Bentley Global launched in February 2018 and issued unregulated bonds paying 12 – 20% per year (depending on the amount invested).
Bentley Global is headed by former chartered accountant Alan Bentley. The bonds were promoted by former Manchester City footballer Peter Reid, who earned 13 caps for England. Reid is now Bentley Global’s Director of Football.
Investors’ money is used to bet on football using Bentley Global’s “Algol88” algorithm.
(The number 8 appears frequently in gambling contexts due to a Chinese superstition that the number is lucky, because the Chinese for “eight” sounds a bit like the word for “profit”.)
Bentley Global claims that Algol88 has produced returns averaging 83% per year over 5 years of backtesting.
Backtesting is of limited value because you can adjust an algorithm and re-run the backtesting until you have produced whatever results you desire. This does not necessarily mean it will produce the same results in the future. Even real past performance is no guide to the future and artificially simulated past performance is even less of one.
Bentley Global has recently filed its accounts for the year ending August 2018 which reveal that the company raised a total of £4.8 million up to that date.
Despite CEO Alan Bentley stating in a video
We’re not going to hide – every month we’re going to publish our figures fully audited so our clients can see exactly what we’re earning
this commitment to auditing and transparency does not extend to its annual accounts. The company took advantage of small company exemptions and did not have its results audited, or publish a profit and loss account and cashflow statement.
What the accounts do show, in simplified terms, is that the £4.8 million raised from investors turned into £1.8 million in debtors (mostly £1.4 million in prepayments and £300k in “other debtors), £360k in “sums placed in betting pools” (which is valued at initial cost), and £1.3 million in cash.
The other c. £1.3 million appears to have either been lost, or spent on investors’ interest or other costs. With the bonds not repayable until November 2020, there is no suggestion that Bentley Global is in financial difficulty. However, at some point it will have to start living up to its claims of being able to generate 85% per year average returns using its algorithm.
In 2017 the company valued its algorithm at £27.4 million; as with the rest of the accounts, this value has not been independently audited.
Bentley Global’s literature, which is signed off by FCA-regulated Blue Water Capital, is generally clear and makes no attempt to disguise the fact that investing in bonds paying up to 20% per year from betting on football is extremely high risk. Their video promotion mentions that the investment is only to be promoted to high net worth and sophisticated investors.
Sadly this is not true of unregulated introducer HyLife who promoted Bentley Global bonds with a claim that “Security is a key element for all potential investors”. Needless to say anyone for whom “security is a key element” should not be investing in bonds paying up to 20% per year from betting on football.
Is there any update on how this has now performed?
There are some bold claims being made around The City with this one so curious to know how it’s got on.
The next Companies House accounts aren’t due until May 2020.
You could always ask Bentley Global for those “fully audited” monthly performance figures Alan Bentley said they were going to publish. Wherever they’re published, they aren’t on their website.
What claims are going around?
I reckon that absolutely nobody in The City has heard of Bentley Global and the only bold claim about the bond is that “There are some bold claims being made around The City with this one..”
I invested in this Bond in May 2018 and (touch wood) have received interest payments promptly on the last Friday of each month. Whatever the algorithm is doing, it’s paying out as promised and I am delighted that I decided to invest after much deliberation.
Wendy – Clearly you are not a sophisticated investor and are therefore not eligible for bonds like this. If you were you not be delighted you would be deeply worried about the missing money and concerned in case it was being used to pay the interest rather than coming from a magic beans algorithm . If it is (and we don’t know without audited accounts) then it will soon come crashing down and you will quickly switch to complaining that a regulator didn’t stop you investing in an unregulated investment.
Is it true that Bentley Global has stopped paying its clients and is going bankrupt? Has anybody not been paid? I would like to know as I am doing due diligence prior to investing.
