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INDEPENDENT 6 FEB 2016 - David Mills, centre, and his colleague Michael Bancroft, left, Lynden Scourfield, right ( Thames Valley Police ) 

MPs have urged Lloyds Banking Group, the owner of HBOS, to compensate the victims of a £245m loans fraud orchestrated by two former employees jailed last week for their crimes.

In an open letter to Lloyds chief executive, Antonio Horta-Osorio, on Monday, MPs pressed the bank to properly redress hundreds of businesses who were duped by former HBOS manager Lynden Scourfield into using a turnaround consultancy run by his friends David Mills and Michael Bancroft.

The men then fleeced businesses with high fees, saddled them with excessive debt and stripped them of assets, driving many into bankruptcy.

In return for his services, Mr Mills and Mr Bancroft arranged sex parties for Mr Scourfield and showered him with exotic foreign holidays and cash bribes.

Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Committee on Fair Business Banking, George Kerevan, wrote in the letter: “We are at a point where, once again, there are a large group of aggrieved business people who have lost their livelihoods.

“Critically, many have endured years of financial duress and personal stress.”

Kerevan added that the complaints of the “criminal activity were raised with senior HBOS management at board level and as early as 2007 and were repeated to senior Lloyds management after the takeover.

“In both instances, there was an internal failure to adequately investigate these complaints.

“Further, police investigations were delayed because both HBOS and subsequently Lloyds informed the authorities that it was the bank that was the wronged party – rather than small business customers – but that the bank had no wish to pursue a prosecution.”

Lloyds, which did not own HBOS at the time of the fraud between 2003 and 2007, maintains it was a victim in the case. 

Confidential documents seen by the Sunday Times reportedly show that assets of customers who were victims of the fraud are still being held on trust for the bank. The assets are held through a company nominally run by Mr Mills but the documents reveal senior bank staff regarded them as belonging to the bank, the newspaper reported.

Sentencing Mr Scourfield to 11 years and three months in prison last week, Judge Beddoe described him as an “utterly corrupt bank manager” driven by “rapacious greed”. He had “got his tentacles into the businesses of ordinary and honest people and ripped them apart without a thought for those affected”, the judge said.

David Mills, described as “evil” by Judge Beddoe was given fifteen years, while his wife, Alison Mills, 51, and accomplice John Cartwright, 72, were given three and a half year sentences for money laundering.

Michael Bancroft, 73, was jailed for 10 years; Mark Dobson, 56, another former HBOS manager, was sentenced to four and a half years for their part in the scheme.

One other defendant, Jonathan Cohen, was acquitted at the trial.

An account at Lloyds bank in Eastbourne was opened by a company that wished to trade not for profit, aiming to complete research helpful in the fight against pollution. The senior business manager who finally opened the account was Mrs Joanne Collins. The process was begun in May of 2016. It took from May until 14 June before the account could be used. The delays cost the company major issues where a grant had to be used within 12 months. The near two month delay was crippling. Meaning that additional effort needed to be put into purchasing to try and make up for lost time, and some work done by the company could not be billed for - causing loss.

More than a month into the process Ms Collins requested additional signatures from two companies that were directors in addition to the signatures and proofs of ID of the people directors. This information could have been requested weeks earlier when the directors attended in person at the Eastbourne branch: "I require the attached forms to be signed by a director from each of these companies." Hence, Lloyds, knew about the other directors at the inception of the account. They could thus have warned the company if there was anything that might need attention or explaining. If they had done so, any issue could have been cleared up, or if Lloyds were still unhappy, another bank could have been approached, to avoid any issues in the future.

Finally the account was up and running and all was well, until August of 2017. This was when Oliver Butterworth came onto the scene with a recorded delivery letter claiming that Lloyds could not reach the company by telephone, when that would have been impossible - because the phone was manned during office hours. In other words it was a ploy. The same telephone ploy was used by HSBC. We do not think this is a coincidence, because later in 2017, Wealden chimed in with similar questions about the same premises. Then later still, HSBC chimed in with a very similar set of questions about one of the companies that was a director. The companies that were directors opted to resign their directorships, but still Oliver pressed home his attack with the ruthless precision of the Gestapo officer in Inglourious Bastuerds - the Quentin Tarantino film depicting the Jew hunter in occupied France.

