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Tuesday 29 December 2015

Good news: 'Nuisance call fines increase threefold'

Clampdown on cold calls: report from BBC News

'Fines by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) against nuisance call firms have increased by more than three times this year.

The watchdog imposed fines of £1.14m for nuisance calls and texts compared with £330,000 of penalties in 2014.

It comes after a change to the law in April made it easier to penalise firms.

The biggest fines were for companies selling pharmaceuticals, call blocking services and payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation.'

Wednesday 16 December 2015

‘Pernicious’ Prestige Fine Wine Ltd shut in public interest


Prestige Fine Wine: 
'In the past five years, a balanced fine wine collection 
portfolio has shown returns of 166%'


On Wednesday 16th December 2015  Croydon-based Prestige Fine Wine Ltd was wound up in the public interest in the High Court, London. The company, described as ‘pernicious’ by Registrar Sally Barber, was wound up for ‘its lack of commercial probity’, failure to keep financial records and that it had been abandoned, despite still having a duty to investors who purchased wine as these are held in an umbrella account at London City Bond.    

The company was founded in March 2010 with £1 share capital. The initial director was 46-year-old Glenn Barrington Ward (DOB: 20.7.1969) of Flat 6, 20 Spencer Road, South Croydon CR2 7EH, who was appointed on 5th March 2010. Ward has also been a director of Prestige Collections Ltd (see below) and Bright Hand Car Wash Ltd founded on 6th February 2008 and dissolved by compulsory strike-off on 22nd September 2009. No accounts or returns were filed.

Glenn Ward resigned on 22nd September 2014 and was replaced on the same day by 24-year-old Ibrahim Tarkou (DOB: 13.2.1991)

Prestige's single share was initially held the company's secretary until she resigned in October 2012 when it passed to Glenn Barrington Ward. The last return filed on 9th April 2014 showed Glenn Ward as the sole shareholder (£1). There is no record of the share being transferred to Tarkou when Ward resigned in September 2014.  

Spencer Road was company's initial registered office. This was changed to 100 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5NQ, a serviced office, in May 2010. In October 2013 the registered office changed to Anova House, Wickhurst Lane, Broadbridge Heath, Horsham, East Sussex RH12 3LZ. This is the address of Anova chartered accountants, who were for a while accountants for Prestige Fine Wine. Anova ceased to be Prestige's accountants as the company's accounts were so poor. There was a further change in October 2014 when Prestige Fine Wine Ltd's registered office moved to Airport House, Purley Way, Croydon CRO OXZ. The company had no physical presence there and this arrangement ceased on 4th February 2015. Thereafter there is no record of a functioning registered office.

Although there is no suggestion that Prestige Fine Wine Ltd was linked to Blakeney Bridge Wines Ltd and its associated raft of carbon credit companies, also recently closed in the public interest, were registered at Airport House.     

Prestige Fine Wine Ltd was initially put into provisional liquidation on 13th October 2015.  There was no response from the company or its current director - Ibrahim Tarkou  – to the Insolvency Service’s investigation or to the provisional liquidation even though papers were sent to Ibrahim Tarkou's home address. 

However, Glenn Ward, the previous director, was in contact with the Insolvency Service. He told the investigation that a second company – Prestige Collections Ltd – was being operated through Prestige Fine Wine Ltd. This could not be verified as there were no records.  

Prestige Collections Ltd was founded on 19th October 2011 and dissolved through compulsory strike-off on 16th July 2013. Its registered office was 205 High Street, West Wickham, Kent, United Kingdom, BR4 0PH – the address of accountants Withall & Co Ltd. There were four directors: Catherine Elizabeth Ellis (DOB: 15.8.1985), Laureen Veronica Delisser (14,9.1983), Clive George Davidson (DOB: 3.9.1971) and Glenn Barrington Ward. Davidson was appointed on 19th October 2011 and resigned on 8.11.2011. No accounts or returns were filed and the company was dissolved on 16th July 2013

The court heard that diamonds were the business of Prestige Collections Ltd. Glenn Ward alleged that Clive Davidson 'ran off with £1 million of the company's money'. However, the court was told that this allegation could not be verified. Registrar Barber and Counsel for the Secretary of State expressed concern that this arrangement involving the two companies was a potential conduit for money laundering.   

