On cockroaches and Capital Alternatives

Mar 13, 2015

“It was the generally accepted way for brokerage firms under regulatory heat to stay one step ahead — essentially, closing down and reopening under a different name, thereby starting the process of making money and fighting the regulators all over again. It was like stepping on a cockroach and squashing it, only to find ten new ones scurrying in all directions.”

That’s how Jordan Belfort explains the “Cockroach Theory” in his book “The Wolf of Wall Street”. You may well have seen the film, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Belfort. It’s a very entertaining film. But, as in Belfort’s book, the victims are invisible. Belfort was sentenced to four years in prison in 2003 and ordered to pay US$110.4 million into a victims fund for running a boiler room operation called Oakmont Stratton. The victims lost about US$250 million in total.

I was reminded of the Cockroach Theory this week when I read Khadija Sharife’s extraordinarily detailed report into the world of Capital Alternatives. Her article, titled “Catch and Release”, is published in the Spring issue of World Policy Journal. Sharife makes a “conservative estimate” of US$180 million extracted from retail investors by the Capital Alternatives network.

The scams have been exposed for several years. In early 2012, in an article in Money Observer, Ceri Jones described an investment scam in a hotel share scheme in Slovenia. The scam was run by a company called Room to Invest, whose directors included Renwick Haddow, Richard Henstock and Marcia Hargous. Capital Alternatives sold the investments. When Room to Invest went into liquidation, Capital Alternatives suggested that investors hand over more money and re-invest their money in a farming land scam in Sierra Leone, via a company called Agri Capital (now known as African Land).

Later the scammers would move on to carbon credits. Or oil palm. Or Voice over Internet Protocal, Timber, Diamonds, Gold, Platinum, or Water Bonds. The names of the companies involved kept changing too.

Jones wrote,

The more we dug into the case, the more alarmed we became at the number of companies linked by one or more directors which subsequently were dissolved or frequently had their names changed. Many of these companies are registered at Sophia House, 76-80 City Road, London, EC1Y 2BJ, which appears to offer short-term office space.

In her article in World Policy Journal, Sharife digs even further. She outlines the network of shell companies and brokers operating under Capital Organization, headed by Renwick Haddow. The article includes a diagram of the companies involved and the people behind them (published by World Policy Journal):

Many of the names involved will be familiar to readers of REDD-Monitor from previous posts about the Capital Alternatives network:

Readers with particularly good memories may recognise some of the names in Sharife’s article from before they were pixellated in the comments on REDD-Monitor following the posts about Sterling and Bond. The emails below explain why their names were pixellated.

(More emails from Andrew Nash are available here. In one of his emails to REDD-Monitor, Nash writes, “Capital Alternatives has no connection what so ever with both Sterling and Bond and VOIP Tel.” So it must just be a bizarre coincidence that Nash’s email asking for his name to be removed is almost identical to Haddow’s email written a fortnight earlier.)

From: Alex Walia
Date: 11 November 2014 at 15:19
Subject: Ref Defamatory post on your Web Site
To: reddmonitor@gmail.com, webmaster@redd-monitor.org, abuse@redd-monitor.org, info@redd-monitor.org, legal@redd-monitor.org
Cc: legal@berkeleyassetsinternational.com
Dear Sir / Madam,
Hope all is well.
I am writing to you regarding a new comment that has been posted on your Blog, the link is below:
http://redd-monitor.org/2014/10/22/more-scams-sterling-and-bond-voiptel-international-and-velvet-assets/
An individual called Brent London has posted defamatory points regarding me, my company, my relationships and past which are baseless and defamatory. I have highlighted the remarks posted in black and my response in red [bold] below to give you a brief explanation:
1. “there are some new companies involving UK Airport land this I imagine is going to be used as an airport parking investment – needless to say another scam” Well Berkeley Assets International are just marketing agents for Group First / Park First. I have done our due diligence and did not find any reason for concern. Park First own the entire parking site freehold which has been in operation for the last 16 years. It was previously owned by the AIrlink Group who used to own Glasgow Airport and they still manage the site. Clients get title deeds and have been receiving there rental income as the first site Park First were selling has been sold out.
2. “it has already started with Berkeley Assets International (Check out website) www.berleyeassetsinternational.com.” Berkeley Assets International is just a marketing company that puts clients in touch base with Park First. All contracts are sent to Park First, all monies from client are sent to Park First and exchange takes place through their lawyers JWK. Furthermore there are many marketing companies brokers and agents that have been selling this product for the company for over a year, so it has not just started.
3. “You will notice that this company has a director called Lex Walia. He is a close acquaintance of Kristan Gander – and they were both sales Directors at Capital Alternatives” I am the director of Berkeley Assets International and I am not hiding myself behind smoke screens as I have nothing to hide unlike other people that have been highlighted in various blogs on your website site. As far as Capital Alternatives yes I worked there as a consultant for just over 1 year and so did Kristin Gander, neither one of us were directors of any sort which you can view from the FCA transcript, it highlights all the directors involved. However I would not link myself to him or anybody else to Capital Alternatives, I was there to do a Job. JUST TO DEMOSTRATE MY CHARACTER I WILL STATE THAT WHEN I BECAME AWARE OF THE MOTIVES OF THE COMPANY AND DIRECTORS I LEFT IMMEDIATELY AND I WORKED WITH A NUMBER OF RELEVANT AUTHORTIES SUCH AS THE FCA, EVEN TO THE POINT I WAS A WITNESS FOR THE FCA IN THE RECENT CASE AGAINST CAPITAL ALTERNATIVES IN THE HIGH COURT.
4. “They both have a history of defrauding people” I cannot comment for Kristan Gander however I have made 1 mistake in my life and I put my hands up straight away and told the truth to the various authorities and have payed the price for that. Which has no relevance to this.
“AVOID IT IS A SCAM” There are no clear facts or points that demonstrate that this is a scam, even to the point prior to selling these properties I checked with the FCA and they had no warnings against the company or properties that Group First Park First are selling. All the information is available on our website and no where does it high light this is a scam. My clients have visited the Airport Parking Site, Park First Offices and I have some clients that are using their own lawyers to represent them and are repeat purchasers. They are in control unlike a lot of the investments high lighted on your website blogs.
If someone can demonstrate to me that selling Store First and Park First is a scam, then I will immediately stop selling these products. I believe this individual Brent London has some sort of vendetta against me as he has posted similar comments on other platforms which we are also liaising with. The comments made by this individual are baseless and defamatory which have had an effect on my business and have caused significant distress to me.
I humbly ask that you remove this comment and also advise on details of this user so that my lawyers can take the next steps against this individual.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards
Alex

