Thoughts on Finance, Current Affairs and General Consumer Ripoffs - Damn Lies and Statistics

 It's been reported on the MoneySavingExpert (MSE) forums that investors in Concept Capital Group are having difficulty getting their money repaid in line with the terms of their investments. Various excuses are apparently being given but no money is forthcoming. The investor reports that payments had been up to date (but small interest payments are easy to fund, large capital is difficult) As Concept Capital Group are quite active monitoring and replying to posts on this blog it would be appreciated if they can give their side of the repayment situation so the investor can get their money back. It might be likely that Concept Capital are struggling financially as their latest accounts filed for the year to 31 October 2023 show a big decrease in the value of assets that they own. The value of their assets has massively dropped from £427,000 in 2022 to only £4000 in 2023 as a result of a huge revaluation reducing the value by £446,000 in that time. This presumably relates to the wri...

The trial of various individuals associated with LCF (London Capital and Finance) started in Feb 2024. There seems little mainstream coverage of the proceedings, probably because they are quite technical and maybe generally of interest to a small group of affected investors. However I've found an excellent resource that is giving daily transcripts of the proceedings and to say they were enlightening would be an understatement. As someone who has been involved in investigating LCF for nearly 8 years it is fascinating to read the behind the scenes details of how the company was setup and how accurate some of my summaries were. Sadly many of the details couldn't be published at the time because without more evidence they would have been considered libellous but the emails from LCF now show how their scheme was planned from the start. You can keep up to date with Mouse in Court here  https://mouseinthecourtroom.wordpress.com/2024/02/25/court-documents-lcf-trial/?s=03 Various advert...

 There have been lots of comments on an earlier article about the bonds offered by a company called Marshbell Limited and it appears that many people have lost significant amounts of money as a result. Marshbell repeated threatened legal action and claimed that their investments were low risk and "asset backed", a line used by many failed investments in the past such as London Capital and Finance. Sadly the news relating to Marshbell Ltd isn't positive. Their Companies House records show that their accounts are well overdue despite previously using the accounting trick of adjusting their financial year by 1 day to delay submission. There is also an active proposal to strike the company off so any investors should register their objections to that asap to have any chance of recovering any money. Marshbell Ltd Companies House entry - strike off proposed The second bit of bad news is to look at the accounts for 2021 that they did actually file and these make sober reading. T...

 It's been a long time coming but the court case begins in Jan 2024 where various directors and associated parties with London Capital and Finance are being sued by Smith & Williamson (now Evelyn Partners) for a proportion of the £237million that investors lost in the collapse. This isn't the same as a criminal prosecution brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) which is still working on whether there is a case to present to court against anyone involved in LCF. A separate case was taken out recently by the SFO against former LCF CEO Michael  (Andy) Thomson where he was convicted of hiding money in breach of an restraint order. More details here:   https://www.sfo.gov.uk/2023/05/17/sfo-secures-10-month-sentence-for-former-london-capital-finance-plc-ceo/ Investors have been compensated by the FSCS for any funds below the £85k limit. Anyone who invested above £85,000 in LCF will still have a significant shortfall in the money they invested. Evelyn Partners are no...

There are many adverts being placed online for a site called UK Models that claim to offer modelling jobs to those that apply. The reality is that UK Models is not a modelling agency but a front for a studio that will just sell you an expensive portfolio.   Everyone is accepted for a model shoot because their main interest is selling that photo shoot. They can't offer you modelling work because they don't have any as they aren't an agency Real model agencies do not charge £50 deposit to assess you - that would be an illegal fee. However it's not illegal to charge a deposit for a photo shoot. UK models will tell you to bring a parent if you are under 22. That clearly isn't needed in the UK as anyone over 18 is an adult. The only reason for someone older to attend is so they have money to pay for the expensive portfolios. UK models previously was the name used by Blue Rooms studios to sell their model portfolios, they may be used by a different studio now. If you are ...

 Investment Synergy Ltd Review - Secured Property Bonds - Is it a scam? It's quite unclear what Investment Synergy actually is so it's not very easy to review them other than being clear what they aren't. They have some glowing reviews but it's very easy to fake such things and you have no guarantee that these are genuine or that the people investing have any idea of the risk they are taking. Reviews of London Capital & Finance were all positive until it collapsed and lost their money. The big red flag is the complete absence of any risk warnings that are required for any investment where your capital is at risk as this one is. If you look at their Companies house entry they have been dormant from 2012-2022 so it's hardly the track record their website claims of trading for over 10 years. Investment Synergy Ltd Review - Secured Property Bonds - Is it a scam? Interestingly the photos they've added on their Google review show some offices interiors and desks b...