Hi Tom,
Yes they have indeed stopped paying, my elderly mother got convinced to invest with Bentley Global
http://www.bentleyglobal.co
www. bentleyintelligence.co
by a ‘pushy’ salesman who is unreachable now, apparently his marketing company went bankrupt due to Covid. They paid coupons for a while but they stopped earlier using the Covid crisis as their excuse. When my mother begged for her money back their ‘one man band’ admin manager refused to send money back, which led me to investigate them further as I actually work in the legal world myself. Common sense will tell you, if the money was in their account, they would have sent it back to her within a reasonable time frame not use Covid as an excuse. Perhaps they could show us their trading bank account in Asia? to reassure investors the money is safe?
Their original marketing material refers to Blue Water Capital (“BWC”) https://www.bluewatercapital.co/ as approving their promotions, upon checking this approval via my sources, apparently BWC terminated the approval but my mother was not notified of this change, why have BWC have terminated this approval, have they smelt something dodgy?
Furthermore according to my sources, Bentley have delayed their accounts which were due end of May 2020, even with the Covid extension made by the UK Govt, they should have delivered in August 2020, there is something fishy happening here???? See https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09718466
What is MOST ALARMING is their significant shareholder Terence Lee Leighton has also sold his shares in the Company earlier in the year, it should also be known Mr Leighton is a convicted CRIMINAL and has many POLICE REPORTS against him… why is Bentley’s significant owner a criminal? NO EXCUSES FOR THIS, my mother did not bargain for a mafia run investment but an FCA approved product by BWC.
Why has BWC originally approved a product which is owned by a CRIMINAL?
Surely they should have carried our Due Diligence on all significant shareholders?
Also, their so called high performing Algo88, has this never ever been audited?
Has anyone ever audited their sports betting accounts in Asia?
If not, am I right in thinking they could be making fictitious returns, which means Bentley Global is a global Ponzi, ran by criminals? or a match-fixing far eastern racket ran by individuals who have no experience in running a financial fund, has Alan Bentley or any of the trading team ever worked for an FCA approved firm? does he have any REAL fund management qualifications? I have asked my friend’s about him in the Financial City circles, the guy is not know at all, which is ALARMING… He has basically blagged his way to raising millions at the expense of elderly people like my mother and other inexperienced investors as anyone with anyone with real brain cells would see through this BS.
Also, it should be noted, these greedy brokers were being paid up to 40% of the initial money raised so how the hell can Bentley Global, pay these extortionate commissions? whilst running a successful trading business model? Ponzi screams at me here.
I am taking this matter into my own hands here as I am fed with my mother being lied to and extorted by these CRIMINALS and trickery from Alan Bentley who after all is a smooth talking ex-TV presenter.
If you have been scammed by Bentley Global and being convinced to hold your money until Covid is over, I would urge you to go to the FCA, Police, Fraud Squad and Serious Organised Crime Unit before these CRIMINALS tell you your money has been lost in Asia…
WATCH THIS SPACE, ALL WILL BE REVEALED, THESE SCUMMY PEOPLE NEED TO BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE AND MY MOTHER NEEDS TO GET EVERY PENNY BACK OR MR BENTLEY AND HIS CRIMINAL ASSOCIATES NEED TO GO TO JAIL OR AT LEAST SHAMED IN PUBLIC.
James this is very worrying, we have a lot of money invested with Bentley Global, they stopped paying their monthly coupons a while ago.
I have verified a lot of the stuff you have mentioned and it is true, something dodgy is going on there…Trouble is police does not do anything these days and I cannot afford to spend thousands with a lawyer. Is it worth Bentley investors working together to form some sort of group to fight Bentley Global?
From experience this is only time the authorities listen when there are a many investors reading from the same hymn sheet.
Because this clearly smells like ‘Fraud by Misrepresentation’ and if they are associated Criminals, the apple does not fall from its tree. This unaudited algorithm is worrying me too, this could be a fantasy play from Bentley &Co.
