Shares in Whisky Casks

A T T E N T I O N - Swindler !

Bankruptcy - Proceedings - Names

Note: Even if the following report is three years old, it has not lost its actuality. With constant regularity this trick is repeated again and again.

Increasing concerns about firms, which offer investments in drinks products, were raised by the British Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to the beginning of 1997. This warning was supplemented with the opening of the proceedings against the two companies James Devereaux, Ltd. and Napier Spirit Co., Ltd.

Both companies had offered malt whisky casks as an investment. James Devereaux, Ltd. and Securutuzed Syndicated Investments (SSI), Ltd., which worked under the name of Marshall Wineries entered already the settlement procedure.

DTI has raised a petition to close Napier Spirit Co., Ltd., because "the potential returns and the marketability of such investments were 'untrue'." DTI said further, that they have details about a dozen companies, which offer investments in the field of whisky, champagne and port wine.

There shall be claims against James Devereaux, Ltd. in a height of more than EUR 2 million, against which only EUR 35.000 in form of assets stand. James Devereaux, Ltd. also sold whisky, but was specialised on investments in casks of a newly founded distillery. The distillery and the media company, which produced the flyers for James Devereaux, Ltd. had bad debts in a height of EUR 175.000 respectively EUR 125.000.

The news in August 1997 tell about two additional application for settlement made for the companies Ewart McLaren, Ltd. and Brooktheme, Ltd. which used the name Millennium Spirits Investments for their 'trade'.

The companies are confronted with the following violations:

• "Claims made by the firms about the potential returns and the marketability of such investments were 'untrue'."

• "The grounds of our petition are that no established market exists in which investors' whisky casks can be sold and investors are unlikely to recover the sums paid."

The typical loosers when investing in whisky casks are citizens who paid sums between a few thousands and several tenthousands EUROs for whiskys, they have not seen and will never see in the future. The promised profits as well as the invested money is normally lost.

The advice of the branch is:

"Do not buy shares of Whisky Investments!"