Charity conman linked to multimillion-pound property flop.. again
Fraudster accused over schemes
Charity fraudster Tony Freeman has been linked to two more housing projects which have gone into administration.
The construct ion schemes Pinnacle Residential (Liverpool) and Pinnacle Student Developments (Liverpool) have suffered financial difficulties amid fears that £13.8million of investors’ cash has been lost.
Both firms are part of the Pinnacle Alliance group of companies.
Last year, we revealed Freeman, from Newton Mearns, Glasgow, was a consultant to Pinnacle, who built upmarket apartments in the north of England.
One of the f i rms, Pinnacle (Angelgate) in Manchester, went under last October with more than £ 30million of deposits unaccounted for.
Pinnacle Residential (Liverpool) went into administration after receiving £2.2million of customers’ cash. The plan was to turn the upper floors of a former city office block, Vict oria House, into more than 70 flats.
Another project, Pinnacle Student Developments ( Liverpool), took £11.6million from buyers, who also bought off plan. They were put into administration in January because the firm ran out of money to finish the 242-apartment Quadrant project in the Everton area of the city.
Julie Proud’s son Ben, 27, lost the £23,000 deposit he had placed for a flat in Victoria House. Others had paid up to £160,000 to secure plots.
Julie, 52, from Liverpool, is now part of a buyers’ group trying to get money back. She said: “The investors fear they’ll never see their money again. I’d like to ask where all this money has gone when no work has been carried out.
“This appears to be the latest in a long line of failed developments by Pinnacle, where they cannot account for buyers’ money.”
Freeman, 51, was jailed in 2006 for 18 months for defrauding his charity fundraising firm of £ 450,000 days before they went bust.
Paisley- based Solutions RMC raised £ 13million for two breast cancer charities in seven years – but the charities only received £1.5million.
Freeman also worked as a consultant for Pinnacle, who planned to build 344 apartments in Manchester city centre.
Investors paid up to £ 350,000 to secure their plot in the proposed scheme. But the firm went under seven months ago without a brick being laid. An investigation is being carried out by Titan – the organised crime unit for the north-west of England – into the collapse of the company.
Last month, we revealed Freeman is facing a multimillion-pound court action after the collapse of Angelgate.
Administrators Moore Stephens have already raised £5.2million from the sale of the building site towards possible legal action by creditors.
Earlier this year, Freeman was fined more than £2500 after being found guilty at North Staffordshire Crown Court of assaulting his wife Lindsay and causing criminal damage at their home in Cheadle Hume, Cheshire.
Titan said: “There have been a number of referrals from police forces concerning investment fraud.
“We are consulting with other agencies to establish how the matter should proceed.”
Freeman declined to comment.