'Crooked Knight' Orders Amazon.co.uk To Remove 'Kindle Version' Of David Alexander's Exposé Of Former Director's Fraudulent Exploits
| Published on 09 February 2013 |
by WireNews+Co
(WireNews+Co)
London, England
Crooked Knight (Cover)
|
All it took was a single letter from Jo Kiddie, a partner with London-based Winckworth Sherwood, to force the mighty Amazon (in the UK) to remove a Kindle version of "Crooked Knight: How It All Went Wrong For IEQ"—a true story written by David Alexander—that exposes the inner-dealings and criminal behaviour of the former directors of Intermediate Equity plc.
In the UK, where the libel laws are tilted in favour of the people with the most to hide, it doesn't take much to sweep whatever you've done under the carpet. High priced lawyers, like Kiddie, who has worked to prevent the public from learning the truth about her client for many years, are only too happy to take a client's money and fire off a boilerplate letter that will usually get Amazon's attention.
The story of Sir Richard Needham and his directorship of IEQ; how he and his fellow directors used money invested by members of the public to support his son's friend's lifestyle in China and numerous other examples of nepotism which eventually lead to the demise of the 'investment' vehicle is detailed in Alexander's book.
With the help of Keith Harris, the former Football League chairman and 'man in charge' at Seymour Pierce and director Anthony Lindsay Caplin ("Tony Caplin"), the Chairman of iRevolution Group PLC, Era PLC, William Clowes Ltd., Durlacher PLC and ANT Ltd. (among many others), Needham and his fellow directors were able to take a shell company public with just £2 in capital (claiming that the minimum required initial capital would be paid, though it never was). In fact, the £2 was never paid either.
These two directors raised millions of pounds from unsuspecting members of the public and then 'invested' the money with family and friends whose 'businesses' somehow mysteriously failed leaving the original investors with worthless paper. One such company run from Caplin's home was never incorporated and didn't actually exist, though it received more than £500,000.
Similarly, the dirty history of Seymour Pierce and how Harris was able to wrestle control of the failed investment banker after he raised millions of pounds from the public (again) appears ready to be buried along with other frauds committed by these men as Cantor Fitzgerald prepares to buy Harris' company as has been reported last week.
Unfortunately, the IEQ investors were not able to have their day in court due to a fraud perpetrated upon them by the company's own solicitor—Jane Jales, formerly a partner with Marriott Harrison—who was found to have had a conflict of interest by the Law Society (because she and her firm failed to tell IEQ that they represented Caplin at the same time!). When Jales received Needham's and Caplin's cheque in the amount of £55,000 (of a £5 million claim) for the only amount they would actually admit, Jales signed it off as 'full and final settlement' putting "paid" to the original claim and then simply forgot to tell her client for more than 18 months while she billed them for 'meetings' and lots of other 'lawyer work'.
No, Sir Richard doesn't want the public (in the UK) to be able to read about what really happened. But you can still get a copy of Alexander's book through Amazon.com or download a free PDF version. The author of the book has repeatedly told Needham's solicitor that if her client believes the facts contained in the book are not true, he should sue for libel, but that would mean going to court and Needham didn't want to do that in 2001 and he still doesn't...
Crooked Knight: How It All Went Wrong For IEQ
ISBN-10: 0974793604
Author: David Alexander
Publisher: Origin of Books
$12.99 (Paperback)
http://www.originofbooks.com
http://www.crookedknight.com
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Posted 2013-02-09 17:37:00
