Monday 23 December 2013

Bentley Capital, Orion Equities and Queste Communication

The success of an LIC is determined by its ability to issue shares at inflated prices. The most successful longrunning listed investment scams are AFI, DJW and MIR. These are run by the same outfit, and have managed to keep their share prices ramped above asset backing for years while issuing shares. AFI, DJW and MIR traded at 24%, 30% and 32% above the value of their actual assets, respectively, in November 2013. These schemes are dependent on net sucker investor inflows and share manipulation.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are failing listed investment companies unable to find more sucker investors, that trade at below NTA since they are not ramped. Criminals that gain control of such entities, often using crossholdings to exercise control not matched by ownership, can freely loot the investment vehicles without ASIC lifting a finger. The criminals need but keep up the flimsiest pretense of propriety, while treating the investing companies as their de facto private property. One such fraud scheme supported by crossholdings is formed by Bentley Capital (BEL.AX), Orion Equities (OEQ.AX) and Queste Communication (QUE.AX). These LICs report total net assets of $40m, fraudulently inflating asset valuations in a variety of ways. QUE owns 54% of OEQ, which owns 28% of BEL.


Having built up extensive crossholdings, the directors can wield control disproportionate to their ownership. BEL/OEQ/QUE is now treated like the private fiefdom of these directors, with assets to dispose of as they wish, making a mockery of the concept of fiduciary duty. Even the Sydney Morning Herald thought the directors took the leeching too far.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/farooq-khan-the-man-behind-the-asxs-worstperforming-listed-investment-company-20130930-2unk8.html

The difference between (the oh so respectable sounding) Bentley Capital and Australian Foundation Investment Company is a matter of degree, not of kind.

Friday 20 December 2013

Magellan Flagship Fund and Merrill Lynch commit securities fraud

Listed investment companies issue and buy back shares, equivalent to how other types of funds issue and redeem units, with the difference that LICs can issue shares priced at above asset backing, yielding great profits for the scheme operators during periods of net investor inflows. The potential for such profits is the main reason for the existence of LICs, with most LICs entirely dependent on such income to remain viable. Over the last decade, hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden profits have been extracted by Australian LIC operators in this way. LICs ramp their share price above NTA, then issue shares at the inflated price, which everyone pretends is an efficient "market" price, no questions asked.

Of course, in an efficient market an LIC would never trade above NTA, but would trade at a discount to its NTA proportional to the LIC's operating costs. Perversely, trading at a premium to assets is trumpeted as a sign of strength by the shills, since this shows a successfully working scam, with these metrics openly marketed on ASX. The October 2013 data cheerfully shows how Australian LICs have outstanding securities with a value exceeding asset backing by more than $3bn. For these funds, marketed to pension savers, $3bn out of $24bn is not backed by any assets, and would not be recoverable if the scheme were to be stopped today, as openly admitted by the criminals themselves.

http://www.asx.com.au/products/managed-funds/market-update.htm

However, this significantly understates the scam, as LICs routinely and fraudulently overstate their assets. Crossholdings within the LIC sector mean actual net tangible assets are lower than reported, as does accounting fraud regarding dividends receivable and derivatives. Moreover, the table only lists institutions that are considered LICs for accounting purposes, whereas the list of de facto listed investment companies on the ASX is much longer.



Magellan Flagship Fund (MFF.AX) is a new strongly growing and fraudulent listed investment company, the share price of which has recently been ramped to 33% above its NTA. An investment of $10,000 dollars in MFF gives the investor a security backed by assets worth $7,500, for an immediate fair value loss of $2,500. There is no reasonable outcome in which this hidden $2,500 fee can be justified, it is a virtual guarantee that the investment will eventually turn out poorly for the average investor. According to MFF's 2013 annual report, the company collected $9.4m in dividends and interest during FY13 from its assets, and had operating expenses of $9.8m, largely paid to management.

