Four on trial for Nouveau World Wines/ Finbow Wines double 'fraud'

Investors were 'defrauded' of £4.5 million through two companies run by 38-year old Daniel Snelling. Snelling is charged with two counts of conspiracy to defraud and one count of money laundering. 

The first company was Nouveau World Wines, which operated between 2007 and 2009, offering investments in Australian wines. When Nouveau World Wines disappeared in 2009, Finbow Wines was set up using investors’ money from Nouveau. Finbow offered short-term profits in a five-month deal claiming to ship containers of cheap Italian wines in China for the Chinese New Year, to India, and to South Africa for the World Cup.

Investors were told that wines bought for £2 a bottle including transport could be sold in China for £3 producing a rapid profit. Investors were offered a buy back guarantee if the wine was unsold after 12 months. The guarantee proved to be worthless.    

Also in the dock at Southwark Crown Court are 35-year old Dina Snelling, Daniel’s sister and the office manager, Rebecca McDonald, the accounts manager, and Simon Dempsey, the director of Finbow Wines Ltd and Dina Snelling’s boyfriend. Dempsey was not involved in Nouveau.

Although Daniel Snelling was a director of Nouveau, he was not a named director of Finbow. The prosecution, however, alleged that he was fully involved in setting up and running Finbow, where he used the name Aston. It was Daniel Snelling was made the arrangements to buy the three containers that were sent. It was he who informed the telesales staff that they were no longer working for Nouveau World Wines and were now employed by Finbow.

Investors' money that should have been used to buy Australian wine through Nouveau World Wines Ltd was used to set up the Finbow operation.  

The court of told of two sets of invoices for Nouveau World Wines Ltd. The first set was drawn up over the period that the company was active, while the second ‘bogus’ set was produced on a single day 2009, when the Companies Investigation Branch started looking at the company and designed to show that the company had bought more wine than it actually had.
Both companies failed to buy all the wine purchased by investors. Finbow bought £34,000 worth of Italian wine, while taking some £2 million from investors. Instead substantial cash payments were made to the defendants disguised by false invoices. Handwritten annotations on the invoices told a different story and showed which of the defendants the cash being paid. The prosecution said notes were written by Rebecca McDonald - evidence that she was aware that Finbow was a fraud from the outset. One of the cash payments was for a deposit on a Range Rover. 



Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC told His Honour Judge Grieve and the Jury how one Finbow investor lost over £120,000 by making five purchases, while another lost £67,000. 
The defendants have pleaded not guilty.

The case opened on Thursday at Southwark Crown Court and is expected to last around 10 weeks with the prosecution’s case being completed by early June. 

Sanderson Forbes Ltd – another vanished wine investment company?

A google search on Sanderson Forbes Fine Wines leads to the domain for sale 

Wine investment company Sanderson Forbes Ltd looks to have disappeared. It is not known whether the company bought the wines that clients ordered or, if they did, where they were stored.

Sanderson Forbes was set up on 27.4.2010 and filed accounts as a dormant company to 28.2.2011. The next set of accounts is overdue and should have been filed on 30.11.2012.  The company's registered office is Kemp House, 152-160 City Road, London EC1V 2NX, which is a virtual office. Its trading address is Sanderson Forbes House, East Lodge Lane, East Lodge Village, London EN2 8AS.  

However, the company's domain name is now up for sale and the phone number is no longer recognised. The last tweets from the company posted on 13th February 2013 announced that they were 'experiencing some issues with our telecommunications and website'. 

Currently the sole director is 23 year-old David Linus Hornsey-Pennell who was born on 28.7.1989. He was appointed as a director on 28th June 2012. His linked-in CV describes him as Head of Operations for Sanderson Forbes with previous experience as a broker for six months at Boltons Investments Ltd. 

David Linus Hornsey-Pennell's entry on Linked-in   

Hornsey-Pennell describes himself as an entrepreneur and is a director of a number of other companies: Integral Alternative Medicines Ltd, Beryll Farthing Ltd, Street Limo Ltd, Shp Carbon Trading Ltd, Hpst Ltd, Kunst Haus Ltd. Shp Carbon Trading Ltd, Hpst Ltd and Kunst Haus Ltd have all be founded this year. David Linus Hornsey-Pennell has addresses at Gunterstone Road, London W14 and Streathbourne Road, SW17.