At this point the company has ceased trading, having exhausted funds and achieved it's research obligations. Lloyds were no longer gaining interest, so pressed home their attack. Mr Butterworth had drawn up a list of questions that he already knew the answers to. Hence, this was another ploy aimed at entrapment - or maybe just an excuse to cause expense and frustration in the hope the account would be closed. Who knows, but clearly, from wording in the correspondence, this chap enjoyed his job. We feel, getting a kick out of causing distress. We feel that a lot of guards at concentration camps also got a kick out of throwing the weight about.

Oliver's excuse for asking about shares was to ascertain if anyone owned more than 10% or more of the capital profits of voting rights. But Oliver could see that there had been no dividends and also knew from the number of shares issued, less than 2% in total, that nobody could have 10% - that is unless he was unfamiliar with company law and/or had not checked at Companies House to see the share structure of the company.

On the 12th of October 2017 the company supplied copies of the share certificates issued, proving the situation. These were sent by recorded post to Westminster House in Manchester. Oliver was told that the company was a non trading entity engaged in environmental research.

Despite considerable correspondence explaining to Butterworth that his machinations were figments of his imagination, he would not listen to reason, even though, if he'd investigated the matter properly, he had no case. We must assume therefore that he had an alternative agenda.

The account was closed in November of 2018.

This appears then not to be an isolated incident, it fits in with a pattern that began in 1997 with a Petition to Wealden District Council and lodging of a complaint with Sussex police. We feel sure that all would have been well had Nelson Kruschandl not pursued Sussex police, Derek Holness and the follow on chief executives and constables of these local authorities.

We appreciate that anti-money laundering and the funding of terrorism has to be a number one priority in what is a cyber war, but misuse of authority is the hallmark of many civil servants and bank employees.

LLOYDS BANKING GROUP

If you think the above is complicated and worth investigation, take a look at the Lloyds Banking Group:

Lloyds Banking Group plc. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Registered in Scotland no. SC95000. Telephone: 0131 225 4555. Lloyds Bank plc. Registered Office: 25 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HN. Registered in England and Wales no. 2065. Telephone 0207626 1500. Bank of Scotland plc. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Registered in Scotland no. SC327000. Telephone: 03457 801 801. Cheltenham & Gloucester plc. Registered Office: Barnett Way, Gloucester GL4 3RL. Registered in England and Wales 2299428. Telephone: 0345 603 1637

Lloyds Bank plc, Bank of Scotland plc are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority.

Cheltenham & Gloucester plc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Halifax is a division of Bank of Scotland plc. Cheltenham & Gloucester Savings is a division of Lloyds Bank plc.

HBOS plc. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Registered in Scotland no. SC218813.

In the words of John McEnro: "you cannot be serious." Pass the parcel is a game we played as children. The police have engineered a system where a member of the public who reports a crime that threatens to undermine masonic or other secret agendas, may be given the run around until they run out of steam. The police in this country are not investigated for the crimes they refuse to investigate - hence, we do not have an effective police force. No wonder Article 13 in missing from our Human Rights Act 1998.

HSBC & BARCLAYS

The Eastbourne branch of the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank held an account for a fledgling soft drinks company for many years without any issues. Things changed when one of their customers staged a fight with Wealden District Council, asking Sussex Police to investigate what appeared to be organised malfeasance in public office, a serious crime for which the maximum penalty is life imprisonment. Sussex police did not investigate, faking an investigation and subsequent false report to the council's full committee, about which the police became party to the malfeasance.