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20130913/pdf/42jc45xb9zp75s.pdf

The annual report uses fraudulent accounting to purposefully obscure the debts of the company. The balance sheet for MFF shows no debt, yet buried in the notes MFF reveals a $120m loan from Merrill Lynch, which MFF ludicrously offsets against cash held with Merrill Lynch "at the balance date". The loan and the cash is in different currencies, making the scheme an undisclosed currency bet. Of course the loan could be used for anything on the days prior to "the balance date", as listed investment companies can sidestep disclosure requirements by temporarily shifting out of assets. Merrill Lynch is assisting MFF with its securities fraud, and is no doubt aware that MFF is a purposefully ramped and underfunded fraud of granny investors.

Monday 9 December 2013

Innopac, IPCO and Blumont Group commit securities fraud

Australia is not the sole domain of listed investment company fraud and regulator complicity. In Singapore, a group of listed investment companies has formed a giant securities fraud cartel. Innopac (I26.SI), Blumont Group (A33.SI), IPCO (I11.SI), LionGold (A78.SI) and Asiasons (5ET.SI) engage in revaluation fraud and circular investment schemes. The cartel builds massive crossholdings, engages in fraudulent related party transactions, falsifies NTAs, and manipulates stock prices. After ramping its shares, Innopac made a bid for ASX-listed Merlin Diamonds (MED.AX), as this blog mentioned in April 2013.



Innopac and its accomplices deliberately ramped its share price far beyond asset backing. It is during such a ramp that granny investor money is stolen, not during the inevitable crash to fair value. In October 2013 the share prices of the Singapore listed investment scams collapsed, perhaps because they had been warned by the complicit regulator that their scam was getting embarrassingly obvious.



Just like its Australian counterparts, Singaporean regulators have made no attempt to prosecute the criminals, preferring to pretend the share ramps were inexplicable magical market mysteries instead of fraud. Singaporean regulators have de facto become accomplices to the criminals, covering their tracks and protecting them. Just like in Australia, there is no free press to expose the criminals. In both Singapore and Australia, the rich and powerful criminal operators of listed investment scams have subverted the system to the point where a small investor has zero recourse to the law. Now the first lawsuits from the scam have started arriving in Singapore and Britain.


In Australia, Blumont Group has stakes in Cokal (CKA.AX) and Celsius Coal (CLA.AX), and is being sued for reneging on an investment in Prospect Resources (PSC.AX).


To be entirely clear and specific here: Innopac, Blumont, IPCO, LionGold and Asiasons are criminal organizations, vehicles of securities fraud run by criminals that consider themselves above the law. Singaporean regulators are complicit morons and are protecting the criminals. The ramps were not magical market mysteries, they were fraud. Any investor that lost money due to the regulator's astounding incompetence and complicity can expect zero justice. But in the extremely unlikely scenario that the criminals one day face justice, the regulator accomplices should be lined up right next to them.

Saturday 7 December 2013

Aha! Avestra and the "Formosa Auto Trade" scam

From humble origins, Avestra has recently stepped up to the big leagues of financial crime, having acquired and ramped listed funds manager AG Financial (AHA.AX), gaining control over its funds. Only three short years ago, Avestra was involved with the "Formosa Auto Trade" scam, handing out flyers selling magical laptops with auto-trading software. For only $15,950, you could buy the Formosa Premium One package, yielding $1,000 a month in profits, "no knowledge or effort required". But wait! For only $22,550, you could buy the Premium Plus package and take home $2,000 a month. However, the best deal of all was obviously the Turbo package, costing you only $29,700 upfront and yielding $5,000 a month.


The "Formosa Auto Trade" scam was advertised by Signal Systems and Support using the AFSL of Bold Capital, which was the authorised representative of Avestra Capital. The fraudsters spammed these flyers on stock discussion boards, complete with phony testimonials, receiving a fair share of heckling for their childishly transparent scam.

http://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21337
http://www.forexpeacearmy.com/forex-forum/scam-alerts-folder/13119-formosa-auto-trade-system-paycheck-autotrade-scam.html

ASIC does nothing about securities fraud because it is an absolute joke. ASIC legitimizes and enables career criminals that have been involved in scams going back decades.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/19/1026898914951.html

With ASIC's support and help, what was once a petty $30K-a-pop fraud has now grown into an ASX-listed fraud controlling dozens of millions of misappropriated granny investor funds. The walking bags of fecal matter at ASIC must be truly proud of their achievement here.

