177 days ago
The other day I speculated that Tintra’s (TNT) new auditors, B.S.S (Accountancy Services) Limited probably only had 1 AIM client. As you can see HERE, it does and that client is Tintra itself. So much for all the bull about how this firm from Shifnal, Shropshire is staffed by ex KPMG chaps. If BSS’s partners are BSD’s I am a banana.
360 days ago
Your starter for 10: How long, before today, is it since KPMG was last reprimanded and fined by the FRC? Monk (Oriel College Oxford): Eight days! Correct! You now have three questions for five points each on lies told by Caracal Gold (GCAT). Today’s fine for KPMG is, of course totally meaningless but relates to the audit of The Works.co.uk (WRKS) for the year end 26 April 2020. KPMG really fucked up here and to reduce the fine admitted so very quickly.
371 days ago
Your starter for 10: When was audit firm KPMG last fined and reprimanded by the accountancy watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)? The answer is: Five days ago. The previous slap on the wrists was last July. And today we learn that another enquiry is under way, into the 2021 audit of Carr’s Group (CARR). As far as I can see KPMG has a season ticket at the FRC but does anyone care?
375 days ago
Today’s sanction sees KPMG fined £1.25 million, discounted to £875,000 for pleading guilty to its crimes, and getting another severe reprimand/ pointless slap on the wrists. The fine is peanuts and since all the big 4 get regular reprimands nobody cares any more. This time KPMG sinned by screwing up on the calendar 2016 accounts of Luceco.
563 days ago
I refer to this amazing exposé by Snopes HERE into Max Polyakov, Ukraine’s Elon Musk. Why does it matter: I recall Cupid and the great establishment cover up. Thjis is crime plain and simple and the board knew about it and covered it up. KPMG covered it up. The Nomad did nothing and so too did the Oxymorons at AIM Regulation. The SNP has been lobbying hard for Polyakov. They are all beneath contempt. Then I ask if share buying at Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV) is legit. It is. Then I discuss why a whistleblower may or may not have a story about another AIM company, look at Made.com (MADE), Sosandar (SOS), Tern (TERN) and Bidstack (BIDS): two placings , one a pea shooter, one possibly (but probably not) a bazooka.
809 days ago
I start with KPMG and another scandal but the real scandal is the way it deals with its employees who are fraud enablers by act or by omission or both. Then onto the Methodists and why its stance on Rio Tinto (RIO) is, I suggest, not what Jesus would have advocated. Moreover it highlights how ESG driven investing has created valuation anomalies on both the long and short side. Finally, THG (THG) and PE bid speculation.
822 days ago
This is a charade. A pretence. A farce. For the second time, Nicola Quayle, the former head of KPMG’s Manchester office has been fined for signing off on misleading accounts. KPMG has also been fined but the idea that this will change anything is just a farce.
824 days ago
A “private & confidential” KPMG report commissioned by the new managers of Petropavlosk (POG) has, as you can see below, been published in full by the company and claims that its founders Peter Hambro and Dr Pavel Maslovskiy and associates may have taken out $302.4 million to which they were not entitled. But Hambro says that he and Maslovskiy (currently incarcerated in a Russian jail) were not given, as promised and as the company says they were, a chance to comment on the report which,he says, is riddled with innaccuracies.
901 days ago
Manx Financial (MFX) the AIM listed bank based on the Isle of Man, where my pal Jim Mellon is the second largest shareholder and also the chairman, has announced a raft of board changes. No offence intended Jim, but from a G as in Governance perspective this sucks. Now Manx is very well and conservatively run so this is not suggesting anything is amiss but it is how it looks.
909 days ago
It was back in July 2018 that I first started to expose the murky and, at times fraudulent, world of First Derivatives (FDP) and its scandal plagued auditors at KPMG Belfast, with the shares at £46. A lot has happened since then. Fascist PR pigs FTI tried to bully me to take down my articles but I told the mothers where to stick it. I reported First to the FRC and it was forced to restate its crooked accounts signed off by KPMG. And Brian Conlon, the CEO and architect of this enterprise sadly passed away leaving his grieving widow as the largest shareholder. Today the name is now FD Technologies (FDP).And it is still a cracking short ahead of numbers next week.Let me explain.
