A very worried Old Mutual International Isle of Man has lost its bid to have the Spanish Courts deny jurisdiction to judge the illegality of the “Executive Investment Bond”, as reported by the El Confidencial online newspaper., despite an anti-suit injunction issued against the claimants in Spain, their lawyers and any other person that was made aware of the injunction to coerce them into dropping the case in the Mediterranean country.

A great post on this breakthrough event can be read on Angie Brooks’ latest blog post.

Below is an online translation of the article, as published yesterday.

The tiny Isle of Man challenges Spain: jail for suing its firms in Marbella

A judge threatens to imprison an expatriate couple who have filed a Court case on the Costa del Sol to recover a failed investment. The threat can be extended to lawyers and court staff. 

Photo: The Isle of Man, photographed from the satellite by Google Maps.

RAFAEL MÉNDEZ

TAGSMARBELLA

READING TIME5 ‘

23.04.2018 – 05:00 H.

The Isle of Man is a small ‘offshore’ territory between Ireland and England. It does not belong to the EU, but to the United Kingdom, which provides defense and foreign policy. Despite having only 75,000 inhabitants, it has shown pride. At least one of its judges, who has threatened a group of British retirees who sue in Marbella against one of their companies, Old Mutual Isle of Man, which they accuse of tricking them with a complex financial product – another one – sold to retirees Britons on the Costa del Sol. According to the judge, if they go ahead in Spain, they face imprisonment or seizure of their property in the United Kingdom, and so do their lawyers and even the court staff.

The Costa del Sol is the paradise for British scams. Tens of thousands of expatriates live in its bubble, without knowing the Spanish language or laws, and often trust compatriots and their financial products. Some have suffered the rigor of the Spanish pickax, others hired reverse mortgages with Rothschild who have ended up in court and others left their savings in the hands of Naughty Nigel, a rogue poker player who said investing in an eye bag with an eagle eye .. There are countless examples.

The Costa del Sol is the paradise for British scams. Tens of thousands of expatriates live in its bubble, without knowing the language or the laws

Others invested in Old Mutual Isle of Man, an insurance company that sold them a complex financial product from Man, an offshore territory with thousands of companies. When the investment went bad, they resorted to the Spanish courts, which have condemned banks and financial companies to return the money as soon as it was proven that the client’s level was that of an average investor.

So did an expatriate couple, journalist and physiotherapist, based in Marbella. On July 31 last, they filed a lawsuit claiming the nullity of life insurance with Old Mutual in a court in Marbella. His lawyer, Juan Martínez Soler, Lawbird office in Marbella, argued that the Isle of Man is not EU territory and although the contract stipulated that the differences would be resolved there, that clause is null, as many abusive in these contracts.

In the lawsuit they argued that Old Mutual was never authorized in Spain to operate as an insurance agent despite offering them from an office in Marbella through mediators such as AFS Europe Alliance. According to the document, “the information available to the public regarding the authorizations to operate in Spain is objectively false.” ASF Europe Alliance, which traded them, is registered as an advertising company, but neither the CNMV nor the general insurance directorate had evidence of them, as the plaintiffs put it.

They had contracted in 2011 a policy called ‘executive investment bond’, a life policy in which, when the insured dies, the beneficiaries of the insurance receive the investment plus 1%. In total, he invested 688,000 pounds sterling (about 780,000 euros), from which he withdrew 490,000 pounds, for which he claims the 198,000 pounds (207,000 euros) that he lacks. In the lawsuit, the investors maintain that they do not come to appreciate how Old Mutual moved money – that would be “how to try to establish the malpractice of a false surgeon” – but that it did not have any permission to operate in Spain. They claim that the contract was abusive, by imposing a judge on the Isle of Man and not in Marbella to settle the disputes.

In addition, the insurance law establishes that “contracts made by unregistered entities, such as Old Mutual in Spain, will be null and void”. The Marbella court admitted the claim and the slow pilgrimage of these things began. Until then, it would be another case of British claiming on the Costa del Sol money lost in strange offshore investments (there are Danish banks and companies based in Gibraltar in similar lawsuits).

The insurance law establishes that “contracts made by unregistered entities will be null and void”

But last January the script took an unexpected turn. Old Mutual filed its own brief in a court of the Isle of Man to stop the legal proceedings in Spain. And they gave them the reason. On January 31, the high court of the IBut last January the script took an unexpected turn. Old Mutual filed its own brief in a court of the Isle of Man to stop the legal proceedings in Spain. And they gave them the reason. On January 31, the high court of the Isle of Man issued a criminal warning advising the marriage that, if they followed their suit in Spain, they could be convicted “for contempt, being imprisoned, fined or having their property seized.”

Not only that, but the judge warned that the same could happen to “any other person knowing this order helps” the plaintiffs. Ultimately, this also applies to Spanish Justice personnel. “It’s absurd, the Isle of Man threatening the Spanish court with criminal actions, it’s never seen”; reasons Antonio Flores, director of Lawbird. The Marbella court is now analyzing the jurisdiction over the case.

A spokesman for Old Mutual said via e-mail that they are not trying to dissuade anyone from the lawsuit, but that it should be done on the Isle of Man: “Old Mutual International is not trying to prevent the lawsuits from continuing.” The lawsuit only affects where the lawsuit should look , and the high court of the Isle of Man has ordered it to be on the Isle of Man. Any subsequent risk arises from the continued refusal to comply with a Supreme Court order.This rejection is regrettable, but has nothing to do with Old Mutual International “