Scam Sellers Charged With Fraud

Scam Sellers Charged With Fraud.

Many victims of scam investments would like to see the people who sold the investment to them prosecuted. It rarely happens due to apathy by law enforcement agencies and financial regulators.  However, the situation is different in the USA. The SEC and FBI are leading the way in prosecutions of the ‘enablers’ i.e the salespeople who promote and sell the scams, the escrow agents which take in the investors’ money and the parties which help structure and operate the scams.

The latest individuals to have their collars felt by the US authorities are James Robinson and David Kennedy of United Property Group (“UPG”). UPG operated out of Spain and was one of the major sales agent companies of the last 10 years. It had close links to James Moore (currently serving 11 years in the USA for his part in several scams including Bar Works, OurSpace, Dakota Oil and Florida properties) and to Renwick Haddow who was behind so many scams that it would take all day to list them. Haddow has recently pled guilty to fraud charges in the USA and is due to be sentenced in April 2023.

UPG ran a huge network of sub-agent sales companies. It only took on scams which had the potential to make sales of tens of millions of pounds. It demanded exclusivity as the master sales agent and then sold the scams through its network taking a cut of the commissions from every sale. Others who worked at UPG were Honey Meek and Edward Rice.

James Robinson and David Kennedy were arrested in Spain and are now facing extradition proceedings to face trial in the USA. The charges are in relation to their involvement in Bar Works Inc and related entities. Bar Works was one of the scams founded by Renwick Haddow. Since Mr Haddow’s arrest he has been singing like a canary. One of his main salesmen at Bar Works, Savraj Gata-Aura aka ‘Sam Aura’, was sentenced to eight years in a US prison largely thanks to Renwick Haddow’s evidence. Haddow also gave testimony against James Moore which helped the prosecution obtain the 11 year sentence.

A large number of Bar Works investors are currently involved in claims against a financial services firm in the UK called Central FX. We have read the testimony of Renwick Haddow given in court in the USA and it raises very serious questions around the establishment and operation of the Bar Works account with Central FX. Haddow has made statements which, if true, suggest that Central FX was a party to the fraud. We await the publication of the Financial Ombudsman decision which should be available shortly, but we have been made aware that the Ombudsman declined to look into the establishment of the Bar Works account at Central FX despite being requested to. If he had looked at the account he would have found that either Haddow was lying in court or a fraud had been committed at Central FX. It appears the Ombudsman doesn’t want to expose another scandal involving yet another FCA-regulated entity.

The good news is that two of the major players in selling scams are out of action for a while. We will follow the case with interest.

The press release issued by the United States Attorney’s Office in New York can be viewed on this LINK – Two British Citizens Arrested for Conspiracy to Defraud Investors……

Scam Sellers Charged With Fraud.