London Capital & Finance’s marketing agent dragged into extended warranty “consumer fraud” lawsuit

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 2 Comments

In September 2018 Domestic & General Insurance PLC sued Service Box Group Limited, accusing it of poaching its customers by ringing them up and lying to them that D&G had gone out of business or that their insurance had expired, and encouraging them to take out new policies with Service Box.

Since September 2017, Service Box Group Limited has been owned by Surge Group plc and its CEO Paul Careless.

Also part of Surge Group is Surge Financial, the company that ran London Capital & Finance's marketing and received £60 million in commission in return.

D&G has now sought to drag Surge Group, Paul Careless, and three other Surge directors and shareholders into its lawsuit against Service Box.

FSCS confirms that it will consider claims against LCF for providing advice, again

June 28, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 5 Comments

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme announced today that some London Capital & Finance investors may have claims which will be covered by the FSCS.

The FSCS has stated:

Following an extensive review of LCF’S business practices, we believe that Surge Financial Ltd, acting on behalf of LCF, provided a number of LCF clients with misleading advice. As this is a regulated activity, it means that FSCS protection would be triggered and that there may therefore be a number of customers with eligible claims for compensation.

FCA head wrings hands over London Capital and Finance

June 26, 2019June 26, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 2 Comments

In a much anticipated showdown with the Treasury Select Committee, FCA head Andrew Bailey made extensive use of the Glenn Beck Device.

Bailey admitted that the FCA had intervened a total of five times over London Capital & Finance over its misleading financial promotions, but feigned confusion over why the company continued to take in inexperienced retail investors' money in defiance of the FCA's insipid bleating. Almost all of which now appears to be lost.

Breaking: Paul Careless, CEO of London Capital and Finance’s marketing agent, arrested

June 20, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 1 Comment

Surge Financial CEO Paul Careless was arrested yesterday and questioned for four and a half hours, the Evening Standard has revealed.

Surge Financial was London Capital & Finance's marketing agent. Another company in the Surge network, RPDigitalservices, which was controlled by Careless from July 2018 to April 2019, ran the top-isa-rates and best-interest-rates websites which channeled investors to London Capital & Finance using misleading comparisons between FSCS-protected deposit rates and LCF's high-risk rates.

Google took £20 million from London Capital & Finance, The Times reveals

June 18, 2019June 17, 2019 ~ Brev ~ Leave a comment

The Times of London has revealed that of the £60 million commission paid by London Capital & Finance to its marketing agent Surge, £26 million was spent on marketing, of which £20 million went to Google.

Google was paid more than £20 million to promote high-risk mini-bonds for London Capital & Finance, the collapsed investment firm at the centre of a fraud investigation.

The Times has learnt that Surge Group, a digital marketing firm that was contracted by LCF to raise capital from investors, used the bulk of the money it spent on marketing to buy advertising via the search engine giant.

A person close to the matter said Surge spent about £26 million on marketing for LCF between 2015 and last year, with about 90 per cent of that sum going to Google.

What is a “mini-bond”? A mini history of a much-maligned label

June 17, 2019June 16, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 2 Comments

[An expanded version of a Twitter rant posted last Monday ago.]

According to IFA trade rag Money Marketing, investors in London Capital and Finance are very angry that the Financial Conduct Authority has repeatedly referred to the loan notes in which they invested, marketed by LCF as "secured bonds", as mini-bonds.

So what is a mini-bond and why are LCF investors annoyed about the label? The FCA says (in an article belatedly posted last month) "There is no legal definition of a ‘mini-bond’, but the term usually refers to illiquid debt securities marketed to retail investors."

LCF spotlight turns to John Russell-Murphy: from SJP adviser to MJS director to LCF introducer

June 7, 2019June 7, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 7 Comments

Jim Armitage at the Evening Standard reports that administrators are investigating the role played in the collapse of London Capital & Finance by John Russell-Murphy, who pitched LCF bonds in person to wealthier investors.

The Evening Standard has spoken to 10 clients of LCF who invested between £100,000 and £580,000 and allege Russell-Murphy gave them financial advice that experts have suggested he was not allowed to give under Financial Conduct Authority rules because he is not a regulated adviser.

One, a severely disabled woman in her late seventies, claimed he had visited her at her home, looked at the paperwork for her existing savings and recommended she put £100,000 of her entire £150,000 into LCF. The former charity worker said: “I told him I had to keep back £20,000 for my grandchild’s university bills but he said if I invested £100,000 with LCF the interest would pay for them and I wouldn’t lose the capital. Now it looks like it’s all gone."