The company's website claimed: 'In the past five years, a balanced fine wine collection portfolio has shown returns of 166%'. The court heard that no data backed this claim. 

Potential investors were cold called and told that the value of their wines would increase dramatically within a year. Some were quoted 15%, others a minimum of 20%.  These figures were fictional and based on no data. Investors were told that their purchases of wine would be 'a short-term investment'.  

Investors were misled by false portfolio reports, which showed that their wines had increased from between 3.2% to 5.4% in less than a month. These fictional reports were solely designed to persuade investors to purchase more wine. This practice was described as 'pernicious' Registrar Barber.   

One investor purchased three cases of wine on 16th December 2013. They were sent the portfolio report on 6th January 2014, which showed healthy increases on all of their three wines. These increases were not based on any real data – instead were made up figures. Unfortunately the portfolio report achieved its purpose and the investor bought a further £10,000 worth of wine on 20th January 2014. At this time Glenn Barrington Ward was the sole director of the company.  

The company was more than 'pernicious' when an elderly man with Alzheimer's was persuaded to buy non-existent 'shares' in Prestige Fine Wine Ltd  paying out £150,000 for which he received absolutely nothing.  He was told that he 'should hold these shares for as long as possible'. Records at Companies House show no increase in the company's share capital. I hope criminal charges are brought against those responsible for this unspeakably callous act.
 

Some £2 million passed through the company’s bank account. Of this £963,000 was identified by investigators as personal expenditure. 



 


 

Saturday 12 December 2015

Barry Gamble declared bankrupt – Croydon Court Tuesday 8th December 2015




Above: Tuesday 8th December 2015 Court listing at Croydon County Court and the Family Court for five-minute hearing of a creditor's petition against Barry Gamble at 11.30 am.




Discharge suspended – an error


 Automatic discharge: 08 December 2016


The result: Barry Michael Gamble of Tadworth (last known address) declared bankrupt with his discharge suspended 

Although not confirmed Barry Gamble's bankruptcy is a result of the successful Misfeasance Claim brought by solicitors acting for Findlay James, the liquidator of The London Vines Ltd, a failed wine investment company. Barry Gamble was the sole director of The London Vines Ltd (appointed 26.1.2010 – resigned 9.4.2013) for much of its life. Alisdair Findlay of Findlay James was appointed on liquidator of The London Vines Ltd on 31st October 2013. 

In the first Liquidator's report (17.12.2014) Findlay reported that:

'Following an analysis of the company bank statements  for the period 1 February to the date of liquidation it was discovered that large sums of money had been paid to the shareholders and relatives of shareholders for which there were no records to substantiate the payments. Despite writing to each of the individuals involved, none were able to provide satisfactory responses and as such I instructed solicitors to commence recovery proceedings. A claim was drafted against Barry Michael Gamble, Robert Scott Phillips, Amanda Sarah Gamble, Sylwia Phillips, and David Phillips. An offer of £27,000 was made and accepted in respect of the claim against David Philiips in the sum of £33,776.'

'A judgement in default was obtained against Barry Gamble in the sum of £741,647.45.'

Interestingly on 3rd June 2015 Gamble described the liquidation of The London Vines and the Misfeasance Claim as fraudulent: 'regarding the fraudulent insolvency of The London Vines and subsequent fraudulent and false claim'.

Gamble put this view to the test on 17th September in Birmingham seeking to  to have the default judgment overturned. He failed, so English Law confirmed the Misfeasance in the running of the company – in common parlance the 'removal of large sums of money' from The London Vines Ltd by its directors and shareholders with 'no records to substantiate the payments' and with no satisfactory explanations indicates that this was a scam. Now this has led to Barry Michael Gamble's bankruptcy (8th December 2015). 

The Liquidator's December 2014 report also stated that: 'We are still awaiting confirmation from the Court of Judgment in default against Amanda Gamble in the sum of £179,263.61.' It is not known what the current status of this potential judgment against Amanda Gamble is. The Liquidator's second report due by the end of this year may shed more light. 

