Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
D.P. writes: I wonder if you can help, as I am facing a delayed redemption of my investment bond, issued by Leonreed Limited, which also calls itself Leonne International.
Tony Hetherington replies: In 2020, you invested £20,000 in loan notes issued by Leonreed, the company behind Leonne International. You were promised interest at 12 per cent a year, and redemption of your investment in July 2021. Well, July 2021 arrived but your money never did.
And exactly where your money went is unexplained. Leonne International is a bizarre business, headed by a bizarre character, Michael Haston, who has also used the name Michael McQueen.
Lost in space: Leonreed, headed by Michael Haston, said it put £2million into a satellite firm
It claims to be ‘a leading multinational private equity firm’, and its detailed brochure boasts: ‘The team at Leonne International is experienced in proactively identifying, targeting and acquiring profitable businesses where value can be added through enhancing performance with the provision of long-term capital and operating support to the management teams.’ Fine words, but empty words. It claims to have 12 offices spread across six continents, with investments in healthcare, the media, and financial services.
It says it is in partnership with world-league firms including Goldman Sachs, KPMG and JPMorgan. Yet the only accounts the company has ever produced show that it does not have a single employee.
In fact, Leonreed has failed to file accounts for 2021 that were legally due in June this year. On August 30, officials at Companies House began proceedings to have the company struck off, but just over a week ago, on September 30, they suspended action temporarily. This often means that a creditor has asked for a company to be kept alive so it can be sued, or that an investigation has begun.
At the time you invested with Leonne International, the company had announced that it was pouring more than £2million into a completely separate business that was planning to build a rocket launching site in Shetland.
The Shetland Space Centre is run by SaxaVord UK Spaceport, headquartered in Grantown-on-Spey, south of Inverness, and the investment would have given Leonne a 20 per cent stake in the project, which was to offer launch facilities for commercial satellites.
At the time, the space project’s chief executive Frank Strang said he was ‘delighted to have Leonne International as a partner’. Relations have clearly soured since then. They cannot have been helped by a warning issued by the Financial Conduct Authority in March 2020 – just weeks after you invested – pointing out that Leonne was not authorised to offer investments or other financial products, and telling potential investors to be wary.
Frank Strang told me: ‘SaxaVord UK Spaceport does not have links with Michael Haston or any of his companies. SaxaVord UK Spaceport is not involved in or privy to the arrangements between Michael Haston (and any of his companies) and his or their investors, whether in relation to corporate bonds or otherwise.’
He declined to say whether the promised £2million had ever reached his company in the first place, but he has said that any funds that arrived were repaid and that Leonne has no stake in the Spaceport scheme. And this means that all questions now land at the door of Michael Haston.
I asked him to explain why you had not been repaid when your loan note matured last year. I also asked him to confirm that however much he did invest in the Spaceport project had since been refunded. And I asked for details to back up his brochure’s claims about stakes in major businesses. Haston told me he was happy to discuss everything I had asked.
He said: ‘We have done some fantastic things here at Leonne and will continue to do so.’ And he added: ‘Let me know how you would like to proceed as I am sure you are aware that I will pursue legally any inaccurate or misleading information.’
I offered Haston five separate times and days when we could speak. He said he would email the answers to my questions. When no answers arrived, Haston told me he had been ‘extremely busy’ but was reviewing what you had told me about your loan note.
Finally, more than a month ago, Haston promised: ‘I’ll have the required questions and the position on Mr P emailed across to you by early next week.’ Of course, he didn’t, and he has stayed silent since then. Haston is no stranger to dodgy company dealings and failed firms. Last year, two management consultancy companies he headed were compulsorily struck off by Companies House, along with two financial administration businesses.
And in 2017, Haston was charged with fraud, though proceedings were later dropped, with the authorities announcing: ‘The Crown reserves the right to proceed in the future should further evidence become available.’
In the absence of any answers from Haston, huge question marks hang over the claims in his investment brochure. The questions I put to him must now be repeated, whether by the Insolvency Service, the FCA, or even the police. He should not be allowed to walk away from this.
It cost me £60…to talk to Sky!
E.S. writes: I contacted Sky TV to amend my contract. I was on hold for over an hour and to my horror, I found I was charged nearly £60.
I contacted the phone company O2, who said Sky set the charges. Sky offered me Tesco vouchers, which I refused as I paid in pounds, not Tesco vouchers.
We are over 70, on a fixed income, and this amount is a week’s shopping for us.
Tony Hetherington replies: I spoke to O2, which told me you had called 0844 241 4141, an expensive premium rate number operated by Sky. To its credit, O2 even said that if Sky did not repay you, then O2 would.
There is some disagreement over who profits from the charges. What is clear is that this is an old number that Sky appears to have kept in use, while at the same time replacing it with a cheaper service.
Sky told me: ‘As a gesture of goodwill, we have refunded the charges.’
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email [email protected]. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