918 days ago
It seems that one politician appreciates the scandal of how lightly KPMG and its former partner David Costley-Wood engaged in and covered up a scam against ordinary workers at Silentnight and the taxpayer and how the man behind it Costley-Wood will not pay a cent of his £500,000 fine. My articles on this matter were passed by a mutual friend to the Labour peer Prem Sikka who, amazingly for a politician, seems to understand how wrong this is. Speaking on the new (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill, Hansard records the good Lord as saying:
926 days ago
Earlier I wrote up the damning report by the FRC into KPMG and its former partner David Costley Wood. The latter lied about a scheme he had engineered which would have wrecked the finances of good ordinary decent working folks and screwed the taxpayer. He then lied about what he had done and fabricated notes of meetings 13 months after they took place in order to try and leg over the regulator. Had KPMG acted against Costley-Wood when it was alerted rather than only parting company with him a couple of months ago, the disgraced Mr Costley-Wood would have been more than £6 million worse off. And that is one reason why he doesn’t care about a £500,000 fine. As you can see below… Another reason is that he will not pay a cent of that fine….
926 days ago
What happened at Silentnight was a scandal and today the lengths to which KPMG went to in order to cover up how one of its senior employees created that scandal emerged as the Financial Reporting Council published a full report into the matter. It is damning and begs very real questions about the toxic culture that exists at the accountancy giant.
1001 days ago
Sometimes when I read what BBMs write about me even I start to wonder if I am a bad guy even though I know all their defamatory slurs are false. But those who matter know otherwise and also take me seriously. Today, another letter arrives thanking me for my work which has caused another PLC to have to restate crook accounts. The Sheriff of AIM vs Eden Research (EDEN) and KPMG (again). For the second time in 4 years my work has spurred the Financial Reporting Council to act against Eden & KPMG. I have now lost count of how many such missives I have received from my good pals at the FRC but it is quite a lot. The letter is below.
1001 days ago
Yet again I have been thanked by the regulator for exposing cooked PLC books. Not that this will stop BBMs from defaming me in all the usual ways but those who count know we matter. So I discuss Eden Research (EDEN) and KPMG. Then there is Peter Brailey’s amazing scoop. Ta Guido for the hat tip (not!) – I discuss Powerhouse Energy (PHE) and Tim Yeo the sleazebag ex Tory MP. Then I turn to Verditek (VDTK) as it misleads again c/o the AIM Shit of the year Richard “Gollum” Gill as his green ponzi bond deadline approaches. Finally there is the fraud Zoetic (ZOE) where my target price remains 0p after today’s dire admission. Add to your shorts.
1166 days ago
The pleasure of reviewing a truly dismal 2020 trading statement from Eden Research (EDEN), a perennially loss making pustule on the arse of corporate Britain for more than 25 years, comes later. First to business: once again reporting this historically fraudulent enterprise to my good friends at the Financial Reporting Council, FRC, for cooking its 2019 books.
1174 days ago
It was in August 2015 when a heavily cash-strapped AIM dog Eden Research (EDEN) engaged in a blatant Panama Pump style fraud with a company, Tepenetech, with which it had long been associated. The 2019 accounts for Eden, signed off by KPMG, still pretend that this is a legitimate deal. But Terpenetech’s own accounts for calendar 2019 are, finally, just out and the fraud is there for all to see.
1289 days ago
I start with a personal message as to why there may or may not be a break in bearcasts over the next few days. Then it is onto how Watchstone (WTG) – Quenron (QPP) as was – is suing KPMG. This is bonkers. KPMG has made Watchstone shareholders far richer than they should be. I explain that and then discuss how if I was in charge and had a time machine, we would have stopped this fraud ever happening. Without the time machine, what would I do now?
1366 days ago
Thanks to the good works of Gabriel Grego, Akazoo (InternetQ as was) has now been thrown off Nasdaq and the SEC are crawling all over it, its main backer and author of its corporate deals, Martin Hughes’ Tosca Fund and various advisors. One firm that has narrowly avoided a massive bullet, as I can reveal today, is auditor BDO Global.
1903 days ago
Covering Quindell (QPP), Naibu (NBU), Patisserie Holdings (CAKE), Staffline (STAF), Sefton (SER) and more I look at the role of auditors and lawyers in enabling corporate fraud and what needs to change to stop this.
