Struggling property investment scheme Magna Global has filed July 2019 accounts for its MIX2 entity, reporting a £1 million loss.
This follows Magna investors reporting they have not been repaid on time, and one of Magna’s other companies which took in money from investors, Magna Investments X (aka MIX1), also posting a £1 million loss.
MIX2 issued 12-month bonds to investors paying 12% interest over the term. Bonds were promoted to investors by unregulated introducers.
MIX2 owes a total of £5.4 million and has assets of £4.4 million, described mostly as “unlisted investments”. The accounts used small company exemptions and contain little other information.
The accounts were filed at the last minute on 30 July before the 12-month deadline expired.
Magna’s final entity that I know of, MIXG Limited, is due to file its first accounts by the end of October.
Magna joint-owners Chris Madelin and Oliver Mason have recently scrubbed their Instagram profiles. Madelin’s in particular was notable for its dedication to posting public photos of him enjoying a luxury lifestyle.
Where Madelin got his wealth from is unclear. At time of writing, companycheck.co.uk lists Madelin as the director of 26 active UK companies that I was able to find. Most of these had negative or zero net assets and none of those with positive net assets had more than £30k.
(Hat tip to a Bond Review reader who saved the photos from Instagram.)
Love it! Crimes against taste, also to add he is about 5ft.
What I would like to understand is how liable will the security trustee be? These guys charge the earth but seem to never have the answers when push comes to shove.
I am unsure how much money was raised but I hear its around 30m with one asset worth 1m being accounted for? I am hoping this isn’t the case but time will tell.
Another unregulated investment bites the dust right under the FCA’s nose!
Thanks Brev. Brilliant as always.
Yes, the “crimes against taste” made me chuckle too.
I think we all know where Chris Madelin’s money has come from. He blows hundreds of thousands of pounds of lenders’ money on an extremely lavish lifestyle for himself and his Scandinavian girlfriend. They’ve done a great job of fooling their Instagram followers, but the reality is their spending has come from lenders’ money.
Miss_Invest, you’re right about the Security Trustees. They’ve not just been caught sleeping at the wheel, but are actively conspiring towards protecting Magna’s shenanigans and working *against* lenders.
I’m owed a huge amount of money by Magna which was due to redeem in March 2020 and whenever I’ve contacted the Security Trustee, Equity for Growth (Securities), they’ve not replied to me. I’ve tried completing the form on their website, emailing them, phoning them, all to no avail. They are beyond useless and I hope the FCA shut them down pronto.
Has anybody looked at the link between Magna, Equity for Growth and Hunter Jones in more detail?
If you look at the FCA Register and search Equity for Growth you will find one Reece Mennie as an A/R of Equity for Growth (06/07/18 to 09/04/20). That would be Reece Mennie, CEO of Hunter Jones who were Master Introducers for the Magna’s investment products. That’s the same Reece Mennie pictured on Instagram (now deleted) on the beach in Dubai living it up with Madelin & Mason at the height of the fund raise. It wouldn’t be difficult to conclude that Equity for Growth may have been more interested in looking after the interests of Magna’s Directors (and their own pockets no doubt) rather than those of the unfortunate investors. Looks like these boys had all the angles covered…
He should have added #notmymoney on his Instagram posts.
More likely than not the thieving Madeline and Mason were spending money of luxury travel in keeping their high-flying image, putting it as business expenses so they wouldn’t have to declare it not pay tax on it.
What I would give to see a foresenic audit done on these thieves’ companies!
Well they used Jeff Razaq to do the initial fake accounting valuation report via Jade State Wealth, who according to my records are involved in many many scams, then play innocent when the products default.
This is organised crime from Magna, Hunter Jones and the Trustee…, they are all probably at it, all of these people need to be held to justice and a forensic accountant needs to go through all their books. Also all offshore entities and bank accounts who are affiliated with Magna need to be investigated, as it is possible a ring of companies were used to wash the money out.
Let’s see what happens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzgGWL37HKo&feature=youtu.be&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=93687267&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_pEMdDvpx5M11ZSfxFFx3zqtndbh2Km5VKi4hdiOdW1nBTdu5bshJkNNM54OxIe1nOGOUL5bx6LPob3lMoKcp4eVh0YOuT87YmbaDxXg1S3TfsCuc&utm_content=93687267&utm_source=hs_email
Latest attempt to save themselves.
