Spanish Equity Release Fiasco

Antonio Flores of Lawbird interviews Julia Hilling (88) and Peter Cosgrove (78), two Rothschild and Hamilton’s victims.

• My Interview to Two Rothschild Equity Release Victims

admin Stories of Victims Rothschild

While the title of the letter is insulting beyond belief, it is the content of it which encompasses the various degrees of deceit the duo descended to.

Were these the declining standards of living Henry Woods was referring to, which have in fact been inflicted on their clients as a result of the ER contract?

• Anguish
• Stress
• Fear
• Depression
• Heart Palpitations
• Increased risk of heart disease
• One amputee due to alleged vascular crisis caused by stress
• One recorded death due to alcoholism following depression

Antonio Flores Uncategorized Henry Woods, Rothschild

When the Equity Release providers chose to roam the Spanish Costas and hired imposter IFAs, they seriously hampered their ability to lend in a massive scale for their scope was, from the outset, limited to the tourist areas. Because having hundreds of millions to lend, perhaps billions, to unsuspecting pensioners who were looking at maitaining their wealth, I would have thought that a full on marketing campaign was de rigeur, via Spanish national television, media outlets etc.

Surely, the following pitch would have made tens of thousands of pensioners to latch on to the Tax-Evading-Equity-Release-Programme:

Advertiser:

Dear Spanish Pensioner, this message is for you and if you don’t listen carefully, you may be in trouble: Do you own a property?…Do you not have a mortgage on it?…Do you not realize that your property and family wealth is in danger if you don’t to something?…Because the Spanish Inland Revenue is here to rob you…Take out a mortgage loan on your property, no matter your age or size of your pension, have a guaranteed income AND dodge the Inland Revenue…Or do nothing in terms of IHT planning and make the tax man’s life easier, make them a member of family and allow them to run away with your hard-earned income.” (non-bold text extracted from publicity used by agents employed by Rothschild and Nordea Bank).

One can only imagine the hundreds of millions of Euros these banks, imposter IFAs, Lawyers, Notary Publics and incompetent tax-haven-fund-managers, could have reaped if this ad would have on say, Antena 3, Telecinco, Canal Sur, or perhaps the BBC…and it will stay in our imagination because had this scaremongering message been divulged on Spanish media outlets, live-broadcasted breaking-news showing scores of pinstriped-suited individuals being thrown into police vans would had been almost guaranteed.

Yet still they managed to run off to Luxembourg with a few good number of millions of expat money.

Downloads

• Lawbird-Rothschild-Marketing-Literature-Court-Evidence (PDF)

Antonio Flores Uncategorized Danske Bank, Equity Release, Hamiltons Financial Services, Henry Woods, Luxembourg, Nordea Bank, Rothschild

Unfortunately for Rothschild, the repressive laws that curtail freedom of speech do not reach Spain and so, we are comfortably allowed to produce staggering evidence or wrongdoing, even if it means that a bank is exposed. But just how Rothschild managed to give a mortgage to several 90-year old is beyond the comprehension of most mortals, it is a mystery that belongs to the realm of the extraordinary, almost paranormal.

And yet, they achieved it: Peter Rose, professional scaremonger, compulsive liar and also Managing Director of Rothschild, was able to put together an article that, by inviting people to openly defraud the Spanish Tax Office, was convincing enough to get people to sign up to a product that would see them, ultimately, homeless.

Downloads

• Rothschild Equity Release Article

Antonio Flores Uncategorized Peter Rose, Rothschild

As we know, some of the “Equity Releasers” were utilizing the insurance wrapper to cajole otherwise debt-free property owners to release the largest possible chunk of their wealth and give it to irresponsible banks so that they could mitigate the taxes (Inheritance and Wealth) and with clever “banking”, get a monthly salary, etc. Rothschild, Danske Bank, Landsbanki and Nordea, among others, used the Unit-Linked/Capital Assurance to tell the tale that those funds would be under the radar of the Spanish taxman, as Nordea put it, “Keeping it in the family – efficient tax planning”. But, since as early as 1999, the Spanish Tax Office had already plans for these schemes…when specifically stating that Inheritance Tax would apply in full, by repeating insistently, literally, that:

“ where policy holder and beneficiary are different, the amounts derived from the insurance will be subject to IHT in Spain”

I would also throw in article 18 of the Spanish Inheritance Tax 1999 Regulation which states that, in the event of non-residents for tax purposes (referring to the inheritors), the amounts derived from life insurance contracts will be taxed in Spain where the contracts were signed with Spanish insurance companies or signed in Spain with foreign insurance companies that operated in Spain.

Are these schemes therefore not a deliberate tax-defrauding deception designed to release precious equity that, thereafter and in the best of cases, got lost due to irresponsible management and in the worst, misappropriated?

Documents

The following documents are binding enquiries (consultas vinculantes) answered by the tax office proving the above. Please note they are in Spanish:

• Equity-Release-DGT-V0068-99-de-30-junio-1999.-DGTrib (PDF ~25Kb)
• Equity-Release–Cons.DGT-242003-de-4-marzo-2003.DGTrib (PDF ~25Kb)
• Equity-Release-DGT-32001-de-26-febrero-2001 (PDF ~25Kb)
• Equity-Release-Cons.DGT-192003-de-5-febrero-2003.DGTrib (PDF ~25Kb)

admin Uncategorized Danske Bank, Danske Bank Capital Assurance, inheritance tax, Landsbanki, Nordea, Rothschild

The Spanish regulator, the CNMV, has answered a petition on information that was made about 1 month ago. From it, we can conclude that:

1. Danske Bank´s Capital “Assurance” product did not get clearance to be offered to investors based in Spain. We are waiting for an answer from the Insurance regulator (DGS).
2. Nykredit Realkredit is regulated in Spain and obtained clearance to offer a product labelled “Euro-denominated perpetual hybrid core capital notes”. Sydbank, with whom investors signed their contracts, is not.
3. The IFA: no sign of the gentleman although he seems to have clearance to act on behalf of “Caser” Insurance, on an exclusive basis, to offer a number of insurance products. No trace of having authority to sell Danske Bank products. He certainly is not authorized to sell any financial service or product.
4. Rothschild: Registered with the CNMV but need to be more specific although, since they were selling the Aspect Policy, this will be for the DGS to advise on.

• Scanned pdf of the response from spanish regulator to initial enquiry here (400 Kb.)

Antonio Flores Uncategorized Danske Bank, Equity Release, Nykredit, Rothschild, Sydbank

The noose is closing on the necks of the infringing lenders. On a recent visit to Madrid we filed a formal application to the CNMV, the Spanish financial regulator, for information in relation to the activities of several banks and one insurance broker turned-IFA without authorization.

The DGS (Dirección General de Seguros, Spanish Insurance regulator) also received our visit and we had a mostly interesting meeting with a senior official,who advised us to file an application for information in respect to:

1. If Danske Bank and Rothschild were registered to sell insurance.
2. If the products they called as life insurance, or “assurance”, can be described as such or if, on the contrary, they are just financial products hidden behind the more benign format of insurance products for the retired.

Both regulators were not aware of the inverse-mortgage schemes, but were horrified when I explained in detail the state in which borrowers have been left.

Documents

• CNMV Information Request Regarding Banks that Offer Equity Release Produts (PDF)

Antonio Flores Uncategorized CNMV, Danske Bank, Dirección General de Seguros, Nykredit, Rothschild, Sydbank