A man forced to retire early from work due to ill health, emotionally details how he lost his life savings, in new BBC Panorama documentary, The Billion-Pound Savings Scandal, which airs on Tuesday, August 16. Paul Stevens, who now lives with an auto-immune disease called myasthenia gravis, talks about how he invested a large sum of money into Blackmore Bond plc, who reportedly used suspect tactics to issue high-risk 'mini-bonds' to ordinary people rather than experienced investors. The new film explores the impact that the company had on investors and the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) handling of the situation.
Paul and his wife, Jane, were amongst 2000 other investors who were told that their money would be invested as part of the scheme. Prior to investing his ill health-pension and life savings, Paul states that he "did [his] due diligence" when it came to researching the company and describes how he was ensured that the bond was "guaranteed by insurance".
The Blackmore Bond was set up to invest money into UK property developments and the proceeds would supposedly pay back the investors. The company was attractive to people as it offered up to 10% per year in interest payments. Despite this, the bond collapsed in 2020, meaning that Paul and Jane, ultimately, lost up to £40,000. “When we discovered that it wasn’t going to pay out, the feelings were sickening," says Paul, before adding that his wife and him had concerns when they saw that Blackmore Bond's guarantee scheme was based in Costa Rica.
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In emotional scenes, Paul breaks down, commenting: “The side effects to some of [my] medication was horrendous, but losing the money was worse. We want justice and we want our money back.”
After setting up a Facebook group for victims, the couple soon realised that they weren't alone in their financial losses from Blackmore Bond plc. They would then conduct their own research into the company.
After looking into Blackmore Bond's website, Paul and Jane discover that the company had faked some of their 'loyal' investors’ identities using stock photos. “This is where it all starts to make you feel a bit sick,” says a shocked Jane, before adding: "We feel as if we've been turned over twice - first by Blackmore, then by the FCA."
Elsewhere in the hour-long film, Paul Carlier, a finance and banking expert, talks about how he first reported his concerns about Blackmore Bond plc to the FCA in 2017. His office at the time was next door to the company that was tasked with selling the bond. He overheard their activities and reported them for using high-pressure "boiler room" sales tactics, which are banned.
"[The sales people] were literally cold-calling people and approaching people with an intent to sell them a toxic or worthless investment product, including the Blackmore Bond," he told BBC Panorama.
In 2018, Carlier discovered that Blackmore Bond plc was still in operation and therefore, warned the FCA again, this time escalating the warning to the regulator's then chief executive, Andrew Bailey, the current governor of the Bank of England. "It's astonishing. I don't know what more you could have done. I entrusted them to deal with it, and they didn't," he said of the FCA's handling of the company.
In response, the FCA said that it shared intelligence about the Blackmore Bond with the City of London Police in 2017 and forced the sales company to shut its website. In total, around £30m was invested into the Blackmore fund following the first warning in 2017.
Alongside Paul Stevens and Paul Carlier, the new BBC film also follows other Blackmore investors who, also believing they'd been abandoned by authorities, set out to uncover evidence relating to Blackmore Bond themselves.
The FCA and other authorities have not taken any action against the Blackmore directors, Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh. They have said that it was examining the way the bond's promotional material was approved, but said investors were warned of the risks and had to confirm they understood them and could afford to lose the money. Cross-party MPs, including members of the Treasury Select Committee, have called for an inquiry into the FCA's handling of the Blackmore Bond.
At the end of the film, it is revealed that Blackmore director Phillip Nunn, who has since been bankrupted in connection with one Blackmore Bond development, did not reply to any questions put to him by producers, despite repeated requests. Patrick McCreesh, meanwhile, denied any wrongdoing and said the Blackmore Bond was a potentially profitable, properly run business. He said the risks of investing were fully explained, vulnerable people were not targeted and Blackmore had stopped working with the sales company which had been reported to the FCA.
Panorama: The Billion-Pound Savings Scandal airs on BBC One at 9pm on Tuesday, August 16
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