2017 days ago
A few days ago I showed hard evidence that the 2002 IPO of First Derivatives (FDP) was based on false earnings. That was dismissed by supporters as being so long ago that it did not matter. It does! But how about we move to the issue of whether reported earnings in the past three years are "real" or cooked up. I suggest it may well be the latter in which case the stock is going to tank at some stage, soon, when investors realise this. Let me explain...
2118 days ago
I start by looking back to where I watch the World Cup Final 4 years ago and where I will be watching the semi on Wednesday. When you have finished donating a tenner to Woodlarks HERE, this podcast covers the current scandal surrounding the big 4 and KPMG in particular. Sam Antar used KPMG in his 18 year fraud but is it fair to pick on one firm? Is the system inherently flawed? What would I do to make things better?
2119 days ago
Bearcasts may be sporadic over the next few days as I explain. By Wednesday I shall be mountain walking in Greece for my Woodlarks training. Think of me with the snakes and in 35 degree heat and donate HERE. Today I look at Optibiotix (OPTI), Audioboom (BOOM), Andalas (ADL), Frontera (FRR), Boxhill (BOX) and KPMG and in some detail at Jim Mellon's failing gold play Condor Gold (CNR).
2128 days ago
I am the last person to berate the fine folks from my family’s ancestral homelands of the Kingdom of Ulster or indeed the modern day province. SUFTUM is what I say as I wake up every morning to retweet - with my own comments - @onthisdayPira. But some communities are just perhaps just too tightly knit, too cosy. I refer to the accounting arrangements of First Derivatives (FDP).
2145 days ago
For its 2013 financial year, the fraud Quindell (QPP) switched its auditors from RSM Tenon – already fined by the Financial Reporting Council as a direct result of my work – to KPMG. But unusually for a firm claiming to be so large it chose the small Southampton office headed up by Senior partner William Smith to check its books.
2278 days ago
The only UK financial watchdog that is anything other than a poodle has again bared its teeth and again it is the auditors at KPMG that are in the firing line, this time over Carillion (CLLN). Still being investigatred over its role in the Quindell fraud, let off the hook on HBOS, KPMG at least knows how the Financial Reporting Council works.
2781 days ago
My good friend, the king of the fraudsters Sam Antar, was on cracking form this week reminding us all of how he used to hoodwink auditors KPMG over many years when masterminding the Crazy Eddie's fraud. You can see the genius Sam explaining all HERE. I am keen that the fine firm of RSM UK Audit LLP, does not find itself made to look like KPMG style fools, and have thus penned it an open letter today on the subject of both impending bankruptcy and also fraud at its client African Potash. I am such a nice guy trying to help out these simple City folk don't you think? The open letter follows:
2885 days ago
You remember how Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) was going to transform the profits of Quindell (QPP)? Okay, there had always been sub 20,000 successful claims a year but fraudster Rob Terry was accruing profits on the basis that Quindell was going to win 72,000 a year. Yes a 360% market share and the City analysts, mug punters, auditors KPMG et al believed him! Jesus how could they be so thick or corrupt? We did warn them. Anyhow, have a butchers at Note 37 of the Watchstone (WTG) - Quenron as was - accounts yesterday. It states:
3184 days ago
The fraudster Rob Terry of Quindell (QPP) infamy is a busy guy as he prepares for the inevitable dawn raid by the Serious Fraud Office as a precursor to a trial and a custodial jail sentence. His latest posting on the website of his new vehicle Quob Park is quite simply delusional.
Terry discusses the merits of getting a public listing HERE and argues that it would be better if Quob Park did not list. Hmmm. We can think of another good reason or fifteen why a listing is not going to happen. How about the fact that Quob’s founder (Mr Terry) is the subject of a SFO Criminal Investigation? Or the fact that PWC has come out and said that the accounts he prepared at Quindell (and even its IPO document) were plain fantasy? Or that Mr Terry misled the poor lambs at KPMG in relation to prior audits? The list goes on. And on. And on.
It is just inconceivable that a Rob Terry entity could gain a public markets listing. Even the AIM casino would say no and no Nomad in town would touch Terry with a bargepole.
