Search result for " cuatrecasas "

Landsbanki Sacks Cuatrecasas Law Firm

13th April 2015 by admin under Legal Action     

Following the revelation that the boss of Landsbanki’s legal team in Spain, Emilio Cuatrecasas, had come under fire from the Spanish Tax Office, Yvette Hamilius decided to pull the plug on them and appoint Plazas Abogados, based in Marbella and Sotogrande.

This move comes as a surprise since Plazas Abogados was one of the legal firms that actively participated, in the years 2005-2008, in the perpetration of this widespread scam.

Plazas Abogados have since confirmed that Landsbanki’s product did not aim to avoid IHT, adding that the bank did not offer the Equity Release product to avoid IHT.

Sadly for Plazas, two different lawyers for Cuatrecasas have argued quite the contrary: that the Equity Release was a popular product to minimize IHT and that this was the main reason why they bought into it (sic).

Read Landsbanki’s Torben Bjerregaard explaining all that needs to be known about IHT (translation required): http://www.sydspanien.dk/article.170.html

 

 

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Legal Action Against Landsbanki Luxembourg, Lex Life Luxembourg S.A. and Offshore Money Managers

25th May 2015 by admin under Legal Action     

LETTER TO LANDSBANKI CUSTOMERS ARE SENT BY FIRM LAWBIRD LEGAL SERVICES

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are due to soon file proceedings against Landsbanki Luxembourg S.A., Lex Life Luxembourg S.A. (and/or its successor) and Offshore Money Managers.

The main reason for the delay in filing has been due to our firm considering, in the light of the content of writs submitted by  Landsbanki Luxembourg, that a claim for misleading advertising should include also excerpts of the cases where Landsbanki lawyers admit –in at least there occasions- that the main reason why this product was offered to the public was as means to -legally- reduce or mitigate Spanish Inheritance Tax.

These crucial undertakings by Landsbanki lawyers indicate that the bank willfully engaged in marketing and selling a bogus tax planning scheme, as confirmed by the Spanish Tax Office in 2013. More so, Landsbanki lawyers confirmed that a brochure explaining the inheritance tax planning was give out to all clients and that this was therefore one of the main reasons, if the principal, for property owners to acquire an Equity Release.

The case is therefore aimed at establishing whether the advertising was truthful or not and where not, from the point of view of an average reader, if the content would have been explicit enough to persuade readers to acquire the Equity Release Scheme. This signals a departure from classic the case argument aimed at establishing misselling of financial investments took place and rather concentrates on the tax mitigation perpective.

It is only through this strategy that we will be able to request that art. 1,306 of the Civil Code is applied to these cases, the only real option to avoid having to repay the draw down if there is a successful outcome.

Article 1,306. If the deed which constitutes the unlawful cause should not constitute a crime or misdemeanour, the following rules shall be observed:

  1. Where both contracting parties are at fault, none of them may recover what he has given pursuant to the contract, or claim the performance of what the other should have offered.
  2. Where only one contracting party is at fault, he may not recover what he has given pursuant to the contract, or demand the performance of what he should have been offered. The other, who was a stranger to the unlawful cause, may claim what he has given, without the obligation to perform what he should have offered.

Along with Landsbanki and the successor of Lex Life, we have decided to issue proceedings against OMM (Offshore Money Managers), a pseudo-IFA who was nonetheless prolific in their advertising efforts to bring customers and banks together.

Finally, the firm Cuatrecasas –no longer acting for Landsbanki or Lex Life- has confirmed in writing that they never contributed or cooperated in providing any tax planning advice, contrary to what Lex-Life advertising stated; this statement automatically renders the advertising untruthful.

With respect to potential foreclosure action by Landsbanki, we will request that the bank is served with an injunction preventing them from enforcing the mortgage loan rights they hold.

Best regards

 

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Former Landsbanki Head Lawyer Pleads Guilty of Tax Evasion

16th April 2015 by admin under Legal Action     

El abogado Emili Cuatrecasas

Emili Cuatrecasas has pleaded guilty to 8 tax-evasion charges and settled with the State Prosecutor: he will serve a 2-year suspended sentence.

Cuatrecasas’ legal opinion was instrumental in the creation of the Landsbanki Equity Release, to the point that the former would refer to them as their cooperators in marketing literature for the Lex-Life Capital Assurance product:

Our product, Lex Life Capital Assurance-Spain, has been developed in cooporation (sic) with the law firm CUATRECASAS (www.cuatrecasas.com), “Best Spanish Firm of the Year 2005, International Law Office”.

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Landsbanki’s Head Lawyer Negotiates with Tax Office to Avoid Prison

5th February 2015 by admin under Legal Action     

Emilio Cuatrecasas, en una foto de archivo

Emilio Cuatrecasas, founder of Cuatrecasas firm, has entered negotiations with the Spanish Prosecution Service and the Tax Office to avoid landing a lengthy prision sentence as part of a plea bargain, according to the web EconomiaDigital.

The case relates to Mr. Cuatrecasas’ tax-creative antics when trying to put personal expenditure (luxury yacht, properties, furniture etc.) as deductible corporate expenses.

