Renwick Haddow was arrested in Morocco and is accused of selling hotdesk office space around the word to investors.
Renwick Haddow was arrested in Morocco and is accused of selling hotdesk office space around the word to investors.
Renwick Haddow was arrested in Morocco and is accused of selling hotdesk office space around the word to investors.
Renwick Haddow was arrested in Morocco and is accused of selling hotdesk office space around the word to investors.

How the Bar Works mastermind made a career of duping investors


Paul Peachey
  • English
  • Arabic

The brochure that promoted the African farming investment scheme was unequivocal. “We harvest - you profit,” it declared on the cover.

Promotional videos posted on YouTube showed a busy agricultural operation in Sierra Leone where three-metre high grass had been cleared and replaced by acres of rice fields. Farm buildings had been built. A new milling machine could produce 12 tonnes a day, officials confidently predicted standing in front of sacks of rice piled high in the warehouse.

Not for the first time, a lucrative opportunity linked to serial entrepreneur and now detained British fugitive Renwick Robert Haddow was not all that it seemed to be.

By the time Britain’s financial services regulator took action over “false and misleading statements” by the scheme’s promoters, the operation had taken £8.1 million from more than 1,000 investors.

They had not nearly trebled their money as suggested they would in the 2009 prospectus. In reality, they had paid for more land than the operation actually owned. “This is not a comfortable situation,” said High Court judge Nicholas Strauss QC. He ruled that it was an illegal investment operation.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) went back to court last month to claw back some of the investors’ money from the entrepreneur and 15 other individuals and companies involved with the scheme.

One of the defendants - the estate of a director who killed himself by walking in front of a train while suffering from stress during the FCA inquiry – has settled and could have to pay up to £200,000.

Mr Haddow was not there. While lawyers were discussing him and his companies’ assets, he was being arrested on an Interpol warrant in Tangier, Morocco, for his role in the reputed $36m Bar Works scam.

The US authorities claim that the disqualified director in the UK had sought to hide his identity and connection to Bar Works, by using the alias ‘Jonathan Black’. Victims pointed out that the picture of Black, the CEO, seemed to have been copied from another person’s profile on the business networking site LinkedIn.

The alleged fraud involved dozens of high-pressure selling operations around the globe, including the UAE, with takings siphoned through dozens of countries.

“It appears it was all smoke and mirrors,” said a senior New York FBI official William F. Sweeney Jr in a statement in June as he revealed the charges.

Mr Haddow’s new Ukrainian wife, Zoia Kyselova – they were on honeymoon in 2016 at the height of the US investigation – played a role in the scam, according to a lawsuit filed by a group of Chinese investors.

Zoya Kiselova. Courtesy Facebook
Zoya Kiselova. Courtesy Facebook

References to Bar Works on what appears to be her Facebook page are limited to a single statement from the company referencing an “inexcusable breakdown in communications” with investors.

But her sporadic postings from the UK and the US does include a photo of Jordan Belfort, the boiler room operator and self-described “Wolf of Wall Street” played by Leonardo Di Caprio in the movie version of his life. He was speaking at an event in the UK in 2014.

“Our team did a great work to invite this legend to London,” she wrote. The theme of the evening was “the truth behind his success, basically his steps and rules to become a successful entrepreneur”.

After moving from London in 2014, the pair had been living in New York when US law enforcement announced it was pursuing him for alleged criminal activity. And about time too, said his alleged victims. It was not as if the authorities in his native Britain were unaware of past misdeeds.

Analysis of Mr Haddow’s previous business activity suggests that the operation in Sierra Leone followed a familiar pattern that went back a decade.

Renwick Robert Haddow, now 49, has been behind a series of eye-catching projects that initially attracted interest but were followed by unfulfilled promises and the loss to investors of millions of pounds. Publications that have highlighted problems with Haddow-related projects have been threatened with legal action.

The former accountant, who first appears in UK corporate records as a director of a small public house chain in 1998, launched a project with similarities to the Bar Works operation in 2001.

