CMC - Lansdown Financial Ltd, a police investigation, insolvency & the director who connects it all!

According to the FCA register[1], Lansdown Financial Ltd is a claims management company with temporary permissions with a principal address based in Birmingham and a contact name of Ebow Biney. The firms website lists a contact address is in Coventry[2], yet records filed with Companies House unearth a very different story.

Lansdown Financial Ltd was originally set up in 2015 with a registered office address in Guildford[3] but in July 2017, Mark Thomas Richard Rowe became the new director and moved the RO to Bournemouth. Mark Rowe remained the director until 31st May 2019 where he was replaced by his Finance Manager from one of his other companies – so what happened?

According to the records[4], Mark and Nicola Rowe set up the company Monster Rewards Ltd in 2013 which was involved in timeshare claims and which changed its name in May 2018 to ABC Legal Ltd after being placed under police investigation.

In November 2017 a number of allegations of fraud were made in relation to a product sold by Mark Rowe known as “Monster Credits”. The companies named within the allegations that were under investigation include Monster Group SL, Monster Rewards Ltd, Hollywood Marketing SL, Complete Internet Solutions and the trading name SellMyTimeshare.TV. As a result, on Tuesday 28th November 2017 a series of arrests were made across the UK and a number of properties were searched both in the UK and in Tenerife. All persons arrested were released under police investigation. [5]

The company name change to ABC Legal Ltd meant the company continued to trade until February 2019 when it was placed into liquidation with debts of £242,317.89, including one to HMRC for £55K.

The placing of the company into liquidation has caused one website to query “what will happen to all those clients who have signed up with ABC Lawyers for “compensation claims” and “relinquishments”, are they going to have the work completed?”[6]

The website, Inside Timeshare also published a further article on the 29th April 2019[7] in which it reports it has received “many emails from timeshare owners who have paid for relinquishments and so-called claims through ABC Lawyers, one reader paid around £7,500 for relinquishment and a claim. They were simply told to stop paying the maintenance fees, which they did, they have since found out that Club La Costa terminated their membership on the grounds of non-payment of fees. In other words, ABC Lawyers did nothing, they have also never received a penny of the £30,000 they were promised for their claim, despite signing the contract with ABC in October 2017.”

The same article states several of Mark Rowe’s companies are under investigation by the Regional Organised Crime Unit of Somerset and Avon Police as well as the Spanish authorities, so presumably the transfer of CMC regulation to the FCA could not have come at a worse time for his claims management company, Lansdown Financial Ltd?

This could explain why Mark Rowe resigned from being the director of Lansdown Financial on 31st May 2019 and was replaced by Lorraine Chastey – whose Linked in Profile describes her as the Finance Manager for Monster Rewards Ltd in Bournemouth[8].

Mark Rowe continues to work as a Business Consultant to the CMC following its “sale” and is “continuing to work with the management and new owners to drive our incredible business model forward to deliver value for shareholders and our client base.”[9]

One can only wonder if the company received their Dear CEO letter from the FCA last week!

[1] https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_FirmDetailsPage?id=0010X00004PKKYKQA5

[2] http://www.lansdownfinancial.co.uk/

[3] https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09742346/filing-history?page=2

[4] https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/ncaIXnvze52jwJL2010PLWlvzVA/appointments

[5] https://rdo.org/industry-updates/monster-travel-sellmytimeshare-tv-multiple-arrests/

[6] https://insidetimeshare.com/tag/abc-lawyers/

[7] https://insidetimeshare.com/tag/abc-lawyers/

[8] https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorraine-chastey-55395429/?originalSubdomain=uk

[9] https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrowelfl/