James Moore, one of the Bar Works scammers, has died in prison in the US
Bar Works scammed more than 800 people out of a total of almost US$58 million.
James Moore, a British scammer, has died in prison in the US. He was in the third year of an 11-year sentence for his role in the Bar Works investment scam.
On 7 June 2019, James Moore was found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy.
On 1 February 2022, Moore was sentenced to 140 months in prison. In the sentencing, Judge Richard Berman acknowledged that Moore had “health issues”, including “high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, hyperlipidemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and mitral regurgitation”. Moore has also suffered mental health issues, as well as drugs and alcohol abuse
In February 2024, Moore lost his appeal against the sentence in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
On 27 June 2024, according to the United Arab Emirates state-owned newspaper The National, the US Department of Justice sent email and text messages to victims of the Bar Works scam notifying them of Moore’s death. The Department of Justice stated that there were be no further notifications made on the case.
Moore had an long record of dodgy investment schemes and outright scams dating back to well before he got involved with the Bar Works scam.
Bar Works
REDD-Monitor has written several posts about Bar Works. The company leased or bought retail spaces and converted them to co-working spaces, featuring a bar. Hence the name.
Bar Works raised money by offering investments in its co-working spaces. The Bar Works scam defrauded more than 800 investors out of at total of more than US$57 million.
The CEO of Bar Works was a British scammer called Renwick Haddow. I had previously written about him because of his involvement in a network of scam companies with a company called Capital Alternatives at its centre.
Among the companies involved in this scam was one called African Land (also known as Agri Capital) which offered investments in rice farm harvests in Sierra Leone.
Another was Reforestation Projects (also known as Capital Carbon Credits) which offered investments in carbon credits generated from land in Sierra Leone, Brazil, and Australia.
The carbon credit investment scam was what led me into following the activities of Capital Alternatives and Haddow’s subsequent scam, Bar Works.
Marketing the Bar Works scam
Moore recruited the United Property Group, an investment sales company, to market the Bar Works scam. Moore was affiliated with United Property Group.
Renwick Haddow testified that Moore, “wasn’t interested in just getting agents onboard and being paid a flat commission. He was interested in a partnership.”
Several agents working through the United Property Group marketed Bar Works and encouraged investors to hand over tens of thousands of dollars.
In May 2024, two British citizens pleaded guilty of conspiracy to defraud investors by making material misrepresentations about the management and operations of Bar Works. James Robinson and David Kennedy were principals of United Property Group.
Robinson and Kennedy were arrested in Spain in November 2022 and were subsequently extradited. In exchange for millions of dollars in commissions, Robinson, Kennedy, and Moore partnered with Haddow to solicit investments into Bar Works.
Moore’s sentencing in February 2022 at New York City’s Southern District court included a restitution order for Moore to repay a total of US$57,579,790.
At the sentencing, US Attorney Damian Williams said that,
“James Moore partnered with notorious fraudster Renwick Haddow to design a massive Ponzi scheme that lured hundreds of unsuspecting investors from around the world, and from which Moore and affiliated companies siphoned 65 percent of each of their recruited victims’ investments. Moore then obstructed justice and lied about the scheme to federal agents.”
The victims of the Bar Works scam
The prosecutors in Moore’s sentencing case included evidence from several victims of the Bar Works scam. One described the scammers as “monsters who have no conscience”.
With Moore’s death, victims’ hopes of recovering the millions of dollars handed over to the scammers are fading.
Renwick Haddow is yet to be sentenced. His sentencing has been repeatedly postponed since he pleaded guilty in 2019. He is cooperating with the authorities and his sentencing is currently scheduled for 1 November 2024.
The Nation has spoke to several victims of the scam. Jocelynne Houghton lost US$50,000. She told The Nation that any hope of recovering the funds had all but gone.
She said,
“When I found out it was a scheme I felt sick to my stomach.
“I had a phone call with Renwick Haddow before making a payment and tried to do my own due diligence with Bar Works, even amending contracts beforehand.
“It was a waste of time, with all my savings gone at the age of 30.”
Lawyers acting on behalf of the victims told a group of victims that recovering funds held overseas for restitution was proving difficult. US assets are frozen until all criminal proceedings are complete. So far, the lawyers said, recovered assets amount to only US$4,000 per investor.