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A Judge nullifies 12 equity release mortgages worth 6 million Euros

Vista de los juzgados de Bilbao en los que se ha llevado el caso.

Source: Diario Sur

The sale was conducted through commission-driven financial advisors based in Estepona, Marbella and Fuengirola.

Court of First Instance 11 in Bilbao has ruled that twelve mortgage loans valued at 6 million Euros, granted to British families mostly in the Malaga province between 2004 and 2007, should be declared void.

The Court dealt with this case as all loans were granted at a Bilbao Notary Public and the representatives of the lender, SL Mortgage Funding nº1 Limited (SLMF), were also based in the Basque city, according to Lawbird Legal Services S.L.P.

These loans were sold to attain a reduction in potential inheritance tax, inasmuch as the mortgage would reduce the taxable value of the property, but also as a means to supplement the modest pensions received by the owners of the properties.

Chester-based SL Mortgage Funding nº1 Limited (SLMF) had not applied for the necessary regulatory permits to legally raise funds from the public and provide an investment service, activities reserved and regulated by the Bank of Spain and the CNMV (financial regulator).

In spite of not having any of the above authorizations, SLMF would lend but at the same time retain most of the proceeds of the loan, which would then be invested by them.

The ruling declares that “infringing the protocols set by the relevant administrative authority to supervise the disputed product is a regulatory violation that exceeds that of a mere breach of banking laws, such as misselling, so profusely dealt with recently in relation to the massive sale of complex financial products.”

The Judge held that in this case, the breach of public policy “is far more serious for it makes a mockery of a whole system of financial and banking supervision designed to prevent abuses to consumers and protect the stability of the sector”, and likens this behaviour “civil fraud”, which is any proposal that contravenes mandatory regulations or has a false or forbidden reason.

The sale of this product was conducted via commission-earning financial advisory firms (Hamiltons Financial Services, Henry Woods Investment Management and others), based in Estepona, Marbella and Fuengirola.

SLMF also recommended a network of lawyers that created an appearance of seriousness, downplaying the extent of the lack of licensing requirements of the bank and the product.

According to Lawbird Legal Services S.L.P., for the claimants, the ruling confirms that operating in breach of mandatory banking and financial regulations makes the suspect a “boiler room”, -even if the company was legally operating in their own country- and allows the victims to rid themselves of a nightmare lasting for over 10 years.

The Judge concludes that the nullity and voidness should be made applicable to all contracts and agreements executed between the clients and the bank, applying the laws of contractual termination in odd fashion –albeit most favourable- as clients “will be able to claim what consideration they gave under the contract without having to return was given to them.”

Other articles:

La Vanguardia

El Economista

Finanzas.com

BREAKING NEWS: BILBAO COURT NULLIFIES 12 SLM MORTGAGE LOANS WORTH 6 MILLION EUROS

Image result for Juzgados de Bilbao

Court 11 in Bilbao has invalidated 12 Equity Release IHT mitigation mortgage loans sold to the public by SL MORTGAGE FUNDING Nº1 LIMITED.

The Court orders the diverse Land Registries to remove the charges with immediate effect and nullifies, alongside, any and all contracts signed by borrowers with the Cheshire-based lender.

In addition, the Court has resolved that borrowers will not have to return any advance payments made by the lender and will be entitled to the return of any disbursements made as a result of these contracts.

The Court found that SL MORTGAGE FUNDING Nº1 LIMITED operated an illegal lending and investment service and likens it to a “civil fraud”, as it did without clearance from the Spanish banking and financial authorities and concludes that the lender deserves the maximum possible penalty, as per article 1306 of the Civil Code.

More to follow.

Rothschild’s Awful Banking Practices Exposed on French Television

It was about time the “Baron’s” infamous banking antics were exposed in his motherland, France. “Envoye Special”, a weekly prime-time show presented from the “Champs Elysses” with the Eiffel Tower as a background, has succeeded in telling the horror inflicted by this man and his company to foreign expats with property in Spain.

Minutes 7.30 and 50.30 refer to the Credit Select mortgages miss-sold in Spain.

 

 

Nordea Bank Luxembourg Exposed on Finnish TV

Remise Chèque Nordea 2012 copy

(Nordea bank giving money to charity whilst they go about their business of cheating pensioners)

Nordea Bank Luxembourg’s tricks have been exposed on the YLE TV, Finland’s national channel.

In the film it can be seen how Mr. Jesper Hertz, managing the Marbella office, declined to comment as he arduously strolled into his office.

You can watch the video here.