As finance director of Branded Leisure, he struck a deal with the publishers of Cosmopolitan magazine to launch a string of venues, that would combine bars, beauty treatments and coffee shops aimed at women aged 18-35.

Mr Haddow talked up the lucrative opportunities for the “Cosmopolitan Spirit” outlets. “These places will be crammed full of women, so they will naturally appeal to men,” he told The Sunday Times.

The deal struck with the publishers involved regularly opening new outlets – he had mooted 20 in two years. An assault on the United States was seen as the next step after winning over Britain.

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In the event, they only opened one in Manchester, which failed to hit financial targets. Haddow’s company closed down shortly afterwards.

Shareholders lost all their money and the company left debts of £2 million. The saga eventually resulted in Haddow being banned as a director in 2008 for eight years after making misleading statements to investors about the state of the business, according to the official insolvency report.

While the beauty treatment and café plan was going to the wall, an unabashed Mr Haddow came up with another project to rebrand milk as ‘M’, a trendy bottled drink aimed at youth.

“We want ‘M’ to do for the milk industry what Perrier did for the water industry,” he was quoted as saying. He said he was seeking funding and suppliers for a drink he wanted to get on the shelves at major food outlets and health clubs. The plan never took off.

There were more. Documents show that a new company run by Mr Haddow invested in a glow-in-the-dark plastics project in 2003, a venture which failed and ended in acrimony and the UK courts.

Even while he was banned as a director, Mr Haddow re-emerged as a consultant, with a proposal to buy The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, and turn it into a weekly magazine and website.

“It is early days, but we are serious and keen to …. discuss options,” he was quoted as saying in London’s Evening Standard. Again, the plan never got off the ground.

The headline-grabbing projects were only a small part of his portfolio of interests. Mr Haddow was at the centre of a network of some 30 entities running investment schemes linked to commodities including gold, platinum, carbon credits and palm oil largely run from central London, according to an investigation by the World Policy Journal in 2015. Sales staff targeted retired people on “sucker lists” with high sales pressure techniques, it said.

“I was first made aware of Capital Alternatives when they contacted my mother, an Alzheimer’s patient, and I stepped in to ask them to leave her alone,” according to one anonymous victim cited in an unconnected US thinktank report. “Soon their calls were directed at me.”

The tactics were similar to those described by the FBI’s charges against Mr Haddow unsealed in June. One witness described brokers “badgering, harassing and shouting at prospective investors”. The proceeds from the operations were allegedly moved through a complex web of offshore companies and tax havens.

The journal claimed Mr Haddow became a well-known figure in Cyprus, a significant offshore banking centre popular with Russian oligarchs, according to the report citing documents and sources familiar with his operations. Authorities there have been forced to tighten up banking regulation because of a lack of scrutiny over dubious financial flows.

Mr Haddow promoted a hotel ownership scheme, with property in places including Prague, Slovenia and Marrakesh, Morocco. Investors bought a share of the hotel and shared in its profits, and allowed the investors to stay in the room for free at points during the year.

The company, Room To Invest went into liquidation, leaving debts and a string of unhappy investors. One was encouraged to transfer his investment into the Sierra Leone farm investment scheme, according to a report in Money Observer.

A person purporting to be Mr Haddow has denied the central accusations against him through the comments section of an activist website which has helped expose boiler room operations selling worthless carbon credits to unsuspecting customers. He claimed that that his operations had raised a “fraction” of the $180 million claimed by the article in Global Policy.

“According to that [journal] article $180m was raised, I have a share in a Cypriot football club, visited Cyprus numerous times and I have Russian connections... I have been to Cyprus only once and I don’t even like football,” he wrote.

Chris Lang, who runs the REDD-monitor website, said that he could not be sure that the writer was Mr Haddow but comments appear to have been posted from places including Turkey and New York, both places where Mr Haddow has connections.

Emails have also been sent by a person who identified himself as Renwick Haddow asking for posts about him to be removed, threatening legal action if they were not, he said.

Mr Lang said “there’s a tone that’s quite consistent in the comments that are left under the name of Renwick Haddow”. The tone is belligerent, unapologetic and damning of critics that he described as “cockroaches”.