I would be very grateful if David Linus Hornsey-Pennell would get in touch to give an update on the company and hopefully provide some reassurance for investors who have bought wine through Sanderson Forbes Ltd.   

Last tweets from Sanderson Forbes (13th February 2013) – 'We are experiencing some issues with our telecommunications and website. We are working to solve these issues.'

Update: 30th April 2013

Statement from Linus Hornsey-Pennell, sole director of Sanderson Forbes Ltd:

'thank you for preparing the floor. Yes Sanderson Forbes is being prepared for liquidation but over the term of operation the company was successful and clients are not at risk of losing any allocations that were purchased. All clients of Sanderson Forbes have been aware of the situation and can contact myself at any time on 0203 195 3858 should there be any concerns.

Clients will be aware that we store with EHD London who are a trustworthy company and above all operate with clients interests at heart. The strategy is such that all clients have an account within their own name further mitigating any risk of fraud or collapse. My role since taking over as director has been to assure clients that they may continue operating within the market as a client of mine or optionally seek representation elsewhere with an experienced company, either way the client has been given full control at every stage of my directorship and a clearer understanding of the parameters of, what can be a great investment market.

The address and number of the facility is:

EHD London No.1 Bond Limited
Unit A, Vickers Drive North off Avro Way
Brooklands Industrial Park
Weybridge,
Surrey
KT13 0YU

Telephone: 01932 334300

thanks,

Linus Hornsey-Pennell'

I welcome the statement from Linus Hornsey-Pennell and trust that everything is in order as stated. It would be useful to know when he expects the company to enter liquidation.  

www.duedil.com – a useful resource eg giving insight into Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd etc.

Compare and contrast: article in the BFW's Bordeaux Magazine (above) 

The original on Chris Kissack's winedoctor

www.duedil.com is a useful resource providing information on companies through filed documents with Companies House, which it complements.

Take, for instance, the information from duedil on Bromley based Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd:

'Bordeaux Fine Wines Limited was incorporated on 18 Sep 2008 and is located in Kent. The company's status is '', with one director. Kenneth Gundlach is Bordeaux Fine Wines Limited's sole shareholder. They have no known group companies. Bordeaux Fine Wines Limited have total assets of £0* plus total liabilities of £2,024,913. Last year, they paid £-1,700,208 in tax and had £238,563 in cash reserves. According to their last financial report, the business made a gross profit of £7,108,125. Bordeaux Fine Wines Limited paid £5,500 in salaries and £4,255,875 in dividends last year. Their book value is £389,258, and the value of their shareholders' fund is £389,258.'

The sole director is Kenneth Gundlach, who as the sole shareholder, is presumably the grateful recipient of the £4.25 million paid in dividends. I trust that this largesse is not at the expense of Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd' investors and that they get an equally good deal.

A recent message suggests that investors with Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd get a rather less good deal than does Mr Gundlach:

'After some aggressive cold calling my father has invested with Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd.' 

This client was persuaded to spend around £50,000 on wine that can now be bought for £14615 – (source wine-searcher).Helps, I think, to explain the company's gross profit of over £7 million. 

Kenneth Gundlach and Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd has also been highlighted recently here on Mirror.co.uk.  

* The company's assets have now been amended on duedil.com to £2,414,171.  

***

Testing out duedil.com I looked at the the book value ('Also known as net asset value, book value can give a rough indication of a company's net worth' of the four founding members – Albany Portfolio Management, Culver Street Trading, Provenance Fine Wines and Vin-X  – of the WIA (Wine Investment Association) and compared this with the value of three leading fine wine companies – Farr Vintners, Bordeaux Index and Wilkinson Vintners. 

The combined value of the four WIA companies is - £1,260,222. This negative value is caused by a substantial minus value for Culver Street Trading. The other three have a combined net value of £281,363. In comparison the three leading fine wine companies have a combined value of £35,936,288.