Finland YLE television channel to expose Activities of Danske and Nordea Luxembourg Branches

Finnish TV channel have been recently following the activities of Danske Bank International S.A and Nordea Bank S.A. (as well as the Swiss branch) in Spain and to this extent, they traveled to Marbella to film some victims of these highly dishonest individuals.

One of these cowboys is the man on the picture, Jesper Hertz, an expert in cheating customers by advising to take out loans against Spanish properties owned outright by expats so that they can avoid Spanish Inheritance Tax.

The Finnish TV wants to know how come these bank operate with such wildly diverse standards depending on where they are based i.e. Finland, where they preach the highest values of morality, integrity, honesty, compliance with the laws and, on the other hand, Luxembourg and Spain, which are truly tax evasion laboratories.

More to follow.

 

Marbella Mayor & Nordea Bank S.A. Connection

Enlace permanente de imagen incrustada

Nordea Bank Luxembourg has been reported nationally for helping the Mayoress of Marbella, Maria Angeles Muñoz, avoid Spanish Inheritance Taxes.

According to Interviu weekly Nordea Bank S.A., operating from the tax haven of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and through an office in Marbella, sold a tax evasion mortgage to Ms. Muñoz.

This story was originally published by ERVA when it detected that a company owned by the Marbella Mayor and her husband, Crasel Panoramica S.L., had taken out an Equity Release in 2010.

Nordea Bank S.A. has been publicly accused of cheating customers by making them believe that their product is a legal vehicle to avoid IHT, when such a possibility is tantamount to tax fraud.

 

 

 

 

The Mayoress of Marbella Uses Her Right of Rectification

The Mayoress of Marbella has written to the newspapers that published the discovery of an Equity Release contract. In her missive she formally responds to the allegations that the contract was used, as per Nordea Bank S.A. precise indications, to avoid paying taxes and confirms that this is not true and that never intended to pursue such aim.

The recitification can be read in the following link:

http://www.elplural.com/2014/03/05/la-alcaldesa-de-marbella-asegura-que-paga-sus-impuestos-y-niega-haber-contratado-productos-financieros-para-defraudar/

A Company Owned by the Mayoress of Marbella Took Out a Nordea Equity Release

alcaldesa

The Spanish Land Registry has confirmed that a company owned by María Angeles Muñoz and husband Lars Broberg, Crasel Panoramica S.L.,  took out an Equity Release mortgage loan with Nordea Bank S.A., based in Centro Plaza, Marbella.

The mortgage loan capital was €3,100,000 against a property -used as collateral- valued at over 4,5 million Euros.

We cannot confirm whether Lars or María Angeles are keen golfers, the prototypical victims of Jesper Hertz, Nordea Representation Office Manager, but what we do know is that the property was purchased in 2001, and the mortgage loan signed in 2010 (maturing in 2020).

We also know that Nordea Bank S.A. has accurately explained, in a promotional brochure no longer available online since 15 days before the interim hearing in a case against them -for misleading publicity-  (although cached by Google without Nordea IT ‘expert’ expecting it), how to go about the business of cheating the Spanish Tax Office.

These are some of the conclusions that must have convinced the Mayoress to buy this product:

Today’s investor is more likely to have amassed a fortune through personal effort.

 

This booklet has been devised as a basic guide for this new breed of investor and in particular for investors affected by Spanish tax and inheritance legislation.

 

Failure to take sufficient action of Spanish Inheritance Tax (which may be as high as 34%, or even above 80% in certain situations) in the wealth-planning process, may lead to an unexpected and financially unpleasant surprise for the heirs.

 

Fortunately, there are ways of mitigating both the wealth tax and the inheritance tax at the same time, one of which is to take up a mortgage.

 

Borrowers may take up a mortgage loan either at the time of the purchase of a Spanish property or after having owned the property for some time.

 

Clients appreciate our Nordic values – they differentiate us from our competitors.

 

Our Nordic values: integrity, impartiality, honesty, directness, flexibility, commitment, treating clients as individuals, we can make the difference.

 

(We are informed that the Somalian Bankers’ Association has announced a job vacancy for an expert on Nordea values…Jesper can you help?!)

It is suspected that they took out the Nordea flagship ‘international wealth and tax planning’ product , the Capital Managed Plan (CPM).

The Spanish Tax Office warned against using this product to reduce Wealth Tax and more significantly, Inheritance Tax.

The question is thereby one: victims or accomplices of a tax fraud scheme?

If the former, they should report the bank to the authorities and where not, we must conclude that they are suspects of a potential tax fraud situation.