Cuatrecasas currently advises tax-evading Landsbanki in Spain.

http://www.economiadigital.es/es/notices/2015/01/cuatrecasas-negocia-con-hacienda-para-evitar-la-carcel-65556.php

 

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Court Voids Foreclosure Action Brought By Nefarious Landsbanki

24th December 2014 by admin under Legal Action     

A San Roque Court has voided an earlier ruling granting Landsbanki the right to proceed with foreclosure action.

Lawyers acting for a victim of the distinctly corrupt Yvette Hamilius have opposed foreclosure proceedings on grounds that these were flawed, obtaining a resolution that sets aside action although, contrary to law in the opinion of lawyers, grants a further 15 days to Landsbanki to redressess the defect.

Lawyers acting for Landsbanki are Madrid-based Cuatrecasas, a firm that assisted both Landsbanki and Lex Life in the launch of the Equity Release and have ever since acted for the rogue company in both civil and criminal actions.

Bizarrely, Cuatrecasas recently vowed to take legal action against the same firms for using their name -allegedly illegally- in the advertising.

Lawyers for Equity Release victims are close to deciding on whether this firm is to be sued together with Landsbanki and Lex Life as a participant in the devising, creation and launch of the consumer-deceiving tax-evading Equity Release product.

A decision in favour of including the large firm could be precipitated by a recent statement made by lawyers acting for Landsbanki in the San Roque Criminal Courts who, in what can be deemed as a totally irresponsible comment, confirmed that the Equity Release is a valid and popular product to reduce IHT in Spain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Second Spanish Law Firm Confirms Lex Life Misled the Public

9th September 2014 by admin under Legal Action     

logo Altraplan

Cuatrecasas, Goncalves Pereira law firm, second by turnover in Spain, has confirmed to lawyers acting for Landsbanki victims that Lex Life and Pensions SA used their name illegally when promoting the Lex Life Capital Assurance in Spain.

According to the deceptive publicity of the ignominious Luxembourg-based company, the named firm had been involved in preparing the sham Equity Release product.

This is the paragraph in question:

Our product, Lex Life Capital Assurance-Spain, has been developed in cooporation (sic) with the law firm CUATRECASAS (www.cuatrecasas.com), “Best Spanish Firm of the Year 2005, International Law Office”.

The advertising also attributed this product the following advantages:

Spanish IHT has a ceiling of 34%, but depending on personal circumstances, the amount can go up by 2.4 times.

The Lex Life Capital Assurance-Spain is an excellent, tax compliant way of mitigating tax exposure and safeguarding inheritance tax.

Cuatrecasas strongly denies any involvement with the above and has confirmed to lawyers acting for the victims that they are considering legal action against the company, or their successors.

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Landsbanki Misleading Advertising Case Due to be Filed

19th June 2014 by admin under Legal Action     

Lawyers acting for Landsbanki victims are due to file a misleading publicity case against Landsbanki Luxembourg S.A., Lex Life and Pensions S.A. and Offshore Money Managers Correduría de Seguros S.L.

The case is based on the extensive fraudulent publicity that all three entities issued when offering the product known as ‘SITRA’ (Spanish Inheritance Tax Reduction Scheme), ‘Capital Insurance’ or ‘Equity Release‘.

According to the documentation that lawyers hold, the following has been established:

  • The product was devised as a means to reduce, or eliminate completetely, Spanish IHT. We now know this is not only untrue, as it proposes customers to defraud the Spanish Tax Office.
  • The product was also designed to potentially produce an income, it being the difference between the return on the invested asset, minus charges and expenses, and the cost of servicing the loan. This was just one possibility, the other more likely one being total loss.
  • The advertising stresses prominently the benefits of the product but omits the risks involved -or if at all features these in small print- namely the loss of the property and further. 

Landsbanki was extremely successful in attracting new customers by using its main feature: reduction of Spanish Inheritance Tax. Lex Life & Pensions did too.

And Lex Life & Pensions used the name top Spanish firm Cuatrecasas to push sales, by admitting the following:

this product has been ellaborated in conjunction with top law firm Cuatrecasas

Lawyers are awaiting a formal response to a letter sent to Cuatrecasas but we can anticipate the response: “we deny any involvement and do not want to know anything about this product”

The case is to be filed with Courts in Malaga and will focus on the defendants’ advertising.

As for the role of OMM, its responsibility is two-fold:

  • Active participation in the promotion and marketing of the product, generously remunerated with an introduction commission and further, by receiving regular trail commissions (as is the case with Jyske bank too).
  • Attribution of joint responsibility to any media outlet used to promote and market a particular product or service (rulings by Madrid Appeal Court rulings 17/6/2008 and 30/9/2009).

A case for misleading publicity narrows down the scope of the dispute as it confines the Judge to rule on whether the advertising is/isn’t misleading, without giving any room for further interpretation (i.e. namely misselling: whether customers could and should have sought further advice, whether they were savvy investors or suitable for the product, whether it was a high risk speculative product known to the public etc.).

OMM has declined to come forward to assist claimants, ignoring letters from lawyers inviting them to participate in this case as witnesses, and yet their fraudulent advertising is still today available to the public.

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