Truffle Investment Scam | Kangs Financial Fraud Solicitors
On 12th October 2018, five connected companies were wound up by the High Court following a four-day Trial.
The Insolvency Service has reported that more than one hundred investors have been cheated out of savings amounting to a sum in the region of nine million pounds.
The Background | Kangs Insolvency Solicitors
The Court heard that each of the five companies was connected in some way and, together, had ‘devised convoluted contractual structures and manipulated costs to secure high-value investments’.
Investors were duped into believing that their savings were being used to fund oak and hazel tree saplings, inoculated with truffle spores, planted at special plantations throughout the world. The commercial cultivation would then enhance the value of the investments made.
In reality, the Insolvency Service discovered that no harvesting or cultivation had ever taken place, even though the scheme had been in existence since 2012.
Although investors paid between £750 and £995 in respect of each sapling, similar saplings were available to the public for as little as £7.95 each.
Investigators were able to show that significant commission payments had been made to unregulated advisors.
Official Comment | Kangs Insolvency Service Investigations Team
Cheryl Lambert, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:
“The companies and those behind them have showed no remorse in their calculated plan to scam investors of their pension pots. Although the Insolvency Service investigation was hampered by a lack of cooperation, the investigation pieced together the numerous layers in which the scam was wrapped.”
“We take the matter of unregulated pension liberation investment schemes very seriously and will take action to stop any such schemes who have acted unscrupulously.”
How Can We Help? | Kangs Complex Fraud Defence Solicitors
Additionally, we are accustomed to assisting and defending directors and other company officials in matters arising from Insolvency, Director Disqualification, Regulatory breaches and/or criminal conduct.
Our team is led by Hamraj Kang who is recognised as a leading expert in the field. He is one of only two solicitors nationally to be ranked as a ‘star individual’ for four consecutive years in the legal directory Chambers & Partners.
Other members of the team are ranked in the Legal 500 and also ranked in Chambers & Partners.
Please feel free to contact our team through any of our solicitors named below who will be happy to provide you with some initial advice and assistance.
Hamraj Kang
hkang@kangssolicitors.co.uk
07976 258 171 | 020 7936 6396 | 0121 449 9888
John Veale
jveale@kangssolicitors.co.uk
0121 449 9888 | 020 7936 6396
Tim Thompson
tthompson@kangssolicitors.co.uk
020 7936 6396 | 0121 449 9888
Suki Randhawa
srandhawa@kangssolicitors.co.uk
0121 449 9888 | 020 7936 6396
