Swan Group

    First exposed by OffshoreAlert in 2015, the Scotland-based Swan Group is a notorious vehicle for swindling investors, specializing in property-based investment scams. The group's controllers, at least until 2019, were Britons Philip McGinlay and Brian Weal, the later of whom has been a director of at least four British firms that have gone into liquidation. In one scam, Swan Group affiliate Etaireia Investments sought to raise funds from investors by announcing that it had received planning permission to build 152 residential units on land it owned in Scotland. After OffshoreAlert revealed this was false, trading in Etaireia's shares was suspended on the London-based ICAP Securities & Derivatives Exchange and the company publicly acknowledged that it hadn't even applied for planning permission, much less received it. Other frauds that Swan Group or its principals have been involved with include Advalorem Value Asset Fund, Kijani Commodity Fund, and Symtomax.
    Timeline
    minette-compson-paul-segal
    22

    January

    2020

    EXPOSED: Symtomax Group’s fraudulent €12M Bond Offering

    A €12 million bond offering by British nationals Minette Coetzee, a.k.a. Minette Compson, and Paul Segal via their Symtomax Group for a purported medical cannabis production facility in Portugal is fraudulent, OffshoreAlert can reveal. The scheme involves entities and individuals in the BVI, Canada, Dubai, England, Gibraltar, Morocco, Netherlands, Panama, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, South Africa, and Switzerland.

    29

    August

    2019

    British fraud firm Etaireia Investments goes into administration

    British firm Etaireia Investments Plc has gone into administration – four years after being exposed by OffshoreAlert for perpetrating a property-based investment fraud involving firms and individuals in the BVI, England, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Scotland, Seychelles, and Spain.

    Andreas Woelfl - Argentarius - Malta
    21

    September

    2017

    Malta’s Argentarius Group kicked off Gibraltar Stock Exchange

    Argentarius Group, which operates investment platforms in Malta, Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands on which several suspect schemes have been trying to raise funds, has been kicked off the Gibraltar Stock Exchange.

    Brett Jolly Privilege Wealth
    19

    October

    2016

    EXPOSED: ‘Privilege Wealth’ global investment fraud

    Notorious British swindler Brett Jolly is secretly behind a global investment fraud being perpetrated under the name ‘Privilege Wealth’, OffshoreAlert can reveal. The scheme involves a sprawling web of companies and operators in Bermuda, BVI, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dubai, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Luxembourg, Panama, Seychelles, South Africa, Spain, UK, and USA.

    04

    July

    2015

    British firm Etaireia Investments admits OffshoreAlert’s exposé was true

    Three days after being exposed by OffshoreAlert, publicly-listed British firm Etaireia Investments Plc has admitted it falsely announced last year that it had received planning permission for a substantial residential development on land it owns in Scotland. The company is blaming the fraud on a former director, Stuart Black.

    brian-weal
    30

    June

    2015

    Belvedere associate Brian Weal’s latest fraud: Publicly-listed Etaireia Investments

    OffshoreAlert’s continuing investigation into Belvedere Management Group and its affiliates has uncovered another ongoing investment fraud, this one involving British firm Etaireia Investments Plc, whose shares are listed on the London-based ICAP Securities & Derivatives Exchange and which has raised at least £1.5 million over the last 15 months.

    22

    May

    2015

    BUSTED: British & Irish expats who help Belvedere Group swindle investors

    One day after new directors were appointed to ‘ensure’ that Cayman-domiciled Brighton SPC would be operated legally, the Fund illegally acquired a Gibraltar firm with bogus assets of $125 million, OffshoreAlert can reveal. The transfer allowed Belvedere and its accomplices in Britain, Dubai, Gibraltar, Spain and elsewhere to continue securities frauds involving firms listed on stock exchanges in Denmark, England and Germany.