English ‘Gentlemen’ Sometimes Don’t Mind Robbing Old Ladies
They call him ‘The Penguin’. Could it be because he has all the attributes of the fictitious villain in the ‘Batman’ comic – come- Hollywood hero series – a fiendish mind with a fishy smell about him? At any rate if you come across this British charmer and his side-kick in Phuket give them a wide berth.
Neal Davies is his real name and major scamming is his game. His side-kick is called Peter Simmons.
He’s ex-public school and an ex-banker who should know better. Both are Brits, drive Mercedes open topped sports cars and live in 165,000 baht per month rented accommodation in the upmarket Naiharn Baan Bua estate on the holiday island.
They have a website for their company called Caldora Asset Management and they boast to victims that their money is safe with them because they have scores of properties world-wide as security. They claim to be wealth advisors. But the only wealth they are interested in is their own.
It’s all a fraud of course. They have details of scores of building sites.
Most of the properties have never been built and never will be. Most of them are Caribbean projects of Harlequin – a company well known to readers here. These guys could make an honest living. But why bother?
Their main companies are registered in Mauritius.
So why not relax on the beach in Thailand and take in money from fairy tale projects while sipping on a G & T. They’re living the dream.
Neal Davies, 45, from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, has no real real estate at least not backing up client investments. In fact the only property these charlies have put real money into is in a place called the Belair Panwa Resort and Spa in Phuket.
The structure of this purchase makes interesting reading but actually what they have ‘bought’ is part of the Thai side of this development. The minority foreign shareholding is already sold out.
Well for a start he has a bankruptcy restriction order against him in Britain and has banned for seven years for trading in assets by a British court.
He was actually automatically discharged from bankruptcy after a year in 2008, but not the BRO. His discharge does not mean he paid off creditors.
Britain’s lenient bankruptcy laws means that foreign companies have been striving to set up business there.
The BRO is why ‘The Penguin’ is in Thailand of course. But he has made himself unpopular in Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore along the way.
Messrs Davies and Simmons have been trying to sell their units in Britain under a ‘fractional ownership’ deal. No Thais will buy at the prices they are demanding, and people in the U.K. don’t have a clue.
They also have a couple of touts, paying for their booze and women by trying to flog fractional ownership on the spot in Phuket. All illegal of course under Thai law, but who’s looking?
Here’s a list of companies and funds to stay clear of; Caldora Asset Management, Caldora 90 Fund, Caldora 80 Fund, Caldora 360 Fund, and of course the Harlequin Income Fund where they take your income. Nearly 6,0
00 Harlequin investors want to know what’s happened to their cash.
Also beware of Elite Capital Solutions which is registered all over the place and under scrutiny in Hong Kong and Singapore.
But let’s hear from the son of one their investors – a 73-yr-old woman who was tapped by these men as she sat admiring the view from Nikita’s Bar in Rawai Beach, Phuket. Yes indeed, these guys just do not care who they take money off.
“My mum called me when she received your email asking for immediate attention to this fraud thing in Thailand so were both here my mum has arthritis’s and at 73 she has a hard time working on this computer.
“I do hope you don’t mind, as per your email request we shall start from the beginning.
“She told them she was thinking about buying something. She said that the two men told her that they were wealth management experts.
“At this time, one of the men Mr Neal Davies, gave my mum a business card for a company called Caldora and they told her to look up their site and if they could help her then great.
“Mum is not very good on the computer. She mentioned she was talking to her bank back here about setting up a trust fund for my 2 year old son Daniel so that he would have some money when he turned 16.
“These two guys started to offer free advice in how to invest tax free and how $10,000 can turn into $100,000 over that amount of time with properties all over the world as collateral.” In case something went wrong they showed her what I now know as a PC tablet and went from website to website (to show her the off plan properties).
” I myself have to admit after seeing these sites that I can see how someone especially an elderly person would think they were the way to go.
” They are very well done.
“They took her out, being nice, and she doesn’t remember any talk of money until 4 days before she was due to return home.
“Basically they were able to talk her out of $10,000 to invest into some fund that would one day benefit her grandson.
“She is embarrassed about this and now claims she will never return to Thailand because if these people could con her then there might be others.
“ I went and looked everything up and now I can truly see how she was conned.
They were nice to her and well spoken plus the websites and the knowledge
they had. She was an easy target.
“I would like my mother to get her money back I don’t know how things work over there, but if nothing else I hope those bastards go to prison for a long.”
these guys look like the Pattaya duo of Richard haughton and paul Salisbury are they connected to the scams in pattaya ?.