Friday 6 December 2013

Avestra Asset Management launches new circular investment fraud

ASIC has for years done absolutely nothing to stop circular investment scams where associated funds "invest" in each other instead of investing in actual assets. As a result, such securities fraud is now endemic in the Australian funds industry, with new scams emerging daily. Avestra Asset Management recently launched yet another scam of this type. Avestra runs the managed funds Avestra Advantage, Canton Mackenzie and Worberg Global. Using money entrusted to these funds by gullible investors, Avestra took over listed funds manager Excela (EXA.AX), now renamed AG Financial (AHA.AX). After gaining control, Avestra had the managed funds Excela Maximiser and Emergent "invest" in Avestra Advantage and Worberg Global. This is blatant securities fraud, and would have led to arrests in other countries.

http://fundhost.com.au/investor/maximiser
http://fundhost.com.au/investor/emergent

Avestra Advantage and Worberg Global were issued AHA shares at $0.02. Avestra then ramped AHA to $0.04 in late June 2013 on no volume, artificially inflating the NTA of its funds. As a result of this revaluation fraud all Avestra funds now have fraudulent NTAs.


On semi-functional websites that look like they were designed by someone paid five dollars, perhaps a freelancer, Avestra funds claim to offer high returns, low volatility and capital growth. The claims of low volatility seem strange, given that Canton Mackenzie's NAV fell 16% in the single month of February 2013, as did Avestra Advantage. These funds have extremely suspicious returns. Worberg Global was ramped up around 50% in August 2012, while Avestra Advantage was ramped 28% in the same month.

http://www.worberg.com/newfund2/
http://www.avestra-advantage-fund.com/performance.php
http://www.cantonmackenzie.com/performance/

The funds have entirely fraudulent returns as they are circular investment scams. As long has Avestra has net investor inflows, its funds can claim any monthly return they want to. If Avestra's investors were to try and cash out, however, the inflated prices could not be maintained by the criminals, that reportedly have extensive experience in shady business deals and gender-bending.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/genderbender-of-a-tale-with-a-uranium-chaser-20090924-g4rs.html

Avestra only had to spend a few million dollars of other people's money to gain control over Excela's $22m in managed funds and plunder them. Excela's previous management sold its granny investors for a confidential amount to Avestra, according to page seven of its annual report.

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20131025/pdf/42kb3dbrl2t08c.pdf

ASIC will allow this fraud to continue until it blows up, at which point it will deny any responsibility. ASIC goes beyond incompetency here.

Thursday 5 December 2013

Clime Capital (CAM.AX) reveals hidden crossholding fraud

Clime Investment Management (CIW.AX) manages Clime Capital (CAM.AX) as well as wholesale funds. CIW owns 7.82% of CAM, which is associated with WAM, which owns 20.82% of CIW. CAM is a listed investment scam paying dividends out of capital raisings, as management fees swallow most cash generated from assets, with the fair value of CAM but a fraction of its asset backing. The Clime fund empire is a circular investment scam, similar to that of van Eyk and Aurora.

CIW manages several listed and unlisted funds. Instead of purchasing actual assets with the money it was entrusted, CIW created internal crossholdings between its funds, and failed to disclose these holdings in substantial shareholder notices or related party disclosures. This is securities fraud. On 5 December 2013 CIW suddenly revealed a previously undisclosed stake in CAM held through its wholesale funds, bringing total ownership to 19.20% instead of the previously disclosed 7.82%.

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20131205/pdf/42lfgj1qngr3sz.pdf

In a country where the regulator was doing its job instead of bleating its magnificence, this fund scam would have led to arrests and fraud charges. CIW openly breached its fiduciary duty by diverting funds into crossholdings, doubledipping on fees and deliberately inflating its NTA. CIW purposefully moved investor money into crossholdings that have zero net value for investors but increase fees for CIW. The CIW funds that hold CAM are fraudulently overstating their NTAs at this moment. This is fraud, without any question.

