wall Street fame). HMC used a faux-crest-style logo.

Who are Liberty House Capital?

No details of who is behind the business are provided on Liberty House Capital’s website. An “Our People” section contains no details of who Liberty House Capital’s people are. It does however contain nonsense like “Bringing together an international team of architects, planners, interior designers and brand specialists…” Why you would need architects and interior designers to run an investment revolving around water commodity contracts is not clear.

Where Hanover Merchant Capital was incorporated by a Bruce Andrew Rowan, the sole director and owner of Liberty House Capital is a “David Simmons”.

It is not known whether David Simmons actually exists. Companies House carries out no meaningful checks on people who open UK limited companies.

Liberty House Capital was incorporated in June 2018, shortly before Hanover Merchant Capital collapsed (and, probably coincidentally, just after our review was published.) It is yet to publish accounts.

Should I invest in Liberty House Capital?

When Hanover Merchant Capital launched last year, I noted that it was an extremely high risk investment, being an investment in a largely nonsensical premise with a firm with no track record. It was also committing a criminal offence, even if the water investment had actually existed, as HMC illegally issued financial promotions to UK investors without FCA authorisation or a valid exemption.

Liberty House Capital by contrast does have a track record. It is the same investment as Hanover Merchant Capital, which has already collapsed with what is very likely to be total losses to investors.

Do not invest unless you are willing to lose all of your money.