I understand from Barry Gamble that he is appealing against the default judgment.       

 

  

Monday 30 November 2015

Watch out for Vanguard Trading UK Ltd and 'John Gough' scam



This is the latest scam warning letter sent out by London City Bond's Vinothèque. 

Dear Customer

Further to our email warning, dated October 9th, please see below for the latest scam letter being circulated by a John Gough, who now claims to be Head of Sales for LCB.  This letter is not from LCB and we would like to remind you that we would never approach our customers to offer such a service.  We have contacted Action Fraud and would urge you to do the same.  Please telephone 0300 123 2040 or visit http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ to report the scam online.

We would encourage you to be extra vigilant, and if in any doubt about any matter relating to your account, our dedicated Customer Services team, here at LCB Vinotheque, can be contacted on 0843 659 3617 or vtcustomerservices@lcb.co.uk.

Kind regards

Lesley Batkin
Private Client Executive





Scam letter Vanguard Trading UK Ltd 
pretending to be LCB

Letter claims to be from 'John Gough, Head of Sales at London City Bond'. This is entirely false – no such person at LCB.   

The letter says 'We write to inform you that Vanguard Trading UK have been instructed as our appointed contractor'. Again an entirely false claim. The recipient of the letter is asked to contact Ms Julie Jones on 0207 859 4641. 

The message must be – steer clear of Vanguard Trading UK Ltd

Saturday 28 November 2015

8 companies involved in multi million pound international carbon credit and wine investment scam ordered to close
(From Insolvency Service 27th November 2015) 

(investdrinks – good news to see these companies wound up. Let's hope that criminal prosecutions follow.)

Eight interlinked companies involved in a scheme to dupe the public into investing in carbon benefit units or wine have been ordered into liquidation in the High Court on Wednesday 18th November following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

The investigation found that vulnerable individuals were being targeted and aggressively sold carbon benefit units (pre-verified carbon credits) in two overseas projects for investment and/or wine for investment by respective sales teams co-located at Airport House Business Centre in Croydon, Surrey, which operated in parallel under the supervision of a Jason Chalk.

The linked companies are London Carbon Neutral Ltd, Blakeney Bridge Wine Ltd, Blakeney Bridge Ltd, Savi IT Ltd and KMD Energy Solutions Ltd which were all based in Croydon; Earthsky Limited which was based in Chelmsford; and two British Virgin Island companies Consolidated Carbon Projects Limited and WK Investments Holdings Limited.

The companies were each ordered into liquidation following petitions presented by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills to wind up the companies in the public interest.

The court was told how investors were cold called and high pressure sales techniques employed to persuade people to invest, without any mention of the investment risks involved.

Potential investors in carbon benefit units were assured that as London Carbon Neutral would be their green investment broker any investment would be very safe and that the units were ‘the holy grail for private investors’.

Potential investors in wine were similarly assured by Blakeney Bridge that any investment would be safe and by investing they would be picking the pockets of the biggest spenders in Russia and China as ‘the fact of the matter is, there’s money chasing this market and this money doesn’t care about expense’ and to start by investing ‘in barrels’ of wine.

The carbon benefit units sold to investors were in respect of two projects in Papua New Guinea: the April Salumei project and the Lake Murray project.

Investors were persuaded to pay £7.50 a unit in the April Salumei project and £3.75 a unit in the Lake Murray project, a mark up of up to 872% and 577% respectively of the price paid for the units by London Carbon Neutral. At least £3 million was raised from the sale of these units to the public for investment.

The wine sold to investors was marked up by up to 89% of the price paid by Blakeney Bridge. At least £1.5 million was raised from the sale of wine to the public for investment.

Investors were lied to and bullied into investing such that one vulnerable couple trusted London Carbon Neutral to look after all of their financial affairs, that all of their mail was directed to the company, which systematically deprived them of all their life savings of £1.2 million.


London Carbon Neutral asserted to potential investors that the company’s greatest asset was trust and that its values were ‘transparency, honesty and clarity’. 

