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Dolfin Financial (UK) Ltd.: Special Administration

June 30, 2021
Public Notice by the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority that Dolfin Financial (UK) Ltd., described as a "wealth management firm", has entered "Special Administration". Editor's Note: Research by OffshoreAlert at Companies House for England and Wales showed that the directors of Dolfin Financial (UK) Ltd. are Rodney Pennington Baker-Bates and Amir Mohammad Nabi, who are citizens of the United Kingdom, while former directors are Stephen Michael Kinglsey, a citizen of the U.K. and France, who resigned effective March 31st, 2021; Sanjay Maraj, a citizen of the U.K., who resigned effective September 30th, 2020; Denisz Andras Nagy, a citizen of Hungary, who resigned effective April 30th, 2020; Donald Dimitri Percival, a citizen of the U.K., who resigned effective October 25th, 2016; Henrik Segerberg, a citizen of Sweden, who resigned effective September 20th, 2013; Kai Yeu Tang, a citizen of the U.K., who resigned effective September 20th, 2013; Adrian van den Bok, a citizen of the U.K., who resigned effective February 10th, 2014, and Dr. Fadi Zaher, a citizen of Sweden, who resigned effective April 14th, 2016.

UK police raid premises in Invaro investigation

March 20, 2007
Police in the United Kingdom have raided at least three premises as part of a criminal investigation into a group whose insiders include some of the most notorious offshore fraudsters of recent years.

Invaro Latest: UK SFO opens criminal investigation, victims file civil lawsuit in Japan

January 22, 2007
The Serious Fraud Office in the United Kingdom has started a criminal investigation into the collapse of British litigation funding firm Invaro Ltd., according to two sources. Invaro went into liquidation in June, 2004 - shortly after being exposed by OffshoreAlert - and is insolvent by approximately $145 million, according to its liquidators, Tony Murphy, Henry Shinners and Robert Horton, of British accounting firm Smith & Williamson.

Insider Talking: August 8, 2006

August 8, 2006
Lennox Gibbs is well-paid for his role in dubious penny stock Strategy International Insurance Group Inc.; Law firm Charles Russell and financial advisors Smith & Williamson, continue to be handsomely rewarded for their lmismanagement of the iquidation of Invaro Ltd.; and the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations' 'Tax Haven Abuses: The Enablers, The Tools and Secrecy' is not without its humorous side.

Insider Talking: June 7, 2006

June 7, 2006
A British company that is at the heart of a liquidation scam being perpetrated against creditors of failed litigation funding firm Invaro Ltd. has missed a statutory deadline for filing its first accounts and is now subject to penalty fees; Former Panama-based, offshore financial services provider Marc Harris, 41, has lost his appeal against his November 24, 2003 conviction in the United States on multiple tax fraud, tax evasion and money laundering charges and May 21, 2004 sentencing to 17 years in prison, a fine of $20.3 million, and restitution of $6.6 million; and An unlicensed Canada-based forex dealer with a checkered past appears to be behind a purported offshore investment provider that was the target of a warning by the Bermuda Monetary Authority earlier this year, OffshoreAlert can disclose.

Insider Talking: February 4, 2006

February 4, 2006
A U. S.-based professional organization for private investigators has revoked the membership of Cayman Islands-based PI William Claude C. Myles for “professional misconduct” and violations of its code of ethics; What is the going rate for climbing into bed with crooks to ‘throw' a liquidation so the bad guys can continue to profit at the expense of true creditors? Try £1,624 (US$2,870) per day!; A victim of 72-year-old serial fraudster Keem Kalfon, a.k.a. Chaim Kalfon, a.k.a. Chaim Chalfon, has set up a web-site at www.chaimchalfontaxevader.com following the collapse of his latest scheme, known as LifeStyle Master Inc.; Once again proving that there is no hiding place for financial criminals, no matter which country they flee to when looking for a rock to hide under, the U. S. Government recently arranged the deportation from Panama of accused fraudster David Alan Struckman, a co-founder of the Global Prosperity Group; and If Bahamas-based investment scam group Banakor Swisse is indeed behind several menacing telephone calls that have been anonymously made to OffshoreAlert's publisher over several months, as evidence indicates, it would not be the first time that the group has reacted crudely to an investigative journalist writing negatively about its fraudulent activities.

