Exmount Commercial Developments (a trading name of Exmount Construction Limited) offered 3 and 5 year bonds paying 9.12% and 10.35% per year. I reviewed the bonds in April 2018.
According to both investors and Jade State Wealth, Exmount Construction has stopped paying interest and is failing to respond to phone calls.
Jade State Wealth had been hired by Exmount to act as Security Trustee. However, according to Jade State, Exmount failed to comply with anti-money-laundering and liquidity requirements and consequently Jade State withdrew its services in February 2018.
According to Jade State, Exmount has continued to solicit investment regardless while still telling people that the investment was overseen by Jade State. Some of them have fruitlessly contacted Jade State asking where their money is.
A request for comment from myself last week went unanswered. Exmount’s website, exmountcommercial.com, remains up at time of writing. It contains little information and in fact some of it (notably a Complaints Policy) has been copy and pasted from Wellesley.
Exmount bonds were promoted by Amir Damoussi via his company Asset Backed Investments for up to 40% commission. Asset Backed Investments was shut down by the Insolvency Service in May 2019.
Over the past year or so there have been numerous changes to the people in charge at Exmount, according to Companies House. At the time of my review the sole director was Joey Mason. Mason stepped down in May 2018 and was replaced by Ousama Moufid, who was replaced in December 2018 by Elmeki Boukhris, who was replaced in April 2019 by Diana Mahay, who after a Lady-Jane-Grey-like reign of three and a half weeks was replaced by Rakesh Raj, who *breathe* remains director at time of writing.
The ownership of Exmount passed between the directors at the same times, although a confirmation statement has not been filed for Elmeki Boukhris’ brief reign.
At the end of May Rakesh Raj filed micro-company accounts which showed no creditors. This has clearly come as news to the people who thought they had invested in its bonds.
What all this has to do with Exmount Construction going AWOL, and whether any of these people actually exist, is anyone’s guess.
A few days ago Exmount changed its address back to the notorious 2 Woodberry Grove, London. Exmount was formed by a company formations outfit, A1 Company Service, which created numerous off-the-peg companies which were later acquired by binary options and forex scams. Exmount, like all these companies, started life at 2 Woodberry Grove, the home of Barbara Kahan, a former director of A1 who is now 88 years old (if she is still alive).
A1 Company Services is not accused of any wrongdoing as it is not their problem what people do with the companies it forms after buying them. Why Exmount has changed its address back to 2 Woodberry Grove is unclear.
What should I do if I invested with Exmount Construction?
Investors who are owed money by an unregulated firm and aren’t being paid have two practical options: 1) seek legal advice from a registered solicitor, and risk throwing good money after bad, or 2) write it off and forget about it.
If investors are cold-called by anyone claiming they can get their money back from Exmount in return for “legal fees” or “admin fees” or any other payment by the investor, it is a scam. Reputable solicitors do not cold call, and administrators collect their fees from the company, not creditors.
And another, in a long list of companies reviewed by this site, has been shown to be a scam. When will it end?
It will never end but when the government regulates financial promotions more tightly and instructs and resources the FCA to do so we will see a change, I think. There wouldn’t be nearly as many failures if all promotions had to be authorised by an FCA authorised person and an application pack approved by the FCA linked to promotion controls and regular reporting / filing to the FCA or the FCA authorised person.
At the moment, financial promotions are this loose ‘thing’ that although must be done correctly under FSMA, that is about it. If anything fails the FCA shrug their shoulders and point to the risk warnings section. So many of these failures are exempt promotions, so there is no FCA or FCA authorised person oversight either. They’re totally ‘outside the loop’ as it where.
Hi more keep coming – or should I say going – just like the buses – I think the UK should close its doors on the lot of them………then put them behind the steel ones for EVER…..
Unfortunately my 80 year old mum who has been diagnosed with Dementia and Alzheimer’s has been scammed by this company. Looks like we are kissing goodbye to her life savings as she invested it in one of their bonds. The Government needs to step in to stop unregulated investment companies being able to get away with ripping people off!
Their Security Trust is More Group Capital Services
Really? There is no charge registered over the assets on Companies House, so that means investors are not protected by way of a charge.
Has anyone tried calling Exmount lately, I tried nobody answers their office phone ending 9611 and website phone 3458.
I just spoke to More Group Capital Services and they informed me they have disengaged their services in 2018. What is worse they send me a letter dated 17 October 2017 saying that More Group is their Security Trustee after I have invested a further amount with them. Can anyone help?
No phones have been answered at Exmount for the last three weeks. I have been advised to contact actionfraud as we not been receiving our premiums. I have done this and suggest ALL Exmount clients do the same.
Hi Tina, please can we form a group, so that together we can unite to take some action? Also please report to the financial ombudsman as soon as possible. Please can you drop a line on [email protected]. Look foward to hearing from you soon.
Stephen, EEC, GA – are you happy with Exmount?
To all Exmount Investors. Do not worry, the reason they did did not answer phones is they were on a short break. They will set things right. Rest assured they are doing well. Wish them a brilliant future.
A short break? This article was posted a month ago and investors were contacting Jade State for answers for quite a while before Jade State contacted me.
