# General Business Category > General Business Forum >  'Millions missing' at Fidentia

## Dave A

A devastating High Court application by the Financial Services Board (FSB) has exposed the "misappropriation" of hundreds of millions of client money by Cape-based asset management company Fidentia. 

This may prove to be one of the most damaging investment scandals since the failure of Masterbond in 1992, given that Fidentia was looking after R1,6-billion of other people's money, Business Day reported on Friday.

The application follows a probe of Fidentia by a team mandated by the FSB, and it paints a bleak picture of the way the company carried out business. It included references to "misrepresentation to clients", "misappropriation of client funds", "misrepresenting investments", "inadequate corporate governance" and "material conflicts of interest".

At the last count, the FSB probe concluded that R406-million is the figure of "client funds unaccounted for", which suggests that the Living Hands Trust and the transport Seta may yet lose hundreds of millions of rands.

While it is not yet possible to say how much is missing, the inspectors said "it is now evident that a lengthy disposal process [of Fidentia's assets] will be required ... and the value which will be realised remains uncertain".
full story from M&G here

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## Dave A

Hmmm. Interesting website. Fidentia the .co.za version. As in exceptional gloss and no substance.

Not sure if the offshore sites I found are connected.

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## Dave A

Dines Gihwala, a Cape Town attorney, and George Papadakis, a forensic accountant, have their work cut out for them tracking down R689 million of R2 billion that was allegedly stolen from Fidentia Asset Management and two subsidiary companies.

The men were appointed as curators of the companies by the Cape high court on Thursday, following an urgent application by the executive officer of the Financial Services Board (FSB).

In court papers German Anderson, the deputy executive officer of the FSB, said a formal inspection into the affairs of Fidentia, Bramber Alternative and Fidentia Holdings was undertaken following "disturbing information'' received by the registrar from a former director of Fidentia.

One the largest investors was the Transport Sector Education and Training Authority, which was unlikely to be paid back the funds it had invested, which were part of the misappropriated funds.
full story from Business Report here

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## duncan drennan

Eish, things are looking BAD at Fidentia as all the gory details are starting to come out under curatorship. It seems they've pillaged R1.2bn from the Living Hands trust whose beneficiaries are mainly orphans and widows.




> Brown and his cronies - retired cricketers Eric Simons, Dave Callaghan and Merrick Pringle are among the "employees" - have looted the Living Hands trust, previously worth R1,2bn, almost to the point of extinction.
> 
> Living Hands is a trust run for around 50 000 widows and orphans whose departed husbands/parents - mostly blue collar mine workers - entrusted their final estates to it. Many of them had been relying on grants of around R200 a month as their major source of income.
> 
> While Brown was using the trust to draw his own R400 00 (sic) monthly pay, dispensing equally fancy salaries to his pals and providing free food in a restaurant-like canteen, orphans have been threatened with eviction for not being able to pay their school fees. 
> 
> Read the full story, "Fidentia: It's our worst nightmare" on MoneyWeb


I _think_ the salary amount should read *R400 000*. I know it has been quoted at a _basic_ of R3m/year

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## Dave A

The connected:



> Danisa Baloyi, one of South Africa's top businesswomen, has been told to repay a massive loan by the curators of beleaguered Fidentia, according to a report carried on the capeargus.co.za website on Monday. 
> There have been claims that the loan, said by sources close to Fidentia to be R8m, was being written off at the time the curators took over the administration of the company, but this week Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown said while it was true she had an outstanding loan, the curators were demanding it be repaid. 
> 
> He declined to comment on the amount. 
> 
> This is the latest twist in the ongoing and unravelling multi-million rand investment scandal that has left thousands of widows and orphans without their monthly payments, the report said. 
> 
> Baloyi is head of the Road Accident Fund and was named Businesswoman of the Year for 2003.
> from Fin 24 here

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## Dave A

The domino effect:



