Tom Winnifrith BearCast - Worthington Wrap Up

Comments

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   Mooboy

   1 March 2015, 13:22

   And….. That’s a wrap.

   Awesome work Tom.

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   Forty Two

   1 March 2015, 13:56

   22-0. Disaster for Scotland.

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   hammer69

   1 March 2015, 14:44

   Tom,

   Just to clarify, the £10m “asset” is actually sitting in the books of Sevco 5088 and so the valuation given to it would have been made by its ultimate vendors, the owners of Law Financial, overseas registered businesses of Messrs Whyte and Earley.

   If you look at the WRN interims covering the period of the fair value review of the LFL acquisition you will see that the stated book value at acquisition was £10m, so it was not WRN that “revalued” as it had obviously happened pre-purchase (per p.29 of WRN 2013 Annual Report).

   H69

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   AK47

   1 March 2015, 15:16

   FANTASTIC WORK!

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   Sweet Karolina

   1 March 2015, 15:43

   Aiden Early was not disqualified as a director until 23/7 /2013:

   Case details for AIDEN CHAN EDMUND EARLEY
   Name: AIDEN CHAN EDMUND EARLEY

   Name: Wood Hall Realisations Limited

   Date of Birth: 24/01/1967

   Date Order Starts: 23/07/2013

   Disqualification Length: 5 Years 0 Month(s)

   CRO Number: 05763437

   Last Known Address: Mitchley, 21 Traps Lane, , , New Malden, KT3 4RU

   Conduct: 1. Mr Earley acted at the risk, and to the ultimate detriment of, the creditors of Wood Hall Realisations Limited (“Wood Hall”), particularly HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”), in that on 26 November 2007, the date upon Wood Hall was placed into a Members Voluntary Liquidation (“MVL”), Wood Hall transferred all of its assets to connected companies with consideration being deferred and no security provided. No payment was received for these assets, as a result of which Wood Hall’s creditors incurred losses of at least £836,004. In particular:

   • On 26 November 2007 he swore a declaration of solvency which showed that Wood Hall had assets of £1,305,403, liabilities of £786,512, and therefore had a surplus of assets of £518,891;

   • On at least 11 October 2007 the directors of Wood Hall decided to enter Wood Hall into an MVL. On 26 November 2007, Wood Hall transferred the assets, but none of the HMRC liabilities to newly formed companies of which he was a director;

   • The terms of the transfer stated that consideration for the assets was to be deferred, with the purchase price to be paid by no later than 12 months less 10 days from the date of the commencement of the MVL, with the purchase price to be left outstanding as an interest free loan due by the connected companies

   • Wood Hall did not obtain security from the connected companies, and Wood Hall had no mechanism through which to receive payment if the assets were sold to a third party;

   • One of these connected company’s most valuable assets were then transferred to connected parties shortly after the date of MVL, for either no consideration or limited consideration;

   • The connected companies failed to pay for the assets purchased from Wood Hall and consequently Wood Hall was placed into Company Voluntary Liquidation (“CVL”) on 17 December 2008, with a deficiency to creditors of £836,004 As a result of his decision on 26 November 2007 creditors ultimately received no payment in respect of their liabilities totalling at least £836,004, whilst he retained control of the assets of Wood Hall which he valued at £1,027,000.

   2. He acted at the risk, and to the ultimate detriment of, the creditors of C4E Realisations Limited (“C4E”), particularly HMRC, in that on 26 November 2007, the date upon which C4E was placed into a MVL, C4E transferred all of its assets to a connected company with consideration being deferred and no security provided. No payment was received for these assets, as a result of which C4E’s creditors incurred losses of at least £622,363. In particular:

   • On 26 November 2007 he swore a declaration of solvency which showed that C4E had assets of £450,000, liabilities of £367,369, and therefore had a surplus of assets of £82,631;

   • On at least 11 October 2007 the directors of C4E decided to enter C4E into an MVL. On 26 November 2007, C4E transferred the assets, but none of the HMRC liabilities to a newly formed company of which he was a director;

   • The terms of the transfer stated that consideration for the assets was to be deferred, with the purchase price to be paid by no later than 12 months less 10 days from the date of the commencement of the MVL, with the purchase price to be left outstanding as an interest free loan due by the connected company.

   • C4E did not obtain security from the connected company, and C4E had no mechanism through which to receive payment if the assets were sold to a third party;

   • The connected company failed to pay for the assets purchased from C4E and consequently C4E was placed into CVL on 17 December 2008, with a deficiency to creditors of at least £622,363; As a result of his decision on 26 November 2007 creditors ultimately received no payment in respect of their liabilities totalling at least £622,363, whilst he retained control of the assets of C4E which he valued at £450,000.

   3. He acted at the risk, and to the ultimate detriment of, the creditors of Set Meals Realisations Limited (“Set Meals”), particularly HMRC, in that on 26 November 2007, the date upon which Set Meals was placed into a MVL, Set Meals transferred all of its assets to a connected company with consideration being deferred and no security provided. No payment was received for these assets, as a result of Set Meal’s creditors incurred losses of at least £608,787. In particular:

   • On 26 November 2007 he swore a declaration of solvency which showed that Set Meals had assets of £461,567, liabilities of £391,571, and therefore had a surplus of assets of £69,996;

   • On at least 11 October 2007 the directors of Set Meals decided to enter Set Meals into an MVL. On 26 November 2007, Set Meals transferred the assets, but none of the HMRC liabilities to a newly formed company of which he was a director;

   • The terms of the transfer stated that consideration for the assets was to be deferred, with the purchase price to be paid by no later than 12 months less 10 days from the date of the commencement of the MVL, with the purchase price to be left outstanding as an interest free loan due by the connected company.

