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Clients sue resorts boss in Madrid

November 27th, 2011
Story by Fergal MacErlean | Sunday Times

The property developer Darragh MacAnthony is facing a criminal investigation in Spain after dozens of former customers complained that furniture they bought from one of his firms never materialised.

MacAnthony Realty International (MRI) developed resorts in several countries and sold furniture packs to clients, 50 of whom filed a claim in Madrid in June. This group of Irish and British investors and buyers claim that €492,000 worth of furniture, ordered more than five years ago for apartments in Morocco, Bulgaria and Cape Verde, was never delivered.

Under Spanish law, members of the public are entitled to initiate criminal procedure in some cases. The complaint was referred to a court in Marbella, where it was recently accepted.

A judge will hear evidence from the claimants in January, then decide whether MacAnthony and five other defendants should face charges of “misappropriation of funds and theft by swindle”.

Antonio Flores, the group’s Spanish lawyer, claims “many other” MRI customers are affected. He alleges that missing furniture is just one of the irregularities linked to MRI, or related companies such as MRI Overseas Property. Flores says that he is preparing a further claim, totalling €15m, on behalf of 200 Irish and British MRI customers.

MRI has consistently denied any allegations of wrongdoing. In relation to undelivered furniture, the company has said the 2008 property crash forced several of its furniture suppliers out of business and it had to engage new ones — effectively paying twice for the same furniture order. But Flores claims at least two companies “were driven into insolvency by the ripple in the supply chain caused by MacAnthony”.

MRI, headquartered in Marbella, became a giant in the holiday-home market prior to the global property crisis and made the 35-year-old Dubliner a multi-millionaire. It had hundreds of Irish customers.

Among the claimants are John and Muriel Andrews from Ballycarry, Co Antrim. After talking to MRI at a Belfast holiday-home exhibition in 2006, the Andrews paid deposits on two apartments on the west African archipelago of Cape Verde. “Everything seemed to go well until a phone call from Global Home Services — a branch of MRI — who said we should buy their furniture if we wanted to be ready to rent our apartments,” said Andrews, 62, a retired doctor.

The couple say they paid €29,900 ion advance for two furniture packs, which were never delivered, and €895 for a lifetime after-sales service to cover “snagging” and other items. Problems then emerged, starting with a construction delay. Andrews said: “I kept emailing the furniture department and was being told the furniture would be delivered. In the autumn the MRI website announced furniture ordered over a year previously could be destroyed without compensation.”

The Andrews say they asked MRI to “snag” their apartment but were referred to Solutions Overseas property consultants, which told them the service would cost another €900. Solutions Overseas was registered to MacAnthony’s brother-in-law, Wayne Mottley. He is the husband of Wendy MacAnthony, who fronted MRI’s television-marketing campaigns, which was listed at a Marbella address two doors from MRI.

In 2005, MRI’s recommended mortgage providers Capital Financial Partners (CFP) was transferred from the sole administration of Darragh MacAnthony to Mottley. CFP was also registered to the same Costa del Sol street.

MacAnthony, the chairman of Peterborough United football club, didn’t reply to questions from The Sunday Times last week regarding either the companies recommended by MRI or the allegations of wrong-doing. Mottley did not return calls.

MacAnthony has previously said: “There are no foundations behind these allegations. I certainly didn’t do anything wrong and neither did anyone with MRI when I was there.”

He also said: “I operated a company which did thousands of sales around the world with many happy clients, but will forever be haunted by the few hundred for which it didn’t work out.”

Documents

Estos son los abogados que defienden a las ancianas y vencen a la banca

November 25th, 2011
Story by Alejandra Abad | El Confidencial

¿Denunciar al banco que me ha dejado en la ruina? “Imposible, la banca siempre gana…” Es el pensamiento más generalizado entre quienes sufren abusos por parte del sistema financiero, el de quienes descubren con amargura  que en su día no leyeron –o no comprendieron bien- el contrato que firmaron y ahora se han quedado sin ahorros o sin casa.