> A company, "closely associated" with Fidentia, with R4bn in assets and 15 000 clients has been placed under curatorship. 
> The Financial Service Board said in a statement on Friday the Cape High Court granted a provisional order whereby the business of Ovation Global Investment Services (Pty) Ltd and Ovation Global Investment Nominees (Pty) Ltd was placed under curatorship in terms of section 5 of the Financial Institutions (Protection of Funds) Act, 2001. 
> 
> Attorney John Levin and forensic accountant Barend Petersen were appointed joint curators to the business of the companies. 
> 
> The order was granted following an application by the executive officer of the FSB in his capacity as the Registrar of Financial Services Providers. 
> 
> The latest twist in the Fidentia scandal comes several weeks after a devastating High Court application by the FSB had exposed the "misappropriation" of hundreds of millions of client money by the Cape-based asset management firm. 
> 
> ...

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## Dave A

Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown, the man at the centre of what could be South Africa's biggest-ever corporate-investment scandal, is behind bars.

He and group accountant Graham Maddock were arrested by the Scorpions at their luxurious Cape Town homes shortly after 8am on Tuesday.

Within hours they appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on a string of charges, including fraud of R200,3-million.

Denied bail despite the efforts of their lawyers, they will be detained at Goodwood prison, ironically not far from Brown's Sunset Beach mansion, until a bail hearing on March 15.

The men face charges of fraud, theft and contraventions of the Companies Act, the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, the Reserve Bank Act and exchange-control regulations, as well as of income-tax laws.
full story from M&G here

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## Dave A

Fidentia's interim curators failed to arrive at a meeting with about 50 former Fidentia employees at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) on Monday.

In a statement on behalf of the employees, Fidentia's former spokesperson, Ross Edwards, said the curators -- Dines Gihwala and George Papadakis -- were informed of the meeting, but failed to appear.

The CCMA commissioner appointed to the case, Leon Levy, had contacted Gavin Stansfield, a director of Gihwala's law firm.

Edwards said former Fidentia employees claimed Stansfield had "been frantically fast-tracking" the retrenchments of between 450 and 600 employees without following the most basic conditions of employment.

"Stansfield claims that official notice of Monday's Fidentia CCMA hearing, which was faxed to the address given by the interim curators, must simply have gone astray."

The group of retrenched Cape Town employees was being represented by the Professional Trade Union of South Africa.

Many of the applicants in Monday's "mass-action appeal" were dismissed with no pay for two weeks' work in February and received no benefits and no severance pay, Edwards said.

In Johannesburg, some Fidentia employees were dismissed as late as February 23, with no pay or retrenchment packages after working for the curators for one month.

"The interim curators' timing in their case was especially harsh, coming just before pay day."

Half the staff had been fired with nothing, and the remainder paid their full February salary, he said.
from M&G here

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## duncan drennan

One of the things which popped into my head while reading this article was that the Fidentia case may have a knock on effect on the rules governing trusts. This paragraph stood out in particular,




> Admittedly, itÃ¢â¬â¢s not all your fault. Currently, umbrella trust funds, which by their very nature are for widows and orphans and which manage billions of rands, have virtually no supervision and are not required to submit audited reports. If audited reports arenÃ¢â¬â¢t submitted, itÃ¢â¬â¢s very difficult to remove the trustees. SABMiller may have wanted to, but they needed to have a case they could prove against the trustees.
> 
> Read the full article, "Dear DanisaÃ¢â¬Â¦" on M&G Online


There is going to be lots of dust, and it will be a while before it settles - one thing I am sure about, the governance rules for this type of setup are going to change.

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## duncan drennan

It looks like an Absa employee helped to facilitate the movement and laundering of money through various Absa bank accounts.