Using their spreadsheet in the video I added up the explicit “Commissions to agents” figures which come to £5.6m, meaning 27% of the total funds raised went to introducers. A large amount more seems to have gone on their own fees.
Meanwhile the Woking site which is meant to be bringing in the vast bulk of the profits is still in “pre-planning” and will need even more money to build. I will eat my hat if investors see a return.
I sent the following letter to Mr Chris Madelin, Mr Oliver Mason at Magda Global today and not surprised to see that their mail accounts are now blocked
Dear Mr Chris Madelin, Mr Oliver Mason
Who could have guessed that two talentless boys who met at a “Saturday drama school to learn new skillsets and become great performers” would through their own arrogance, greed and disregard for anyone aside themselves, bring so much misery to so many others. While you seemingly claim that you ‘are of the age group of the people who are struggling at the minute, so we can relate’ it appears that you have little or no empathy for the many investors who you have apparently ripped off. “When I dropped out of my media course and went into labouring I thought I had taken the wrong path,” admits Mason. “But what I found out was that I had a real passion for property”. Is your real passion for property Chris? Or is it for easy money? Other people’s money. Those who have worked hard over a lifetime to accumulate savings to see them through their old age. Why work for it when you can buy yourself an expensive suit and take it from those who believed the fantasy you painted for them. People like my uncle (Major Peter A’Hearne) who was born into poverty, brought up in an orphanage after his parents died, worked hard to pass his exams and be accepted into the army as an officer cadet and who then served his country for half a century. He is now 90 and profoundly deaf but you and your cohorts (Hunter Jones) felt no guilt about encouraging him to part with his life saving with the promise of great returns. You took advantage of a vulnerable old man and Mr Daniel Hewitt seemingly continued to encourage him to put more and more of his savings into your companies – even when it was abundantly clear that the capital was already likely at risk.
The suggestion that “Madelin is refreshingly blunt. And honest.”is frankly laughable. Your own suggestion that “….with me at the front as CEO but Ollie always there as the backbone to the company.” can only lead one to wonder what sort of spineless individual you really are. You suggested that ‘ I read over 700 books and studied in my own time….I started to read lots of very relevant books like ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ and ‘Think and Grow Rich’, and I knew my life was about to change’. How remarkable – you read books to teach yourself how to profit from the trust and naivety of others rather than hard work and talent. I wonder if you took any inspiration from others like Nick Leeson, Bernie Madoff and other habitual fraudsters and con artists? These are people who think nothing of misrepresenting the truth, covering their tracks, pleading ignorance, while having lived a life of luxury at the expense of others. Is that what appealed to you? Perhaps you should have stuck to the Mr Men series.
How ironic when your ambitions seemed so lofty: “I want to bring luxury homes to the general public…for many, owning their first home is a dream and I want to make their dreams come true” Or “I want to give back, make an impact on the planet and create a positive change.” Positive change? How positive a change do you feel you have made in the life of my uncle who is £215k poorer since he was persuaded to invest his life savings with you?
You may have recognised some of the italicised quotes below from articles by Samantha McClary (@estategazette) and Lynda Clark (At Home with Chris Madelin featured in FirstTimebuyer) in previous interviews which you have given.
Some of the more recent posts around this debacle from others with perhaps a little less enthusiasm for your operations include the following:
· “Madelin in particular was notable for its dedication to posting public photos of him enjoying a luxury lifestyle”.
· “…blows hundreds of thousands of pounds of lenders’ money on an extremely lavish lifestyle for himself and his Scandinavian girlfriend”
· “Commissions to agents” figures which come to £5.6m, meaning 27% of the total funds raised went to introducers”
So what do you both see when you look in the mirror. Do you feel proud that you have let down so many people who trusted you – with little or no chance of them ever seeing their capital returned? Do you feel proud of yourselves that you have apparently enjoyed a lavish lifestyle while your investors will suffer for years to come and some will never recover? Do you think your parents and loved ones are proud of who you have become? Who would have thought that the acting skills you learnt at drama school would have stood you in such good stead to take advantage of so many innocent (and in my uncle’s case vulnerable) investors.