Lo de la letra pequeña, ya se sabe, suele esconder sorpresas desagradables, sobresaltos que en el caso del ámbito financiero conllevan enormes disgustos. Así le ocurrió a una octogenaria valenciana que invirtió –siguiendo el consejo de su entidad, la CAM- en bonos del banco de inversión Lehman Brothers. A pesar de las reiteradas advertencias de la anciana avisando de que no quería arriesgar sus ahorros (134.395 euros), la firma la convenció para que realizara esa inversión y ella terminó perdiendo el dinero.

Esta anciana tenía una amiga que había ganado un caso contra Bankinter por una inversión ruinosa en un banco islandés y decidió recurrir a su mismo abogado para plantarle cara a la CAM. Y ganó. Ambas han sido las primeras sentencias firmes dictadas en sus respectivos ámbitos en España.

Ese abogado, Jaime Navarro, explica a El Confidencial cómo los bancos “te hacen firmar contratos detalladísimos, de 40 o 50 folios”, cuando se pide un préstamo y sin embargo, cuando se trata de realizar inversiones “sólo te dan una o dos hojas de información, un miserable documento que no habla de nada”.

En su opinión, esta “desigualdad clamorosa” supone una injusticia, “máxime cuando los bancos han recibido ayudas públicas” y pone en evidencia la “lamentable” actitud de la banca para con sus clientes. Un sector que además no quiere ni oír hablar de pactos amistosos y ante el acercamiento de los abogados muestra una “cerrazón total” y una gran “prepotencia”.

Navarro no lucha en solitario contra los abusos de las entidades financieras.Antonio Flores Vila, abogado del despacho Law Bird de Marbella, ha impulsado una querella criminal ante la Audiencia Nacional contra diez bancos internacionales por delitos de estafa y defraudación contra la Hacienda pública, de los que habrían sido víctimas unas ochocientas personas en España.

Pensionistas asustados por su banco

Las presuntas infracciones que se le imputan a estas entidades bancarias (escandinavas, suecas y británicas) son delitos continuados de publicidad engañosa, estafa, defraudación contra la hacienda pública, y falsedad ideológica en documento público. Como explica el propio Flores a El Confidencial, estos bancos se dedicaban a “asustar” a los pensionistas ingleses diciéndoles, entre otras cosas, que el impuesto de patrimonio español es “extorsionador” e “‘insolidario”, para justificar que sus hipotecas inversas fueran trasladadas a paraísos fiscales (principalmente Luxemburgo).

“A algunos de nuestros clientes les han ‘perdido’ hasta el 80% de su inversión, eso no lo consigue ni Madoff robando”, denuncia Flores, que se confiesa “más cómodo” trabajando “del lado del consumidor”.

En la misma línea trabaja Juan Ignacio Navas, co-fundador del despacho Navas & Cusí y cuya especialidad es desde hace años “la vigilancia de códigos de conducta en las entidades financieras”. Él cree que la falta de información por parte de los bancos hacia sus clientes es, más que una mala praxis, una conducta bastante extendida que consiste en “no ser totalmente conscientes de su deber de información”.

Los principales errores atribuibles a la actitud general de la mayoría de los bancos son, en su opinión, el de omisión de información sobre los posibles riesgos, del deber de transparencia y la falta de diligencia en el cuidado de los intereses de los clientes, aunque él cree que se ha incurrido en ellos “sin ánimo de hacer daño”.

La banca también pierde

Navas recuerda que “en muchas ocasiones es el banco el que pierde”. “En el caso de que sea incorrecta la actividad de intermediación de los bancos, éstos pagan sus errores, y eso les puede salir muy caro”.

Y más ahora que parece que la gente empieza a ser más consciente de sus derechos. Muchos de los clientes extranjeros del despacho marbellí, cuenta Flores, se sentían engañados y se preguntaban cómo no se habían dado cuenta del fraude antes de perder sus ahorros. Las ancianas a las que defiende Navarro se sentían desamparadas ante el gigante financiero, como David contra Goliat.

Pero a la vista está que es posible ganar, y que “si se tiene razón hay que luchar porque si no, nunca cambiarán las cosas”, confirma el abogado. “Ahora que hay varias sentencias firmes y están teniendo algo de eco mediático, esperemos que la gente se desprenda de ese temor reverencial que tiene la sociedad a los bancos. Hay que pensar que se puede ganar”, zanja.