   • Set Meals did not obtain security from the connected company, and Set Meals had no mechanism through which to receive payment if the assets were sold to a third party;

   • The connected company failed to pay for the assets purchased from Set Meals and consequently Set Meals was placed into CVL on 17 December 2008, with a deficiency to creditors of £608,787. As a result of his decision on 26 November 2007 creditors ultimately received no payment in respect of their liabilities totalling at least £608,787, whilst he retained control of the assets of Set Meals which he valued at £461,567.

   4. He caused Wood Hall, C4E and Set Meals, collectively referred to as the (“Companies in Liquidation”), to enter into a series of transactions which exposed the Companies in Liquidation’s creditors, particularly HMRC, to the risk of non-payment whilst he retained control and benefit of the assets of the companies, in that on 26 November 2007, the date upon which the Companies in Liquidation were placed into MVL, the Companies in Liquidation transferred their assets to connected companies (“the Purchasing Companies”), being by way of a number of separate agreements in terms of which:

   • All tax liabilities including, Corporation Tax, Value Added Tax (“VAT”), Pay-As-You Earn (“PAYE”) and National Insurance Contributions (“NIC”), together with any penalties or interest arising in connection with them, were excluded (and therefore remained in the Companies in Liquidation). The Companies in Liquidation had been in correspondence with HMRC since from, at latest, November 2006 concerning arrears and stage payments, on 23 October 2007 HMRC warned of winding-up proceedings against the Companies in Liquidation, with the declarations of solvency for the Companies in Liquidation showing a cumulative liability of £1,530,452;

   • Consideration was deferred with the purchase price to be paid by no later than 12 months less 10 days from the date of the commencement of the MVL;

   • The purchase price be left outstanding as an interest free loan due by the Purchasing Companies; The assets were transferred to the Purchasing Companies notwithstanding that:

   • No definitive advice had been obtained by the Companies in Liquidation from its advisors before embarking on the reorganisation of the group and the subsequent transfer of the assets to the Purchasing Companies;

   • He was a director of the Companies in Liquidation and the Purchasing Companies;

   • The Purchasing Companies were newly incorporated companies;

   • Except for loan notes, which were initially secured by way of a debenture in favour of Wood Hall but later transferred, there was no provision for security by the Purchasing Companies notwithstanding that the consideration was deferred; The Purchasing Companies most valuable assets were transferred to connected parties shortly after the date of MVL. The Purchasing Companies failed to pay for the assets purchased from the Companies in Liquidation and consequently the Companies in Liquidation were placed into CVL on 17 December 2008, Wood Hall with a deficiency to creditors of £836,004, C4E with a deficiency to creditors of £622,363 and Set Meals with a deficiency to creditors of £608,787.

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   Phil

   1 March 2015, 16:37

   An excellent forensic unwinding of a shocking story, and written so well it flows and even I could understand it all as I read it. Thank you

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   alcira16247

   2 March 2015, 01:43

   Tom

   Brilliant presentation! Investigative journalism at its best! Another huge vote of thanks from the investing community!

   Worthington – And another one bites the dust!

   The stature of ShareProphets grows higher by the day

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   wildrides

   2 March 2015, 02:13

   Great work Tom ………. as usual

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   Adge

   2 March 2015, 10:43

   Perhaps Robert Maxwell didn’t die after all. Seems to have his fingerprints all over it. I hope someone fights hard for those pensioners.

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    alcira16247

    2 March 2015, 22:34

    Tom

    Again, reading through the evidence of this fraud, my utter respect to the outstanding job you have done!

    There must really be a particular special sort of low life scum, to have planned and then execute schemes to steal and enrich themselves, by robbing poor decent hard working folks of their pension pot. Such are the people highlighted by this investigation. One can only wonder how such folk can sleep at night, but then being totally devoid of any conscience or empathy for others, I suppose helps.

    And isn’t it shameful how the fools on boards such as LSE spring to the defence of the perpetrators of this disgraceful scam? How quickly they dismiss, excuse and rubbish any evidence that might jeopardise their own journey to getting rich quick!

    It must be hoped that for once the innocent will be protected by the relevant authorities and the guilty suitably punished.

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    J P Spaghetti

    3 March 2015, 02:33

    Agree with ALCIRA and – I think – all previous comments here. Touching a pension fund was beyond the pale. Sterling work Mr W.

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    Big Sam

    3 March 2015, 03:25

    it is all old news, do you have any information Tom on the current transactions being undertaken by WRN.

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    Tim reynolds

    3 March 2015, 15:03

    http://www.afren.com/download.axd?id=1951 Mayhem on lse ..board at afren. looks like a real rns has been leaked by accident could be fake but even the rappers are conceding it’s real carnage tomorrow if true .im short…..