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3 Landsbanki Former Executives Indicted in a Fraud Criminal Investigation

31st January 2014 by admin under In The Media     

 

 

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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Rothschild…Dewsnip, Danske, Nykredit and Sydbank mentioned in Parliament

23rd January 2014 by admin under In The Media, Legal Action     

Conservative Treasury minister Sajid Javid has vowed to ask Rothschild about the fate of more tan 100 victims of the Equity Release scam, following Labour MP Huw Irranca-Davies call on the Rothschild bankers to fulfil their “moral responsibility” to people living in fear of “penury”.

Video

Intervention starts at 17:08.

Source: UK Parliament Live TV  | Transcripts

 

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Gathering in Malaga an Absolute Success

11th April 2012 by admin under In The Media     

We can confirm that Monday’s gathering was an absolute success, from a media point of view. Not only has the local press covered it extensively, but also all the large radio stations (Canal Sur, Onda Cero, Cope and Ser) and Canal Sur TV (you may click on the most relevant links below).

With regards to specific purpose of the gathering we must thank the Hacienda staff for facilitating the process of filing the “denuncias”, which was done smoothly and without major problems, providing promptly an electronic sticker receipt. These denuncias will now be processed and grouped presumably under one single case, together with the more comprehensive one filed by Lawbird at the beginning of the event that included extensive tax-defrauding promotional literature (Nordea), website snapshots (now erased from them- Nykredit), instruction manuals (Rothschild), details of unregulated IFAs etc.

We now expect the Tax Office to initiate a full investigation into what is an illicit banking product that promised tax-avoidance and a regular income, but delivered tax-evasion and irreparable financial (and emotional) damage. In particular, the Tax Office would be focusing on the number of contracts signed and whether inheritors of subscribers of these products who have already passed away, would have invoked the mortgage loan charge to reduce the impact of inheritance taxes. We will be in regular touch with Tax Office to provide them any information they may require as and when the investigation is carried forward.

The next stage will now be a denuncia with Bank of Spain, also in their Malaga office. This is also a formal complaint lodge to obtain a ruling condemning these banks for not only inappropriately selling products without any consideration to the individual needs of the customers, but also for deliberately providing false tax information with a view to persuade customers to sign up the products, through scaremongering. We expect the Bank of Spain to act in accordance to EU regulations on the matter as it is this type of behaviour that undermines confidence in the financial services sector.

Note that denuncias with the Bank of Spain will also be lodged individually but grouped by banks, and will comprehend the following:

  • Nature, description and purpose of the product, as was sold.
  • Non-existence of regulatory clearance by the Bank of Spain to sell such product, either by the Bank of Spain or the CNMV (Financial Investment regulator).
  • Non-existence of regulatory clearance to operate in Spain at all (Sydbank for example).
  • Relationships established with Costa del Sol unregulated IFAs to sell the products, notwithstanding the statutory prohibition to do so.
  • Deceitful selling material utilized to persuade pensioners to buy the product.

Unlike the HSBC, which was fined in the UK for gross misconduct in the selling of investment products, the focus will not be only on the inadequacy of the product, but also on the deliberate falsity in respect of the tax angle and the promised returns.

Some media appearances:

 

The ERVA Association

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Expat equity release victims take on banks

18th September 2011 by admin under In The Media     

The directors of action group Equity Release Victims Association stand to lose their homes Photo: Larry Lilac / Alamy

Tempted by the offer of a salary for life and an inheritance tax reduction, organisers of Equity Release Victims Association, Ian Sherdley, 69, and Euan Armstrong, 73, used their Spanish holiday homes as collateral to buy into the equity release schemes.

The schemes were sold by independent financial advisors working the expat communities along the Costa del Sol on behalf of Denmark’s biggest bank Danske Bank and Nordea Bank SA.

They were told that if they took out full mortgages against the value of their Andalucian homes, which were fully paid for, and then gave the money to the bank to invest, their inheritance tax liability would be reduced and they’d receive a small lump sum, as well as a monthly return on the bank’s investment which would cover the cost of the remortgage and provide a small salary.

Mr Sherdley, from Lancashire, and Mr Armstrong, from Scotland, followed the advice only to be later told by their Nordic Banks that the investments had gone badly, the remortgaged money had been lost and their homes suddenly belonged to the banks.

It is thought that there could be hundred of expats in similar positions across Spain and France.

A Spanish court has so far suspended Danske Banks’ foreclosure and repossession order, while a decision as to how the cases will proceed is expected in the near future.

According to Mr Armstrong’s lawyer, Antonio Flores from Lawbird Legal Services, the schemes were mis-sold, bearing in mind it is illegal to knowingly indebt yourself in order to reduce your inheritance tax liability.

He said: “We want to find out exactly how many of the schemes were sold, to who, and on what basis.

“As far as I can gather, retired expats were targeted because they had paid off their mortgages, so could use them as collateral and would be tempted by talk of reduced inheritance tax liability.”

Mr Armstrong added: “We encourage everyone who, like us has been sold one of these schemes to get in touch.

“Do not lie down and take this. These banks are making billions every year with your money.”

A spokesman for Nordea bank said: “We can’t comment, but we can say is that Nordea runs its business in compliance with local laws.”

A spokesman for Danske Bank said: “According to the law we cannot comment on individual customer cases nor questions related to individual customer cases. We have no comment.”

If you have a story to tell about equity release, please contact sean.o’hare@telegraph.co.uk.

Originally published on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/expatproperty/8759583/Expat-equity-release-victims-take-on-banks.html.

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Expats in Spain battle the banks

13th September 2011 by admin under In The Media     

UNITED: Euan Armstrong and Ian Sherdley have joined forces against the banks

Euan Armstrong, who the Olive Press reported is taking Danske Bank to court after it convinced him to use his two million euro Malaga home as collateral, has now teamed up with fellow expat Ian Sherdley, 69, to form the Equity Release Victims Association.
“We are forming an association to prevent these banks from robbing expats of their property by offering a pile of cash as part of an investment plan,” explained Armstrong, 73, who lives in Marbella.
“Equity release is not safe and a loan against the property with the idea of hiding the money in an offshore account or removing the money from the value of the property is certainly illegal in Spain.”
Sherdley, 69, from Lancashire, who is involved in similar scheme with Nordea Bank SA, added: “These banks are just trying to fill their coffers. So now we are working on getting a legal voice to pursue them through the criminal courts.”
The pair are being backed in their venture by lawyer Antonio Flores from the Marbella based firm Lawbird.
“The purpose of the association is to support people through their predicament,” Flores explained.
“Equity release is actually killing people, through such degrees of stress. Their livelihoods are being reduced and in some cases their lifespan.

“We have decided to do something.”

Now Armstrong and Sherdley are calling on other victims – believed to run into the hundreds – to stand up and fight these huge financial institutions.
“We ask everybody to join us who has or is suffering a similar rape and pillage from a Scandinavian Bank,” said Armstrong.
“Do not lie down but stand up and fight them.
“These banks are making billions of euros every year and stealing your money.”
When questioned both banks said they were unable to comment on individual cases.

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