Para ello Navarro ha redactado una guía dirigida a aquellos que se encuentran algo perdidos pero están dispuestos a “exigir responsabilidad a las entidades bancarias que sí tienen obligación de dar debida cuenta de la gestión de su dinero”.

La primera recomendación de la mayoría de los expertos es la de intentar negociar con el banco, aunque, dado que hasta ahora este abogado no ha tenido “ningún éxito en los intentos de acuerdos amistosos”, es muy probable que el cliente que se sienta injustamente tratado tenga que recurrir, efectivamente, a esta guía y a los servicios de un letrado.

51 expats summoned to give evidence in MacAnthony probe in Spain

November 18th, 2011
The Olive Press

The British and Irish victims will tell a judge at Marbella court how MacAnthony’s company MRI failed to deliver over half a million euros of furniture to them.
Judge Juan Carlos Palma Diaz is investigating whether the Peterborough Chairman should face charges of ‘fraud’.
“The claimants have been ordered to come to Spain as the judge wants to depose them, together,” explained lawyer Antonio Flores, who is representing the claimants.
“It is an exceptional request and a special room to fit them all is going to have to be arranged.

“This is bad news for MacAnthony,” explained the boss of company Lawbird.
“The next step is to see if he wishes to settle.”

The alleged victims – who filed a claim in Madrid in June – accuse MacAnthony, 35, of keeping 600,000 euros which they paid for furniture packages for homes in Bulgaria, Turkey and Morocco.

MacAnthony faces legal action alongside his former chief executives Michael Liggan and Dominic Pickering for ‘theft by swindle and misappropriation of funds’.

All three have consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The hearing is set to take place in January 2012.

Expats take on Rothschild over equity release schemes

November 16th, 2011
Story by Sean O'Hare | The Telegraph

A launch party for the equity release product hosted by Rothschild bank and unregulated IFA Henry Wood

It represents a test case for at least 800 British pensioners across France, Spain and Portugal who bought into equity release schemes in the belief that by remortgaging their properties and allowing the money to be invested offshore, their children’s inheritance tax liability would be mitigated while they would receive a lump sum and a regular investment return to cover the new mortgage.

According to Mr Flores it is illegal to knowingly indebt oneself by remortgaging one’s property in order to invest offshore and mitigate Spain’s inheritance tax, and as a result the equity release product should never have been sold.

For the expats represented by Mr Flores, their offshore investments have depreciated in value and the banks, including Denmark’s biggest bank Danske Bank and Nordea Bank SA, are threatening to repossess homes used as collateral against the loans.

The lawyer acting on behalf of the British expat pensioners, Antonio Flores of Lawbird Legal Services, has taken the case to the Madrid’s Audiencia Nacional, or high court, alleging that his clients were duped by unregulated financial advisors who worked in conjunction with the ten banks, of which the majority are Nordic.

He has asked for the application of all equity release contracts to be suspended and an investigation into the legality of the product and the role of the banks to be started.

It remains to be seen if the recent decision made in a separate case by a Malaga high court judge who ordered Icelandic bank Landsbanki to return a British couple’s home, clear their debts and pay €25,000 in compensation will set the precedent.

“Of course, the high rates of inheritance tax in Spain are a major concern to expat British pensioners and these so-called financial advisors,” Mr Flores told Telegraph Expat, “many of whom were unregulated, took advantage of this concern and misled them.

“One firm of international financial advisors in particular, Henry Woods, has been on the equivalent of Spain’s FSA blacklist since 2003 for providing investment services without authorisation, yet British bank Rothschild appeared alongside the firm in sales literature and at promotional parties at hotels (pictured) in which pensioners were invited along to learn about these equity schemes.”

While Guernsey-based NM Rothschild & Sons accepts it provided loans to a number of pensioners to fund the remortgaging of their homes and the investment in offshore funds, it has distanced itself from the advisors who brokered the equity release schemes.

A spokesman for Rothschild said: “Rothschild is confident that the Spanish courts will agree that there has been no wrongdoing on its part in relation to allegations being made against a number of banks by a lawyer in Spain.

