Ian Leaf, also known as Ian Andrews, is one of the UK’s most notorious fraudsters. In 2005, he was convicted of committing a large-scale tax fraud worth £76 million ($99 million). Leaf used a complex network of real and fake companies, a fictional bank registered on the Pacific Island of Nauru, and a firm of brokers with only an accommodation address to evade paying corporation tax when buying and selling companies. The resulting fabricated interest payments were offset against tax. It was falsely claimed that the loans were used to undertake highly profitable foreign exchange deals that were not subject to UK tax, from which dividends were paid back to Leaf and his family. Leaf used the companies to reclaim corporation tax paid by the companies before he purchased them.
Leaf was found guilty of 13 counts of fraudulent trading and was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison in December 2005. He was ordered to pay back £98 million (the amount he defrauded, plus the profit he made) or face an additional 10 years in prison. After serving his sentence, Leaf changed his name to Ian Andrews and returned to his fraudulent ways. He established Home Funding Corporation (HFC), formally known as Vivier Mortgages Ltd, a subprime mortgage company that he had established in Ireland in 1997. The company has been accused of acquiring high-interest loans, originally taken by farmers, and has at least 40 subprime Irish mortgages on its books.
Conor Ryan from RTE has explained this story in his detailed documentary The Loot & The Loans, Ian Leaf, the man behind over 138 known companies, a ruthless asset grabber, a remorseless convicted criminal, and the mastermind behind Irish sub-prime mortgages, returned back to business after serving a decade long jail sentence was back to business soon after his release to continue exactly what he was jailed for.
In the years following his release from prison, Leaf expanded his network of shell companies by hiring high-profile individuals as his frontmen and proxy shareholders worldwide to defraud common people through his Ponzi scheme investments. Most of the people working for Leaf’s companies were hired by Leaf’s trusted friends from his close group. One widely known name from Leaf’s inner circle is Anita Kohn, the Vice President, and Head of HR at the Vivier Group. Most people hired at the second layer by Kohn, Laurence Hamilton, or others had no idea who they were working for or how their jobs were helping to steal the life savings of their fellow citizens.
This article is a deep dive into the recent developments within Leaf’s network of people and his shell companies following the liquidation of Vivier and Company Limited in New Zealand in early 2022. It is important to shed light on Leaf’s fraudulent activities and the people who have helped him carry out his schemes in order to protect potential victims and bring justice to those who have already been harmed.
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Story continues
In early 2022, we see Ian Leaf and his wife/partner Susan Morris attempting to cover their tracks following the liquidation of Vivier and Company in New Zealand and Vivier Capital Ltd. However, the fraudster couple failed to realize that digital information lives forever, and the truth will eventually come to light. In February 2022, Morris resigned from her directorship at three different companies and dissolved the remaining three. Leaf, the mastermind fraudster, removed himself as a person of significant control using a backdated document five months prior. This is unsurprising to those familiar with Leaf’s history of forgery and backdating documents.
As of December 2022, Ian Leaf using his network of companies had defrauded over $10 million from more than 40 families. The mainstream media has reported on the connections between these shell companies and Leaf. However, according to those close to Leaf, these figures are just the beginning, and there is likely much more to the story.
Several moving parts of the story are taking place simultaneously at present, such as:
- Elstree mortgages limited has planned assets repossession claims from sub-prime mortgages exceeding EUR37 million in Ireland, several ongoing court cases against senior citizens in Ireland;
- Two liquidations in progress from New Zealand;
- Police investigation and a joint court case against businesses related to Vivier, their local partners, and ex-employees in Spain.
Law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, media, and insolvency firms around the world are trying to uncover the truth about “where is Vivier” and “who is behind this company.” Many people want answers about the individuals who are attempting to take their savings, homes, land, family farms, and even lives through the actions of shell companies such as Elstree Mortgages, Vivier Mortgages, and Vivier & Co (located in the UK, New Zealand, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Romania). In this article, we aim to shed light on the truth by using publicly available data and exposing the identities of those involved.
Acknowledgement: We would like to express our gratitude to the Companies House in the UK for their support and transparency, which has allowed us to produce the detailed network included at the end of the article.
Key observations from the analysis of the UK Companies House data
An unsurmountable number of offices registered at given addresses
There are a large number of companies registered at the same addresses as CIELO REALTY LIMITED and MONUMENT REALTY LIMITED, which are both linked to Ian Leaf or his family. The first address, 7 Bell Yard, is the registered office for 8,468 companies, with 7,328 of them being active as of November 2022. This is an unusually high number for such a small space, as the street does not even have room to park a car and the office is not large enough to hold over 8000 post-boxes. Similarly, the second address, 63/66 Hatton Garden, is home to 3,192 total companies, with 2,481 of them still active. To put these numbers into perspective, The Shard, the largest building in London, hosts only 32 companies on a 26-floor office complex.
