'Wine investment scam' – Westminster Fine Wines Limited – 12-year ban for Jeff Berrill

 

36-year-old Jeff Berrill (DOB: 24.1.1980), the sole director of fraudulent Westminster Fine Wines Ltd, has been banned for 12 years from acting as a UK director. Berrill ran a wine investment scam selling wine to investors but failing to buy any. 

Berrill was initially disqualified for five years from acting as a director by Blackfriars Crown Court on 16th December 2015. This has now been extended to March 2028. On 6th November 2015 Berrill pleaded guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court to 5 counts of dishonestly making false representation. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for 24 months.  

Founded in October 2011 with a share capital of £10, Westminster Fine Wines Ltd went into liquidation on 27th February 2014 when Nedim Ailyan of Abbott Fielding Ltd based in Sidcup was appointed as liquidator. The estimated deficiency was £232,326 with £231,066 owed to trade and expense customers and £2000 to Barclays Bank. Ailyan found that no wine had been bought. The company did not have an account at any UK bonded warehouse.

    

In his statement of affairs (27.2.2014) Berrill listed the company's assets of £1400 – £400 in office furniture and £1000 in wine. Ailyan's liquidator's report (11.3.2015) noted that Berrill thought that this case of wine 'may have been transferred into his personal account in error. The director has not provided any further details regarding any wine held personally.'  

Berrill took in £335,720 from investors but never bought any wine. £244,443 was paid out of Westminster Fine Wines Bank accounts. This included payments to restaurants, pubs, hotels, supermarkets and to retail outlets of £61,854 and payments to Berrill of £43,562. 

••• 

Press Release from Insolvency Service:
Jeff Berrill has been disqualified from acting as a director for 12 years for taking payment from investors for wine that was never purchased and failing to keep records of the company’s transactions.

On 11 February, following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, Mr Berrill gave a disqualification undertaking to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills not to promote, manage, or be a director of a limited company from 3 March until 2028.


Westminster Fine Wines Limited was incorporated on 7 October 2011, offering wine investment to private investors, with Jeff Berrill as the sole director and shareholder. 


Mr Berrill had worked in the wine investment industry* for a number of years and states that when the company was set up, the wine industry was booming. However, the wine market soon suffered a significant downturn. Confidence in wine investment fell and the market saw drops of 20% to 30% in wine prices, with several companies going out of business. 


In late December 2013, the company received notice that the bank was withdrawing its funding and on 27 February 2014, the company was placed into liquidation. 

The Insolvency Service investigation found that:

• Mr Berrill caused Westminster Fine Wines Limited to trade with a lack of commercial probity.
• Between 3 August 2012 and 31 May 2013, at least 11 investors purchased at least 57 cases of wine from Westminster, for which Westminster received payments into its bank account of at least £194,885.
• The investors were informed by persons representing Westminster that the money would be invested on their behalf in fine wines which would be stored in a bonded warehouse facility.
• The wine paid for by these investors was never purchased by Westminster.
• When Westminster entered into liquidation, no fine wines were available and no others assets were available to enable a distribution to these investors.
• Records provided by Mr Berrill show that Westminster received £335,720 from clients for whom wine was never purchased or delivered to a bonded warehouse. These additional investors have not made claims in the liquidation.
• Mr Berrill also failed to maintain and/or preserve, or in the alternative, failed to deliver up accounting records.
• As a consequence it is not possible to explain and account for the sale, purchase and disposal of wine, or explain and account for the disposal of investor’s monies.
• It also not possible to determine the reason for payments from the bank account of £244,443, which included payments to restaurants, pubs, hotels, supermarkets and to retail outlets of £61,854 and payments to Mr Berrill of £43,562.
• It is not possible to verify if Westminster received the benefit of these payments and why any assets that were purchased with these funds were not available for creditors on liquidation.

At the date of liquidation, Westminster had no assets and liabilities of £233,066.


Commenting on the disqualification, Cheryl Lambert, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Directors have a duty to ensure that they act competently and with commercial probity. Directors who do not comply with this basic obligation can expect to be investigated by the Insolvency Service and enforcement action taken to remove them from the market place.
Mr Berrill misled investors and did not purchase the wine for which they had paid at least £194,885. Investors’ money was spent and records were not maintained to account for how the funds were disposed of, which could have enabled them to recover some of the money.

Mr Berrill’s conduct demonstrates that he is unfit to be a director of a company and taking action against him is a warning to all directors to seriously consider their actions and to comply with their obligations.

* Doubtless for other scam wine investment companies. 

NB: investdrinks has amended the Insolvency Service's Press Release by marking some passage in bold. 

Notes to editors

Westminster Fine Wines Limited (CRO 07801068.) was incorporated on 7 October 2011. Its registered office was 50 Broadway, Westminster SW1H 0RG. It traded from the same premises. Jeff Berrill was the only director at the time of liquidation.


Westminster Fine Wines Limited was placed into liquidation on 27 February 2014.


Jeff Berrill is of 62 Cavendish Drive, Northampton. His date of birth is 24 January 1980.