“Whilst Rothschild has previously provided loans to a number of Spanish property owners its role was as a lender only. The bank had no part in providing investment or tax advice to borrowers. The borrowers were advised by their IFAs in Spain, who received no commission from the bank.”

Ex-pats in Spain sue banks for alleged fraud

November 16th, 2011
Story by Jennifer Leighfield | Euroweekly News

A LAWSUIT has been launched against 10 foreign banks in Spain for alleged fraud, according Spanish dailyABC reports.

The banks, eight of them Scandinavian, allegedly made their retired clients who resided on the Costa del Sol believe that in Spain, if someone dies without a mortgage on their home, the inheritance tax is so high that the heirs would never be able to pay.

Marbella law firm Lawbird is representing more than 25 clients on the Costa del Sol and Alicante area who have taken their case against the banks to the National Court for fraud, misleading advertising, tax fraud amounting to around €50 million and document falsification.

The alleged scam was in operation between 2004 and 2008, and it is estimated that some 800 people could have fallen for it.

Some 17 bank managers and false financial agents will face charges if the case goes ahead.

When the potential victims bought a home, they were contacted by financial advisors who then put them in touch with the banks, which offered to lend them an amount almost identical to the value of their homes and the loan was signed.

The money (up to €250 million from all affected clients) was then sent to Luxembourg, being a tax haven, while the clients were assured that if it was there, their heirs would have no problem inheriting.

The clients would only receive part of the money but thought the rest would be safe until they died.

However, they were later contacted by the bank to inform them that their investment was not producing the financial gains expected and that they would have to cover the losses. After that, their mortgaged houses were due to be repossessed by the banks, although two have been prevented by Malaga courts.

Tax fraud threatens homes of retired foreign residents

November 11th, 2011
Story by Mónica Perez | Sur in English

Euan Armstrong is British, 74 years old and lives on the Costa del Sol. After living here for many years he says his only link he has with Britain is his passport. Mr Armstrong is about to lose his home, a house in which he invested his life savings when he first moved to Spain. He has had to go back to work to try and pay off his debts which have resulted from a fraud into which he, and around 800 people across Spain were drawn, it is called a Foreign Reverse Mortgage, a product that has nothing to do with the Reverse Mortgages available in Spain (hipoteca inversa).

«The Foreign Reverse Mortgage had a speculative element, it invited foreign pensioners to defraud the Tax Office.” explains Antonio Flores, a solicitor from Lawbird Legal Services who is representing 20 cases on the Costa del Sol. The scam was headed by foreign banks and financial advisors, the majority of them Danish, who had been working in Spain for several years, many of them, according to Flores, without authorisation of the CNMV (National Market Securities Commission).

Their objective was to raise large amount s of money which was then invested in tax free havens like Luxembourg and the Channel Islands. The victims were established retired foreigners from the Costa del Sol to the Costa Blanca and in the Balearic and Canary Islands who were offered the possibility of a mortgage for more than the value of their home. The money would then be invested outside Spain, preferably Luxembourg, and they could live off the comfortable cushion that that would provide. ”The victims were sent leaflets saying: that the Spanish Tax office charged abusive amounts of tax and warning of the high inheritance tax, of 70 – 80 per cent that would be due on their properties if they did not have a mortgage, said Flores.

It is estimated that between 2004 and 2009 about 800 contracts were signed in Spain, with a Spanish notary. According to Antonio Flores, the money was invested in stocks and shares which in a very short time started to lose money.  In Euan Armstrong’s case his house was valued at one million euros and he has lost 80 per cent. Ian Sherdley who was also affected by the scam, has lost two of the four million euros which his house was valued at. The solicitors acting for the affected home owners have said that it is very worrying that the banks and financial companies involved tried to defend the tax fraud by issuing “specific guides on how retired foreigners could increase their wealth in Spain”. Nearly all the financial agents involved in the fraud have already left the country.

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Victims of illegal equity release scam in Spain take the banks to court

November 10th, 2011
Story by Wendy Williams |

As reported in the Olive Press, victims of illegal equity release schemes formed the Equity Release Victims Association in September to put a stop to Scandinavian banks ‘robbing’ expats of their property.

