Diamonds can be for never – don't be duped!

Diamonds aren't necessarily an investor's best friend!

'Fraudsters used 'sucker list' to sell fake diamonds to victims with marks-ups of 2,800 per cent to fund luxury lifestyle in Marbella

• Gems dealers made £1 million duping investors into buying diamonds

• All the gems had been purchased out of a mainstream diamond catalogue

• Gang, due to be sentenced next week, added mark-ups of up to 2,800%

• One retired victim used his life-savings to buy gems for £140,000 but they were only worth £10,000'

Report in the Daily Mail of recent fraud trial at The Old Bailey involving diamonds with fraudsters now facing jail while investors have lost life savings. Sentencing on 27th September. Read rest here.  

See also report in Eastbourne Herald. 

Wine investment scams often linked to offers of 'investments' in diamonds, biofuels, carbon credits, plots of agricultural land on promise of rezoning etc. 

Also beware of companies, like Ethical Elegance Ltd, offering to swop assets such as wines for coloured diamonds.

Wine Investment Association: three memberships pending

 WIA: the four founder members: L-R; Adrian Lenagan (Provenance Fine Wines Ltd - pending),

David Jackson (Albany Portfolio Management Ltd – now: Amphora Portfolio Management- pending), 

Hugo Rose MW (Culver Street Ltd), Peter Shakeshaft (Vin-X Ltd)

Anonymous sent this to be published on the arrest of Billy Davies post. As this wasn't appropriate for this post, I'm publishing this separately:    

'Hi Jim, three of the four companies involved in the Wine Investment Association are still being listed as membership being "Pending". Meaning they haven't yet completed the audit that is required to become members. As the association went live in February, and it is now August, could the chairman of the Association, Hugo Rose, please give your readers an update? Have the audits taken place, and if not, why not? As these companies are no-doubt benefiting from their perceived membership, yet seem not to have taken - or passed - the key test for membership, this is a question I'm sure a lot of people would want answered.'

Hugo Rose MW: chairman of WIA

•••

Update: 27th August 2013 – now we are two:

Provenance Fine Wines Ltd have recently become accredited bringing full membership of the WIA to two. 

Update: 19th October 2013 – now we are three:
Culver Street Ltd have recently become accredited bringing full membership of the WIA to three. 

Update: 17th March 2015 – now we are still three
Amphora Portfolio Management became an accredited member of the WIA during 2014. However, Vin-X Ltd has become the parent company of Provenance Fine Wines Ltd as it holds 100% of the £100 share capital and Peter Shakeshaft was appointed as a director of the company on 1st June 2014. Adrian Lenagan remains a director.   
    

Finbow Wines Ltd: Met Police arrest Billy Davies

 Billy Davies

Billy Davies was arrested by officers from the Met on Tuesday. He was held in police custody overnight and appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday where he was remanded in custody pending trial. He was cited as an alleged conspirator in Count Four – conspiracy to defraud in relation to Finbow Wines Ltd.

I assume that his trial will be at Southwark Crown Court.