Well they WERE promoting Harlequin as well.
Caveat emptor as always but at least we have you to level the playing field.
Well done Andrew. At least we can keep the swine moving if nothing else.
Another sad story thanks for keeping us informed Andrew.
There's an abundaance of these types in Phuket and they have arrived from all over the world. If you knew any Russian you would learn similar stories! I have even read articles on the holiday page in the British 'Daily Mail' promoting similar connected with opportunity types of property investments! Yet despite my warning the 'Daily Mail' that foreigners could not own land in Thailand they still run these 'wonderful dream opportunities in exotic Thailand'.If you believe these articles then look at the depaarture longe at Suvarnabhumi Airport, there's many investors leaaving for good,penniless too!
Something fishy going on….restricted access…denied access….woz up ?? Can copysam be renamed….samII or such…by the way, old dears like that should be out of bounds for any morally equipped scammer.
What's up,er, original sam.
I am really hoping that the "Penguin" in this story, is not the "Penguin" that I made a TV commercial with in Pattaya for a furniture Company, very close to Drew Noyes office. If it is, I can put together a very intricate story about a "third" expat TV Company based in BKK, who have much "love" for him. I'll research further, but if it is, there is a very interesting network of collusion going on here. As I stated, there may be NO affiliation with the person named in this story, to my association with a "penguin" in Bangkok, but if there is, I have some interesting references that could be of some value.
AD….pressed the 'post comment' button and your further access page popped up, the one with the type in the letters etc….then it went to 'access denied' or some such page….did this twice….no page redirecting or anything came up then, just a blank screen…had to close page and re enter…..original Sam.
It is not the same Penguin Keith
ok thanks. we'll have a look
Neal Davis is STILL listed as a director at Elite Capital Solutions Pte Ltd in Singapore. His last known address in the UK is off Heath Road , Leighton Buzzard opposite The Star Pub.
Any Chinese angles, always happy to help. I live in Beijing. Been here three+ years.
Mark
ANDREW DRUMMOND: Mark Hughes ex Channel 4 News?
To original Sam: I normally post using a nick name I used my actual name in my prevous post this was nothing malicious on my part! I feel as a online community we should be supporting AD and our comments should reflect that and the opinions we have as indviduals.We should not be moaning over who has the right to use any name we use to post on this website or any other.
Yes Sam…but it is going to get a tad confusing innit ??
Just a reminder. There are no out or order posts here. But there are new issues on the story headed: "Secret Tapes Reveal Plot to Get Pattaya Publisher Off Extortion Charges". So just a reminder to stick to proveable facts before posting. Saves me doing a lot of editing.
Keep up the good work Andrew!
The Penguin (Neal Davies) is the sole Director of Elite Capital Solutions which grew out of Elite Capital Solutions Dubai. They have an office in Singapore (where they have a licence to do some sort of financial services business). They're also in Kuala Lumpur where they have a licence thru the Labuan offshore jurisdiction. One of the Penguin's co-conspirators, Clement Morrison, runs the business in Singapore and lives the expat family high life. So where is the money coming from? Elite Capital Solutions looks like a front for their nefarious activities
Indeed and they also have this web site. http://www.cadoganproperty.com/
We have pics of Clements in Phukey
Thick as thieves or just thick thieves? The "contact us" on the Cadogan Property website shows it has a British Virgin Islands (BVI) address but the telephone number is Singapore. I wonder who will pick up the phone? BVI companies are set up with nominee Directors thereby hiding the beneficial ownership of the company. Also note the disclaimer at the bottom of the home page "Cadogan Property Management Limited does not offer advice on SIPPs direct. We will introduce all interested clients to an FSA authorised firm for this purpose." Anyone smell fish?
Curiously, the Cadogan Property website seems to have disappeared.
Andrew is spot on about these two characters. The Cadogan Property website is up again: http://www.cadoganproperty.com/
These two need to be stoppeed before they destroy anyone elses lives and all this media attention and photo's seem to be helping. From the local phuket forums it seems like some of the expats have had enough of these two.
According to a thread on TV…the penguin got popped in a Rawai bar and ended up flapping on the floor.
I'm sure he regards being "punched out" in a bar in Rawai as an "occupational hazard". I doubt that it will have done anything to put a stop to his nefarious activities or repair the damage he has already done. Something much more serious and within the bounds of the law needs to be done about this man and his co-conspirators, Clement Morrison and Peter Simmons.
I think this cartoon says it all about those 2 gentlemen:
http://desperatehousebuyers.com/2012/05/26/british-gentlemen-are-scamming-old-ladies-in-phuket/