Blakeney Bridge similarly asserted that ‘trust can’t be wished for, it has to be earned, and the way to earn it is by giving our clients the best advice and getting them the best price deals’.


Behind this callous boiler room activity was an overseas framework to supply the pre-verified carbon units from the two projects in Papua New Guinea that were sold to investors. Far from the “ski money” promised to the indigenous land owning tribes in PNG and funding to save the rain forest, investors’ money went to those behind the scheme and those selling it to vulnerable people whose lives have been ruined as a result. Investors sold wine fared no better.

Welcoming the court’s winding up decisions Chris Mayhew, Company Investigations Supervisor, said:
This was a significant boiler room operation involving companies based both here and abroad with sales companies here being located at Airport House Business Centre in Croydon and described to my investigators as the biggest telephone users at this address and easy to locate as their offices had ‘all the Porsches outside’. Investors not persuaded to buy carbon benefit units were sold wine instead and vice versa.

The Insolvency Service will not allow rogue companies to rip-off vulnerable and honest people and, working closely with other regulators, we will investigate abuses and close down companies if they are found to be operating or about to operate against the public interest.

Notes to Editors
London Carbon Neutral Ltd (CN: 07440978) was incorporated on 16 November 2010 in the name Savi IT Ltd (see below). On 20 June 2011 the name of the company was changed to London Carbon Investments Ltd and on 30 November 2011 the name of the company was changed to its present style. The registered office of the company from incorporation to 15 April 2011 was 145-157 St John Street, London, EC1V 4PW and thereafter to present date Airport House Business Centre, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey, CRO OXZ.

The recorded directors of the company have been:

  • Phillip Stephen Watkins, also calling himself Lord Phillip Watkins (from 16 November 2010 to 1 July 2011, then re-appointed on 20 July 2011 to 20 November 2013, and once more re-appointed from 12 December 2013 to 14 May 2014)
  • Darren Mark Johnson (from 24 June 2011 to 20 July 2011)
  • Jason Chalk (from 28 June 2012 to 9 July 2012, then re-appointed on the same day to 7 May 2013)
  • Samantha Allan (from 30 July 2012 to 11 February 2013)
  • Richard Allan (from 28 June 2012 to 7 May 2013)
No secretary is shown to have been appointed. The company’s share capital is shown to be £1,000 divided into 1,000 ordinary shares of £1 each and held by Mr R Allan (999 shares) and Mr P S Watlins (1 share).
The company’s place of business was Airport House Business Centre, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey, CRO OXZ and it operated a website www.lcneutral.co.uk
The grounds for winding up the company were that it has engaged in objectionable trading practices; made misleading and unfounded statements and failed to maintain and /or deliver up adequate accounting records.
Blakeney Bridge Wine Ltd (CN: 07664841) was incorporated on 10 June 2011 in the name London Wine Traders Ltd. The name of the company was changed to its present style on 6 October 2011. The registered office of the company throughout has been Airport House Business Centre, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey, CRO OXZ.

The recorded directors of the company have been:


  • Philip Watkins also calling himself Lord Watkins (from 10 June 2011 to 19 June 2013)
  • Jason Chalk (from 4 January 2012 to 7 May 2013)
  • Richard Allan (from 8 May 2013 to present date)
No secretary is shown to have been appointed. The company’s share capital is shown to be £1,000 divided into 1,000 ordinary shares of £1 each and all held by Mr R Allan.
The company’s place of business was Airport House Business Centre, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey, CRO OXZ and it operated the following websites:

  • www.blakeneybridge.co.uk
  • www.blakeneybridge.com
  • www.blakeneybridgewineuk.com
  • www.blakeneybridgewine.net
The grounds for winding up the company were that it has engaged in objectionable trading practices; made misleading and unfounded statements and failed to maintain and/or delliver up adequate accounting records.

Blakeney Bridge (CN: 07496293) was incorporated on 18 January 2011 in the name Knight Brook Estates Ltd. The name of the company was changed to its present style on 18 June 2013. The registered office of the company from incorporation to 5 October 2011 was 145-157 St John Street, London, EC1V 4PW and thereafter to present date Airport House Business Centre, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey, CRO OXZ.


