Privilege Wealth claims hit £40m

INVESTORS in Hertfordshirebased Privilege Wealth are facing a total loss after administrators of the troubled company revealed they have received claims for more than £40million, with a further £5.2million to be finalised.

Claimants have been told: ‘Based on current information, it is uncertain whether there will be a dividend to unsecured creditors, as this is dependent on future realisations.’

I warned against Privilege Wealth in 2016 after finding its close links to Brett Jolly, a Southend-on-Sea businessman who was previously behind Anglo Capital Partners, a £1 million carbon credits investment scam.

And in 2017, I reported on the shooting in Panama of Nottingham con man Chris Burton, alias Chris Rock, one of the central figures in Privilege Wealth who had earlier run a boiler room share scam based in Marbella, Spain.

Privilege Wealth crashed into administration early last year. Administrators found that millions of pounds had been poured into a payday loans business operated by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. Outstanding loans total about £19million, but Privilege Wealth is said by the administrators to be likely to recover no more than 4 per cent of this.

Meanwhile, they are still pursuing whistleblower David Marchant, who edits Offshore Alert, an anti-fraud website in Florida. In 2017, Privilege Wealth sued Marchant over comments he made about it. The case was heard in London, but Marchant refused to defend the action because no offence had been committed under USA freedom of speech laws. This meant the company won in court, and though Marchant was later proved right, the administrators are demanding he pay £80,000 in legal costs. Marchant has politely declined.