Then Terry goes onto to argue that Quob’s biggest investment – Daniel Stewart
3315 days ago
In 2014 the esteemed firm of KPMG (Southampton office, three partners) started its audit of Quenron just after Christmas and by March 31 had done enough to allow Quenron to publish the 2013 results – less than three months and the job was largely done. When did PWC start work on reviewing Quindell’s fraudulent accounting policies? Early December 2014.
So that means that PWC, throwing however many staff Quindell’s banks tell it to at the project, has already had just a few days under four months to determine the level of fraud and how big is the black hole at this company in cash crisis. All of this begs a few questions.
3403 days ago
Following the shock Rob Fielding revelations of yesterday, conversations with three current and former Quindell employees and some early morning reading of the Quenron (QPP) 2013 accounts, notably page 57, I have more shock disclosures about Quindell and its acquisitions and rather tough questions both for the fraudsters and for the bumbling incompetents at KPMG who signed off on such utter gibberish and obvious lies.
3419 days ago
Law firm YourLegalFriend will tomorrow launch an initiative aimed at pursuing both Quindell PLC and its current board of directors as well as Rob Terry in order to get back the vast losses suffered by investors in Quindell.
Yourlegalfriend is a well-established firm of lawyers run by Colin Gibson, a KPMG-trained accountant (nearly 10 years with the firm), who was later a listed company FD then CEO on first a main list then an AIM listed company for a total of around 8 years.
I have spoken to Mr Gibson and he understands the issues and is serious in pursuing this matter. I have urged him to widen the action into pursuing Canaccord, Cenkos, Daniel Stewart, Redleaf PR, Bell pottinger and KPMG and he states that as more evidence emerges that the scope of the action is likely to be widened. The release that will be issued tomorrow follows. I urge all Quindell shareholders who have lost money on this fraud to contact Mr Gibson and his team first thing tomorrow.
QUINDELL INVESTOR CLASS ACTION UNDER ACTIVE INVESTIGATION
3424 days ago
No apologies but this Bearcast contains strong langauge. Fraudster Rob Terry has dumped nearly all his Quindell (QPP) shares. It is time for the morons to apologise to me as I am now 110% vindicated. I discuss lessons learned (other than do not mess with the Sheriff) and also what folks should do next. Start by apologising to me and my staff then have a measured go at Terry, AIM Regulation, Cenkos, Daniel Stewart, Canaccord and KPMG.
3426 days ago
I have just had a Quindell (QPP) shareholder on the phone. Not any old shareholder but a veteran of class actions. I warn you KPMG, Rob Terry and Cenkos you are potentially in big trouble, this man is very serious and knows exactly what he is doing. Ahead of that I examine what happens next for Cenkos, Rob Terry and shareholders. It is not pretty. And I now have new questions for the FCA about the scale of Rob Terry's insider dealing.
3440 days ago
I many not be at my sharpest but I am not pulling any punches as the Quindell scandal deepens. This podcast covers Quindell, Daniel Stewart, Cenkos, KPMG, the lies, the fraud, the implosion and what the fallout will be. I also look at blinkx ( dire results & another Sheriff win), warn you about African Minerals and look at stocks on a PE of less than 1.
3474 days ago
I am told that the accounts of Quenron (QPP) must be kosher because the global accounting giant KPMG has signed off on them. KPMG knows all about accounting and I am just a failed fund manager/pizza delivery guy/blogger so clearly know nothing. Hmmmmm, I fear that some folks are in for a rude awakening.
My first point is that the Southampton Office of KPMG is clearly not staffed by the brightest cookies in the jar. I imagine that up in London they are acutely embarrassed
3474 days ago
And so Quindell Legal Services, the biggest part of the Quenron Group (QPP) has filed its accounts. Also of interest is the fact that it filed two annual returns for last year. Would Quindell care to deny that it had a spot of bother with its capital adequacy forms filled in with the FCA? That might explain a few of the red flags but not all.
The first thing to note is that Companies House stamps the accounts for calendar 2013 as received on October 1st. that is a £150 fine for Quenron. It is small beer although it is good that someone is making money from the company. But it is indicative of a badly run enterprise.
I note also that KPMG – which earned £60,000 for compiling this document that contradicts itself – did not actually attach a signature to its sign off.
3497 days ago
Interim results from Cupid (CUP) were predictably disastrous and show why it had to see its dodgy Ukrainian dating businesses. In part that was because, despite the KPMG whitewash they were clearly engaged in unethical practises. But Cupid also needed the cash.