The recorded directors of the company have been:


  • Samantha Allan (from incorporation to present date)
  • Richard Allan (from 9 February 2012 to present date)
No secretary is shown to have been appointed. The company’s share capital is shown to be £2 divided into 2 ordinary shares of £1 each and held by Mrs S Allan (1 share) and Mr R Allan (1 share).
The company’s place of business was Airport House Business Centre, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey, CRO OXZ.
The ground for winding up the company was the risk that if not wound up with Blakeney Bridge Wine Ltd the objectionable trading practices would otherwise be adopted and continued by the new company.
Savi IT Ltd (CN: 07606868) was incorporated on 18 April 2011 in the name London Carbon Investments Ltd. The company was the forerunner of London Carbon Neutral Limited (with whom it exchanged names on 20 June 2011 - see note 1 above). On 20 June 2011 the name of the company was changed to its present style. On 10 October 2011 the company applied for voluntary striking off and was dissolved on 7 February 2012. The registered office of the company throughout has been Airport House Business Centre, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey, CRO OXY.
The sole recorded director of the company throughout has been Phillip Stephen Watkins who, according to the incorporation documents, was the sole shareholder with 1 ordinary £1 share.
No secretary is shown to have been appointed.
The company’s place of business was Airport House Business Centre, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey, CRO OXY selling carbon credits from the Gansu Anxi wind farm project in China.
The grounds for restoring the company to the register and winding up were that it had engaged in objectionable trading practices; made misleading and unfounded statements and lacked transparency.
KMD Energy Solutions Ltd (CN: 07768131) was incorporated on 9 September 2011. The registered office of the company throughout has been Airport House Business Centre, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey, CRO OXZ.
The sole recorded director of the company has been Kerstin Margaret Dalgleish (formerly Kyrsti Dalgleish) from incorporation to 8 March 2013. No successor is shown to have been appointed. No Company secretary is shown to have been appointed.
The company’s share capital is shown to be £1 comprising 1 ordinary share of £1 and shown to be held by Ms Dalgleish.
The company’s place of business was Airport House Business Centre, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey, CRO OYZ and it operated the following websites:

  • www.kmdenergy.co.uk
  • www.kmdenergy.com
The grounds for winding up the company were that it has engaged in objectionable trading practices; lacked transparency and to prevent it from being used as a vehicle to continue the objectionable trading practices of London Carbon Neutral.
Earthsky Limited (CN: 04259784) was incorporated on 26 July 2001. The registered office of the company from incorporation to 13 August 2001 was 1 Mitchell Lane, Bristol, BS1 6BU; from 13 August 2001 to 8 February 2007 c/o Chiu & Benson, 47 Whitcomb Street, London, WC2H 7DH and from 8 February 2007 to present date Holly House, 220 New London Road, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 9AE.
The recorded directors of the company have been:

  • Instant Companies Limited (from incorporation to 6 August 2001)
  • Clive Richard Martin (from 6 August 2001 to 7 September 2012)
  • Jeffrey Jacob Messias (from 12 November 2002 to 17 November 2006)
  • John Robert Wittey (from 13 June 2003 to 7 September 2012)
  • Graham Paul Taylor (from 17 November 2006 to present date)
The company secretary is shown to be Swift Incorporations Limited from incorporation to 6 August 2001; Jeffrey Jacob Messias from 6 August 2001 to 17 November 2006 and Graham Paul Taylor from 17 November 2006 to present date. The company’s share capital is shown to be £1,000 divided into 1,000 ordinary shares of £1 each and held by Mr J R Wittey (500 shares), Mr G P Taylor (250 shares) and Mr CR Martin (250 shares).
The company’s accounts filed at Companies House disclose that the company has achieved no turnover since its incorporation but nevertheless record that it has been involved in some form of significant business leading to it reportedly having cash at bank of some £17 million in 2004 increasing to some £535 million in 2006 and some £613.5 million in 2011. No explanation has been provided as to the activities giving rise to such cash balances nor a $1 billion trust agreement nor a $30 million bond.
The grounds for winding up the company are that its accounts filed at Companies House are false and misleading and it has failed to maintain, preserve and/or deliver up adequate accounting records and failed to fully co-operate with the investigation.
Consolidated Carbon Projects Limited (a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, CN: 1534063) was incorporated on 4 June 2009 and struck off the register on 1 November 2013 for non payment of its annual fee. The registered office of the company has been Akara Building, 24 De Castro Street, Wickam’s Cay 1, Road Town, Tortola, VG1110, British Virgin Islands.
The officers of the company have been:

