Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
Ms N.P. writes: I bought bonds in beverage company Linc Drinks Ltd and casks of whisky from Whisky&Co Ltd, both promoted by the same sales firm. However, I’ve just seen that Whisky&Co has gone into liquidation. Now I’m worried about my investments – do you think there is any chance that I’ll get my money back?
Tony Hetherington replies: I am afraid the picture does not look good. The two companies were promoted by Nicholas James Finance Ltd, based in Canary Wharf, in London. But this firm has never been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to sell investments to the general public.
It exploited a legal loophole which let it sell bonds to people who are wealthy enough or experienced enough to take serious risks – and I warned in January that it was not checking that investors would fit the bill before selling them high-risk IOUs issued by Linc Drinks.
Linc Drinks wanted to borrow £3 million from investors, predicting it would be worth £150 million by the end of last year and become a takeover target for Diageo, the owner of Guinness. This was total rubbish, and I said so.
Whisky&Co sold casks of whisky as investments, claiming that they would be stored at HMRC-approved distilleries in Scotland. In fact, the casks held Irish whiskey, stored in Ireland, where HMRC has no jurisdiction.
Nicholas James Finance told investors to expect annual gains of up to 12 per cent, claiming it had a close relationship with top auctioneers Bonhams, but I also reported that Bonhams denied this completely.
Now to bring things up to date. Companies House has begun proceedings to strike off Linc Drinks after it failed to file legally due details revealing who owns it.
Whisky&Co put itself into liquidation on August 5, and Nicholas James Finance applied on July 22 to Companies House to be struck off and dissolved. Where does this leave investors? The man behind Nicholas James Finance and
Whisky&Co is Ashley Wilkinson. I invited him to offer reassurance to his investors, but he has failed to respond.
On paper, the director of Linc Drinks is ex-Aston Villa footballer Sam Williams, but he could not be contacted at the business’s serviced office address in London and its phone number appears dead. Mail for Linc Drinks now goes to Companies House in Cardiff.
The Mail on Sunday passed its evidence on all three companies to the Financial Conduct Authority in January.
The regulator rarely comments on active investigations, but it confirmed it had begun enquiries.
With all three firms folding, it would be no great surprise to see news of official action very soon.
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket
Five in the dock as savers lose £75m in pension pots
Thursday will see the appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court of five individuals charged over an investment scheme involving the sale of storage units.
The charges follow an eight-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which says more than 1,900 investors transferred £75 million from their pension savings into the scheme, run by Store First, near Burnley, Lancashire.
The company’s boss, Toby Whittaker, and Stephen Talbot, Stuart Grehan, Terence Wright and Emma Hawkins face charges of conspiracy to defraud. Talbot and Grehan have also been charged with perjury and – alongside an unnamed sixth defendant – the pair are also charged with money laundering.
I reported on Store First in 2013 and after that. Legal restrictions now apply to what can be published.
The SFO alleges that misrepresentations were made, including that investors would receive a guaranteed return from renting out units.
A solicitor closely connected to will writing company Town & Country Law has been suspended from practising law for one month after an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) found his firm – Scunthorpe-based Tyto Law – employed a legal assistant who had been banned from the profession over previous misconduct.
Tyto Law boss Oliver Saxon was granted permission to employ Ben Moore only after assuring the regulator that Moore would work from the firm’s offices and that Saxon himself would supervise him. Moore was barred from having direct contact with clients. All these conditions were breached, and Moore was in close contact with Town & Country Law, preparing its clients’ wills. When this was discovered, the SRA cancelled its permission for Moore to be employed by Tyto Law.
Town & Country Law is not regulated by the SRA, as preparing wills can be done by anyone with no qualifications needed. If work has to be done by a solicitor, it instructs Tyto Law, whose owner Oliver Saxon runs an offshoot called Town & Country Law (Two Roses) Ltd.
In 2022 I revealed that Town & Country Law’s owner James Scotney obtained a credit licence from the Financial Conduct Authority after failing to declare he served a prison sentence for drug dealing.
And in 2024 I warned that Scotney employed ex-solicitor Jonathan De Vita, who was struck off after his firm massively overcharged clients, falsified records, and used clients’ funds without their permission.
Three fraudsters have been convicted at St Albans Crown Court of running a wine investment scam, following a complex investigation by Trading Standards officials from Hertfordshire County Council. Investigators say victims lost £6 million.
Benjamin Cazaly, Greg Assemakis and Dominic D’Sa were behind Imperial Wine & Spirits Merchant Ltd. The wine they supplied had a price mark-up of as much as 400 per cent, making profit impossible for investors. The company’s sales team was made up of young people schooled in telemarketing, and the movie The Wolf Of Wall Street was used as a training film.
Assemakis was previously a director of a similar wine scam business, European Fine Wines Ltd. I revealed in 2013 that two of that company’s bosses were forced to quit after being banned as directors for operating rip-off land investment firms.
It went into liquidation in 2014, with customers’ claims topping £3 million. Claimants finally received 1.4p for every £1 owed to them.
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
