A recent ruling by the Appeal Court of Bilbao -confirming an earlier ruling by the Court of First instance-is to set the ground for future cases on the so-called Equity Release mortgage loans. Three Judges in the Basque High Court have ruled that banks -and by extension any other financial services company- that do not have a valid operating license will see their agreements declared null and void, be it mortgage loans, investment contracts or any other.
In late 2014, 20 pensioners (mostly British) bought an action to set aside 12 equity release mortgage loans -worth 6 million euros- against SLM, a Cheshire-based lender. The lender had not secured the mandatory regulatory license although they did warn they had no license to operate in Spain as, according to them, they were only providing lending for customers seeking to raise cash on their homes.
Now, the Bilbao Appeal Court has said the warning was no ‘mitigating’ factor because it misled the claimants into believing that the loan they were sold was financially secure when, in fact, most of it was invested via unregulated Isle of Man-based-dubious Premier-Group.
The relevance of the ruling, which brings an end to the suffering of the victims of this scam, is twofold: it nullifies contracts issued by unregulated companies and it fully endorses the allegations of the claimants that the widely publicized Inheritance Tax benefits were false, emphasizing that such conduct is deceitful and fraudulent.
It is believed that defunct Luxembourg-based Landsbanki Bank had lent a staggering 100 million euros in Spain to reduce death duties that thankfully will be difficult to recoup, whilst Rothschild Group could be set to lose 40 million Euros.
Great news……
Congratulations to all SLM victims. It has taken some 9 years to get to this stage, but worth it in the end. Hopefully the Courts of First Instance will take this on board and uphold this very important and ground breaking ruling
Congratulations to all SLM victims caught up in this scam. Hopefully the Courts of First Instance will take this on board and rule accordingly against any bank or financial institution tha5 have peddled their products in Spain
More good meals for the cause. Hopefully the Courts will now take this ruling on board.
This is wonderful news about the court’s decision.We wish all the poeple who have been caught up in this scam the very best in the future.
This is great news, and very reassuring that we will not all end up with huge mortgages to repay. However, I’m not sure that I can see those losses for Rothschilds. The “investment” funds were not lost (a), they were recovered by Rothchilds, along with even some little interest gained on the amount invested. If the courts rule that any cashbacks must be returned to them by their victims as well (b), they will have pretty much all of their money (c) returned to them.
In my particular case :
(c) = 495.000
(b) = 30.000
(a) = 440.000
Rothschilds losses merely being a tax-deductable €25.000.
The real winners are the “IFA”‘s, and the real losers are still the victims, who will apparently receive no compensation at all for their 11 years of living hell of worry and stress, and now need to find the cashback money. This will probably mean the property will have to now be sold. This is hardly a fair enough ruling I have to feel, as it does not leave the victim in the position he was in before the fraud took place, as he will not end up with the sale value of his property as he would have before. The cashbacks should not have to be returned to correct this in my opinion.
To:- A ROTHSCHILD VICTIM
Your comments about the “winners” being so-called “IFAs” are totally valid.
The vast majority of these con merchants were not licenced, qualified, regulated or registered, they were bogus opportunists only interested in the huge commissions paid to them by the Premier Group and others involved in the scam. Many were recruited by Mr Charles Walton (a Premier director) who never examined (or deliberately ignored) their credentials – the Premier Group then represented them to the public (in writing) as “professional financial advisors”.
These greedy slicksters knew nothing about financial products and everything about how to trick people into either losing their houses or transferring their life savings directly to the Premier Group.
The Premier Group refuse to disclose how much commission was received by their “assistants” – maintaining this secrecy by paying them via a shell entity registered in the British Virgin Islands, a company which never produces any accounts. Over the years the Premier Group transferred £millions to this company where the money just disappeared into thin air.
The slicksters have now all vanished and it is highly doubtful that any of them paid any tax to the Spanish Inland Revenue (La Hacienda) on earnings accrued in Spain – or more accurately, the proceeds of crime.
Yep. These are the real “winners” and they will probably escape!
To:- A ROTHSCHILD VICTIM
Your comments about the “winners” being so-called “IFAs” are totally valid.
The vast majority of these con merchants were not licenced, qualified, regulated or registered, they were bogus opportunists only interested in the huge commissions paid to them by the Premier Group and others involved in the scam. Many were recruited by Mr Charles Walton (a Premier director) who never examined (or deliberately ignored) their credentials – the Premier Group then represented them to the public (in writing) as “professional financial advisors”.