You appear to both be the worst sort of parasite – cloaking your incompetence and lies with seemingly lofty ambitions when it seems that all you wanted was to enjoy the fruits of everyone else’s hard work while enriching yourselves. What’s the next plan – blame Coid19? I ask you that every time you look in a mirror to think about who you are and what you have done, and what you’ve become. The chances are you don’t care or you would never have behaved in the way that you have. You are what I believe is in the parlance of the world you inhabit ‘filth’ –but what goes around comes around – and at some point there will be a day of reckoning and it can’t come soon enough.
I hope that should the FCA, Financial Ombudsman, Police and Action Fraud find that anyone has acted fraudulently or is in breach of their terms of reference then they will take the necessary action and those prosecuted will have many, many days to contemplate their actions in an environment a little less comfortable to the one that you and others have been enjoying to day.
Yours in disgust
Andrew Aherne
Update from Oliver Mason to say they are working hard on a restructuring plan with the aim of repaying investor capital even if this takes longer.
Andy, I’m extremely sorry to hear about your Uncle losing such a significant amount… something he worked his blood and sweat for all his life…only for these fraudsters to seize all to fund their lavish lifestyles.
I feel hurt hearing that. Unfortunately I think it’s all lost….but I pray that somehow the funds are recovered.
If the authority in our country had any balls they would smack the hell out of these fraudsters and sell their and their families assets to get the funds back.
I would like to keep up with all that happens in this business. I invested in some in loan notes, nothing of the magnitude of some others, but I am still furious to hear these appalling stories.
I posted this under Brev’s brilliant latest post on the Signature Capital administration. It’s got a pertinent message for those Magna lenders keen to put it into administration versus moving forward with other avenues and therefore posting it here too:
“”The administrators’ costs currently stand at £446,000 plus £14,000 of expenses.”
No comment necessary.
That £500k billing is in a relatively short period of time and will soon be well over £1m as the Administrators drag out the case as long as possible, to many years, to maximise their earnings.
Billing such eye-watering amounts of money when it’s nigh impossible to get hold of Signature’s administrators as I know from my own experience as a Signature lender, would be declared to be a scandal and crime if it were in Nigeria or Malawi, but here in the UK it’s 100% above board because they are mainly suited and booted private school educated white “gentlemen” handling the administrations.
The fact that whatever money can be extracted from Signature is lining the pockets of the administrators is a salient lesson for those extremely naive lenders to other loannotes such as Magna and High Street Group who are keen to put them into Administration.
Unless a business genuinely has very valuable sellable or tradeable assets, the main beneficiary of an Administration are the administrators themselves.
I’ve personally been in a situation with a business that owed me money where the administrators billed £35,000 for a two-hour creditors meeting etc.”
Andrew, sorry to hear your story, but please do not keep your hopes on Action Fraud, FCA, and Financial Ombudsmen. They are just names for your own consolation. They do not and never have helped. That’s how UK Fraudsters have an edge over these useless institutions.
Andrew I’m sorry to hear about your story!! Oh how I wish I had met your uncle before he had invested his money. I would have told him to steer well clear. I went to school with both Chris and Ollie. I am as surprised they could pull something off like this as I am that they can spell there own name correctly or do there 2 times table. They are both total jokers who couldn’t lay a block pave driveway let alone build a large development of luxury apartments. The only thing they were good at was putting on fake tan and wearing clothes that were to tight for them. I know this doesn’t bring anyone there money back but hopefully will stop any one else from investing there hard earned cash.
My husband and I have lost £250k we loaned to Magna. Our pension pot has been wiped clean by this mass scam.
I’ve reported the two **(&(&($#@~s behind this fraud to the authorities. I gave them the names of the Directors Chris Madelin and Oliver Mason.
I also mentioned there are hundreds of people that have lost a considerable amount of money. They passed the details on to The National Intelligence Bureau, which in turn passed the details on to the Metropolitan Police for their consideration. I am not sure if any action has been taken, but I have had a phone call from the fraud support team, so up to now I do not know anymore.
