FRAUD ALERT *** La Confiance *** Mark Persaud *** Bin Zayed Group *** Midhat Kidwai

 

*** TESTIMONY *** FRAUD  ***

My name is Pascale Nguyen, 46 years old, married, 4 children and I have been a victim of fraud. 

My wife and I invested our money in March 2019 in an investment program owned by La Confiance Int Pty Ltd, located at 140 Williams Street in Melbourne, Australia.

The returns looked good and an insurance policy was included in the program to protect investors in case of problems.

Due diligence was conducted with the regulatory authorities and the insurance company. We even obtained letters of recommendation. Finally, the prospectus of the investment program stated that the management team included Midhat Kidwai, a senior manager working for the Bin Zayed Group which is directly owned by the Emirat of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

All signals are green and we proceed to transfer the money to an account belonging to the Australian bank Westpac.

As a result of our investment, during the first few months, we receive interest as per the terms of the contract. But suddenly, in October 2019, the payments stopped.

During the following months, the representatives of the investment company of La Confiance, Dr. Mark Christopher Persaud (English nationality), known as Mark Persaud, and his partners, Neil Gatta (Australian nationality) and Genaro Perri (Italian nationality) invoked many excuses to justify the stop of the interest payments: audit and recovery of the Australian Bank Westpac, audit / compliance / taxes of their company, the fires of 2019/2020 in Australia and then the death of one of their so-called director / administrator ...

Chris Poucher, the head of Consumer Choice Assurance LTD, based at 5825 Glenridge Drive, Bldg. 3, Suite 101, Atlanta, GA, 30328, refuses to honour the contract on the pretext that it has been cancelled by Mark Persaud (!) and that certain insurance certificates are allegedly forged by Mark Persaud. The insurance company has since relocated its headquarters to the British Virgin Islands .

Finally, in April 2020, we have no more news and we understand that we will never get our money back.

In total, more than 125 investors were victims of this large-scale fraud, amounting to more than 100 million US dollars.

Since then, we and other investors have filed complaints with the Financial Markets Authority in Australia (ASIC), the United States (FINRA), England (FCA), the Australian police, the U.S. insurance authorities, on the international online scams site Econsumer.gov, the Australian bank Westpac, on the BBB Scam Tracker site. None of these entities were able to help us.

The perpetrators are still at large. The victims have gone through very difficult times. In addition to having lost much or all of their savings, their lives have been shattered: depression, illness, job loss and layoffs, over-indebtedness, divorce... A human and financial disaster.

Very few people are aware of the situation we have lived through. Usually, shame, embarrassment or dishonour prevents victims from speaking out. Exactly what the perpetrators want.

Today I decide to break the law of silence. I encourage all other victims to speak up. To testify. To share their experiences and stories.

If you ever hear of these swindlers, please report them immediately to the appropriate authorities. If you think that you can help us, even the smallest help, please contact us.

Please share massively this publication to put an end to the omerta and guilt of the victims.

Pascale Nguyen