K
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This was pushed at me about two years ago, before they went on a raising mission with a bond. I asked to dry test the system, and for around a month had nothing but excuses as to why so called predictions would arrive after matches! I concluded that it was nothing more than a scam, and walked away.
Alan Bentley was the mouthpiece, claiming he had inside knowledge of Asian Handicap betting on football matches. Terry Leighton the sidekick who claimed an ex “city” career, that could never be verified.
Bentley through his sport connections roped in a few well know names, I think Peter Reid was one.
If you follow Bentley on Twitter you can see he is still pumping his product, and apparently his issue now is that his bank have blocked his accounts. They only do that, normally, with a good reason…..
https://twitter.com/bentleyglobal?lang=en
I would say every single investor here has lost all their money.
Sarah P – if the broker was not FCA authorised (or an AR of an FCA authorised firm) you would not face access to the FOS and / or FSCS in respect of their actions. So worth checking the broker was not an AR (Appointed Representative) just in case.
There is a route to suing the FCA authorised firm which approved the financial promotions for damages through the courts on the grounds that the promotions were false or misleading. For example, I have seen a number where the Information Memorandum contain false profiles of directors / management which the s21 approver would have picked up if they had done anything …
However, UK financial promotions laws are not fit for purpose and approvers may try a get out of ‘we withdrew the promotion before you were sent it.’
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Robert Gavin Davis
Invested in Bentley starting in 2018 … regular monthly income which stopped when Covid stopped sports and thus betting … as explained by Mr Bentley …income for this month just received …. anybody who is unhappy with their investment please let me know and I will buy them out ….
Gavin
Mr Gavin (fake client), give it a rest please… Your update does not explain the fact Bentley Global (UK) Limited is an outright Ponzi and brokers were paid 30%-40% to raise money which makes it infeasible to raise money with the aim of actually running a real fund not a ponzi?…
Plus the fact Bentley Global cannot even bothered to submit their statutory financial returns?…
or actually audit the real performance…? not the fantasy play..
Dear Mr Lucky – total fabrication. Dear Mr Davis – you can’t buy these people out as they haven’t invested. Dear James – Terry Lee Leighton did not sell his shares, they were forfeited due to a criminal investigation which, in turn, led to the freezing of one of the company’s bank accounts all of which are, by the way, UK based. If anyone knows of his whereabouts, please inform the police as he owes the company some £500k
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Joe Boyd – one by one – all bond holders have been informed as to why the accounts are overdue. Yes, having a ‘criminal’ as an introducer was, indeed, a mistake – he’s long gone. The £500k was nothing to do with the fund which is in a totally seperate account. Algol88’s performance has been ratified by Sporting Life. We refuse to have it ‘indepently audited’ as it is highly protected code – you wouldn’t expect Google to release details of it’s ranking algorithm. The bond is a 3 year bond and no-one has reached 3 years yet. Bentley Intelligence owns the algorithm and is the technical stable mate of Bentley Global – no rebranding here. Our systems are designed to deliver 8% a month. Do the maths.
Well since you asked so nicely.
If your systems deliver 8% a month you could invest a mere £10,000 and within 5 years you would be a millionaire. Within 13 you would be a billionaire. And after 26 years you would own every penny of the world’s $360 trillion wealth. That’s compounding, folks, the ninth wonder of the world. (The eighth being Bentley Global’s magic algorithm.)
And yet in 2017 Bentley Global thought this algorthm was worth a mere £27 million.
Bentley Global are supposedly making 152% returns per year and yet they’re only sharing 12% – 20% with the people who fronted the money while they get richer than God?
And despite having a magic machine that eats football and shits gold, they can’t afford enough accounting staff to not break the law by failing to file accounts on time?
Hey, you told me to do the maths so I did.
No-one expects you to reveal the secret of the magic potion. What investors are entitled to expect is independently audited accounts showing that the business is on track to deliver its financial projections and is repaying investors from the profits of its algorithm. That does not require opening the magic box, only for Bentley Global to open up its financial records to independent auditors.