> For those thousands of rands, the Absa employee (Booysens Road branch) effectively facilitated the movement of about R219m through three Absa accounts in the second half of 2005.
> 
> This money is believed to have come from investors fundsÃ¢â¬â¢ in a cash pool in the Common Cents fund. These funds were held in a cash account and invested in a cash portfolio on behalf of various brokers and investors.
> 
> But Cruickshank got authorisation from the board of directors of Ovation Global Investment Nominees to Ã¢â¬ÅmanageÃ¢â¬Â the Common Cents money Ã¢â¬Åon a sole proprietor basisÃ¢â¬Â, say the court papers.
> 
> Ã¢â¬ÅCruickshank assured those present that he held the necessary licence and was duly registered with the FSB.Ã¢â¬Â
> 
> Cruickshank was authorised by directors Eugene Yazbek and Christopher McCallum to open a bank account in the name of Ovation Global Investment Nominees, at Absa, subject to certain conditions. He was an unrehabilitated insolvent, though the curators say Yazbek and McCallum could not have known this.
> ...

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## Dave A

The knock on effects of the Fidentia case are far from over.




> Businesswoman Danisa Baloyi has relinquished all her posts with companies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), she said through her spokesperson on Tuesday.
> 
> "Due to the sustained media attention on my person and now my qualifications, it is apparent that my contribution to the organisations I serve cannot continue in the positive spirit I originally intended."
> 
> Baloyi's move follows her removal last Tuesday from the board of the Absa Group and Absa Bank due to public disclosures related to irregularities at Fidentia.
> 
> She has also "stepped aside" as chancellor of the University of Fort Hare and director of Metrofile Holdings.
> 
> "I have ... decided to resign from all boards and positions that I hold in public and private organisations in order to dedicate all my energies to the challenges I face."
> ...

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## Yvonne

Todays news said Danisa Baloyi will be requested to repay her interest free loan from Fidentia.
Her legal spokesperson said something along the lines that an offer of settlement would be made?????
It was interest free, and now a "settlement" figure would be offered? 

Will that be a few million, and then a claim will be made that she settled all outstanding amounts, and owes nothing, therefore she is able to accept further highly lucrative positions?

Yvonne

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## duncan drennan

> Todays news said Danisa Baloyi will be requested to repay her interest free loan from Fidentia.
> Her legal spokesperson said something along the lines that an offer of settlement would be made?????
> It was interest free, and now a "settlement" figure would be offered? 
> 
> Will that be a few million, and then a claim will be made that she settled all outstanding amounts, and owes nothing, therefore she is able to accept further highly lucrative positions?
> 
> Yvonne


It will be interesting to see how this pans out. I suspect the curators are not going to accept a "settlement offer" - they have widows and orphans waiting for money at the end of next month (SARS bailed them out this month by refunding tax that was paid).

I think that if she doesn't cough up and pay within 90 days they will sue her.

The interesting spin off of this is that BEE partners may be more circumspect when accepting positions on boards, and as trustees. Turns out there is a bit of responsibility and liability involved...

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## Dave A

> The interesting spin off of this is that BEE partners may be more circumspect when accepting positions on boards, and as trustees. Turns out there is a bit of responsibility and liability involved...


You mean there's more to being a board member than getting multi-million rand interest free loans that you don't have to repay  :EEK!:

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## duncan drennan

I found this bit about the repossession of the Facets property which was owned by Brown's family trust quite intriguing. The big question on my mind Ã¢â¬â who are the other trustees, and what does this mean for them?

It seems that the Brown Family Trust was used for siphoning off money,




> Gihwala said it seemed clear that the family trust was created at least in part for the purpose of hiding the theft of funds from Fidentia.
> 
> "The trust is to all intents and purposes Brown's alter ego," he said.
> 
> Full story on M&G

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## duncan drennan

As this thing unfolds the blatant fraud that has occurred becomes clearer and clearer,




> Also implicated in the scandal this week is Andrew Tucker Ã¢â¬â who has two Cape Town residential addresses, one in Table View and the other in Milnerton, and is a trustee of the Brown family trust along with Arthur and Susan.
> 
> The capital beneficiaries of the trust, meanwhile, are Brown, his wife and BrownÃ¢â¬â¢s descendants.
> 
> The trust bought Facets for R24,5m with Ã¢â¬Åinvestor funds which were misappropriated from Fidentia Asset Management (FAM)Ã¢â¬Â, said the papers.
> 
> The bank account used to buy the building was the account of Fidentia Capitalwise Securities.
> 
> Brown, meanwhile, was a director of FAM and Fidentia Capitalwise Securities, controlling them and treating them as Ã¢â¬Åone companyÃ¢â¬Â.
> ...

