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.
M.W. writes: In 2017 I met financial adviser Christopher Burgess of Alderley Wealth Management. I made some investments, and in 2021 he asked me to transfer £10,000 each day for nine days, sending payments to AWM and to The Life Team Ltd.
I received monthly interest until 2022, then payments became irregular. In May 2023 he advised my money would return that month. But it did not.
Tony Hetherington replies: You couldn’t make this up: you have a financial adviser who I discovered has gone bankrupt, and your money has disappeared into a failing company run by another man with a Glasgow contact address who turns out to be a Labour councillor in Cheshire!
It has taken many months of enquiries, but it was quickly clear that Alderley Wealth Management (AWM) has not been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority since 2012.
Burgess appears to have used a loophole that allows the unregulated marketing of bonds – IOUs – towards people who are wealthy or willing to take risks.
Burgess is the owner of AWM, but quit as a director in May last year. He had no choice, since he was declared bankrupt.
Court records show four county court judgments (CCJ)against him, the biggest being for £17,339. I also found two more against his company.
Gone: Money handed to Alderley Wealth Management has vanished into thin air
When he recommended lending money to The Life Team (TLT), Burgess was a director of that company too. However, in May 2023 the High Court ordered TLT to be wound up for failing to pay its debts.
Now here is the curious bit. Just before the High Court case, Burgess told you: ‘Monies invested through AWM and TLT were utilised by Basik Money.’
You told me: ‘I never authorised any such investment.’ So, what does ‘utilised’ mean?
Basik Money is a scandal in itself. It has filed no accounts since 2020. There is a CCJ against it for £2,711. And last year the Financial Conduct Authority cancelled its authorisation as an investment firm because it appeared to have gone out of business.
Companies House records show Basik Money is owned by a separate company called Basik Ltd. But this is impossible, since the firm was dissolved in 2022.
The man behind Basik Money is John Place, who was also a director of The Life Team. Place is a long-time business associate of Burgess. The pair ran UK Investment Strategies Limited, which was liquidated in 2016 with debts of over £280,000. Its office furniture was sold to their new company, The Life Team!
In company filings for Basik Money, Place gives his contact address as an office building in Glasgow, but in fact he lives 230 miles south, in Macclesfield, where he is a member of Cheshire East Council. He gives his occupation in council records as ‘retired’.
When he first advised you, Burgess described you as an ‘inexperienced investor’, with about £150,000 from your divorce.
He reckoned you could afford to risk £30,000. You agreed, and even signed up to one deal by confirming that you knew the risks.
He later used this to justify treating you as an experienced investor, though it seems to me you did no more than trust Burgess as your adviser.
You insisted: ‘This has ruined my life, and I was only made aware of the Basik investment in September 2023.’
Burgess promised you were about to be repaid, but you received nothing. It is not clear how much of your savings are missing, as you say a separate investment was not repaid, taking the likely total to £160,000.
Burgess tells me you applied to make a big loan to Basik Money, but he has failed to produce any such application. He told me: ‘I can confirm there is no indication the investor will not receive her money back in full.’
But with Basik Money in tatters, he appears to be in financial dreamland!
As for Councillor Place, he has not offered any comment. I also invited the Labour Party in Macclesfield to comment, but it too remained silent.
You told me you have contacted the police. I suggest you also contact the Insolvency Service. I will co-operate with them both in supplying evidence. Let’s see if we can track down your money.
WE’RE WATCHING YOU: Rocketman jailed
A former Nasa scientist who cheated investors out of £1 million has been jailed for two years.
John Burford, 85, ran Financial Trading Strategies Ltd from his home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, but over a five-year period he concealed losses while using investors’ money to buy property and to support his lifestyle.
I warned in August last year that Burford was not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, and that he was operating illegally.
He claimed to have worked at Nasa on its project to land men
on Mars, but switched careers and became a broker when
he realised the Mars landing would not happen in his lifetime.
Burford pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to charges of fraud and controlling an unauthorised investment business. Sentencing him, Judge Coles said that ‘old age is never an excuse for avoiding punishment for serious offending’. The FCA will now bring confiscation proceedings against Burford to compensate his victims.
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.