CIW went so far as to deliberately try to hide its fraud in annual reports and other disclosure, yet still ASIC refuses to do anything. CIW still has not disclosed exactly when it started its internal crossholding fund fraud, nor at what price, nor how much unrealized profits and fees have been generated by the scam.

Biotech Capital (BTC.AX) loses 56% of its imaginary assets

Biotech Capital (BTC.AX) is yet another listed investment scam with book assets valued entirely according to the "opinions" of the operators. In its 30 October net tangible asset disclosure, BTC fraudulently claimed an NTA of $0.0416 based on director opinions, despite its auditor refusing to sign off on this entirely imaginary valuation in the annual report. In the November 30 NTA disclosure, BTC then announced a 56% downward revaluation of NTA to $0.0181, with its only remaining investment slashed to a third of its previously carried value. Any investor that based a purchasing decision on what was a blatantly fraudulent October NTA disclosure is simply out of luck, and shouldn't have expected such petty details as fund asset disclosures to be regulated in any way by ASIC. BTC currently has a "market" price of $0.025, according to ASIC due to an entirely inexplicable magical market mystery.

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20131101/pdf/42kl1k9ylcvqt0.pdf
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20131203/pdf/42lbxjtkmscc05.pdf

BTC now has book assets of $1.4m, with incumbent management extracting around $0.4m a year in cash from the remains of the failed company, obscured through deceptive accounting. The directors extract this $400K because they have control and can do so. BTC claims to be in wind-down and would thus appear to be approaching the end of the line. However, it is a very safe bet to assume the criminal operators of this scheme will miraculously find a great new opportunity for issuing shares to granny investors instead of closing up shop.

Just as BTC carried its investment in unlisted Sensear at a deliberately inflated value, so fund managers continue to carry BTC at values they well know are inflated. This is securities fraud, with inflated assets laundered through a chain of holdings. Select Asset Management currently holds 23% of BTC through a melange of funds, and carries its stake at an inflated "market" price, despite being well aware it could not actually sell its holding at that price.

In October, Select Asset Management claimed to have sold 3.5m shares of BTC for $734,469, for a sale price of $0.209, ten times the price that BTC traded on the ASX.

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20131022/pdf/42k6tqxmpc0dqj.pdf

This is either a typo that no one noticed because ASX disclosures are in effect unregulated, or another magical market mystery.

Monday 2 December 2013

Australia China Holdings (AAK.AX) and its pear fund friends

Bermuda incorporated Australia China Holdings (AAK.AX) is yet another ASX-listed investment company featuring crossholdings and related party transactions, with several of its subsidiaries showing up as top twenty shareholders of the company. AAK claims operations in "trading, property investment, hotel management and other projects in environmental businesses", and has 3.5bn shares outstanding, the result of decades of share issues and ramps. These shares currently trade at a "market" price between $0.001-0.002, giving AAK a market cap up to $7m.


AAK offers Australian investors an opportunity usually only available from Nigerian princes. According to its latest annual report, AAK has assets of $73m in the form of a deposit paid on Mongolian farmland. Now AAK shareholders just need to pay another $1m in "registration fees", and they will own farmland worth $73m! (AAK's Malaysian auditor carefully qualified its opinion as to the "recoverability of the deposits", AAK's only asset.) This invaluable farmland has so far provided zero actual cash flow for AAK, despite AAK apparently having leased the farmland to the ungoogleable "Beijing Shuimu Zhongtian Institute of Horticulture Sciences" for $2m a year in 2011. In fact, AAK mysteriously had no operating cash inflows at all for the last five years.

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20130626/pdf/42gphzykt8dz7l.pdf

That's OK though, because operating cash flows are not necessary for securities fraud. AAK has an ASX-listing and sports a "market" value endorsed by ASIC, and this in and of itself gives AAK utility for revaluation fraud. In December AAK announced it has forged a strategic agreement with an unnamed Chinese investment group with strong backing from "pear fund managers" (sic), to issue more shares.

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20131202/pdf/42l9x9vzm72c3x.pdf

The unnamed investment group and AAK will obtain financing, invest in each other, and place shares together. The related party is about to start again, with ASIC proudly chaperoning.