Equity Release Charles ‘Charlie’ Walton shows his teeth

Stars come out for Costa del Sol golf tournamentThe golfing event may be almost 2 years old but it is one of the very few photos, if not the only one, of Charles `Charlie` Walton, the creator of probably the  biggest, most damaging, lie the Costa del Sol has known: the Spanish Equity Release Scheme, and all the diverse spurious variations of the same sold to hundreds of unencumbered property owners.

Charlie Walton, who is now trading in gold (perhaps eager to emulate ‘Sir’ Nigel Goldman) is basically an unregistered unqualified Costa-cowboy who made millions cheating everyone, from pensioners to IFAs, from banks to investment companies, from lawyers to…more lawyers (the manipulated Uria & Menéndez report on equity release springs to mind).

It is simply dumbfounding to contemplate the profesional history of man who boasts having been Sales Director for ‘Premier Group’, a company that for starters, operated illegally in Spain…not without the conniving assistance of turn-a-blind-eye Isle of Man financial regulators.

We shall not end this post without giving out a word of warning: do not do business with this man…until he comes forward to help clean up the mess he and his great lie created.

(Read about Charlie Walton’s recent Golf Game).

 

 

 

 

3 Landsbanki Former Executives Indicted in a Fraud Criminal Investigation

 

 

AFP January 30, 2014 at 17:50

 

Three former executives of the Luxembourg subsidiary of the Icelandic bank Landsbanki were indicted for fraud in Paris, announced Thursday AFP a source close to the case.

 

The court granted prior information on the Icelandic financial crisis of 2008 mortgage was opened in 2009 after complaints from individuals who are victims of this controversial financial product, including Enrico Macias singer.

 

Before the investigation, Judge Renaud van Ruymbeke has already indicted in 2011 Luxembourg subsidiary in bankruptcy for “fraud” and “lack of approval.” The judge placed under judicial supervision with the obligation to pay a deposit of € 50 million, a record amount in France.

 

It is now the men who sold the loan that are covered in a folder at the root of a showdown between the French and Luxembourg justices.

 

In recent weeks, Mr. van Ruymbeke delivered indictments for “scam” of three former executives of the bank: Torben Bjerregaard Jensen, a Danish national, Olle Lindfors, a Swede, and Failly Vincent, a Belgian, according to the source familiar with the matter.

 

Cash-strapped, Landsbanki has offered through its subsidiary in Luxembourg from 2006 to 2008 for individuals to mortgage their homes in exchange for favorable loans.

 

Assembly, complex, meant that the borrower receives a portion of the sum, while the bank reinvested the rest markets. The value of this portfolio would grow to the point of covering all aspects of the loan, which was repayable upon its conclusion.

 

“In this scheme, the bank was never losing,” said another source close to the case, the fraud totaling tens of millions of euros. “If things went well, everyone won. If things went wrong, the bank recovered a house. ”

 

Before the judge, the three men indicted contested that Landsbanki Luxembourg could promise customers that the investment returns would cover all repayments, according to a source close to the investigation.

 

Entering receivables

 

Hundreds of individuals, particularly in the south of France, Spain and Portugal, had signed these loans.

 

But in the wake of the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers bank in September 2008, several Icelandic banks had collapsed, including Landsbanki, which was nationalized in emergency.

 

Consequence of the crisis, the investments offered by Landsbanki Luxembourg have lost much of their value. Moreover, some of these investments were other than obligations of the parent company. Paid once for subscribers to find other means to repay their loans.

 

Where complaints of fraud by these individuals, some of whom have been ruined. They accuse the bank knowingly proposed financial package without checking the repayment capacity of clients.

 

The case is also played in Luxembourg. In bankruptcy, a subsidiary of Landsbanki has assigned its subscribers before the Justice of the Grand Duchy to enforce the loan guarantee-to-sell the mortgaged homes in order to pay its own creditors, chief among them the Central Bank of Luxembourg.

 

In early 2012, the Luxembourg court objected that the liquidator of the subsidiary pays the deposit of € 50 million ordered by the French justice.

 

At the request of the plaintiffs, Judge van Ruymbeke responded by ordering the seizure of mortgages held by the bank on several investors. A decision which has theoretical consequence to prohibit Landsbanki claim to French investors the loan.

 

However, the bank appealed that decision in an appeal that will be reviewed in February by the investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal of Paris.

 

AFP

Source: http://www.liberation.fr/economie/2014/01/30/trois-ex-cadres-de-landsbanki-luxembourg-mis-en-examen-pour-escroquerie_976644

 

 

 

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