These greedy slicksters knew nothing about financial products and everything about how to trick people into either losing their houses or transferring their life savings directly to the Premier Group.
The Premier Group refuse to disclose how much commission was received by their “assistants” – maintaining this secrecy by paying them via a shell entity registered in the British Virgin Islands, a company which has never produced any accounts. Over the years the Premier Group transferred £millions to this company where the money just disappeared into thin air.
The slicksters have now all vanished and it is highly doubtful that any of them paid any tax to the Spanish Inland Revenue (La Hacienda) on earnings accrued in Spain – or more accurately, the proceeds of crime.
Yep. These are the real “winners” and they will probably escape!
More information for the “victim” …
The equity/money “released” from mortgaging unsuspecting victim’s homes in illegal “equity release schemes”, was bequeathed to investment funds which were worse than a heap of crxp.
Any donkey could administer an investment fund better than the Isle of Man based Premier Group: and the huge fees charged by these funds, combined with substantial, undisclosed commissions paid to the unregistered and unqualified spivs posing as “financial advisors”, added up to nearly 20% of the value of the “released equity” – resulting in only 80% of the money finding its way into incurably funds where it was expected to “work” as if it was 100%.
Ethical practice necessitates the incremental write-off of these fees over a five year period – and not their deduction on the first day. But then ethics and integrity were not a part of the SITIRs marketing plan which was focused on acquiring the equity contained in pensioner’s homes and gumming it into zombie funds which were principally intended to enrich the fund managers and various parasites and sycophants – but rarely the “investor” whose house had been mortgaged.
When the spivs told innocent people/pensioners that relocating visible assets from property (which is assessable for Spanish inheritance tax) to some (dodgy) investment fund based in the Isle of Man would excuse any tax liability they were telling porkies. Worse than that! They were assisting in committing a criminal offence!
So regardless of “your particular case”… . you have been conned and to discover how this trick is now unravelling you should continue to watch these pages!
To mariamadrid. I don’t think there’s any victims that don’t already know all the facts you’ve posted. We all know we’ve been conned of course, we’ve known that for over eleven years. The judges are not compensating the victims as they should though in my opinion, – that is my point.
To mariamadrid. I don’t think there’s any victims that don’t already know all the facts you’ve posted. We all know we’ve been conned of course, we’ve known that for over eleven years. The judges are not compensating the victims as they should though in my opinion, – that is my point.
To mariamadrid. Further to my above comments, I don’t understand the logic of your last paragraph. If I wasn’t watching these pages, I wouldn’t have posted here surely ?
To mariamadrid. Further to my above comments, I don’t understand the logic of your last paragraph. If I wasn’t watching these pages, I wouldn’t have posted here surely ?
To Rothschild victim
No offence intended and I apologise if the remarks were taken as such.
Sure we (mostly elderly people) were all conned, the trouble is that other people still deny it and, as you remarked in your original post, many of us may not be restored to the position we were in before the fraud took place.
Events are still unfolding and the campaign will continue until justice is finally obtained.
Love maria
Out if interest, who are the other people who still deny we were conned.?
Surely not victims.
Merry Christmas and a happier year to all. Stay healthy and this will go away
There is a law in Spain that says that monies paid in cases of deliberate fraud do not have to be returned to the defrauder by the defauded, so I can’t see why do many victims have been told that they need to repay the cashbacks that they received. Something’s not quite right here. Although the mortgages have been annulled, the above law should have been applied surely. This is still apart from any compensation for a victim of financial grand fraud.
Your right there is a law in Spain about monies that can not be paid back. When a loan
is not returned within 5 years in Spain it will be annulled. Not one Lawyer has mentioned this fact. And like you things certainly not quite right here.
Dear David,
I am afraid that your understanding of the Law about loan is not correct, loans are not annulled if not repaid within 5 years, but within 15 years and it is enough if the lender sends you a formal notification before the 15 year period expires to make the validity of the loan to continue and request the full repayment.
Can I ask what the situation now is regarding selling a property?
I’ve been out of the loop since 2010 when I left Spain but now my ex-husband has returned to England as he had to have his leg amputated and wants to sell the property to existing tenants. Though we’re now divorced I’m still on the escritura.
Having lost all our property through the scam he’s now in sheltered housing and has only been given one year’s tenancy and housing benefit because of the house in Spain.
Neither of us has any funds for solicitors.
Dear Linda,
Please email us for further details on your case, when you say that you have lost your property, do you mean it has been repossessed? You can email us directly at info@erva.es