Norwich charity closes after £ 50,000 scam allegation

[ad_1]

Posted: 6:30 a.m. November 6, 2021

A charity has been reported to authorities after a businessman claimed he lost £ 50,000 in a scam.

The Charity Commission, which regulates the industry, has confirmed it is investigating a complaint about the Umbrella Foundation, a registered charity in an office on Magdalen Street.

It was established in 2019, but went into liquidation this summer after the man alleged that £ 50,000 of his money was scammed through the charity’s bank account.

However, the Umbrella Foundation claimed it received the £ 50,000 as a donation and spent it on marketing.

The man, from Glasgow, said he believed he was transferring £ 50,000 from his bank account to his online account where he traded currency with a company called Genesis 11.

You can also watch:

In April, he said that Genesis 11 asked him to send the money through the Umbrella Foundation bank account. He said he then had to be converted to an online currency and transferred to his account, but it never was.

He said he believed the charity was acting as an intermediary to transfer the money and that he had already done so with other organizations by putting money into his Genesis 11 account without no problem.

“My wife was sick at the time and I had a lot,” he said. “I had already put money into my online investment account through a third party and the first few times I did that everything went well.

“But this time he went to the Umbrella Foundation and never appeared on my account.”

The day after the money was paid to the Umbrella Foundation, the association transferred £ 25,000 to a company in Hungary, according to an invoice consulted by this newspaper. He says the money was for marketing services.

In response, the Umbrella Foundation directed us to a report from its liquidator Begbies Traynor, which indicated that the man’s money had been used for marketing and volunteer costs. The report says the £ 50,000 was a donation from an online donor and the charity only later found out that the funds had been sent ‘in error’.

Sackville Place on Magdalen Street, Norwich, where the Umbrella Foundation was based. – Credit: Archant

The liquidator’s report also said the charity received a government-backed ‘rebound’ loan of £ 50,000 which it said was also spent on other marketing and ‘external costs’.

However, with the charity currently in liquidation, it has no assets to repay that money, according to the report.

The Umbrella Foundation was registered as a charity in March 2019. Its sole director when it closed was a woman called Kristina Fields.

Prior to that date, Ms Fields volunteered for the charity while her trustees were Neil Walsh and Paul Van der Hulks, according to the liquidator’s report.

The three trustees were directors of another company called SJ Global Investments Worldwide Ltd, which also went into liquidation in May this year.

Neil Walsh and Kristina Fields were directors of the Umbrella Foundation – Credit: SJ Global

The victim emailed The Umbrella Foundation in May to complain and received a response from Ms Fields stating that the £ 50,000 was given to the association by someone in Dubai to fund their work and that ‘she had never heard of the Genesis 11 investment platform.

She wrote: “We would never jeopardize our charity if we found out that the funds came from participating in a fraud, but clearly we weren’t aware.

“We are happy to refund your money as we don’t want anything to do with fraudulently earned funds.

“Unfortunately, our charity account is still blocked, so we cannot refund this.”

However, despite repeated emails, the money was never refunded, the man said.

The liquidator’s report said: “Catastrophe struck when Ms Fields, who at the time only worked for the charity as a volunteer, was contacted by the donor complaining that the funds had never were meant to be a gift and had in fact been misused.

“These funds had already been used and the association could not take charge of their reimbursement.

“Despite exhaustive attempts to come to an agreement with the donor and generate funds to return their money, these remain unpaid.”

A Scottish Police spokesperson said: “We have received this report and our investigations are ongoing.”

A spokesperson for the Charity Commission added, “We are aware of these concerns and are currently assessing them in accordance with our regulatory and risk framework to determine our next steps. “

The Umbrella Foundation website, which was shut down, said it was working to help women in Uganda.

According to the Charity Commission website, he also works with BAME communities in London.

-Subscribe to our newsletter to get a weekly recap of the work of our investigation unit

[ad_2]