His approach to those who claim to have been ripped off by Mr Haddow’s network is at best cavalier. He told one: “Unlike you I have better things to do than spend hours writing dribble…. I wish I had as much free time on my hands as you.”

In his comments, he has repeatedly taken issue with the description of his projects as “scams” and had never been prosecuted or charged with a criminal offence. He accepts that if the FCA won its legal battle, he could face criminal charges. The comment was written a week before he lost a 2015 High Court ruling over the legality of his investment schemes.

A ruling is expected later this year in the FCA case involving the farming project, and carbon credit schemes for Australia, the Amazon and Sierra Leone, which could result in him facing a significant financial bill. Even though Mr Haddow was disqualified as a director, the FCA has painted him as a central figure in project.

But Mr Haddow, currently in a prison near the Moroccan capital Rabat, is facing bigger difficulties as the US seeks to have him returned to his adopted home to face trial. If found guilty at trial he faces up to 40 years in prison.

Specs

Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request

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The specs: 2018 Bentley Bentayga V8

Price, base: Dh853,226

Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 550hp @ 6,000pm

Torque: 770Nm @ 1,960rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 11.4L / 100km

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Financial considerations before buying a property

Buyers should try to pay as much in cash as possible for a property, limiting the mortgage value to as little as they can afford. This means they not only pay less in interest but their monthly costs are also reduced. Ideally, the monthly mortgage payment should not exceed 20 per cent of the purchaser’s total household income, says Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching.

“If it’s a rental property, plan for the property to have periods when it does not have a tenant. Ensure you have enough cash set aside to pay the mortgage and other costs during these periods, ideally at least six months,” she says. 

Also, shop around for the best mortgage interest rate. Understand the terms and conditions, especially what happens after any introductory periods, Ms Glynn adds.

Using a good mortgage broker is worth the investment to obtain the best rate available for a buyer’s needs and circumstances. A good mortgage broker will help the buyer understand the terms and conditions of the mortgage and make the purchasing process efficient and easier. 

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Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

If you go

The flights

Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes. 

The car

Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals. A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.

The hotels

Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes. 

More info

To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com. Good guidebooks include the Lonely Planet guides to Northern California and Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest. 

 

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Part three: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

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David Haye record

Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4

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The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo

Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm

Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm

Transmission: 6-speed auto

Price: from Dh155,000

On sale: now

INDIA SQUAD

Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj and Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper)

RESULTS

6.30pm Handicap (TB) US$65,000 (Dirt) 1,400m

Winner Golden Goal, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)

7.05pm Dubai Racing Club Classic Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (Turf) 2,410m

Winner: Walton Street, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.

7.40pm Dubai Stakes Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,200m

Winner Switzerland, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar

8.15pm Singspiel Stakes Group 3 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,800m

Winner Lord Giltters, Adrie de Vries, David O’Meara

8.50pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 (TB) $228,000 (D) 1,600m

Winner Military Law, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.

9.25pm Al Fahidi Fort Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,400m

Winner Land Of Legends, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor

10pm Dubai Dash Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,000m

Winner Equilateral, Frankie Dettori, Charles Hills.

Disposing of non-recycleable masks
    Use your ‘black bag’ bin at home Do not put them in a recycling bin Take them home with you if there is no litter bin
  • No need to bag the mask
How Filipinos in the UAE invest

A recent survey of 10,000 Filipino expatriates in the UAE found that 82 per cent have plans to invest, primarily in property. This is significantly higher than the 2014 poll showing only two out of 10 Filipinos planned to invest.

Fifty-five percent said they plan to invest in property, according to the poll conducted by the New Perspective Media Group, organiser of the Philippine Property and Investment Exhibition. Acquiring a franchised business or starting up a small business was preferred by 25 per cent and 15 per cent said they will invest in mutual funds. The rest said they are keen to invest in insurance (3 per cent) and gold (2 per cent).

Of the 5,500 respondents who preferred property as their primary investment, 54 per cent said they plan to make the purchase within the next year. Manila was the top location, preferred by 53 per cent.