On 6 November 2015, Jeff Berrill was, upon his own confession, convicted upon indictment of 5 counts of dishonestly making false representation to make gain for self/another or causing loss to others/exposing others to risk. He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for 24 months in the Crown Court at Blackfriars.


The Secretary of State accepted an undertaking from Jeff Berrill on 11 February 2016. The disqualification commences on 3 March 2016.


A disqualification order or undertaking has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

In addition that person cannot act as an insolvency practitioner and there are many other restrictions are placed on disqualified directors by other regulations.

Rearing a phoenix....... part 1 – World of Wine Ltd from the ashes of En Primeur Ltd.

'In Greek mythology, a phoenix or phenix (Greek: φοῖνιξ phoinix; Latin: phoenix, phœnix, fenix) is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. According to some sources, the phoenix dies in a show of flames and combustion, although there are other sources that claim that the legendary bird dies and simply decomposes before being born again.^[1]'

From Wikipedia

The Phoenix is a rather splendid bird – largely mythological but they can be reared successfully in the UK as this short series of posts may indicate.

To kick off here is a recent example from the UK wine trade where a company has died 'in a show of flames and combustion' but serendipitously its debts 'simply decompose' before a new one is born again.  

Goodbye – En Primeur Ltd! (05949641) ...... Hello – World of Wine Ltd! (09900486)
En Primeur Ltd was founded in September 2006 with Marco Paulo Correia (DOB: 29.9.1968) and Ana Sebastiao as the company secretary. En Primeur Ltd was based in Crawley with Ground Floor 1-7 Station Road Crawley West Sussex as its registered address and trading address: Suite 4, Kelvin House, Kelvin Way, Crawley RH10 9WE. As its company name implies, the sale of en primeur was a major focus. At the height of the demand for Bordeaux en primeur (2009/2010) Correia advertised his company's en primeur prices in January promising to hold them when the actual price posted by the châteaux several months later – surely a gamble fraught with difficulties.....

On 24th July 2014 En Primeur Ltd went into liquidation with debts that were originally estimated at 'low six figures' but which had climbed to unsecured claims of over £2.4 million by September 2015 when the liquidator, Nedim Aliyan of Abbott Fielding, filed his first annual report. News reports from July 2014 here and here.   

The last annual return filed in 2013 showed En Primeur Ltd had share capital of £100 – 85 shares held by Marco Correia and 15 by Roberto Correia. Full details of En Primeur Ltd and its filing can be found on Companies House Beta service.          
Hello – World of Wine Ltd! (09900486) 
The World of Wine Ltd was incorporated on 3rd December 2015. Ana Ligia Sebastiao (DOB– March 1973), who was company secretary of En Primeur Ltd, is the sole director and sole shareholder. The company has a nominal share capital of £100 – with £100 unpaid. Its registered office is Ground Floor, 1/7 Station Road, Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom, RH10 1HT and trading address: Suite 4, Kelvin House, Kelvin Way, Crawley RH10 9WE.   

Although Marco Correia is not an officer of The World of Wine he is the registrant of the company website – registered on 11th November 2015. Buying en primeur features prominently on the World of Wines Ltd's website. 

Compare and contrast:
Keen readers may notice a certain resemblance between these two explanations of buying en primeur...... 

 En Primeur Ltd: En primeur wines 

  World of Wine Ltd: What is En Primeur? 

Both explanations conclude with: 

'Buying en primeur allows you to make sure that special vintage you have your eye on doesn't get away.'

I'm not entirely sure that the many individuals listed as creditors of En Primeur Ltd would completely concur with the above ....  

 

From the terms and conditions of World of Wine Ltd:

  

En Primeur Sales 

In the unlikely event that we are unable to supply wines 

purchased on your behalf en primeur due to circumstances 

beyond our control, our liability will be 

limited to any money paid to us. 

It is not clear what happens if the reason why wines are not supplied are due to circumstances within the company's control eg failure to pay en primeur suppliers.... 

The terms and conditions for The World of Wine Ltd limit to right of return to three days from delivery. This is contrary to the 2013 Consumer Contracts legislation that gives 14 days. 

•• 

Doubtless business people should be given a second chance but equally potential clients have a right to know a company's background. I won't be buying from the World of Wine Ltd. 

Ex-clients of Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd should avoid London Commodity Exchange plc

 

Mailbox Rental:
Jain Harsh address: Suite 444, 19-21 Crawford Street, London W1H 1PJ

Recently I was contacted by RT, a former client of Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd, who had been cold called by Jonathan Church of the London Commodity Exchange claiming to be able to recover wines he had bought through BFW that were now held overseas.

RT was rightly suspicious of Mr Church and the London Commodity Exchange. These suspicions have been confirmed by Grant Thornton's David Ingram, the liquidator of Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd. Ingram informs me that there are no unaccounted BFW stocks of wines:

'We have undertaken a comprehensive forensic exercise on the little wine that was actually purchased by Bordeaux Fine Wines and are satisfied that it has been accounted for.  There is certainly no stocks of wine overseas.' 

