vernon
Harder than Ronnie Pickering
- Location
- Meanwood, Leeds
A colleague of mine is known as an aficionado of all turf matters and regularly made steady gains via the turf accountants. He appeared to be a steady, entertaining and reliable chap and, five or six years before his retirement came up with an 'alternative investment '.
Basically if he was entrusted with a sum of money, he would use a fixed fraction of the capital to place a bet, and the profits returned to the pot. Around a dozen colleagues handed money over and regular updates and notifications of horses about to be gambled upon were named along with the races and things seemed hunky dory with annual returns of around 15%.
Just over a year ago he went on the sick suffering from stress though many of us thought that he was swinging the lead. One colleague got a bit twitchy because of the illness and had his investment returned during the summer holidays. The gambling colleague returned to work but was asked for the return of another colleagues stake and profit. Shortly afterwards another sick note materialised.
Three weeks ago members of the syndicate received a strange email which claimed that they had been asked about extending the period of operation to summer 2012 and, because no-one had responded, he'd locked the money into investments redeemable no sooner than summer 2012.
Alarm bells rang for me and I strongly challenged his assertions about the consultation and asked for a return of my stake and profits only to have my assertions challenged, a promise to reimburse me within three months and a cursory "after which there will be no further need for us communicate" closing comment. I was also removed as a friend from his Facebook profile and he's blocked his profile to me.
The fan was well and truly hit with manure when a colleague persisted in his request to have his, <gulp>, investment of, <gulps and wipes brow> £25,000 only to be told that the money wasn't there as it had been invested in a property development company which had gone bankrupt....................
There's a total of £46,000 unaccounted for.
Thing is we don't believe the tale of the loss. There has been a promise of reimbursement by Easter 2011 which coincides with a potential early retirement and the receipt of a lump sum greatly in excess of liabilities. At the moment the police have not been involved. His wife is oblivious to his misdemeanors and the true cause of his stress. He's at the point of losing the lot - his wife, the adulation of his kids, the respect of his peers and a comfortable pension - he'll have to exchange some of his annual pension for an enhanced lump sum. We have elected to wait and see what happens at lump sum time.
it's unlikely that we will ever see him again in his capacity as a teacher. Financially he's stuffed, we have theories as to where some of the money has ended - up several kids in university at the same time and one of them in a year out in a very expensive country have been postulated as some of the expenditure but we'll never know.
I can afford to live with the loss - roughly the same as an entry level mountain bike but I will pursue matters until I have satisfaction.
I do feel sad for the perpetrator. His health has suffered, his career has come to an ignoble end and he'll never experience the glowing testimonials and substantial leaving present that someone with his length of service and seniority could expect. He has lost a lot of friends and must live with the spectre of his wife finding out even if she doesn't challenge his smaller than expected lump sum.
I count my blessings that I never treated the 'investment' as being an additional pension fund like some of my colleagues.
It will be interesting to see how things pan out over the next six months.
It's a good job I'm easily distracted. I have just acquired an iPhone and Angry Birds in monopolising my idel moments so I can't stew over the matter.
Basically if he was entrusted with a sum of money, he would use a fixed fraction of the capital to place a bet, and the profits returned to the pot. Around a dozen colleagues handed money over and regular updates and notifications of horses about to be gambled upon were named along with the races and things seemed hunky dory with annual returns of around 15%.
Just over a year ago he went on the sick suffering from stress though many of us thought that he was swinging the lead. One colleague got a bit twitchy because of the illness and had his investment returned during the summer holidays. The gambling colleague returned to work but was asked for the return of another colleagues stake and profit. Shortly afterwards another sick note materialised.
Three weeks ago members of the syndicate received a strange email which claimed that they had been asked about extending the period of operation to summer 2012 and, because no-one had responded, he'd locked the money into investments redeemable no sooner than summer 2012.
Alarm bells rang for me and I strongly challenged his assertions about the consultation and asked for a return of my stake and profits only to have my assertions challenged, a promise to reimburse me within three months and a cursory "after which there will be no further need for us communicate" closing comment. I was also removed as a friend from his Facebook profile and he's blocked his profile to me.
The fan was well and truly hit with manure when a colleague persisted in his request to have his, <gulp>, investment of, <gulps and wipes brow> £25,000 only to be told that the money wasn't there as it had been invested in a property development company which had gone bankrupt....................
There's a total of £46,000 unaccounted for.
Thing is we don't believe the tale of the loss. There has been a promise of reimbursement by Easter 2011 which coincides with a potential early retirement and the receipt of a lump sum greatly in excess of liabilities. At the moment the police have not been involved. His wife is oblivious to his misdemeanors and the true cause of his stress. He's at the point of losing the lot - his wife, the adulation of his kids, the respect of his peers and a comfortable pension - he'll have to exchange some of his annual pension for an enhanced lump sum. We have elected to wait and see what happens at lump sum time.
it's unlikely that we will ever see him again in his capacity as a teacher. Financially he's stuffed, we have theories as to where some of the money has ended - up several kids in university at the same time and one of them in a year out in a very expensive country have been postulated as some of the expenditure but we'll never know.
I can afford to live with the loss - roughly the same as an entry level mountain bike but I will pursue matters until I have satisfaction.
I do feel sad for the perpetrator. His health has suffered, his career has come to an ignoble end and he'll never experience the glowing testimonials and substantial leaving present that someone with his length of service and seniority could expect. He has lost a lot of friends and must live with the spectre of his wife finding out even if she doesn't challenge his smaller than expected lump sum.
I count my blessings that I never treated the 'investment' as being an additional pension fund like some of my colleagues.
It will be interesting to see how things pan out over the next six months.
It's a good job I'm easily distracted. I have just acquired an iPhone and Angry Birds in monopolising my idel moments so I can't stew over the matter.