At a bare minimum Bentley Global should be able to avoid committing criminal offences by filing legally-required statutory accounts on time.
As of 10 November Bentley Global is to be struck off the register in two months’ time for failing to file its accounts – which means that on January 10th 2021 all its assets, including its magic algorithm, will become property of the Government. Unless it belatedly files accounts or the strike-off action is otherwise dropped.
That’s like asking the Financial Times for horseracing tips.
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Accounts will be filed very soon. In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s been a pandemic and Bentley Global (UK) Ltd.’s business was ‘hampered somewhat’. All bond holders have been kept in the loop. Reading all your comments, it is obvious that you are all feeding off hearsay and not very reliably sourced hearsay either. We’ll leave you to it.
So you had to turn off the magic machine for a few months while professional football was suspended.
That’s not going to derail a business that makes 8% per month returns.
Given Bentley Global makes 152% per year and only pays up to 20% out, shouldn’t it have had a fair bit in reserves to cover the payments due while football was suspended?
The overdue legally-required accounts are for August 2019. That’s 6 whole months Bentley Global had to compile its accounts before lockdown became a thing. Companies House gave everyone an extra 3 months to file accounts due to Covid; it appears Bentley Global didn’t bother to apply, but it doesn’t matter as you’d’ve overran the extended deadline 3 months ago anyway.
Er, the claim that Bentley Global’s algorithm generates 8% per month came from you, yesterday. If you don’t think you’re a reliable source then don’t waste our time.
All my reporting is a matter of verified fact.
Your maths is awful and so is your logic. Take the original investment less the 40% commission. Make 8% on that whilst paying out the coupons. Switch off the 8% for 15 weeks. No directors dividends or any renumeration whatsover until the end of term. BI owns the algorithm not BG. If your hearsay is so reliable then you’ll know that Alan Bentley now drives a car worth £500 and is in rented accomodation while his brother’s family home is up for sale in order to ‘pay the bills’. The fact that, in the above ‘threads’ the word ‘criminals’ has been chucked around just goes to show how misinformed you are. We can only assume that the much maligned Terry Leighton has put you up to this as band wagon jumpers are all spouting the same libelous crap. I’d come down to London to sort this shit out but I’m in Liverpool on duty. twitter.com/@insideleft3
Said the guy working for an investment scheme paying 40% commission to introducers and claiming to deliver returns of 8% per month, using an algorithm they worked out had about the same value as Jennifer Lopez’s tuckus (according to her insurers). We’ll let reality be the judge of who can do maths.
Bentley Global launched in February 2018 as I understand it. £10,000 minus 40% commission gives you £6,000. Invest that at 8% per month, minus 1.5% (at most) to pay the regular interest, and by the time somebody in China is eating a dodgy pangolin in December 2019, you have about £24,000, after all the commission and interest paid out. That’s £14,000 in reserve on top of the investor’s original capital.
More than enough to cover 15 weeks of interest at 20% even with the machine switched off (just under £600 for the above figures). With Bentley Global managing £5 million as at August 2018 – or £3 million after paying introducer commissions – using the remaining reserves to keep body and soul together for the directors so they can turn the magic machine back on when football resumes should not be a problem.
What division are you serving in, the Very Special Maths Service?
A and B Bentley own a magic money machine that eats football and shits gold, took in £5 million of investor money, paid £2 million of that straight back out again to introducers, and we’re supposed to feel sympathy that they can’t pay the bills? Being able to generate returns of 8% per month but not being able to pay your mortgage doesn’t sound like a selfless sacrifice, it sounds like very poor financial management.
40% commission!!!
I think that may have the dubious honour of being the biggest ever in the unsavory world of unregulated investments. Or can anybody beat that?
Yes. The one that Brev is selling
Oh, and which one would that be again?
It seems that nobody posting on here knows anything about bonds, how they work, how they are regulated etc..
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