01516680386

You are right about the web of lies and deceipt - and it is worse than any of us thinks.  I've just tracked down another one of the fraudsters via a member on the other side of the world.  It is interesting how words like "phoenix" and "trojan" become so significant.  The xmas party of 2012 was very telling.  The net is closing.  What I don't understand is why all the secrecy?  They know it will all come out in the end and those lying and evading will look stupid as well as culpable.  An excellent professional who has been helping in the background has done a "super scamogram" to show graphically how all the various parties are connected.  Anyone want a copy please email me angiebrooks99@gmail.com

Wake up! You may have faith in the authorities and the system, but the fact is even if it does all come out, what next?
Some letter from a public school educated official telling the scammers that it is a poor show and that they are bounders and if they carry on they will get an letter telling them they are an absolute shower.
Well done to the professional but what will he or she do with that graph! The lot of here will print it off as loo paper and laugh.

I posted the Information about the Xmas party, I have nothing to do with Barry Down. All I know is capita oak took your money and the money was invested in store first. Shouldn't it be TW that returns your money? Your money money is invested in his business..

I completely understand your frustration and scepticism.  However, I think the point is that the more knowledge and evidence we have the better placed we are to get the authorities (including the police) to act.  I agree, however, that the "system" is not robust enough either to prevent these scams from happening in the first place or to mop up the mess afterwards.  And that needs changing urgently.  The reason the scammers find it so easy is that they know the system is as flawed as a chocolate teapot.  But the Capita Oak members are taking decisive action and now that we have the Ombudsman's determination we are in a position to move this forward - especially now he has officially declared that pension liberation is not just fraud but organised crime.  No more messing about with evasive phrases or trying to be diplomatic: the people behind Capita Oak committed crimes including fraud and theft.  And they will be brought to justice.  All of them.

Yes TW should and probably can. It's the idiots ( the people who called) and the scammers (the trustees and shadow directors) which need to be brought to justice

Avacade Ltd is the name of another pension review company based in Warrington. The director is Ray Fox, a publican and father of Ben Fox (associate of SCC and pictured with him in that Group First Christmas photo).

The problems with the underlying investment in this scheme is that it can't be easily sold and it has no return on investment. If the 16% gain is paid on receipt it is simply a commission or repayment of an overcharge built into the sale price. For it to be a true investment income it would have to be earned over time through the profitable running of the business of renting out the pods.

I note from the standard contract they use that the 8% per annum is only guaranteed for two years. Fair enough you might think - it might do worse in years three and four - but buried in the small print is the option for either party to break the lease after two years. This is couched in terms that make it sounds like it benefits the investor, but in reality it gives Storefirst the ability to not pay anything after the first two years are up.

On the buy back clause (and this is pertinent to the case of the Capita Oak member who wanted to transfer out) the agreement is that Storefirst offer to buy back after five years, if the seller pays their legal costs in doing so, and that this buyback will take place within five years of the request to do so, and only if the company has sufficient cash. So in the best case scenario someone investing today would get their investment back, less the legal costs, at some point between 20th December 2019 and 20th December 2024.

Storefirst is a group of companies, most of which have one share owned by Group First Global Ltd. This company has a single share owned by Toby Whittaker. Companies in the group pay most of their profit (including the income from selling property like storage pods and parking spaces) as share dividend to Group First Global Ltd. Most of that is then paid out in dividend to the shareholder of Group First Global Ltd.

The apparent liquidity of each company in the group is due to loans made between the companies in the group to each other.

Now, I may be reading the accounts wrong but this is how it looks to me. The main point being that the money paid for the property (store pods, parking spaces) is either being used to build more property (which is relatively cheap to do) or being taken out as dividend. However, the lifestyles of the people involved does not reflect that level of wealth, which may or may indicate that this is an iceberg with sinister anchors.

In other words, StoreFirst ran rings around the trustees of Imperial and got them to sign a contract only an idiot would sign. Is that the case? Didn't Imperial get a lawyer to go through the contract before the idiot signed it? Was there any due diligence on the investments? I am sure Imperial have all the documentation to prove a proper process was put in place before selecting the investments.
Then again it was not his money so why would he care as long as there was a good kickback.

Yes its quite an Institution there !!!

Imperial had a firm of lawyers - Metis Law in Leeds.  They claim their instructions were just to process the purchases, not actually read the purchase contracts to see if they made sense, or carry out any due diligence or valuations, or ensure the rent was paid to Capita Oak, or ensure the person (Karl Dunlop) they were instructed by was actually a director of Imperial (he resigned halfway through the project) or that Capita Oak had a trustee (it didn't) or a bank account (it didn't) or that Imperial was a proper administrator (it wasn't) or that the scheme's funds were being invested prudently in accordance with the Pensions Regulator's rules (they weren't) or that the members' interests were protected (they definitely weren't!).  Store First constituted a pooled investment and should have been FCA regulated so we are looking at the possibility of having the contracts invalidated.  Also, a comprehensive complaint has gone in to the Solicitors Regulation Authority against Metis Law for negligence and a request that they should make a claim on their professional indemnity insurance.

That makes sense to me

If that is actually factually correct, then this would make such an investment totally unsuitable for SIPPs. I heard that several hundred SIPPs have taken this as their investment. Next year the over 55s will have significant opportunties to them that is not consistent with this investment. The ability to change investment strategy as part of life planning towards retirement is taken away with such awful and restrictive terms. No transfers will be possible as I doubt the quality SIPP providers would accept this, and encashment is likely to be a long way in the future, assuming the store pod firm is still solvent or trading.

This week, there was more bad news from Arch Cru on the back of more likely claims on the FSCS because of Harlequin. Again, investments in SIPPs featured heavily.

Open question; are the SIPP trustees liable too for allowing a product that is not consistent with retirement planning ( esp if 100% of the SIPP is in such a product) ? The FCA need to start looking at those SIPP trustees that allow this investment.
And, for the record, there is no HMRC approved or permitted list of investments, the adverts are misleading in the extreme out there on the internet.

Read this and weep (page 12) http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm20 ... mo/taxation.pdf

The British government promised to take action - while paying the very person, i.e. STEPHEN WARD - who is behind Capita Oak and dozens of other pension liberation frauds.  Thousands of victims.  Hundreds of millions of pounds worth of lost pensions.  Millions of pounds worth of unauthorised payment charges from HMRC and the British government is paying this scum bag???  People are facing losing their homes and having no retirement income and the government is relying on Ward's evidence?  Capita Oak, Ark, Westminster, Evergreen QROPS, Pennines and dozens of other dodgy schemes and he is a government adviser?  Defies belief.  Does not surprise us that ceding providers fail to do their due diligence when the British government employs fraudsters.

That's some Ministers vacation in Florida sorted then !!

This is why none of the regulators are doing anything to help, because the government are probably seceretly instructing Ward to do what he is doing, all along thinking that their undercover scams are highly robust and would never be uncovered until now, regardless the government will mever admit to this nor will they do anything with Ward..

They know you have uncovered Ward's dirty dealings and that worries them thus any support you seek from them will be promises that will never come in the hope you will give up chasin.

Ward is one thing,  but this is yet another government scam to squeeze people for every penny they have.

Has this weeks director finished approving the accounts so they can be made available? Might go some way to calming nerves before the Christmas break.

Think maybe the strings broke on his fiddle.

An ad has appeared on TV for Albion Pensions which seems to be offering the same things mentioned on here. Does anyyone know anything about them?

Website looks Ok to me...standard stuff..but the crunch will be what they suggest you then put your pension into once it's moved...

That is why we are on here, focussing on the cash now and not the investment was a mistake.