London Capital & Finance Payments Stopped - Can I get money back?
The London Capital Finance web of companies - Part 2 (Part 1 here)
The web of companies associated with LCF continues to grow the more you dig into the links between directors of London Capital Finance and other companies that they have directorships at. What is clear is that LCF doesn't appear to have been doing what they claimed in their prospectus issued to investors. This isn't the first time that a mini bond has run in to trouble, Provident Bonds and Secured Energy Bonds were both mini bonds claiming to be secured on assets but the money wasn't used for the purposes specified originally and when the company went into administration there was no money left to repay bondholders.Where has the London Capital Finance money gone?
LCF were very active in sponsorship of various events and even setup their own LCF Foundation to distribute funds to different sponsored events and teams. The question is how much of this money was from investors funds? |
Where has the London Capital Finance money gone? |
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09438213/filing-history
If there is money missing from LCF then it's possible that investors may have a claim against the FCA regulated firm as with Provident and Secured Energy Bonds. However the assets of Sentient seem very small so unlikely to be enough to compensation investors should that be required.
Is London Capital & Finance a scam?
Some of the activity around London Capital & Finance was raising suspicions long before the FCA got involved such as repeatedly changing the accounting dates to avoid filing accounts. They appeared to have found a loophole to prevent their accounts being scrutinised or at least significantly delay that process.
Some of the companies run by the same directors as LCF such as LONDON POWER MANAGEMENT LIMITED Company number 02504629 which appears to be a holding company for the destination of some loans made by LCF has even been listed to be struck off the register despite having charges over its assets on its accounts as liability to LCF. Yet again it's a company that is in breach for non filing of accounts. No accounts have been filed since 2015 and they have adjusted the account period 5 times to avoid filing later ones but still no accounts given. This company has 2 charges for assets from LCF on its record but has provided no accounts since 2015!
Other companies run by Robert Mannering Sedgwick are also late filing returns with Companies House such as LONDON TRADING & DEVELOPMENT GROUP LIMITED Company number 09449150 and London Group which has a charge from LCF on its record.
Another company appears to have been loaned money by LCF despite only being in existence for days and with no trading record. Without full details of the accounts and agreements it's impossible to know the reason for this.
London Capital & Finance claim to have been operating successfully since 2012. This is highly misleading as the company only became LCF in 2015 and started making loans in a very small way that year. Prior to 2015 it was known by a different name and didn't borrow for mini-bonds.
LONDON CAPITAL & FINANCE LIMITED 01 Jul 2015 - 11 Nov 2015
SALES AID FINANCE (ENGLAND) LIMITED 18 Feb 2013 - 01 Jul 2015
On the day of the FCA action being announced against London Capital there was a lot of activity with changing details for the linked companies and amending registered addresses. Was this linked in any way to the FCA? Trying to avoid correspondence being read?
None of these items give indications that London Capital & Finance is a scam but at best it gives a picture of a very badly run organisation that is trying to avoid scrutiny of their accounts or is so inefficient they risk penalties for non filing of accounts.
The major concern would be the LONDON POWER MANAGEMENT LIMITED Company number 02504629 which is listed to be struck off the Companies House register. A company that is struck off and gone into liquidation loses all its assets and no longer exists. I'd expect that all assets would be removed before this happened but it then means any creditors are unable to chase that company.
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