Hudspiths Ltd

The truth exposed...

So, it wont be the first and it wont be the last investment that we have heard of that has gone south. In the past 7 years, I as an avid investor have been involved in many. Some good, some ok, some bad, some terrible. I'm sure you've all heard the names, Swiss Pro, Skywatch, Carlton James Private & Commercial, Pardus, Dolphin........

Here I want to talk about my experience with Hudspiths Ltd. A small company from the South West of the UK run by two guys, Lance Hudspiths and Karl Lubieniecki. My experience actually goes back to 2012 when I invested personally with Mr Lubieniecki. £25k into a trading platform, in my name, and he traded it on my behalf with an agreement in place to go 50/50 on the profit. All worked out well, we didn't hit the 100% in 12 months we hoped for but still my share of the profits after 14 months was just shy of £42k, so 84% gross in 14 months isn't to be sniffed at. After this Mr Lubieniecki explained that he was hoping to start a trading company up with a friend, Mr Hudspiths, and the long term plan was to become regulated in the UK. I knew Mr Lubieniecki could trade, id seen that first hand, and Mr Hudspiths came with good recommendation. In September 2013 Hudspiths Ltd was incorporated in the UK.

Mr Lubieniecki went quiet for a year or two until 2015 when he reached out to me to say things were ready with Hudspiths Ltd. Making my own informed decision I invested £50k, in fact I think I was one of the first in. I kept in regular contact with both Karl & Lance, and visited the Swindon office at least every 3 months. I live close by in Bath so its a 30 minute drive at most. From my experience, all was good and in October 2016 my funds were paid back to me as requested. Sadly I then invested into another local company, Carlton James Private & Commercial, however that nightmare still continues to this day. Why did I pull my money from Hudspiths Ltd?.....simply, I was offered a better return with the promise of help with my pension. Sadly none of this materialised, but that's another story.

My reasoning for writing this blog is the following. I have no malice towards Karl or Lance, in fact since 2012 they delivered, so I cant complain. My issue is one which I have come across in the industry time and time again. Liquidators! Its no secret that Mr Lubieniecki reached out to me in 2019 regarding the company affairs. I was a commercial solicitor for 42 years so it was quite normal for me to offer friendly advice. I saw the books, I saw the trading results, I saw the bank statements and I knew the business. My conclusion was 3 things.

They're paying clients too much.
They're paying introducers far too much.
The trading which Lance was struggling with was not generating anywhere near the returns required.

So what to do. Honestly, it was too little too late. Glad I got out when I did, yes, however, saddened at how something which looked so promising to start with ended up like this. Either way, the future was set in stone.

So, back to the liquidation and more importantly the liquidators. Now, we all know this breed of 'professional' unregulated robbers. They ambulance chase, get hold of what they can, tell the unsuspecting clients that they can help them get their funds back, obtain support from said clients, rack up a huge bill from fees, and then take whatever they can to cover these fees. 9 times out of ten, actually make that 99/100, the clients get nothing after 1, 2, or 3 years of promises. Look at Hudspiths, 3 years in an the only funds raised have been swallowed by fees and costs due to the liquidators and their legal team. According to the liquidators latest report, they expect it to take another 2 years. An absolute joke.

Firstly, this is a simple case. Clients like me, invested into a UK Ltd company. I like others knew the risks. Money in, money goes to trade or other investment platforms, returns paid to clients. From what ive seen, these are the figures....(and facts)

£10.8m paid by clients in to the Hudspiths Ltd HSBC bank account, this is now public record.
No other bank accounts existed until 2017 when the HSBC was no longer used and a new account with Barclays was opened.
£4.4m paid from Hudspiths Ltd into trading platforms.
£1.8m paid from Hudspiths Ltd into 3rd party investments.
£7.6m paid back to clients and introducers from the above said accounts.
£400k sits in Barclays stuck in an account and has done since 2017 (Barclays love to hold funds for 'no' reason).
£2.4m due back to Hudspiths Ltd from investments made (Debtors).
A further £3.67m paid back to Hudspiths Ltd clients and introducers from Mr Lubieniecki personally during 2017/18.
93 clients paid funds into the UK company bank account, some had more than one account therefore a simple reconciliation shows 86 individual clients.

This means, in simple terms, that from the £10.8m invested into Hudspiths Ltd, the company generated £19,400,400.

Nearly a 90% return.

However, this is what the liquidators have said........(ready)......

In 2019 there were £22m of client claims. Crazy, but I can understand the maths even though the legal aspects behind it are incorrect.
In 2020 there were £38m of client claims, strange?
In 2021 there were £43m of claims which suddenly rose to £87m, ridiculous.
In 2020 there is now £97m of claims, is everyone mad?!

On top of this, there are a proven 86 individual clients that invested funds to the company, the latest liquidators report now states that there are 276 clients......surely someone needs to speak to these additional 190 clients and ask them where they sent their money, as it definitely wasn't into Hudspiths bank account?

So what is going on.......

Like I said, Ive been in the commercial legal business for 42 years. These liquidators are riding the hype. Lets tell the clients this is a £100m liquidation. Lets say there are more and more clients. Lets generate more and more fees for all the good (fake) work we are doing......Truth is, this is an £800k liquidation at most, fact. There is no Ponzi, there is no scheme, and as The Insolvency Services confirmed to me in May 2021, this is a business which went wrong. There is no crime, this wasn't theft. Yes, Mr Lubieniecki took £1.58m from the company between 2015 and 2017, however £600k of this was invested on and behalf of Hudspiths Ltd. £200k was sent to the now defunked Barclays account where it remains to this day and £220k was a repayment of funds lent to the company from Mr Lubieniecki in 2013/14/15. £312k was funds that went to pay staff, rent and other over heads, all justifiable and provable. On top of this, Mr Lubieniecki then paid £3.67m back into the Hudspiths Ltd pot from trading funds he had earnt elsewhere to try and keep things afloat. In the industry we call this to catch a falling knife, never do it!

Was Mr Lubieniecki obliged to do this, absolutely not, but did he, absolutely yes, its all in black and white and provable.

They wont tell you the facts, the figures, the truth. That holds no place in their narrative. They could have put a line under this 2 years ago, but they didn't. They generated fees for themselves and all those associated with them. Now they will leave the clients high and dry and move on to the next 'big liquidation'.

Why do I care? Because as I said earlier in this blog, I've been involved in several failed investments, and each and every time the liquidator wins (and the introducers, but that's another story). I've sat for months and in some cases years listening to the hype and promise of retuned funds, only to realise that the fees of the liquidator will always take precedence.

A complete travesty, but that's life.