Luxury property developments were marketed by Harlequin Property and their group of companies, with many clients investing in the resorts using their own pension money.
The Investment Opportunity
Investments were made by clients through family pension trusts, small self-administered schemes (SSASs), and self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs). It was promised that they would own a small share in a five-star luxury property on the beach that would obtain a 90 percent occupancy rate, giving owners a rental income of 10 percent or more.
Investors were required to pay just a 30 percent cash deposit, with a mortgage guaranteed for them upon completion.
Harlequin Property promised to open resorts in St. Lucia, Barbados, Dominican Republic, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines.
Without the investor’s knowledge, Harlequin property established separate limited companies in each of these countries. So whilst people thought they were dealing with a well-established, family-run British business, that wasn’t the case.
The Back Story
The first Harlequin Property resort to open was called Buccament Bay in St. Vincent & the Grenadines and was promoted by various international tennis players and footballers. This led to more people investing.
From there on though no other resorts were completed or even started, and then in 2013 one of the UK companies owned by Harlequin Property went into administration. This resulted in an investigation being performed by the SFO and this led to the CEO, David Ames, being charged with three counts of fraud.
By December 2016, the Buccament Bay resort shut down after staff walked out after not being paid. The resort also failed to pay its utility providers and the Inland Revenue.
As a result of all this, Harlequin Property was forced to file for bankruptcy which left many investors worried and over £200 million unaccounted for.
Many investors have lost their pension funds and are also liable to pay various self-invested personal pension (SIPP) fees and charges.
Claims For Compensation
With much of the debt in Harlequin Property companies being passed between them, many of them are now collapsing and going into liquidation, with no assets and no records to their name.
The bankruptcy and liquidators that have been appointed to deal with this are KPMG.
If a regulated financial adviser was responsible for arranging their pension transfer, then you may have had a chance to recuperate your losses by making a compensation claim.
So far, the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) has reviewed some 119 complaints from investors and has upheld 81 of them – ordering the companies to pay them redress.
As a result of the investigation by the FOS, it was found that there were numerous companies that provided unsuitable advice to their clients. Some of these include C.I.B, Tailormade, Total Wealth Management Limited, Harris Knights & Co, and Regency Financial Resources Ltd.
After the companies were forced to pay redress to investors, they all fell into liquidation thus leaving investors with no option but to seek compensation through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This caused them to experience further losses after many years of battling away with the independent arbitrator.
Act Fast
Call us now for a phone or video consultation with one of our legal experts on 0800 041 8358 to find out if you are entitled to compensation, you may even be entitled to additional compensation if you have successfully claimed in the past.
