Michael "Mick" Featherstone is a corrupt former Gold Coast police officer and self-confessed criminal, who with impunity has run various fraud schemes for decades. A dirty cop, Featherstone was suspected of planting drugs on suspects, stealing confiscated cash and forming alliances with bikie gangs. Despite (or perhaps because of) this he rose through the ranks of the rancid Gold Coast police force, at one point heading the Surfers Paradise Criminal Investigation Branch. Questioned by the 1997 Carter corruption inquiry regarding police involvement in the drug trade, Michael Featherstone was allowed to retire from the police force at age 33. Featherstone then started running cold-calling fraud schemes, protected by his links within the police force.
Featherstone is involved with a myriad of boiler room pyramid schemes, dodgy gambling syndicates, predictive software scams and other "investments", stealing millions of dollar from the gullible. After this blog detailed how Featherstone associates were listing a circular investment scam on the ASX (with ASIC's blessing of course), Featherstone started bombarding Google with take-down requests. In Australia, the criminals decide what information you are allowed to access, so the blog posts were blocked for Australian readers. This censorship can be bypassed by adding "/ncr" to bypass the automatic country redirect, allowing Australians to read the banned posts.
http://drbenway.blogspot.com/ncr/2013/12/avestra-asset-management-launches-new.html
http://drbenway.blogspot.com/ncr/2013/12/aha-avestra-and-formosa-auto-trade-scam.html
http://drbenway.blogspot.com/ncr/2014/01/avestra-hires-self-confessed-criminal.html
http://drbenway.blogspot.com/ncr/2014/04/conman-michael-featherstone-harasses.html
Michael Featherstone's criminal activities were common knowledge in the area, but he was untouchable due to his connections. Anyone asking questions was first politely told to shut up, and then had their lives threatened if they persisted. Featherstone's criminal activities, spanning decades, were openly protected by the putrid Gold Coast police force. A well-known criminal, Featherstone was "photographed socialising with senior serving officers, was endorsed online by a Brisbane inspector and even gave a speech at a recent send-off for a high-ranking Gold Coast officer".
https://au.news.yahoo.com/qld/a/24878932/michael-featherstone-former-senior-queensland-police-detective-investigated-over-alleged-fraud-links-to-bikies/
In September 2014, it was revealed that Michael Featherstone was under investigation from the Queensland's Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC). Referring Featherstone to the CCC, officers openly admitted that it was unfeasible to have the rank police conduct this investigation, given Featherstone's connections and the current level of corruptness within the force.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4079648.htm
After Featherstone's offices were raided and investigations began over his links with fraudulent investment schemes, his criminal associates started distancing themselves from him and one fled overseas. And what about that ASX-listed fraud scheme that brought Mick to this blog? It is still in full operation, with ASIC's blessing. The fraudsters now instead use their corrupt corporate lawyers to spam take-down requests, in all likelihood misappropriating shareholder funds for this purpose. Naturally, there has been absolutely no mention of the Michael "Mick" Featherstone case in the Sydney Morning Herald, the largest "newspaper" in Australia.
Might be nothing in it, but saw a fancy ad in the business section of the Australian newspaper. It was Platinum Asset Management. Another offshoot of the infamous Platinum Partners?
ReplyDeleteThey're unrelated, not quite as fraudulent. Really appreciate the tips, Central Scrutinizer, you deserve a big H/T for this article, thanks again!
DeleteDr, I received some junk mail from the Motley Fool recently and they were spruiking Contango Micro Cap (CNT). I looked at their accounts and it seems to follow the pattern you describe:
ReplyDeleteSince inception shares on issue have grown at a CAGR of 18%,
6% of their NTA seems to magically involve them owning themselves and
They sport a very lofty and consistent dividend of ~ 7%.
The only way it seems they maintain this level of dividend is by being net sellers of their portfolio and issuing yet more shares.
I thought I might mention it.
Cheers for that TheForms. I had a look at CTN a couple of years ago, but it might be time to revisit. You're right, it's a textbook LIC scam. CTN ramps its "microcap investments", creating unrealized profits but never real profits, then issues shares to finance dividends. CTN can't actually sell its portfolio at close to booked values, its packed with ramped junk used to generate paper profits. Works as long as they can keep issuing more shares.
Delete