Crime Solicitors

The director of a carbon credit investment company has been disqualified for the maximum period allowed, after an Insolvency Service investigation found that a company had made £1.1 million by misleading the public.

Anthony Allen, 31 – the director of Global Neutral Ltd (Global Neutral) – was disqualified by the High Court for 15 years.

An Insolvency Service investigation found that, under Allen’s sole control, Global Neutral used misleading sales practices to take more than £1.1 million from members of the public between April and September 2012, after clients of the company were sold Voluntary Emission Reduction carbon credit units (VERs) as investments.

However, there is no viable market for VERs accessible to the public to resell units. The Insolvency Service says that, in the unlikely event they could have been sold, Global Neutral had marked up the VERs so much over cost price that customers would not have been able to make a profit.

The investigation was conducted by the Official Receiver at Public Interest Unit – a specialist team of the Insolvency Service.

The Official Receiver’s investigation uncovered that Global Neutral was the successor to World Future Ltd – another company investigated and wound up in the public interest for its misleading sales of VERs as investments.

Apart from working as a junior salesman for eight months at World Future, Anthony Allen had no knowledge or experience of the carbon market when he set up Global Neutral – he also took on at least 12 of World Future’s sales staff without interview.

Allen had claimed that the carbon credits were not sold as an investment, as he did not believe it was an investment.

“Some customers believed it was, not due to anything we said,” he claimed.

However, sales scripts recovered from the trading premises and information from customers make it clear that the sales people had repeatedly misled customers by referring to high returns that customers would allegedly make.

Paul Titherington, Official Receiver at Public Interest Unit, said:

“The company persuaded members of the public to part with substantial sums by falsely claiming that customers would be able to easily sell the units and make large profits.

“In reality, there was no market to sell their units, and so the customers have lost all the money they believed they were investing. The misleading scheme operated only for the benefit of those running the company.

“As is so often the case, if an investment scheme appears too good to be true, it probably is.”

Duncan Lewis Business Crime Solicitors

Duncan Lewis business crime solicitors can advise at any stage of a charge involving business offences, including investment fraud, false accounting, tax and VAT evasion, embezzlement, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, IT crime and white collar crime.

There are Duncan Lewis offices nationwide and in most major cities – and a Duncan Lewis business crime solicitor can advise at the start of an investigation, before an investigation, or before charges are brought.

Our specialist business crime team can also liaise with investigating and prosecuting authorities, such as Insolvency Service, SFO, FCA, BIS, HMRC and City of London Police.

Duncan Lewis can also advise on Confiscation Orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).

For expert legal advice on business offences, call Duncan Lewis business crime solicitors on 0333 772 0409.