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## Dave A

It makes you wonder about just how much protection by separation trusts really offer nowadays.

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## duncan drennan

Well, it doesn't matter what structures you have in place, if money was obtained criminally (as was the case) then no protection is provided (and none should be).

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## Dave A

But then why this statement:



> The curators said that as they could not “establish the existence of any real, autonomous and/or independent existence of the trust”, they had come to the “inescapable conclusion” the trust is Brown’s alter ego.


I understand when we're talking about criminal activites, the culprits should not be hiding behind trusts. But on the flip side trusts can't be held accountable for the actions of their trustees either.

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## duncan drennan

I hear you. The structure that many people are pushing is this one with trustee plus independent trustee (which he had), but it is definitely open for abuse. I suppose it rests on the strength of the independent trustee, and the documentation.

I suppose in the case where a trust has been used like this for legitimate reasons, and all the signed resolutions and minutes are available, then, if nothing else, it makes it far more difficult for a creditor to try to liquidate. First they have to prove the trust was not autonomous, which costs a lot. It may (even if the trust is not autonomous) at least buy some time, or leverage.

The whole situation does bring into question the structures that have been sold to many people (including myself). Maybe the important thing here is to get a really worthwhile independent trustee, rather than just appoint the lawyer who set it up for you.

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## duncan drennan

It seems that the curators have figured out where R100mil of the money has gone....




> This was said by co-curator George Papadakis, who told Moneyweb this week: "We know where every cent is and who has got it. Some have offered to repay; others are choosing to fight us."
> 
> While much of the R1,6bn belonging to widows and orphans whose funds were entrusted to Fidentia was spent in an extravagant corporate spending spree, more than R100m "found its way to people who shouldn't" have accessed it, he said.
> 
> So far, about R300m has been repaid to investors, said Papadakis.
> 
> Full article on MoneyWeb

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## Graeme

BEE and the State Pension Fund

The Public Investment Corporation plans to withdraw a further ninety thousand million rand, or a quarter of its assets in pension fund and other monies, from asset managers such as Sanlam, Old Mutual, Stanlib and others.  This was announced yesterday by the state pension manager (Mercury 25-09-2007).   The reason given was to reassign this staggering amount of other peoplesÃ¢â¬â¢ money to investment managers that had greater ownership and participation by black people.  The present investment fund managers will be given the opportunity to re-apply under new mandates.  Yawellnofine.  

The announcement just happened to be made on Heritage Day, one of the more politically emotive occasions that are to be found in the South African calendar.

The new mandates which are to be introduced will, of course, make before/after comparisons impossible and whether the new arrangements will turn out in the end to be more or less favourable for the million-plus state pension fund members, together with state pensioners and their dependants cannot be known right now but I doubt if in a few years down the line anyone will be able to unscramble it all and work out if the change produced the best investment outcome.   Investing large sums of money to best advantage is an extraordinarily intricate business and pension funds, both private and public, are notoriously secretive about these outcomes. Whilst private-sector investment managers may be dragged through the courts to establish just precisely what happened on their watch (vide Alexander Forbes), try taking the PIC to court!

The investment of Pension Fund assets should be distributed amongst managers on a competitive and transparent basis - it really is the only way.  With the PIC will we ever know?

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## Marq

The pro's and con's of having a pension fund. 
I'll stick investment managers and political threat on the con's side. 
It's rather heavy on that side. 

Perhaps a quick debate on what you would do for a pension scheme these days would be interesting.