Now, a group of some 25 foreign residents, backed by Antonio Flores from the Marbella based firm Lawbird, have filed a lawsuit in the High Court in Madrid for the crimes of fraud and false advertising.

Moreover they are appealing for the ‘illegal’ contracts – taken out between 2004 and 2008 – to be declared null and void.

“This scheme is criminal,” explained Flores.

“I can see how much people are suffering from it. It is seriously damaging their health and eroding their well-being, and it has absolutely got to finish.

“These people are at a time in their life when you can’t make money, you only have what you have and these banks have taken that away.

“As far as the banks are concerned it was a very lucrative contract. They took a commission every time they switched stock and made money even if it lost.

“But the way they sold it was completely illegal and it was reckless and careless,” he added.

It comes after foreign banks, mostly Scandinavian, convinced predominately retired foreigners to take out ‘predatory mortgages’ on their homes at a value way above the level of the official appraisal.

Victims were lured in by the false hope they could reduce inheritance tax for their loved ones – who would eventually be liable to pay Spain’s top rate of 34 per cent – and enjoy a salary for life by investing in financial havens such as Luxembourg.

But the scam – which could have as many as 600 victims and it estimated at a staggering 250 million euros – has left many of them penniless.

“Equity release is not safe and a loan against the property with the idea of hiding the money in an offshore account is certainly illegal in Spain,” explained Euan Armstrong, 74, the association Chairman and a victim of the scam.

“We must stop these banks stealing our money.”

Hundreds of foreign residents could lose their homes after mortgage scam in Spain

November 9th, 2011
Story by h.b. | Typically Spanish
A group of some twenty foreign residents of the Costa del Sol have denounced a fraud under which they could lose their homes. They have formed a platform to denounce a mortgage fraud which had the objective of getting large amounts of money which was then invested in financial havens such as Luxembourg or the Channel Islands.

There were foreign victims, mostly all retired, along the entire Spanish coastline and on the islands, from the Costa del Sol to the Costa Blanca, Baleares and Canaries.

The scam was headed by foreign banks and foreign financial advisors, nearly all from Denmark, who had been working for some years in Spain, many without the correct authorisation of the National Commission for Market Values. They told the foreigners purchasing property that they had to get a mortgage as otherwise they would be hit with high Spanish taxes.

The sales patter for these inverted mortgages claimed that residents’ homes were in danger from the Spanish taxman, claiming Spain would claim between 70 or 80% in succession tax. In effect the scheme invited the foreigners to defraud the Spanish Hacienda tax authorities.

The lawyer representing those affected in Málaga, Antonio Flores, from Lawbird in Marbella, said the victims signed up for ‘predatory mortgages’ which offered the possibility of mortgaging their homes for nearly five years at a value above the level of the official appraisal and investing the money outside Spain, mostly in Luxembourg, in order to obtain a profit which covered their costs and gave them an extra payment.

Some 800 contracts for the scheme were taken out between 2004 and 2009, and now the foreigners’ platform on the Costa del Sol is appealing to the National Court that those contracts be declared null and void. The total fraud is estimated at 250 million €.

The mortgages were signed in Spain, with Spanish notaries and the investment contracts were signed in offices which the financial agents had in Spain, or in some cases in the client’s home. Nearly all those offices are now closed and the financial agents implicated have abandoned Spain.

The clients’ money went on the purchase of currency or bank bonds in operations which soon lost money, leaving many of them now facing the possibility of losing their homes.

Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_32629.shtml#ixzz1daDtm7Vi

40 jubilados extranjeros denuncian una trama para estafarles sus ahorros

November 9th, 2011
Story by JUANA VIÚDEZ | El Pais

Todo empezó con un bulo difundido entre británicos asentados en las zonas costeras que aseguraba que la fiscalidad española era tan severa que el Estado se quedaría con sus casas cuando murieran porque sus herederos no podrían pagar los impuestos. Corría 2002 y comenzaron a proliferar chiringuitos financieros que organizaban partidas de golf o fiestas en las que les ofrecían productos financieros para evitar esta situación.

Unos 40 de estos jubilados extranjeros están hoy pleiteando con nueve bancos, ninguno español, a los que deben pagar fuertes sumas de dinero si no quieren perder sus casas. El lunes interpusieron una querella en la Audiencia Nacional y pidieron que los contratos, firmados en España, queden en suspenso.