OffshoreAlert Awards: Best and Worst of 2005

January 4, 2006
It was the usual round of lies, broken promises, incompetence, and losses in 2005 in the murky world that OffshoreAlert forces itself to inhabit to investigate and expose financial crimes. As each year passes, it becomes increasingly obvious to us that illegal, immoral, unethical, and incompetent behavior in business are the norm, rather than the exception. OffshoreAlert has dumpster-dived through all the trash that we have found during the year, picked out the smelliest items, and used them as the basis for our ‘Best and Worst' awards.

Pension fund advised to write-off $125 m investment

January 4, 2006
A Japanese pension fund that invested 80% of its assets in a British litigation funding scam has been advised to write-off its $125 million investment. That was the recommendation of Hori Hiroshi Law Office, which the All Japan Liquor Merchants Association hired to look into the mess and advise how to proceed.

Court freezes assets of former Imperial Consolidated CEO

September 27, 2005
The High Court in the United Kingdom has issued an order freezing the world wide assets of Bill Godley, a former CEO with the Imperial Consolidated Group. It was entered on July 28, 2005 following an application by Imperial's administrators,

Fraud group cleans up in Invaro liquidation

August 3, 2005
About 80 per cent of all assets realized in the first 12 months of the liquidation of British litigation funding firm Invaro Ltd. have gone to a Canadian shell entity controlled by serial fraudster Bill Godley. That was the statistic that jumped out of the first report to creditors and members by liquidators Tony Murphy, Robert Horton and Henry Shinners, of Smith & Williamson, on July 21, 2005.

British law firm rakes in fees for helping fraudster with Invaro scheme

July 5, 2005
A top British law firm helped a serial fraudster client - Bill Godley - set up an investment scheme that wiped out a Japanese pension fund, OffshoreAlert can reveal. Charles Russell solicitors drew up contracts, attended a planning meeting in Portugal, helped with an offshore bank account, and was even asked to help prepare a "due diligence" report to give credibility to the scheme, known as 'Invaro'. The law firm has received more than £2 million ($3.5 million) in legal fees from Godley-related parties, including a Bahamas IBC, said a source.

Insider Talking: April 30, 2005

April 30, 2005
The biggest creditor in the bankruptcy of Christopher Davy, who was once a senior officer of the tax evasion group The Harris Organization, is none other than the IRS; the dubious liquidation of Imperial Consolidated spin-off Invaro Ltd.; and Canadian Timothy Ryan Babuin receives an eight-year prison sentence for a telemarketing scam against mainly elderly people that ended up causing huge losses for the Bank of Bermuda and Bermuda-based credit card processor First Atlantic Commerce.

UK litigation funding flops try again with new group called Strathmore

August 31, 2004
Former insiders of two U. K. litigation funding scams that collapsed with combined losses of nearly $500 million are behind a recycled version of the same scheme, OffshoreAlert can reveal. The new business - operating under the brand name 'Strathmore' - encompasses companies in the Bahamas, Canada, the United Kingdom and Africa.

Imperial Consolidated spin-off Invaro to go into liquidation

June 10, 2004
UK-based financial services firm Invaro Ltd. is insolvent and intends to apply for voluntary liquidation, along with two associated companies, which are believed to be Wishsprite Plc and Medico-Legal Reports Ltd. An announcement about Invaro's demise was made yesterday - only ten weeks after an OffshoreAlert article raised concerns about Invaro's legitimacy and provided evidence of its links to the fraudulently-operated Imperial Consolidated Group.