I don't have one at the moment and have been wondering whether I should spend some time playing the stock market myselfget a passive income going properly nowbuy property for future rental incomecash in the bankcash under the mattressbury gold bars in the garden.
What does one do these days given fidentia, Liberty, Sanlam, empty gravy train pockets, greedy sars officials, hungry non working class etc.?

I certainly don't feel like working till I drop and I am hoping that I can still squeeze a few years out allthought our odds in sa appear to be dropping.

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## Graeme

Marq - I offer the following comments regarding your post about retirement funding  investment alternatives:

You mention "playing the stock market" - by this I assume you mean speculation rather than investment.   Don't do it; unless you have an ongoing source of truly excellent inside information you are unlikely to win in the long run, any more than you would win in the long run against the casino.  And SARS treats profits from speculation as income taxable at marginal rate instead of taxable as capital gains (max 10%).  Much, much better to invest in blue chip equities, in businesses you understand and can monitor, and stay with  for the long haul.

"Buy property for future rental income" - Apart from owning your own home, I have never liked property as an investment because it takes too long to sell (with shares you can be out in hours), there are too many taxes on property and it's getting worse, a bad tenant can be a nightmare, and property owners can/will increasingly become a target for the homeless and the hungry.

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## World_Of_Elites

*Only in South Africa, can you get a Licence to Loot and still recieve a Diploma for Job Creation. The Lotto is also a Scam, with Job Creation as a Front, Discovery Medical Aid are being taken to court to pay-up R645 Million for Wrongful Debits to their Clients, they will recover this amount in a matter of Days, and just today Jackie Selebi denied that he is Interpol's Crime Boss operating in South Africa.......Hey, Don't Worry, It's all in the name of Job Creation and Re-Distribution of Wealth.*

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## Dave A

Fidentia chief executive J Arthur Brown has been arrested on charges of theft, fraud and money laundering, the NPA said on Friday.

"J Arthur Brown was arrested on the strength of a warrant following the investigation that was carried out on a separate leg of the bigger Fidentia investigation," said National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Tlali Tlali.

He was arrested in Cape Town's central business district on Friday afternoon and appeared in court.

The case was postponed to Monday and Brown would remain in police custody until he appeared in court.

"We should be able to disclose before court [on Monday] the reasons and circumstances that led to the arrest," Tlali said.
full story from IOL here

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## Dave A

> Fraud suspect J Arthur Brown was allegedly raped in the back of a police van last week, the Sunday Times reported.
> 
> Brown's attorney, William Booth, said the former Fidentia boss -- accused of theft and fraud involving hundreds of millions of rands -- suffered an "extremely humiliating" sexual assault in a jam-packed prison van taking him from the Cape Town Magistrate's Court to Pollsmoor on Monday.
> 
> He said Brown is now under police guard in a private Cape Town hospital that has special expertise in treating Aids patients.
> 
> "He's been seen by a psychiatrist, he's had a couple of procedures and he's on antiretrovirals. His mental state is not good."
> full story from M&G here


Not on! This is ridiculous!

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## Debbiedle

Oh please!  I do not believe it for a moment - WTH, this man stole from old people and orphans - this is another scam by him to get transferred to some cushy 5 star hotel awaiting trial.  He wants sympathy for being "humiliated"?  

How humiliating must it not be for all those pensioners who now have to depend on their families for the REST OF THEIR LIVES for food?

This kind of hypocrisy gets right up my nose!  How dare he?

*okay, okay I will get off my soap box now!*

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## Dave A

At least justice seems to be grinding on in the Fidentia case.



> A key figure in the Fidentia saga, Steve Goodwin, has been convicted of fraud and corruption, and of money laundering involving about R93 million.
> 
> In terms of a plea agreement endorsed by the Cape High Court on Monday morning, he has been sentenced to an effective 10 years in jail.
> 
> Part of the deal is that he will testify in criminal proceedings against his former associate, ex-Fidentia boss Arthur Brown.
> full story from Business Report here

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## Frankincense

...eeerhhhmm...I do see Injustice grinding more swiftly at this stage...

http://turnerradionetwork.blogspot.c...st-reults.html

Talk about putting money under the bed....?

