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.

Action Fraud call handlers call fraud victims “morons” and file most reports as non-crimes

August 20, 2019August 19, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 6 Comments

An undercover investigation by The Times into Action Fraud has revealed

most reports are never followed up on
managers mocked fraud victims as “morons”, “screwballs” and “psychos”
victims were misled into thinking that they were talking to a police officer rather than an outsourced call centre worker, and led to believe their case will be investigated when most reports are never followed up on

Four Action Fraud staff members have been suspended.

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.

Dolphin’s Grounds offshoot shuts down and returns capital to investors

August 15, 2019August 15, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 4 Comments

A few months after launching its IFISA investments and misleadingly named "cash investments", reviewed here in April, Grounds has abruptly shut down and announced it is returning capital to investors.

Grounds was closely linked to the Dolphin Trust property scheme (now renamed German Property Group) through common personnel.

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.

Blackmore Bonds late paying interest, according to media reports

August 5, 2019August 7, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 7 Comments

Blackmore Bonds, which issues unregulated loan notes in its property development business, is a few days late in paying quarterly interest to some investors, according to reports in Money Marketing and the Telegraph.

According to Bond Review readers and The Telegraph, Blackmore's switchboard is jammed with worried investors and it is not answering emails.

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.