David Ingram's email is below.

London Commodity Exchange plc is one of Jain Harsh's companies. Harsh was born in January 1979. His correspondence address is Suite 444, 19-21 Crawford Street, London W1H 1PJ. He is director of multiple companies (at least 25 – mainly dormant) with an apparently share capital of at least £2,222,001,002 – 15 companies checked to date. If cold called by London Commodity Exchange or other similar company spinning the same tale, my very strong advice is to put the phone down. 

 

Email from RT:

Dear Jim,

I would be grateful if you could read the email below and let me have your opinion.

As background I was an investor in Bordeaux Fine Wines and am now awaiting the completion of the liquidation process.

I was contacted this afternoon (cold called) by Jonathan Church who explained that his company (London Commodity Exchange) was supported by the government and that they were investigating the existence of wine purchased by the director and managers of Bordeaux Fine Wines, in the name of investors, and then stored overseas in the joint names of BFW and the investor.

He claimed that they had recovered wine for 28/29 investors and subsequently disposed of it on their behalf.  He offered to investigate the existence of wine held overseas in my name and then to obtain a valuation prior to selling it.  As yet I have no knowledge of the business arrangements they would propose.

He made great play about the liquidator not being interested in finding these deposits of wine but unfortunately I cannot remember the logic behind this assertion.

Before they could start work I would have to provide them with a list of the wine I purchased from BFW that had not been deposited in my bonded warehouse account.

I found the company on the internet (http://londoncommodityexchange.com/) and they appear to be a futures trading organisation.  There was no reference to dealing in wine.

Personally I have never heard of London Commodity Exchange and I am worried that this is yet another scam.  I would appreciate any comments you may have.  If this does prove to be a scam it would be appreciated if you would make more people aware via your web site.

Best regards,

RT

••

  
Email from Jonathan Church, London Commodity Exchange 

From: admin admin [mailto:admin@londoncommodityexchange.co.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 3:44 PM
To: RT
Subject: London Commodity Exchange

 

Dear Mr RT,

Further to your conversation with one of our marketing advisors, we are writing to you to inform you of the updates regarding the particular investment you acquired through the liquidated company in question.

After researching our systems it has become apparent that you have had difficulty in selling your assets and have not had an accurate valuation of them in some time.

We would like to make you aware that although the company/s you’ve dealt with have had mismanagement problems throughout their organisation, it does not mean that the assets you acquired through them are unsuitable for your portfolio it just means that they haven’t been managed correctly.

When commodity companies in the UK go into certain forms of difficulty it is our duty to ensure we can put the clientele of those organisations in a position where they can sell their assets in a safe, secure and reliable manner.

Through the research which was carried out by our advisors it has come to our attention that your portfolio hasn’t been marketed, and it’s imperative that this process is fully exercised.

Unfortunately it seems that the companies you dealt with never informed you of the sale process and as a consequence this has left your portfolio stagnant for some time.

As promised by our consultants, your portfolio will be accurately valued (once information has been provided) by an independent source. Where they would take market conditions into consideration to shed light on the overall value of your assets.

We would like to make you aware that the valuations are extremely important. However, they are meaningless unless there is a third party buyer who is interested in purchasing the portfolio.

Once our advisors have informed you of the valuations, they would then elaborate on the sale process and how to conclude business in a way that would suit you.

We strive to deliver excellence in every part of our business and welcome any feedback that will enable us to do this.

Let us take this opportunity to congratulate you on taking affirmative steps to closing the chapter on this part of your portfolio.

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0203 627 7833    

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Jonathan Church
Administration and Compliance Team
London Commodity Exchange Plc.
 
Telephone: 020 3267 7833
Email: admin@londoncommodityexchange.co.uk


Disclaimer:
Everything in this email and any attachments relating to the official business of London Commodity Exchange Plc. and any or all subsidiaries ("the Company") is proprietary to the Company. It is confidential, legally privileged and protected by relevant laws. The Company does not own and endorse any other content. Views and opinions are those of the sender unless clearly stated as being that of the Company.

The person or persons addressed in this email are the sole authorized recipient. Please notify the sender immediately if it has unintentionally or inadvertently reached you and do not read, disclose or use the content in any way and delete this e-mail from your system.

The Company cannot ensure that the integrity of this email has been maintained nor that it is free of errors, virus, interception or interference. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy version. This message is provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any securities or related financial instruments.

••

Response from David Ingram, Liquidator of Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd, Grant Thornton 

We have also spoken to a couple of investors who have also been contacted by this outfit.  I quickly concluded that London Commodity Exchange is, as you state, another fraudulent enterprise trying to perpetrate an advance fee fraud on existing victims.  I strongly recommended to the creditors of BFW whom I spoke to that they should have nothing to do with London Commodity exchange and should definitely not pay them anything.

 

We have undertaken a comprehensive forensic exercise on the little wine that was actually purchased by Bordeaux Fine Wines and are satisfied that it has been accounted for.  There is certainly no stocks of wine overseas.

 

Please do emphasise this message on your website