The comments below the report are RAW..not for the faint hearted...

It's not about who's being held accountable...I wouldn't get to happy just yet...it's the people who will pay...you and your families....

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## mailman786

Geez, is this what happens when you have access to these massive amounts if monies ? 
Basically stealing from organizations like Living Hands trust ?

These kind of things should be regulated much more vigorously. I don't know how, but better "policing" should be put in place.

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## Morticia

No amount of "policing" is going to eradicate corruption - 1st there was Enron which left in it's wake an enormous amount of SEC rules and regulations and what not put into place to prevent this from ever happening again.  And then there was Bernie Maddoff.........and inbetween there was Fidentia and Masterbond and and and....

Unfortunately the only way to avoid similar incidents is a change of mindset amongst individuals.  And I had supper with Santa and the Tooth Fairy last night. :Wink:

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Dave A (24-Apr-09)

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## IanF

> Unfortunately the only way to avoid similar incidents is a change of mindset amongst individuals.  And I had supper with Santa and the Tooth Fairy last night.


How about a poll whether this would happen.  :EEK!: 
I seem to remember that JZ while still in office was in charge of "moral regeneration campaign" will he revive that :Big Grin:

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## Dave A

> No amount of "policing" is going to eradicate corruption


I have to agree - especially if ordinary, honest operations are still to be viable. There has to be some break-even point between cost of "policing" and losses to the unscrupulous. Some suggest the cost of satisfying the compliance burden is too high already.

Ultimately society needs to stigmatise corrupt practices to the point where people are seriously not willing to run the risk.

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## Morticia

> Some suggest the cost of satisfying the compliance burden is too high already.


Yip, from personal experience - very frustrating to spend 5 "freebie" hours on risk management, crossing your t's and dotting you i's, and only 40 minutes on the actual assignment!! :Crazy:

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## Frankincense

@Mailman "Geez, is this what happens when you have access to these massive amounts if monies ? 
Basically stealing..... should be regulated much more vigorously. I don't know how, but better "policing" should be put in place."...edited for point in case!

.....LMFAO...your "naivety" makes me laugh! That's the first thing any World company does with money - Destroy and control....at least on this planet I am from. :Slayer:  It's the leaders of the Earths mandate to destroy..not build and hand over excessive wealth to the poor! :EEK!: 


...If you can't beat them...you may just consider joining them and being the best at it!

"ordinary, honest operations" ....I don't see any of those prospering in this time....especially if they wish to advertise they are exactely that...."Old school honest, morale"..."Prime targets" that type of business would become  in my calculations!!!!

bear with me...see if you get where we are moving already....

Words like "Honesty, Socially Responsable, Moral etc etc" are words of a passed epoch of religious "Fathers" of some "Dream like" economic democracy who used to have a say in the ruling of the earth....

In this time corruption has become popular ...If a youth wants to say "I think God is great"....they say "God is truelly wicked"....anything good is now called "wicked/sick"...when the world finally turns upside down...when bad has become good, and good , bad, it will only be those who are prepared to call bad good, who will catch the fish.....it's too late to for historic forms of complaining for restrictions on this movement or retrospective hopes for accountability apportioning :Cool: ........one really has to align one's business with the upside-down trend....unless it's not for you...when you lead the "wickedness of this time"...it bores clients to hear about "Good" things...the hearts of the  generation are "wicked"...and it's what they want...so they get it...wasn't my original plan, but I have to adapt to what must be....

...so sad isn't it?

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## d3wdr0p

hi,

has there been further interesting happenings regarding the fidentia / ovation issue?
my dad was one of the 'lucky ones'  :Confused: that invested his money with them.  his f/a sent him a message (sms nogal) last weekend to say that he will get some of his funds back, the sms did not say if it would be a portion of his capital investment or not.  
i've been trying to follow the threads and news on this, i told him not to get his hopes up... at least until the outcome of the court appearance in august... 

does anyone know if refunds were paid to some investors?

