Press Releases

Read our latest press releases.

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Image Rights – Further Probes

Following consultation with Spanish tax authorities into recent high profile ‘image rights’ tax avoidance schemes. The UK’s HM Revenues & Customs (HMRC) is now investigating almost 200 footballers as part of its crackdown on tax avoidance in the sport.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, the number of players under investigation has risen from 181 in April to 198 today, with 44 Premiership and Football League clubs said to be involved. The number of Agents (Intermediaries) being probed has also increased from 21 to 29.

The investigation covers a range of areas from image rights loopholes, to the use of tax avoidance schemes.

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£500 million and rising

New figures reveal the true extent of the nation’s battle with fraud

The latest numbers show scammers stole £500m from UK bank accounts in the first six months of 2018 alone! More than £145m of that was made by the victim after being tricked into authorising a payment to the fraudster, known as “push-payments” according to data from UK Finance, the banking and finance trade body.

The rest, £358m was stolen in unauthorised theft – taken by a third party without the owner’s knowledge or permission. Often these are purchase scams when the victim pays for a product or service which never arrives. In these cases, victims typically receive a full refund.

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Emerging Scams

We’re all too familiar with the scam email request from Nigerian oilfields or stressed Royal who can’t get their money out of the country. But with fraud in the UK estimated to be in excess of £190 Billion per annum and with only £1.9 Billion being detected there is obviously a need to ensure any investment you consider is checked very carefully indeed.

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Next, it’s Mr Wayne Rooney

Another day and yet another high profile footballer is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. This time it is Wayne Rooney who is staring down the barrel of an additional £6 million tax bill after a film tax scheme he invested in went bust.

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Carbon Credit Fraud – Four Jailed

Southwark Crown Court has jailed four men over their part in a £2.4 million conspiracy to miss-sell carbon credits to 130 investors.

Company director Sandeep Dosanjh and senior brokers James Lanston and Charanjit Sandhu had earlier admitted their involvement in fraudulent sales made between January 2012 and August 2013 through, Harman Royce Ltd and Kendrick Zale Ltd, in the then-fledgeling carbon market.

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Fraudster jailed for four and a half years

Lee Denton founded TB Options Limited in 2015. The company was a phoney binary options trading business and Lee Denton defrauded 42 victims out of almost £500,000. Lee has now been jailed for four and a half years by Southwark Crown Court.

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Operation Tidworth – 5 Jailed for 17.5 years

Operation Tidworth was the FCA’s second largest ever criminal prosecution.

The instigator and main beneficiary of the fraud, Michael Nascimento, will be sentenced separately on 14 September 2018.

In a case brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), 5 individuals have been sentenced to a total of 17.5 years’ imprisonment for their roles in a share fraud carried out through a series of boiler room companies which led to the loss of more than £2.8m of investors’ money.

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What about the others?

Another month goes by and the Spanish authorities hand out another criminal conviction to someone involved in top-level football. This time it is Jose Mourinho that has been handed a one-year suspended jail sentence for tax fraud along with an additional fine of £1.8 million by the Spanish authorities for tax evasion.

The fine equates to 60% of the €3.3 million (£2.9 million) of tax he is found to have avoided paying in 2011 and 2012. This related to image rights held in an offshore company while he was managing Real Madrid, according to reports.

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If only they’d contacted IYE first….

…. another £6 million lost by investors

This is money today reported that a British businessman dubbed the ‘bling king’ is being investigated for money laundering and fraud after expats lost up to £6 million by investing in his companies.

Money Mail has spoken to a number of residents on the Costa del Sol who say Rhys Williams persuaded them to plough money into Dubai-based companies by offering fixed returns of 2% per month on their investments.

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The Rise of Crypto Scams

The UK’s Action Fraud revealed that it received 203 reports of cryptocurrency scams in the first two months of the summer.

Between June and July 2018, victims collectively lost just over £2 million, an average of £10,096 per person.

Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre, warned that the surge in popularity of cryptocurrencies has given rise to more fraud in this area.

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