  • Clive Richard Martin (from incorporation to 6 July 2011)
  • Michael Peter Setterfield (from 6 July 2011 to 26 September 2011)
  • Lee Charles Wiggins (from 6 July 2011 to 26 September 2011)
  • Marlborough Nominees Limited (from 26 September 2011 to 1 November 2013)
  • Marlborough Trust Company Ltd (from 26 September 2011 to 1 November 2013)
The company’s authorised share capital is 50,000 shares of US $ 1 each of which 100 shares were issued to WK Investment Holdings Limited (see below).
The company operated a website: www.consolidatedcarbonprojects.com

The ground for winding up the company was that it had acted with a lack of commercial probity.

WK Investments Holdings Limited (a company also registered in the British Virgin Islands, CN:646081) was incorporated on 11 March 2005 in the name Romany Management Limited. On 2 June 2011 the name of the company was changed to its present style. On 1 November 2012 the company was struck off the Register for non payment of its annual fee. The registered office of the company was Palm Grove House, PO Box 438, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. 

On 27 June 2008 the company created legal charges in favour of National Westminster Bank plc over 3 properties in Little Cranfield, Great Dunmow. Essex. On 6 June 2011 further charges over the same properties were created again in favour of the bank.

The officers of the company have been:

  • Clive Richard Martin (from incorporation to 6 July 2011)
  • Michael Peter Setterfield (from 6 July 2011 to 26 September 2011)
  • Lee Charles Wiggins (from 6 July 2011 to 26 September 2011)
  • Marlborough Nominees Limited (from 26 September 2011 to 1 November 2012)
  • Marlborough Trust Company Ltd (from 26 September 2011 to 1 November 2012)
The company’s authorised share capital was 50,000 shares of US $ 1 each of which 2 shares were issued and held by Marlborough Trust Company Limited (1 share) and Marlborough Nominees Limited (1 share). 

The ground for winding up the company was that it had acted with a lack of commercial probity. 

Escrow services for the carbon benefit unit scheme were carried out by Lorrells LLP (which resolved to be placed into voluntary liquidation on 9 September 2015 with a reported deficiency of £2,876,223), , Marriotts Associates Services LLP (which resolved to be placed into voluntary liquidation on 2 April 2015 with a reported deficiency of £350,196) and Born & Co (Compliance) Ltd.
Carbon Registry services were carried out by IFIT Fund Services (Cayman) Limited. The registry website is given as registry.ifit.net
The April Salumei project developer is shown to be Rainforest Project Management Limited. The contact given is a Stephen Hooper and the project website given as www.rainforestmanagementalliance.org and subsequently www.pacificforestalliance.org
The April Salumei project manager is given as ‘Earthsky’ and the contact shown is a Sean Lewis.
The Lake Murray project developer is also given as Rainforest Project Management Limited with Stephen Hooper once more given as the contact.

Carbon benefit units from the April Salumei project have also been marketed and sold to the public for investment by World Future Limited (CN: 07662439), which company was ordered into liquidation in the High Court on grounds of public interest on 6 March 2013. The recorded directors of World Future Limited were Hollie Emily Chapman (from 8 June 2011 to 19 September 2011); Edward George Lee (from 5 August 2011 to 31 October 2011); Julie Sellers (from 31 October 2011 to 1 April 2012) and James Ward (from 1 April 2012 to the date of liquidation).