Best case scenario is that Exmount have been wretchedly unprofessional towards their investors.
Is “a short break” also the explanation for filing accounts which fail to show their creditors?
I tried Exmount’s phone number just now and just got an engaged signal. I have also had no response to the request for comment I emailed before this article.
Due to the prevalence of recovery fraud, investors should exercise extreme caution when contacting people offsite. “Jac” has used several different IP addresses and email addresses when submitting comments.
What is going on with this company? As a pensioner I invested in good faith and I get now is that this number is temporarily unobtainable. What does this mean?
Assuming there’s no further news out of Exmount (and that the most recent “Jac” is full of shit with the “short break” nonsense) then what’s going on is that Exmount has disappeared, as small obscure companies often do. Sorry to bear bad news.
Given that Exmount have clearly missold the Security Trustee in the promotion material because we (Jade State Wealth) and More Group both resigned, why don’t the investors form a work group and collectively take this on through a legal challenge or apply for the compulsory sequestration?
Hi Ka,
Please read GA comments and can we form a group?
Are the police involved yet?
Yes, I would join such a group.
Iain, we (Jade State Wealth) have not been contacted by the police, no. So my guess is that there is no police action yet. If police involvement was needed, I could possibly assist. I am more than happy to make inquiries with the police on how best to get the matter looked at.
Several of us investors have reported Exmount to Actionfraud. I would suggest other investors do the same. We need to get a group together in order to take furtber action.
Please leave a comnent if interested in joining our group.
I received a call from a person called James Arthur today who said he is from Exmount Accounting Dept. He asked me if I wanted an early redemption and read all my details accurately. I said ‘yes’, I thought Exmount has resumed their operations, He said I have to pay upfront 478.66 as admin fees and his contact no. 86109611. I told him to put it writing and email me – to which he said will inform Claire Brown, redemption will be paid by Friday of this week. I said under no circumstances will I pay this fee, and if Exmount wants to process our early redemption they can deduct it at source and transfer it to our account. He said this is no scam and for such a small fee. Anyway he said he will get back next Friday and said if I do not pay this fee I will have to wait for my redemption for more than a year.
Later I tried to trace his call and it was a withheld number and on enquiring on 86109611 – they said this is not exmount neither there is a person called James Arthur.
Please do not be scammed!!
This is the reply I received when I submitted my case to my MP.
Quote:
I really understand the source of your anger. It is a real shame that this has happened.
There isn’t anything further we can now outside of waiting for a response from the Home Office and Action Fraud.
Kind regards,
Simon Jennings
Office of Chris Heaton-Harris
Member of Parliament
Unquote:
I would suggest all those who are affected by Exmount should write to their MP.s and take this case to the Home Secretary – Priti Patel, they are the custodians of crime and safety to the general public.
When you receive a reply from the House of Commons waiting a response from the Home office or Action Fraud it will be ages. I don’t think the people responsible will make them available for trial – they must have escaped the country. With such slow action on part of our authorities, this country is
a very safe haven for scammers and terrorists.
Lawyers are going to charge 1000+vat for reading your docs+450/per hour. What if this company has
gone bust and no money to pay us back, the Lawyer is the only person who will become rich.
Dear Worried Investors,
I would suggest you read the efficacy of Action Fraud on the link below. One of victim affected has reported to Action Fraud early Feb of this year and not heard from them yet!! Please do not rely on them.It’s high time we form a group on google groups without any further delay to discuss next
course of action. I hope good sense prevails.
https://bondreview.co.uk/2019/08/20/action-fraud-call-handlers-call-fraud-victims-morons-and-file-most-reports-as-non-crimes.
I must be missing something I recieved my last quarterly Dividend in July I admit it was 5 days late but it arrived It seems there will bve no October 1st dividend reading all thgis did you all not get a divident in July . I do know it changed office then seemed to be back in London But I do not think it looks good at all even the Broker that sold me my Bond and am I glad i only put in the mimimum investment, they got finished because of how they were operating. I hope there are not people that put in high amounts it bad enough losing the minimum investment .
URGENT, GENUINE REQUEST
Please, Exmount Investors, lets form a group to take some united action.
I am acting on behalf of my 80 years old mum who has been living with Dementia & Alzheimer’s. She was cold called and befriended to invest a large sum of money. Although she received quarterly interest for a time, this has now stopped. You may be aware that Exmount appears to have gone underground. They have never answered my emails and do not now return my phone calls.
I have endeavoured to cash in the investment but without contact with the company this has failed. I have tried to reclaim the investment back via the authorised push payment (APP) fraud scheme but unfortunately the bank has confirmed that the account the investment was paid into has no funds!
I can be contacted by email on [email protected]
Andrea, Iain Cochrane, Ka, can you please email Tina, and come on board, the more complaints
go to Action Fraud, the better for all of us and can help the police to resolve this issue hopefully.
Please do not waste any more time. Also if you have any news or breakthrough could you
kindly share information with us? Appreciate your feedback.
Hi Tina
just picked up on your email .. .I have been in contact with action fraud and was told that they would be in contact within 28 days . . this unfortunately lapsed some 10 days ago. .. help!
