I have not written on Octagonal (OCT) for some time, as, on 21 January 2021, it delisted from AIM, following the self-imposed suspension of shares on 24 December 2020. In an RNS of the same day, Octagonal’s statement explained that the suspension was requested due to a complaint from the SEC:
Just a few hours before voting to delist Octagonal (OCT) from the AIM Cesspit earlier this week, shareholders in the company were presented with unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2020. With AIM’s worst FD, Nilesh Jagatia, in charge and London's worst Nomad, Roland “fatty” Cornish, signing off, you will not be shocked that there were a raft of howling schoolboy errors.
Today’s RNS from Octagonal (OCT) shows clearly that it tells lies and is thus run by a liar in John Gunn. However, it also suggests that its FD, AIM's worst FD Nilesh Jagatia, cannot do basic maths and that its promises of a dividend and share buy backs are reckless in the extreme. Ahead of a GM vote on delisting, how can it be allowed to make such pledges?
Not only have Octagonal (OCT) and its boss John Gunn both been charged by the SEC with breaking Securities laws but both are now shown to have lied to investors in a massive way via RNS. Today they admit to that crime and then lie again. How on earth AIM Regulation think Gunn is fit to run not one but two AIM listed companies, Octagonal and Inspirit (INSP), defies belief.
Facing SEC charges which will destroy its core business and should wipe out its balance sheet, John Gunn's Octagonal (OCT) is toast. But were there warning signs? Is the Pope a frigging Catholic? This site warned you time and time again about this company and also Gunn's other AIM hound Inspirit (INSP) which is surely also a zero now.
Yesterday I revealed how Roland “Fatty” Cornish was, as Nomad to Octagonal (OCT), approached by a whistleblower about manifest and multiple regulatory failings but instead of acting on this matter he dobbed the whistleblower into the company which saw the whistleblower getting a lawyer's letter. This should see Fatty struck off as a Nomad now that the SEC – with FCA help – is charging Octagonal and its boss John Gunn over these matters and others. It gets worse for Fatty.
At 8 AM on Christmas Eve, shares in Octagonal (OCT) were suspended on the AIM Casino. At 1.04 PM, with the market closed and everybody switching off their screens, came the bombshell. Assisted by the FCA, the SEC has charged Octagonal’s main subsidiary, Global Investment Strategy UK Ltd. (GIS), for clearing and settling billions of dollars of U.S. securities transactions without registering as a broker-dealer in violation of the federal securities laws. The SEC also charged John William Gunn, its founder and principal, with aiding and abetting those violations. Kerboom. You cannot say that I have not warned you for years that Gunn - who also runs uber dog Inspirit (INSP) - was a prize rotter.
You cannot say that I have not warned you all so many times that Octagonal (OCT) would end in tears. Corporate Governance and related party deals involving boss John Gunn were shocking and Nilesh Jagatia is, without doubt, the worst FD on the AIM casino. Today came news of a delisting and the shares have collapsed by almost 70% to just 0.7p. I do hope that the Bulletin Board Morons who knew so much better than useless old Tom Winnifrith, were well lubed up.
For a small company, Octagonal (OCT) seems to get through more auditors at a rapid pace with no less than 3 different firms of auditors for the listed entity in the last five years and two changes of auditors for each of the principal subsidiaries.
Octagonal (OCT) CFO's is Nilesh Jagatia a strong contender for the worst CFO of an AIM company. No I lie. As we have demonstrated over and over again, he is not only useless but, almost certainly, bent as well.
