You find me making sweet chilli jam as Christmas is near. Photos later. For some companies such as nanosynth (NNN) and Versarien (VRS) time is thus running out. I look at that but start with Malcolm and his deviation from every year I have known him. Then I look at how crime does pay - Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos and, I fear, FTX. Then a few words on the budget, a statement of "managed decline."
When I started exposing the fraud at Zoetic, now Chill Brands (CHLL) the shares were 76p. They are now 2.4p and, FWIW, running out of cash again so a sell. The other side fought hard. Seth Freedman - who had harassed Harvey Weinstein's victims for Harvey - was engaged by a shareholder to threaten, menace and harass me and also two other writers here and a PR girl who is known to be a friend of mine. Shame on Freedman and those who defend him like Evil Knievil. I was not bullied into silence and so, after the massive Worthington vindication earlier, here is another one a, a letter from the Financial Reporting Council.I complained to it about Chill's accounts. Hey presto, the FRC took action and - as you can see below - forced Chill to restate.
Even the Mrs was laughing this morning as I reminded her of how investors in Quindell and a couple of other frauds I exposed lined up to crowd fund Aiden Earley as he tried (twice) to injunct me and force me to take articles down. We defied the threats and those articles remain up to this day on this brave and courageous website and the trove of documents I dared to publish were all passed on to the FCA. The FCA has now charged Earley, his brother and 3 others, the Worthington 5, and they appeared in Court yesterday. As I scuttle off for a celebratory ouzo here is what the FCA states:
After six years, the Serious Fraud Office appears to have dropped the enquiry into the king of the fraudsters Rob Terry. This is a damning indictment of the SFO though Terry will maintain it proves his innocence. I despair. Quindell was a fraud. It lied to investors. Its accounts were bent. It engaged in crazy related party transactions which allowed a series of hoods to make tens of millions of pounds but the SFO cannot get a case together. Watchstone (WTG), which is the new name of Quindell, has just announced:
Happy Bastille Day to our listeners in France. Here another day of swimming and cooking for guests. In today’s podcast, I look at Verditek (VDTK) and the latest missive from Gollum, the investment whores at Proactive, the fraud Supply@ME Capital (SYME) & its death spiral and finally more thoughts on today’s Winnileaks special on MC Saatchi and what it says about the useless FCA when it comes to tackling white-collar crime. Finally a few words with Cliff Weight of ShareSoc re Financial Promotions.
John operates largely in Australia and writes about why fraud flourishes in Oz although he misses out the obvious point that half of the population there have criminal genes. But what the man behind Bronte Capital says about life down under must surely ring more than a few bells back in the UK. He opines:
If you are have had an issue listening to bearcast via your Apple feed, let me explain why. It is the same reason I got phone calls at 6.43 AM on Saturday and 0.01 AM today. And before any folks suggest that in some way I deserve it, no journalist deserves this harassment and the wife and 5-month-old baby of a journalist never deserve harassment. Surely even the biggest chatroom moron can see that.
Folks at the FCA say they love my work, the FRC commends me for exposing fraud, even the BBC reccognises the heroic fight we engage in against white collar crime, but there will always be critics who somehow thing the team at Shareprophets and me in particular are the bad guys. Meet one of the bigger morons on twitter....
It is quite clear that regulators in this white collar crime infested land are useless. Yesterday I flagged up a £12 million and increasing boiler room operation in the City of London that the authorities will do nothing about. So just for fun which of the following will happen first:
Individuals not companies commit fraud, lie via RNS and break securities rules. And it is individuals not corporates who must be punished for their crimes. Otherwise getting caught for white collar crime becomes simply another “cost of doing business”. In that vein I have again written to the FCA and AIM Regulation about Brady (BRY) where I do not accuse anyone of fraud or lying but I do accuse them of heinous rule breaches.
I start with the incredibly exciting matter I flagged yesterday. It did happen and I shall be able to say more in 4-6 weeks. Then onto the death of Robert Mugabe. I am sure the BBC will focus on early heroics. It should not. That is like saying "but... Hitler created some good art early on." I celebrate Mugabe's death wishing it had happened years ago. I look at how the regulators fail to tackle white collar crime reference Sefton (SER) and at why Altitude (ALT) MUST be investigated. I also cover Alien Metals (UFO) and Neil Woodford dog Xeros (XSG).
The Sunday Times has been leaked news that the FRC is fining PWC and 2 audit partners over the Redcentric (RCN) scandal which we covered and, indeed, helped to expose as you can see HERE. But the real villains are not the bean counters. I name who they are and ask if the UK is really serious about tackling white collar crime? I suggest that it is not and have a few suggestions to change that.
You have been warned (see HERE) that AIM-listed Haydale (HAYD) is a nailed-on certainty for a discounted placing. We also know that the last placing was at a mammoth 32% discount (at 120p!) and the CEO has recently stepped aside following a (lack of) sales warning. Since then, the shares have been a one-way bet southwards, and we reckon a placing at 50p was on the cards.
My father is being charmed and buttered up by the quacks at Warwick Hospital and I am off there shortly for a pre operation chat. Ahead of that I look at Tesco (TSCO) and its fines today - we really have got white collar crime all wrong in this country. Then I look at Genel (GENL), Tasty (TAST) which is really not very tasty at all, Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) which is is utterly inedible and Sound Energy (SOU) where the issue is valuation. Surely the good news is in the price already?
Today is a very dark day indeed for AIM as the scale of the white collar crime at New World Oil & Gas under its former management team has become clear. That former directors should be investigated by the SFO and others is clear. But AIM Regulation must act quickly to cut one cancer out of the system, it must stop Roland "Fatty" Cornish individually and his firm Beaumont Cornish from ever acting as a Nomad again. I urge you to email the boss of AIM Regulation Marcus Stuttard demanding this happen and suggest what to write below. You can email Marcus at
Sky News claims to have a source who says that Nomad and broker Cenkos (CNKS) is to be fined £700,000 by the FCA for its lamentable failings in the Quindell (QPP) fraud - Cenkos has now admiited that a probe is underway. Whilst I see this as another moment of vindication for my work in exposing that fraud it is simply not enough. The FCA is telling the City's banksters that turning a blind eye to white collar crime does pay. Its coke and hookers all round if this is the best that the FCA can do.
Oh happy days, oh happy days! Darren Winters the snake oil salesman who cons punters out of tens of thousands of pounds for his worthless stockmarket Win Investing courses has suffered another courtroom thrashing at the hands of the foxy legals, the lawyers who work with the Sheriff of AIM in tackling white collar villains. The foxy's remain undefeated in the Sheriff's wars, Winters is again shown for the scumbag he is - the case ( again) is Miss L.
From failed ISDX investment company Black Eagle, c/o Peter Redmond, to Silver Falcon (SILF) this is a tale of City greed and white collar crime by private investors. It makes me feel utterly sick. All the usual suspects feature: the scumbags at Optiva, Peterhouse Corporate Finance, Redmond, Geoff Dart. Vomit, vomit, vomit
Time left: 19:07:52