The police failings happened some years before HSBC got involved, using anti-money laundering statute to ask questions that appear to be similar in format and to target one individual - the person who was making waves for Sussex police and the planning officers and chief executives of Wealden District Council. Is that just an unbelievable coincidence?

Little was the victim of what appears to be a conspiracy to know, but there was a masonic link lurking in the background in the form of the assistant district planning officer and his father in law, Bernard Best, and a councillor who belonged to the Tyrian Lodge in South Street, just around the corner from the police station in Grove Road.

The pattern of questions were first identified in a Contravention Notice served by Wealden on their target and other organisations with an interest in 2017. Later, Lloyds Bank asked a similar series of questions, once again targeting the same individual about shares that he did not own. Then HSBC joined in with Peter McIntyre and Laura Gaughan asking more questions with the same target in the mix. The branch concerned is/was at: 94 Terminus Road, Eastbourne, BN21 3ND.

Prior to this Barclays bank has closed an account in what looks to be part of the same state sanctioned agenda, in a lesser form. But nevertheless an account was closed despite protestations as to loss. It remains to be seen if there is any other connection or common denominator. At the moment it all points one way.

The objective appears to be to cause a lot of work for the individual and any concern that he worked for, ultimately to force the closure of accounts - and so prevent their target from making money or having any chance of being successful. You might care to agree that banks are supposed to be supportive of entrepreneurs, not do their best to put them out of business.

At first Laura Gaughan tried to interrogate the director of this company over the telephone. Before this conversation (that was recorded as evidence) there was a recorded delivery letter saying to phone to make an appointment to visit the branch. That was misleading to say the least. Laura did not want an appointment to talk about things at the local branch, she only wanted to fire a series of questions at the director that were designed to get the director to incriminate herself, without giving any indication as to what the subject matter was so as to allow the director to refer to the files for accuracy. Talk about human rights violations. Has Laura not heard of a person's miranda rights. Or, in this country, the right to remain silent as per Article 6. But more importantly, the right to know what is being leveled at her, before saying anything that may be misconstrued.

When the company director realised it was a stitch up, she asked for the questions in writing. Sure enough, there came a long list of questions aimed at Mr Nelson Kruschandl, even mentioning him by name. The pattern is, as we say, remarkably similar in format, qualifying as institutionalised discrimination when coupled to the behaviour of Barclays and Lloyds banks - and of course, Wealden District Council under the leadership of Charles Lant, now Trevor Scott.

The account expenditures were small purchases that any business would make and others essential to the cause, in this case supporting a charity with free administration services.

The soft drinks company wrote back to Laura Gaughan asking for clarification of issues, also providing copy of Wealden's contravention notice and other planning related documents that proved the the district council had lied to the Secretary of State in 1987 and 1997. Ms Gaughan failed to respond to the request for information and ignoring the letter from the soft drinks company, Peter McIntyre gave notice that the account would be closed.

HSBC could not respond to the questions being asked, or admit to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, or worse.

Following this, a director of the soft drinks company attended the Eastbourne branch to ask why the company's correspondence had been ignored, when the account manager, Tim Austin, tried to explain that all customers were being asked similar questions. Mr Austin made it plain that he was not privy to the correspondence, hence could not comment on the letter of complaint.

The complainant makes no bones about Mr Austin, who had been helpful in the operation of this account over the years. His reply though was near identical to Ms Gaughan's when she was asked why the HSBC were asking a similar set of questions to that Wealden and Lloyds bank had been asking. Ms Gaughan also said all customers were being asked the same questions. But that could not possibly be true. Indeed, the level of research and coordination is suggestive of a dedicated witch hunt, all aimed at destroying the victim.

On the other hand, if all customers are being asked the same questions with a specific target, then are our banks now turning into a kind of Gestapo service for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth?

Council civil servants are only one step removed from Nazi Gestapo officers, but think exactly like the brown shirts that led to World War Two. The planning system is particularly prone to breeding workers who develop a power complex and seem to take delight in what the ordinary man in the street would term sadistic practices.