Los afectados aseguran que les convencieron para que hipotecasen las casas que tenían en la costa andaluza, Levante, Baleares o Canarias, para esquivar el Impuesto de Patrimonio y el Impuesto de Sucesiones. El plan era pedir un préstamo hipotecario con cargo a la propiedad y después enviar ese dinero a un paraíso fiscal, principalmente Luxemburgo. Así cuando murieran, la vivienda figuraría como pendiente de pago y el heredero debería pagar menos.

El dinero se invertiría y con el beneficio pagarían las cuotas. Pero las inversiones salieron mal y perdieron entre el 30% y el 70% del capital.

Los afectados han formado la Asociación de Víctimas de la Hipoteca Inversa. “Pensaban que era planificación fiscal para ahorrar dinero. Para captarles invocaban legislación española sesgada o nombres de despachos punteros”, explica Antonio Flores, abogado que les representa. La cantidad supuestamente estafada ronda los 20 millones, según cálculos del despacho marbellí Lawbird. Flores estima que en España hay 500 afectados que podrían haber perdido 250 millones. Unos 200 ya han denunciado su situación en diferentes juzgados.

La querella acusa a los agentes inmobiliarios y a los nueve bancos de publicidad engañosa, estafa o delitos contra la Hacienda Pública, entre otros. Entre los implicados está el Danske Bank, uno de los más importantes de Dinamarca; Landsbanki, en quiebra; o Roschild, cuyos colaboradores figuraban en las listas negras de entidades no autorizadas para intermediar en la venta de productos financieros.

 

Veinte extranjeros denuncian un fraude en la Costa del Sol

November 9th, 2011
Story by PRINCESA SÁNCHEZ | La Opinión de Málaga

Una veintena de británicos residentes en la costa malagueña y valenciana se han querellado contra una decena de bancos extranjeros. Los litigantes se declaran víctimas de una estafa financiera e inmobiliaria. La mayoría de estas entidades, buena parte escandinavas, nunca tuvieron oficina en España pero operaron entre 2004 y 2009 en el país.

Les ofrecieron seguridad económica para sus descendientes, pese a no contar con ahorros. La estrategia consistía en convencerles de que la Agencia Tributaria cobraría unos elevados impuestos a sus hijos y nietos para poder heredar los bienes que mantenían fuera de su país, en este caso su vivienda.

Seguidamente, les invitaban a hipotecarla por la totalidad de su valor, tasado para la ocasión al alza. El banco ofrecía un préstamo hipotecario e invertía los fondos en un paraíso fiscal, en este caso en Luxemburgo, explicó ayer Antonio Flores, abogado de los afectados, representados por el despacho Lawbird, que tiene su sede en Marbella.

Fraude fiscal

«La trama estaba invitando, siempre a pensionistas británicos, a defraudar a Hacienda», señaló Flores, quien calcula que el número de víctimas puede rondar las 800 y las cantidades estafadas superan los 250 millones de euros. «De ellos, la presunta defraudación a Hacienda rondaría el 20%, entre los 50 y los 75 millones de euros», indicó.

La querella, presentada ante la Audiencia Nacional, acusa a las entidades bancarias de ser supuestas autoras de los delitos de estafa, publicidad engañosa, falsedad en documento público, delito continuado contra la Hacienda Pública e incluso acoso inmobiliario.

Puede haber un total de 17 responsables bancarios, además de agentes inmobiliarios, implicados en esta presunta trama. Todos ellos estaban advertidos por la Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores, aseguró el letrado. Esto significa que eran conscientes de que el producto que ofertaban no era legal.

Los afectados han constituido una asociación para reclamar sus derechos. En la querella presentada y pendiente ahora de ser admitida a trámite, lo que piden es que se declaren nulos los contratos de los préstamos hipotecarios que firmaron, ante notario, para que no se ejecuten.
Las víctimas han llegado a perder, no sólo su vivienda, sino hasta el 80% del dinero calculado por el valor de la misma. «Porque además de estafadores, eran pésimos inversores», destacó Flores ayer.