In May 2014, the Self Storage Association UK issued a warning about Store First Investments. SSA updated the warning in January 2015, stating that since SSA published the warning, “numerous investors in Store First have contacted the SSA UK confirming that their investment was not performing as expected after the second year, and that they had no viable options for re-selling the units.”

From: Renwick Haddow
Date: 15 January 2015 at 15:09
Subject: Removal of posts
To: reddmonitor@gmail.com
Dear Chris
Please see the post below which no doubt you are aware of.
This is both a defamatory and factually incorrect article. I find it quite bizarre why you would allow this kind of rubbish to be posted on your site when you hold yourself out to be ethical etc.
I require any reference to me in this post and any post that this attracts to be removed without delay or I will instruct my lawyer who I have copied in to take immediate action again you personally as the person who sanctioned the post and your company.
I look forward to confirmation that this has been removed by close of business UK time tomorrow.
Regards
Renwick Haddow
http://redd-monitor.org/2014/10/22/more-scams-sterling-and-bond-voiptel-international-and-velvet-assets/

Name: Victor Falade
Comment: Re: More scams: Sterling and Bond, Voiptel International and Velvet Assets
Post by
roger
(# 47) 12 January 2015 at 11:57 pm
My name is Victor Falade. One of your poster’s has mentioned me in his comment. Please remove my name from the post as the information he has provided concerning me is untrue and libellous. I do not and I have never headed IIS International.
I am seeking legal advice and will seek damages if this is not removed in a timely manner
Thank you.
Time: 22 January 2015 at 12:01 pm
Contact Form URL: http://redd-monitor.org/contact/
Sent by an unverified visitor to your site.

From: Andrew Nash
Date: 29 January 2015 at 12:52
Subject: Removal
To: reddmonitor@gmail.com
Dear Chris
Please see the post below.
http://redd-monitor.org/2014/10/22/more-scams-sterling-and-bond-voiptel-international-and-velvet-assets
This is both a defamatory and factually incorrect article. I find it difficult to believe, why you would allow this kind of martial to be posted on your site when you hold yourself out to be ethical.
I require any reference to me in this post and any post that this attracts to be removed without delay or I will instruct my lawyer who I have copied in to take immediate action against you personally as the person who sanctioned the post and your company.
I look forward to confirmation that this has been removed by close of business UK time tomorrow.
Regards
Andrew Nash

Name: Kristan Gander
Comment: Hello, I am writing to ask politely to have the posts with my name ( kristan gander ) and Maria Barnard removed. The post report untruths and we are finding them to be very damaging and hurtful. They seem to be very speculative in reporting with absolutely no truths. I do know who started these blogs about me and Maria and it has come from a man called Robin Berlyn, he has started a campaign against me and Maria since we reported him to the Dubai police in September 2014. Since then he has been writing untruths on a number of different blog sites. I have reported this to my local police who have ask me to contact my solicitor and in turn they have ask me to write to everyone who controls these blog sites and politely ask them to remove the articles before they take further action. Can you remove the blogs and all names including Kristan Gander and Maria Barnard.
Kind regards,
Kristan Gander
Time: 3 February 2015 at 5:13 pm
Contact Form URL: http://redd-monitor.org/contact/
Sent by an unverified visitor to your site.

On cockroaches and Capital Alternatives

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