7 Companies associated with Ian Leaf in the network registered at 7 Bell Yard address are:
- CIELO REALTY LIMITED
- ENQUE INVESTMENT LIMITED
- MYCROWDFUNDER LIMITED
- ONE CLEETHORPES LIMITED
- QUBE PROPERTIES LTD
- UNIVERSUM PROPERTIES LTD
- XERXES PROPERTIES LTD
5 companies registered at 63/66 Hatton Garden address are:
- CITY CORPORATION LIMITED
- MONUMENT REALTY LIMITED
- MONUMENT SAVINGS AND LOAN LIMITED
- MONUMENT SURETIES LIMITED
- SON OF CURSITOR LTD
FIRST DIRECTORS LIMITED and FIRST SECRETARIES LIMITED were appointed as corporate directors for ENQUE INVESTMENT LIMITED (a company connected to Ian’s wife and close friend Laurance Hamilton). The total number of appointments for FIRST DIRECTORS LIMITED is an impressive 6,346, and 7,949 for FIRST SECRETARIES LIMITED. Almost all of the companies under the leadership of these two companies have been dissolved with criminal charges. It is not clear if these are insolvency firms.
Frequent variation of names
Another interesting fact is the frequent use of variations in the names by Ian Leaf and his associates. For example, HAMILTON, Laurence has used at least two variants of his name HAMILTON, Laurence Russel, for different company records and publically available official documents. Hamilton has also used different dates of birth in his Companies House filings. The same is true for his other close friends ASHKEN, Richard or ASHKEN, Richard Laurence, Director or ASHKEN, Richard Laurence, or ASHKEN, Richard, Director. KOHN, Anita or KOHN, Anita Marion, FINCKEN, Paul or FINCKEN, Paul Edward.
The same name variation trick is also observed for one of Vivier’s recent directors, who goes by the names Ali Hashemifar or Ali Hashemi Far. Ali fled New Zealand after getting exposed to various financial scandals, and a multi-million dollar forex scam is currently hiding in Canada. Ali was interrogated by New Zealand law enforcement and regulatory agencies on multiple occasions. Ali escaped from the country in 2019 amid the fear of getting arrested after Vivier misled New Zealand based Trust to invest NZD 4 million.
Ian Andrews changed his name from Ian Leaf (or Ian Andrew Leaf, according to some documents) after his release from jail in 2011. His closed alley and legal advisor, Kevin James Steele, also changed his name to Kevin MacLeod after spending five and half years in prison for documents forgery.
Similar variation in names is also frequently and consistent among Ian’s close connections in the network diagram:
BLACKMORE, Steven John OR BLACKMORE, Steven,
BOGAERT, Ignace Emiel Marie Maurice OR BOGAERT, Ignace,
CENTRUM SECRETARIES LIMITED OR CENTRUM SECRETARIES LIMITED, (Notice the difference of double space on the left hand side?)
CORRIGAN, Michael Joseph OR CORRIGAN, Michael,
COWAN, Graham Michael OR COWAN, Graham,
GANCE, Daniel Bendette OR GANCE, Daniel,
CONWAY, Simon Christopher OR CONWAY, Simon,
MONRO, Philip Peter, Dr OR MONRO, Philip Peter, MOUNET, Jean Rodrigue OR MOUNET, Jean-Rodrigu
Mutually exclusive sub-networks of companies handled by the proxies
Ian Leaf and his associates have gone to great lengths to keep certain groups of companies and people separate from each other. However, upon further examination, it becomes apparent that there are many connections between these seemingly distinct networks. For instance, Anita Kohn has been a long-time business partner of Leaf within the Vivier group of companies but has also maintained a separate set of companies in which her sons and other family members are involved. These two networks appear to be separate in public records, with no overlap in directors, persons of significant control, or officers. Anita never had an email address in Leaf’s flagship Consult Partners Limited, debunked in RTE’s documentary, for example. Similarly, Ian never had Vivier’s email address. Both made sure common connections don’t appear in publically available data. However, upon deeper examination, there are common companies and directors linking these two networks, revealing that everything is ultimately connected to the same mastermind, Ian Leaf, as shown in the network.
Modus operandi of this racket
Ian Leaf and his associates have a clear method of operation. By examining the network diagram, it is easy to see how they operate. Leaf hires people from his close family and friends to act as fronts for his businesses. These individuals register companies and hire other people from their personal connections as nominee directors and proxy shareholders to interact with the public, handle dirty work, and take the fall if necessary. Using their social and religious connections, Leaf’s associates hire influential individuals, including politicians, government officials, and bankers, to give legitimacy to their fraudulent schemes. To lay the groundwork, they often hire middle-class workers, freelancers from overseas, or vulnerable immigrants who are easily manipulated and can be threatened if necessary. It is important to note that this network does not include people who worked for Ian Andrews without becoming directors of his companies, such as Sooraj Kumar, Vivier’s former Co-CEO before the company became insolvent.
This article is working in progress. Please get in touch with us to get more information added.
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