EUGENICS

The United Kingdom has laws that oppose the concept of a level playing field, allowing the police, councils and banks to target individuals and to hound them is such a manner as to prevent them from succeeding in the commercial world. For example, their names are flagged up on banking computers, whereupon the customer is given short shrift and shown the door. Hence, the victim cannot compete in the commercial world. Given that everyone should have the right to make a living on equal terms, this agenda appears to have all the hallmarks of some kind of secret society Fourth Reich in the making.

If the allegations are true, this is discrimination plain and simple. The kind of discrimination that led to the extermination of millions of Polish and Jewish people in the Second World War, after Adolf Hitler took his empire building and supposed ethnic cleansing programmes to new industrial heights with the Concentration Camps that are his legacy.

The Gestapo were enlisted to round up undesirables and herd them into the death camps to do forced labour until they either died of malnutrition or were put into the gas chambers to be exterminated using Zyklon B or even just the exhaust fumes from motor vehicles.

We wonder if this is a new era of Nazism in a new form. Clearly, if this kind of targeting of individuals is taking place by way of an undercurrent of activities by the state aimed at disadvantaging certain people, Article 14 is being violated along with many other Human Rights conventions adopted by the United Nations by way of the Universal Declaration.

We await hearing from the HSBC and/or any of their employees (in confidence) should any member of their staff wish to Blow the Whistle.

THIS IS MONEY 15 SEPTEMBER 2014 - Lloyds whistleblower has lifted the lid on the predatory tactics behind one of the UK’s biggest mis-selling scandals. Former employee James Ducker reveals how staff were lavished with bonuses and champagne for selling baffling products called ‘interest rate swaps’ to small firms alongside loans.

Banks have since been forced to set aside billions of pounds to compensate small businesses, ranging from hair salons to corner shops, whose livelihoods were threatened by these risky financial instruments.

Ducker (pictured below) describes in sworn written testimony seen by the Daily Mail how customers were targeted ‘indiscriminately’, as salesmen who hit targets could double their annual pay while those who fell short feared for their jobs.

Ducker says: ‘In my time at the Defendant [Lloyds] the emphasis was increasingly placed on the Defendant making profits and rarely, if at all, on ensuring the customers’ interests were properly protected.’

The explosive account emerged after secret documents published by the Mail revealed Lloyds ordered staff to sell more insurance and investments to its retail customers or risk losing their jobs.

The edict in March came just three months after it received a £28m fine from the City watchdog for endangering customers with its rapacious sales culture.

Ducker was just 24 when he joined Lloyds in August 2004 as a treasury consultant. In his account he illustrates how colleagues showed the same ruthless approach to squeeze money from small businesses as branch staff have demonstrated with retail customers.

He describes how the bank routinely sold complicated ‘interest rate swaps’ to small business customers who did not understand them and side-stepped safeguards designed to prevent mis-selling.

These complex financial contracts were sold alongside loans to businesses and were meant to be a form of insurance to protect them if interest rates increased.

But as interest rates fell to record lows, tens of thousands of small firms across the country have been hit with crippling ‘break’ penalties to switch to a cheaper deal, or trapped with expensive contracts that they do not understand.

After repeatedly playing down its role in the scandal, Lloyds has been forced to set aside £580m to compensate customers so far.

Ducker says the ‘big sales push’ to sell these complex but highly profitable financial instruments to small business customers began towards the end of 2005.

‘Tremendous emphasis was placed on targets and bonuses,’ says Ducker, describing how each member of the treasury sales team was given an average annual target of generating £1m a year of profit for the bank.

If they hit their target they would typically be awarded a bonus of between 50 per cent and 100 per cent of their salary. Bottles of champagne would also be handed out to the whole team for each sale that generated a profit of more than £100,000 – but punishment for failure could be equally harsh.

Ducker says: ‘The converse of the incentives offered in the form of a bonus was the fear, which I think all of us had and which senior management made no effort to dispel, that if our individual targets were not hit then we would not keep our jobs for long.’

