Hong Kong’s financial sleuth Lindell Lucy, of the ‘Rape in Hong Kong’ website has not surprisingly turned his attention to Thailand and so called independent financial advisors in the land of, err, smiles.
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| Drake |
Readers of this site should by now be fully aware of what standing these IFA’s have with people in the real financial world, many of whom themselves cannot be saved by Apostolic Blessings, such as the subject of our last story…eye of the needle and all that.
However it’s worth mentioning perhaps that many Thai based IFA’s claiming to have a presence in Hong Kong, which is more kosher marginally, than Thailand, in its financial dealings and policing, may not actually have a presence in Hong Kong.
Just like Bangkok based boiler rooms these IFA’s rent serviced offices and may even register companies in Hong Kong – and they certainly open bank accounts there. But their presence is of course in Thailand where nobody but nobody at the Thai Securities Exchange Commission, to whom they should register is particular bothered enough to take any action except put out ‘Investor Alerts’.
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| Neil Robbirt |
Lindell is now targeting Bangkok based financial advisor Neil Robbirt, who had a large number of clients in the basically fraudulent LM Managed Performance Fund – which was ill managed and of course did not perform except to make mega bucks for its creator Aussie based New Zealander Peter Drake.
Robbirt claims he too was a victim of Drake’s LM Fund scam – but not so the same extent as most of his clients. One close to retirement client says he lost literally ‘everything I had saved since I stared working’. Gambling that percentage of your clients’s cash on one fund seems a little careless.
While of course the average Joe will go to jail for robbing the corner store of a couple of hundred dollars or whatever ; steal multi-millions in the financial world and it’s a civil case – and the victims will have to go looking for their money, which nowadays will probably be in a major international bank – the greatest protectors of fraudsters.
I have just been having an off the record chat with an executive of a major international bank during which I pointed out to him that his bank was servicing multiple accounts of boiler rooms based in Bangkok and other parts of Thailand.
“Of course the banks do not care where the cash comes from. My bank sets aside billions of dollars a year in the event of being caught out, which they often are, and life goes on.
” We are one of the worst.”
I am not going to get that sort of quote from his press office though.
There appears to be a fading line between bank ‘traders’ and ‘boiler room’ boys. They are both about getting out at the right time cashed up.
“Our traders are guys with Lamborghini’s and no personalities,” he said with a chuckle.
To go to Lindell Lucy’s piece at the Rape of Hong Kong click here.
Apologies to readers for reduced activity recently. Unsettling back in the UK.
Declaration: The author of this site also lost cash invested in the LM MPF promoted by Neil Robbirt.
Very restrained of you considering you lost cash in this caper…
I am an asian mkt trader and have never heard of such shenanigans other than in fiction. Lest you think i am a novice, my monthly trading volume exceeds a billion usd more often than not and i've been at a blue chip bank or fund for over a decade. I dont even see these guys as being in the same industry as me… i understand the desire for a big payday, but why risk career longevity for an extra million bonus??? If you're decent ay what you do, one can expect >million payouts for decades without the cost of your credibility with your investors and the respect of your peers. This only goes to show why one should avoid 3rd tier investment services and go directly to established credible blue chip partners. These guys have more similarites to used car salesman than they do with people in the finance industry. i have never even been offered an "investment" like this, i can state unequivocally that these con funds go after low hanging fruit, which in this case seems to be con financial advisers. you wouldnt even be able to get a meeting with me or our analysts. anyone with a bloomberg terminal would know this is a joke in less than 5 minutes.
I agree with paepae – professionals in finance don't consider the so-called "IFAs" to be in the same industry.
However, rather than compare "IFAs" to used car salesmen (who are legal and don't ruin lives) I'd compare them to snake oil salesmen selling a magical fake cure for a potentially terminal illness
Please don't hold back. May we please know the name of the bank which candidly said "My bank sets aside billions of dollars a year in the event of being caught out."? was it HS**, or JP******, or Banco***** ?
I do sympathise with you. Did you lose your investment through Robbirt's unregistered and therefore illegal Global Investments? If you did it must doubly sting that he was a long term advertiser on your site until someone put you right.
We were all conned Andrew. No 'too good to be true' investments claims, just supposedly sound advice from supposed friends. The truth is that they were only interested in their commissions on our savings & pensions. Lindell Lucy's therapeofhonkong.com shows how they are still out there now, looking for new victims. Plenty of personality; plenty of patter; and plenty of percentages from our pensions.