Carbon benefit units from the April Salumei project have additionally been marketed and sold to the public by Industry RE Limited, which company was ordered into liquidation in the High Court on 19 August 2013. The sole recorded director of the company throughout was Ian James Hamilton.

By letter dated 2 November 2015 Marlborough Trust Company Limited based in Guernsey made various representations as to the position of Consolidated Carbon Projects Limited and WK Investments Holdings Limited and requested the petitions against those two companies be withdrawn by the Secretary of State. David Bates of Marlborough Trust was present at the hearing of the petitions. No responses to the petitions were received from the other six companies..


The petitions to wind up the eight companies were presented in the High Court on 26 May 2015 under the provisions of section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 following confidential enquiries carried out by Company Investigations under section 447 of the Companies Act 1985, as amended. 


A carbon credit is a certificate or permit which represents the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) and can be traded for money. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued consumer information on carbon credit trading and what to consider before investing. The FCA has also published help for those most at risk of investment fraud. The concerns of the FCA regarding the lack of a secondary market are also reflected in guidance issued by HM Revenue and Customs in relation to carbon credits.

Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). Further information about live company investigations is available.


 

 


Saturday 21 November 2015

Cult and Boutique Wine Management: report from a cold called

Cult & Boutique website 
now used by Cult and Boutique (Wine Management) Ltd 

I am indebted to RD, who was recently cold called by Cult and Boutique (Wine Management) Ltd, for this report:
   
'I'm emailing you to let you know of a company that you might want to research as a possible addition to your "I wouldn't buy wine from these companies" list on your investdrinks blog.
A few days ago I received a phone call from a gentleman working for Cult and Boutique (Wine Management) Ltd. He asked for me by name, and claimed to be calling because I had expressed an interest in wine dealing in a survey (I know very well that I did no such thing). He also claimed to have my address details, stressing twice during the call that "this isn't a cold call situation", and tried to persuade me to take a look at their website, http://cultandboutique.com.

After telling him in no uncertain terms that I wasn't interested, I decided to do a bit of internet research about them and wine dealing in general, which led me to your blog. There, I found your post dated 7th Jan 2010 entitled "Checking a company out". I followed the advice in that post, and here are the results:
From Companies House (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07178818):
Company: Cult and Boutique (Wine Management) Ltd.
Registration number: 07178818 (which matches that given on their website)
Incorporated on: 4th March 2010
Registered office: The Counting House, 247 Imperial Drive, Rayners Lane, Harrow
Director: Enzo Giannotta (DOB: 28.8.1978) Company secretary: Harvey Solomons

Their filings are up to date, but their history contains a notice for compulsory strike-off in Dec 2013, which was discontinued a few weeks later. (*As an aside, it seems that Companies House no longer charge for the company's accounts and returns documents, as your "checking a company out" blog entry states). 
* The post "Checking a company out" was written in 2010 when there was a charge for most of the information on Companies House. However, RD is quite right by using the Beta service there is no charge for information. Excellent news!

Companies House also lists a separate company called Cult and Boutique Wines Ltd (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06355869), which was compulsorily struck off in Aug 2015, and of which Enzo Giannotta was also a director.

Their website is not very extensive, and appears to contain almost no information about the company itself (no list of directors or price list, and the contact address is the same as the registered office on Companies House). The stuff that *is* there is just generic spiel about the wine market, and it does indeed prominently feature Robert Parker!

The whois information for cultandboutique.com lists Enzo Giannotta as the registrant, but, interestingly, gives his organization as "Premier Red Fine Wines Ltd" - a company that is already on your blog's "wouldn't buy from" list. Companies House confirms that Enzo Giannotta is a director of that company too, and furthermore, its registered address is also The Counting House, 247 Imperial Drive, Harrow.

A web search for Enzo Giannotta shows that he was also a director of the now dissolved Australian Portfolio Wines Ltd (another company that is already on your "wouldn't buy from" list), and of APW Asset Management Ltd, which features unfavourably (to put it lightly!) in a number of your blog posts.'
Cult and Boutique (Wine Management) Ltd is now on my list of companies from whom I would not buy. 

No for me thanks Enzo Giannotta!