He describes how the team was ‘indiscriminate’ when targeting customers, ‘and were concerned with selling as many derivative products to as many customers as possible so that we could meet our targets and therefore receive our bonuses’.

Staff were encouraged to sell ‘more exotic products,’ Ducker claims, as ‘the more complex the product the easier it was to “hide” profit within it’ from the customer.

Customers were given only vague information that there would be penalties – or ‘break costs’ – if they wanted to leave their contract before the end of the term.

‘Providing the customer didn’t ask, we never went into any detail as to the likely level of these costs,’ he says.

The compliance department was treated with scorn by the Lloyds treasury sales team, which nicknamed it the Deal Prevention Office. ‘Compliance was like red tape and it was seen as an irritating impediment to getting deals done,’ says Ducker.

He describes how salesmen would also rig ‘fact find’ checks which were introduced as a ‘policing mechanism’ to prevent mis-selling.

Staff would even ‘copy and paste chunks of previous documents (maybe make some alterations) so as to save time’.

He adds: ‘We would often find ourselves writing what John [their manager] wanted to hear rather than what should have been written.’

Ducker is now a director of his own consultancy firm Benchmark Treasury Pricing, which has been helping small firms seek compensation. This has prompted Lloyds to question the credibility of his testimony. But Conservative MP Guto Bebb, chairman of a cross-party inquiry into interest rate swap mis-selling, said: ‘This shocking witness statement reveals banks were selling these products for one reason and one reason only – and it had nothing to do with the well-being of customers.’

The damning testimony was written in 2011, but has been kept under lock and key until now. It was submitted during a legal battle between property investment firm Wingate Associates and Lloyds, which was settled before it got to court. Wingate, run by Guardian Care Homes boss Gary Hartland, claimed it has been mis-sold an interest rate swap in 2007. The case was settled out of court, with Lloyds paying Wingate’s £8m ‘break’ penalty as well as £1.5m in payments already made for the contract.

Hartland was advised by his lawyers to keep the witness statement under wraps. But he has decided to publish it after Lloyds was fined almost £150m by UK and US regulators last month for rigging Libor interest rates.

As interest rate swaps are linked to Libor rates, Hartland believes that the contract he was sold was void and Lloyds should now pay more than £8m in ‘consequential losses’, including legal fees which were not covered by the settlement.

Hartland has already claimed the scalp of Barclays, which settled a similar interest rate swap mis-selling claim lodged by his Guardian Care Homes group out of court. He has now threatened to launch a fresh legal challenge against Lloyds, related to its Libor rigging, if the bank refuses to pay his costs.

A Lloyds spokesman said: ‘We do not recognise these alleged practices in our business.’

ABOUT OLIVER BUTTERWORTH

According to his Linkedin account, Oliver Butterworth is an AML/ Financial Crime Prevention Specialist (CDD/KYC) at Lloyds Banking Group, Bolton, United Kingdom.

Oliver professes to be an experienced leader with comprehensive operational knowledge and effective leadership skills. Oliver is commercially aware with significant experience across a number of roles and sectors within the Financial Industry. With a strong track record he is highly successful in driving efficiencies, that we take to mean forcing private information out of people and shutting down small enterprises. We await confirmation from Oliver as to just how many small businesses he has caused upset? Maybe it is time for him to blow the whistle as to these banking practices. Or, maybe other company directors reading this might care to share any information they have on Mr Butterworth and the Lloyds banking group. There should be quite a few as he has been with the Lloyds Banking Group for 8 years at the time of writing.

Experience

Lloyds Banking Group
Company Name Lloyds Banking Group
Total Duration 25 yrs 5 months
Title AML/ Financial Crime Prevention Specialist
Dates Employed Mar 2018 – Present
Employment Duration 10 months
Location Manchester, United Kingdom

Oliver's role in the Automated Portfolio Management (APM) Development team is to provide Thought Leadership and Subject Matter Expert input to Business Unit and Risk stakeholders in order to analyse, define, shape, communicate & validate requirements for proposed enhancements to LBG owned applications with a focus on real-time monitoring of AML/ FCP triggers and CDD Standards (KYC/ OKYC).