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## Dave A

First post in this thread: 2nd February 2007.

Today's news, nearly 6 years later:




> Cape Town - Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown deliberately created confusion with solicited investments in a network of illegal pyramid schemes, according to his indictment in the Western Cape High Court.
> 
> In pyramid schemes, investors are falsely promised unrealistically high returns on their money, which is not invested. Returns are paid out from investments other people make.
> 
> Brown faces four counts of fraud, two of corruption, two of theft and one of money-laundering.
> full story from Fin24 here


Tell you what - reading the numbers gives a whole new meaning to "Go big or go home"!

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## Dave A

Disappointment as Brown walks free.
R150 000 fine for Brown fair, says judge.

You have to be kidding me!

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## sterne.law@gmail.com

An excellent rate of return thats for sure.

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## AndyD

I don't think the judge had too much latitude in sentancing after the rediculous plea bargin that was accepted by the NPA.

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## Dave A

I agree. It seems it's the prosecutors that need to do some explaining.

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## sterne.law@gmail.com

I believe that the prosecutors failed to properly present a case for jail

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## wynn

I have had the impression for a while now that although Brown did play fast and loose with the money he did not steal it, it was just not where it was supposed to be.
Once the curators got hold of what they could, which was not very much, they colluded to sell whatever assets they did find for bottom dollar to their friends.
Brown has offered to help recuperate this semi-legally stolen money for the pensioners.

My suspicion is that the bulk of the money is safely invested overseas and Brown will somehow arrange the return of only the capital and sail off into the sunset with the unknown interest and capital growth.

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## Marq

6 Years to try and nail him. Trial by Media and internet armchair critics.  Incompetent prosecution activities. Curators FSB and others accused of theft, corruption, mismanagement and infighting......and not by Brown. 

With all that going on since the story broke, perhaps it is true that Brown was just the patsy and fall guy that he has always said he was.
I dont know why everyone is so certain of his guilt and wants to ensure he continues life in prison. What ever happened to Innocent until proven guilty. Sure he did a deal - wouldn't you, given those circumstances. Maybe he is not that innocent, but I dont think he is that guilty either - certainly not as guilty as the host of individuals and organisations that have helped themselves to the 'spoils' which seemed to have been flitted away. 




> According to Machin, the Fidentia curators have spent R2m defending applications from the Antheru Trust, whose assets were managed by Fidentia. All Antheru wants is access to their information. The statements of account that reflect the history of the funds invested, and current position of the funds that are available.


 from Moneyweb site.

Just one current example. Why are they so keen to defend the paperwork - something that should be an open book - not spend the funds intended for investors on keeping those same investors at bay?

Brown was just not as guilty as all the Loungechair Lizards would have him be. Mismanagement, naivety.....perhaps. Fraud, corruption and really bad stuff - prove it first.

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## Dave A

Being robbed by the cops at the crime scene doesn't reduce the culpability of the criminals who did the crime that got the cops there.

Hats off to Brown for doing such a great spin job though. Incredible!

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## Citizen X

> Being robbed by the cops at the crime scene doesn't reduce the culpability of the criminals who did the crime that got the cops there.
> 
> Hats off to Brown for doing such a great spin job though. Incredible!


Well, theres' no dragging him behind a police van :Wink:  :Big Grin:

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## wynn

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/artic.../#.UZs9y6yylTA

Seems I am not the only one???

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## Marq

I rest my case m'lud.

Love this interview - http://www.noseweek.co.za/relocate/M...20CapeTalk.mp3

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## Blurock

The only beneficiaries in this case appears to be the lawyers who walk away with millions in fees, regardless the outcome of the case. :Frown:

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## Justloadit

As always, the lawyers are paid win or lose the case, as in contrast to other industries, your product/service did not work, no pay.

Following this ethic, there would be a lot less legal cases if there is a strong indication of a loss in a case.

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