Hi Ian
Sorry to hear that. Please join our group by contacting me on
[email protected]
Look forward to hearing from you.
Tina
I actually after many months had a response from the Fonancial ombudsman They requested I send any paperwork I had from exmount they want to be sure who they are writing to. I had the welcome email from them and sent that in an email to them they did say it would be a while before I heard back they are very busy. But at least it has been responded to now wait to see what they find out. SEEMS LIKE THE cOMPANY HAS GONE INTO HIDING iF THEY HAD GONE BUST WE WOULD HAVE KNOWN iF THEY RAN OFF WITH INVESTORS MONEY SURELY IT IS A MATTER FOR THE police Well I did get Julys dividend I doubt there will be an October 1st one.
Hi Andrea. When did you report it to Action Fraud out of intetest?
I have formed an action group of investees with a view of going to the media as sadly, the police are not intetested in helping us at present.
If interested please feel free to contact me on
[email protected]
Tina
my father has invested a lot of money with Exmount and had same experience as the rest of you – payments until July then nothing. We are also part of a class action against another company who scammed us. We are using Judges Demand – no conclusion yet but they seem to know what they’re doing at reasonable fees – check them out. We would be interested in joining the rest of you anyway. [email protected]
@ Nick – I’d be wary of using a debt collection service which doesn’t appear to have been legally authorised since around 2014
http://fca-consumer-credit-interim.force.com/CS_RegisterSearchPageNew?accId=630299
I have Just checked companies House and EXMOUNT CONSTRUCTION NOW HAS NO The one that was there in May of this year has resigned in August this year. So how can this be an active company now anyone know and why are the Police not interested in this last Director they have stolen milluions it seems. Also State #jade wealth should they not have reported somewhere it was not overseeing the assets any more. I know the money is gone but ~~I would like to know how they did this scam.
@Andrea Schuurman, Jade State Wealth Limited had (at the time) nobody to report to. We withdrew our services to Exmount with very clear instructions to remove our name from the promotion material even before we authorised them to raise any money. They didn’t ever pass our due diligence.
Oh right, Thanks GA for responding. So in effect, no one was overseeing the assets at the time they raised the money. Would you have any clue as to what happened to Exmount was it a scam from the start it looks like it was.
It seems like issuing a Bond is akin to making your own lottery win if you can get a nice brochure made up! These Bonds should be banned if they are not regulated. I never want to get involved again with this sort of thing.
@GA – Would you be “Graham Arnott” by any chance? Or is it merely coincidental your initials are the those of the person who registered the charge in favour of Jade State Wealth at Companies House (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08600415/charges/98KrOifuOa3NuEzCUubvGV1LFrE)?
If you are Graham Arnott, “They didn’t ever pass our due diligence” doesn’t seem consistent with your actions.
@Adam Smith, that is correct. I am indeed Graham Arnott from Jade State Wealth Limited. Thank you for your comment, however, your external view is far too simplistic I’m afraid.
We required a number of things from Exmount before we would authorise the director of Exmount to commence the promotion activity. We required the following significant things: (a) approval by an FCA authorised person of the promotion material, (b) a comprehensive business and project plan, (c) a list of properties that they considered appropriate for their business model and a business case for each, (d) AML compliance documents and (e) a minimum capital and liquidity contribution of circa £500,000.
We also requested: the director to provide us with a project history of his experience as a developer and an explanation for someone who was not listed as a director but appeared to us to have a significant role in the business.
We gave them 90-days to provide these to us, which they failed to do. We then terminated our appointment and satisfied the charge. They confirmed to us in an email that no funds had been raised.
However, at the time of our engagement in November 2017 both parties agreed to the Security Trust Deed and the legal charge, which was lodged at Companies House.
Where does it leave us as investors with Exmount. Graham? The current Director has now stepped down and we are unable to contact them. Would I be correct in stating that they have now cut and run wiith our money?
@Tina, I honestly don’t know. I have made all the statutory reports I can. I have also been speaking to the press an awful lot to get the ‘story’ out there. The more we get this issue out there the more likely the FCA, the police, someone in regulation will pick up on it and help.
Thanks Graham.
As an action group we’ve done the same; contacted Police, our MPs, Action Fraud, debt collectors and the Media but no interest at present.
Just can’t believe how these ‘mugs’ have been allowed to get away with stealing our hard earnt money.
BUNCH OF MONKEYS
I have just looked at Companies House and Harkiren Kaur was appointed on the 1 Aug 2019 and is active as director. I also have contacted Action Fraud and heard nothing and also the FCA both last year in September. I was contacted by someone that called himself Alexander Pearce from Exmount he was trying to get me to take Bonds all the time.
The appointment of “Harkiren Kaur” is curious because according to Companies House it was filed on the 30th December, long after Exmount did a runner. Why someone is still bothering to file made-up directors I don’t know.
It adds little because Harkiren Kaur is probably as mythical as Rakesh Raj, Lady Jane Mahay and the rest of them.
“Kaur” is pretty much the Sikh equivalent of “Smith” for females (like “Singh” for males) and Harkiren seems to be a fairly common name as well.