Oliver will also lead business improvements, understanding business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements. This includes providing thought leadership to support opportunities as a result of industry and regulatory changes, working with other LBG.

Title Centre Manager, Ongoing Due Diligence (AML/KYC)
Dates Employed Apr 2015 – Mar 2018
Employment Duration 3 yrs
Location Manchester, United Kingdom

Oliver's role was Centre Manager for Retail Business Banking, Ongoing Due Diligence (OKYC/KYB). Within 6 months Oliver built, recruited and trained a new Operational team and management structure of circa 80 FTE to deliver AML and Ongoing Due Diligence requirements in line with Group Standards and FCA regulations.

Title Business Performance Manager, PPI Operations, Leeds
Dates Employed Apr 2012 – Apr 2015
Employment Duration 3 yrs 1 month
Location leeds, united kingdom

Oliver’s previous role as the Business Performance Manager within PPI, reporting in to the Head of Function, accountable for the operation in Leeds and various strategic business partners and 3rd party resource suppliers. This is a high volume and complex operation which spans multiple Brands and Oliver has oversight of Business Performance and Planning for over 100... See more

Title Service Manager - Online Helpdesk
Dates Employed 2011 – Apr 2012
Employment Duration 1 yr
Location Leeds, United Kingdom

Prior to his current role, with a strong desire to broaden his experience, Oliver moved into the HBOS Online Helpdesk to lead, engage and inspire a group of 100 front line colleagues to deliver across the range of Objectives within the Telephone Banking Operation. Managing the team through a site move and the largest UK Bank IT Integration.

Title Operations Manager - ISA Transfers
Dates Employed 2010 – 2011
Employment Duration 1 yr
Location Manchester, United Kingdom

In LTSB ISA Transfers, Oliver quickly brought service back to agreed levels, facilitated offshore outsourcing, and created onshore capacity with an Out-of-hours shift to meet Customer demand. In recognition he was presented with Gold in the Business Category at the MAD awards (Making a Difference). In a move across brands into HBOS Savings Operations he successfully i... See more

Education

North Bolton Sixth Form College
North Bolton Sixth Form College

Dates attended or expected graduation 1990 – 1993
Withins school

Dates attended or expected graduation 1986 – 1993

Skills & Endorsements

Stakeholder Management - 20 endorsements for Stakeholder Management 20

Endorsed by John Davies

Endorsed by 11 of Oliver’s colleagues at Lloyds Banking Group

Change Management - 15 endorsements

Endorsed by John Ainsworth and 2 others

Endorsed by 7 of Oliver’s colleagues at Lloyds Banking Group

Project Delivery - 10 endorsements for Project Delivery

WHO WE WERE FIGHTING AGAINST FROM 1939 TO 1945

WEALDEN'S OFFICERS FROM 1983 TO 2018

The SS and SA were the special forces used for political purposes. At this rate it will not be long before all councils in Britain are run by civil servants who think like Gestapo officers. They might as well cut out the pretence and wear brown shirts and long black boots. Heil Hitler! Banks are following suit, targeting individuals and companies where there is nothing sinister, but simply because they are out to get a particular person. They have been given positions of trust and powers that if abused are sure to cause their victims loss, as per Section 4 of the Fraud Act 2006.

LINKS & REFERENCE

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2756776/Shocking-tactics-heart-Lloyds-Banking-Group-scandal.html

www.independent.co.uk/news/business/lloyds-bank-urge-mps-compensate-customers-corrupt-hbos-bankers-245-million-fraud-bankrupt

https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-butterworth-95b0a236/

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/council-binmen-like-gestapo-former-7061110

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365235/Chelmsford-Council-rubbish-gestapo-fine-nurse-75-black-bag-wheelie-bin.html

 

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