LIAM COLLINS AND DAVID BONE JR - BANKRUPTCY ORDERS

The authorities are in the process of investigating the business affairs of Liam Collins and David Bone Jr,  who are both under bankruptcy restriction orders for another 13 years. Here below are the Government's Insolvency Service findings:-

http://insolvency.presscentre.com/Press-Releases/Britain-s-Got-Talent-dancer-and-business-partner-get-28-year-bankruptcy-restrictions-for-investment-69237.aspx

Here is a link to another article on this subject from the Daily Mail's This Is Money:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/celebritymoney/article-2409740/Britains-Got-Talent-star-Liam-Collins-handed-bankruptcy-ban-duping-investors-property-scam.html 

NOTE:

Readers, why not send us your comments or a brief account of your own experiences with Collins & Bone?

WE'RE UPDATING!

We at IFS have temporarily removed all older posts on this Blog for updating and reassessment. We ask readers to be patient because it takes time to summarize the large amount of material in this case. In the meantime, any genuine email requests for access to previous posts will be met.

The official investigation into the business activities of those individuals mentioned in our Introduction is proceeding in a thoroughly painstaking manner, so it will be quite a while before results emerge. We trust that our Blog and Website serve successfully to warn anyone with whom these men are in touch of the risks entailed in dealing with them. There is ample evidence that they will relentlessly argue their innocence in the face of innumerable counts of wrongdoing. They obtained large amounts of money on the basis that they would buy houses for cash; they didn't buy the houses but spent the money. We don't know where the investors' money went, but we can only guess that they used it freely for their personal day-to-day expenses and those of their friends and family. 

We have had a good deal of correspondence from CoBo's investors, who are obviously upset and worried at having apparently lost their savings. Here are some of their comments:-

“I cannot help but feel that these boys do not fully appreciate the enormity of what they have done; that they have not acknowledged the level of their negligence or possibly worse, preferring to blame other people and factors, and that they still entertain the preposterous notion that they are talented businessmen with a sound track record and that they would be fantastically rich by now if it were not for some bad luck.”

“Once I had decided to explore this "investment opportunity" I was given the hard sell by Liam, who called my mobile on a regular basis to establish if my money had been transferred to them. Once we were hooked, the level of communication fell away dramatically and can only be considered appalling. Those written statements I did receive from them, were often inaccurate, either in the level of interest due, or even mis-spelling of my surname.”

“Once again IFS make excellent counter arguments using facts, opposed to Liam Collins and Dave Bone Jnr's 'claims'. Thank you for your articulate and accurate Blog posts.”

“The more I read about this situation, the more I think that a charge of serious fraud is distinctly possible. I am always prepared to give people the benefit of doubt, but I am now beginning to think differently.”

“It’s rather silly, to say the least, to insist that a recently published blog is to blame for 4 years of negligent and fraudulent behaviour!”

“Unfortunately I invested  a good deal of my retirement fund which I can not afford to loose.  Liam Collins told me when I first invested that they bought every thing for cash with no debts so I thought that this problem we have now wouldn't happen.”

“Thank you for setting up your site.”

“I applaud your initiative and I am significantly wiser for your efforts.”

"I'm not sure why Liam Collins is unhappy about being made bankrupt. In a county court hearing last year he told the judge he'd be happy if he was made bankrupt, because then he could take up dancing. "Have you seen me on 'Britain's Got Talent?'" Made the judge's day I think. Liam Collins also offered me a promissory note but the judge pointed out that I already have one. Do you think he could pay us back with a bit of busking?" 

"I think every one of us would be willing to admit to our own naivety & mistakes. But none of my mistakes come near owing hundreds of thousands of pounds to 133 people. I invested money to purchase a share in a property to refurbish. Where's my share in a property? Where did the money go?"  
  
"I am completely speechless at the temerity of these boys asking for emails of support as though they were the innocent victims in this disaster!"

HOW DAVID BONE JR IS BENIFITING FROM EX-COLLINS & BONE HOUSES

As reported in our post of 18th May, David Bone Jr is still getting an income or benefit from three former Collins & Bone properties, as illustrated below:

Abbeycroft Gardens

(always described by estate agents as 

an exclusive gated development)

Carnarvon Road

A Flat in Beckford Court

So why have these properties not been repossessed, sold and the proceeds distributed among CoBo's many creditors? Well, it's a fact that the houses have, up to now, been in negative equity; it has always been CoBo's strategy to pay out as little as possible to the mortgage companies, in such a way that the houses have always hovered on the brink of repossession or LPA receivership. CoBo regarded any money, including income from renting such houses, as unquestionably theirs to spend without regard to contracts or commitments.

It is absolutely plain that David Bone Jr and his family should not be benefiting in any way from these properties. Any income from them should be used to reimburse creditors.