What remains are some fairly dull UK websites where customers are leaving on drives and not coming back. I sense that the model that works for dating now is free to access and advertising based. Subscription websites like those of Cupid are a busted model. Hence ales from the ongoing operations slumped from £9.4 million to £7.2 million in the half calendar year. The company may witter on about new site launches but that’s a Victor Meldrew for me…I just don’t believe it.
3543 days ago
I have today written to the senior partner at KPMG, Mr Simon Collins, asking him to check whether there was undetected fraud in the 2013 accounts published by Quindell (QPP) and audited by his firm. By fraud I mean the payment of cash and shares to a long-time associate of Rob Terry to buy companies that were essentially worthless. Such payments would be fraudulent. The payments would also be fraudulent were it to be shown that the company had some value but nowhere near that paid and that the purchase price could not be justified.
The Letter Reads:
Quindell PLC audited by KPMG – has fraud occurred on your watch?
Dear Mr Collins.
3595 days ago
As you know I am thick as two short planks and so I am sure that there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for what appears to be another red flag in the ever growing red flag forest at Quindell (QPP). Perhaps a Bulletin Board moron out there can enlighten me regarding the missing 100 million shares?
On 26 September 2013 Quindell announced that it had bought 26% of PT Healthcare by issuing 31,551,270 shares. Do not worry about what it does, Rob Terry told us that it would be earnings enhancing so that’s alright. Quindell said that it had an option to buy the rest of PT for 242 million more shares which lapsed on April fool’s day 2014.
Now please turn to page 18 of the Quindell Annual Report which must be an accurate document sine it is signed off by KPMG. On that page Rob Terry states that:
3789 days ago
Outgoing Domino’s Pizza boss Lance Batchelor is being attacked from all sides for saying that the UK needs to relax immigration rules so he can find suitable staff. Ex M&S and now Ocado boss Sir Stuart Rose said the same thing. They are spot on and “fake Tory” immigration minister Mark Harper is taking prize bollocks for attacking the pizza fellow.
Batchelor says that Domino’s could hire another 1.000 drivers and pizza toppers tomorrow but native Brits won’t take the jobs and tighter immigration rules mean there are fewer foreigners ( who will take them) around.
Harper, who after Oxford went to work for big 4 accountants KPMG before meeting up with his old Uni pal Call Me Dave and becoming a Southern England MP, disagrees with the analysis of the real life businessmen who have actually run businesses creating thousands of jobs. So who do you believe?
Being a fake Tory Harper says Batchelor should see that “market forces” are telling him that he has to up his pay rates. You will note the use of the word market forces – that is to make you and I think Harper is really a Tory.
3927 days ago
So AIM Cesspit listed Cupid (CUP) the BBC last night accused you of defrauding your customers and showed why the KPMG enquiry was a whitewash – are you going to sue it for defamation?
AIM listed Cupid was accused by the Kiev Post of employing folks to create fake profiles to entice lonely punters to sign up to its paid services. KPMG was hired to investigate but DID NOT interview the reporter who filed the story.
The BBC has now uncovered stacks of fake profiles and HAS interviewed foxy Svitlana Tuchynska on camera.
3931 days ago
AIM Cesspit listed Cupid (CUP) has announced that it has sold its casual dating (i.e. casual sex) sites for £43.1 million. Paid for researchers Edison have published a note giving this the full spin. But watch out. All is not as it seems.
The sites being dumped were the ones where it was alleged that Cupid was doing dodgy things in the Ukraine. Of course the KPMG whitewash (I mean independent report) cleared Cupid of all wrong doing but since KPMG did not even speak to the reporter who uncovered all the alleged wrong doings and who has not been sued for libel, that report was a joke. But now Cupid can distance itself from that sort of thing by flogging the sites to their founder, Max Polyakov.
For £43.1 million? Er no.
3952 days ago
Earlier this year an undercover reporter from the Ukraine Post applied for a job with AIM Cesspit listed Cupid (CUP) and claimed that she was told that she would be paid on a freelance basis to pretend to be a dolly bird interested in dating ugly Western men in order to get them to pony up for a Cupid paid for service. Cupid denied the charge but commissioned an independent review by KPMG to investigate and today it has published its findings.