Chris Madelin, Oliver Mason and their ‘Security Trustee’ Tim Baldwin must never be allowed to go near any business ever again!
Not one of them has ever replied to my 101 phone calls and emails to them. They are the most reprehensible people I have EVER come across.
There has to be a way to nail these gangsters/fraudsters as it is unfair and unheard of that over 600 investors lose their hard earned cash whilst these fraudsters get away with our money!
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Hi does anyone have any information on how to go about trying to retrieve any funds? An elderly friend of mine is also a victim and it’s totally destroying his life.
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Hi I tried to use this email however it came up as invalid…
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It’s been a long time coming, but a little birdie tells me that the book is FINALLY going to be thrown at the Three Bozos who orchestrated this mega Ponzi scheme scam which stole tens of millions of pounds from 600+ lenders.
My own future is in absolute tatters. I was supposed to finally retire next year, at the grand old age of 68, and now that the majority of my pension pot has been stolen from me with this Magna Global Group and the Buy2LetCars frauds, it appears that I will have to work well into my seventies.
I’ve not had a single decent night’s sleep since I discover that I’ve lost a hefty six figure sum to these con artists.
I was delighted to read that last week the Serious Fraud Office raided the homes of the Machiavellian Directors of Buy2LetCars and now I hear they’re also onto Chris Madelin, Ollie Mason and Tim Baldwin.
Bernie Madoff died last week in a 6×12 foot prison cell and I am confident that’s where Christopher Madelin, Oliver Mason and Timothy Baldwin pass their remaining days. They have ruined too many people’s lives and futures, and, more than anything, they deserve to spend a good while at Her Majesty’s Pleasure for their sheer unabated arrogance and haughtiness.
You’re right Joe, in that Britain’s very own Bernie Madoff is Chris Madelin of Magna.
He has scarpered to the U.A.E. to escape the arms of the law in this country. As he can NEVER do business in the UK or EU etc. ever again, he is now trying to start up a property business there where the regulations are more lax and people don’t know about his dubious ways.
No doubt, he thinks he can set-up another Ponzi out there in the Arab world and dupe Arabs the way he did several hundreds Brits.
The three buffoons who set-up this scam, Christopher Madelin, Oliver Mason and Timothy Baldwin, can try everything they like to escape British justice, but will soon get caught.
Guys, the police will get you, even if you try to set up a goat herding business in the outskirts of Timbuktu.
You’ve STOLEN over £22 million from the honest and hard-working people of this country, hundreds and hundreds of them. The are fuming and will never forget.
You will end up with 150 year prison sentences like the aforementioned Ponzi scheme “king”.
In the meanwhile, I’d urge everyone to give a wide bearth to Christopher Madelin, Oliver Mason and Timothy Baldwin… unless you’re a glutton for punishment and like the thought of getting taken for a ride by these serial con artists.
Trying to do everything possible to nail these crooks so any additional advice most useful and the more creditors on the list the more pressure. So far already 6m due to investors on that list.
Thanks for posting the above BondReview.
Concur with comments above.
As most of us know by now, Magna have gone into Administration owing tens of million of pounds. Surprise surprise, Oliver Mason is now replicating his misdeeds at Tyron Ash Real Estate!
If you Google his name with the word Magna, you will see report after report about he borrowed over £22 million from the pension pots of ordinary residents of the good ol’ UK never to repay them. This includes from the government’s official Insolvency Service and the Mirror newspaper who have detailed his highly unethical behaviour. He used the money to fund a life of fantastical luxury, buying the priciest designer clothes, goods and jewellery, a new Range Rover, Lambourghini etc. etc.
Pensioners have had their retirements ruined by Mr Oliver Mason, now going by the name ‘Ollie Mason’ to try to hide his past.
Chris Madelin has scarpered to Dubai to avoid the long arms of the British law. He has deleted all his social media profiles to hide from his lenders and creditors.
Even though Oliver Mason is banned by the government from being a Director doing to his dirty deeds, Tyron Ash are based at the same address as Magna Group.
Stay clear of Oliver / Ollie Mason or else he’ll screw you over to!