Hudspiths investors succeed in bid to force it into compulsory liquidation

August 21, 2019August 20, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 1 Comment

102 creditors of Hudspiths have succeeded in having the company's voluntary liquidation converted to a compulsory one, in a bid to gain more insight into what the collapsed unregulated scheme did with their money.

Hudspiths was an unregulated forex scheme that launched in 2015 and promised returns of 5% per month, along with 2% per month to be paid to its introducers. The scheme collapsed in 2018 and filed for voluntary liquidation in June.

Curse of 2019 strikes again as Asset Life plc goes into administration

August 16, 2019August 16, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 4 Comments

Asset Life plc, which raised £8 million from investors in its bonds, has gone into administration, according to reports. Confirmation of the administration was filed with Companies House on Wednedsay.

We reviewed Asset Life plc's bonds in January 2018.

Asset Life plc claimed to have an insurance policy in place which provided "Security of the Capital". Exactly what this insurance covers is yet to be made clear, but investment offering 8.75% per year to the public is fully insured against the risk of loss, and investors would be wise to manage their expectations.

Harewood investors told to expect at least 84% losses

August 12, 2019August 11, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 3 Comments

The Telegraph reports that investors in Harewood Associates have been told by the administrators, Begbies Traynor, to expect at least 84% losses, with a possibility of total loss.

A spokesman for Begbies Traynor, the administrators, said: “The proposals issued to creditors anticipate a range of returns between nil and 16p in the pound. The return is subject to realisations of debts due from associated companies.”

With the amount left in these associated companies unknown, the standard rule for investors in collapsed unregulated investment applies; expect nothing and treat any recovery as a bonus.

Safe or Scam says Carlauren is not in administration, and is a Ponzi scheme; administrators appointed to Carlauren subsidiaries

August 8, 2019August 7, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 4 Comments

Safe or Scam LLP, an American introducer which brings together investors in collapsed investments and insolvency practitioners / lawyers, has claimed in an open blog published on Monday 5 August that Carlauren has not appointed administrators, contrary to a statement from Carlauren in late July.

Carlauren claimed on 23 July that it had "instructed administrators", and that "a full update with procedures and next steps will be distributed tomorrow". A number of media outlets, including Bond Review, took this to mean that the company had gone into administration, especially against the background of Carlauren's widely documented financial problems.

Safe or Scam however states:

This led to a number of media outlets picking up the story and reporting that Carlauren Group was in administration. It was not. As of today’s date it is still not in administration. We do not know why Carlauren Group would choose to mislead investors like this. We can only assume it was because they knew the use of the word “instructed” has no meaning in relation to an administration. The important word is “appointed” and Carlauren Group did not appoint any administrators. We can only assume this was a stalling tactic designed to prevent investors from combining to appoint an administrator. Carlauren was trying to buy time. As far as investors are concerned the only company in administration which is relevant to them is Accordiant Ltd. That company is the one which owes the rental payments.

LCF investors unable to obtain evidence for their compensation claims, administrator reveals

July 25, 2019July 25, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 3 Comments

A brief interim update sent by the administrators of London Capital and Finance reveals that a number of investors have contacted Smith & Williamson in an attempt to secure recordings of phone conversations between the investors and LCF.

The purpose of requesting these conversations is virtually certain to be to support claims against the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which has confirmed that it will compensate investors who received recommendations to invest from employees of LCF's marketing agent, Surge Financial, if they amounted to regulated advice.

Exmount Commercial Developments goes dark after lying about its Security Trustee

July 11, 2019July 10, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 13 Comments

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.

Hudspiths “Ponzi scheme” collapses, contagion hits Legend Lane

July 9, 2019July 4, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 2 Comments

Hudspiths was an unregulated forex scheme that launched in 2015 and promised returns of 5% per month, along with 2% per month to be paid to its introducers.

The scheme collapsed late last year, and in early June the company applied for a voluntary liquidation. 30 investors took the company to the High Court in an attempt to force a compulsory liquidation instead. A barrister for the investors accused Hudspiths of being a Ponzi scheme. Director Karl Lubienicki told City AM the Ponzi accusation was "not true".