Winter Olympic dreams

Simon Cowell referred to Faces of Disco (facesofdisco.co.uk) as a "5 billion trick pony". The Editor doesn't have any time for Simon Cowell per se, but he was right about Liam Collins being full of tricks.

Liam Collins & David Bone Jnr, the partners of the bankrupted Collins and Bone Partnership, have accepted the Official Receiver's findings. Given the very serious nature of these findings, and that Liam Collins' goal was to represent Great Britain at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Editor felt it necessary to register the seriousness of the findings with the British Bobsleigh organisers. The organisers informed me yesterday that Liam Collins is not training with them any more, and has not done so since the 2011/2012 season. As such, if you should encounter Liam Collins and/or David Bone Jnr doing their "Faces of Disco" routine under the pretence of raising money for:

• Liam Collins to represent Great Britain at the 2014 Winter Olympics: they are committing fraud.
• The Great Britain bobsleigh team: they may be committing fraud if the monies collected are not actually going where they say. So, before making any donation, ask:

1. What percentage of the takings are going to the team?
2. What measures are in place to ensure that the monies go where it is claimed they will?
3. In what timeframe will these monies be donated to the British Bobsleigh team?

Best to be on the safe side and give nothing - make donations to the British Bobsleigh team via their website www.bobteamgb.org instead.

The Editor

Faces of Disco Liam Collins gets 14 years!

Liam Collins, the real face behind Faces of Disco, gets a 14 year Bankruptcy Restriction Undertaking (BRU), effectively the maximum that the Secretary of State can impose, and an indication of the severity of the Official Receiver's findings. Now that the Official Receiver's investigation is over, the next phase will commence .... to ensure that criminal charges are brought against the partners.

On 25th July 2013, Liam Collins had his preliminary Bankruptcy Restriction Order (BRO) hearing at Newcastle County Court. At this hearing, Liam Collins was asked whether he agreed with the findings of the Official Receiver on a point-by-point basis. Liam Collins contested 3 main points:

• The partners mis-appropriated investors monies, using the monies in a manner wholly unrepresentative of the representations that the partners had given to investors. I.e. the partners defrauded investors.
• The partners, minimally as of January 2010 onwards, were trading whilst insolvent. They were effectively operating a ponzi scheme.
• The partners purposefully mis-informed investors about the state of the business, minimally as of January 2010 onwards.

Liam Collins was given an interim BRO by the judge, and requested to return to court in 4 weeks time with evidence to contest the above findings. Suffice to say that investors did not have to wait 4 weeks:

• Liam Collin's partner, David Bone Jnr, accepted the Official Receiver's findings at Wigan County Court on 1st August 2013 which obviously did not help!
• Liam Collins has no evidence to contest these findings.

The above findings are obviously very serious ... The Editor understands why Liam Collins would want to contest them by virtue of the fact that these are inherently criminal activities. However, the degree of proof required by the Official Receiver is not the same as that required in a criminal prosecution, and it is here where this blog will now focus ... to provide data required to secure a criminal conviction.

The reason for the complete lack of activity on this blog for the past several months has been at the explicit request of the Official Receiver so as not to jeopardise in any way his investigation. The Editor has been happy to comply with this request and help bring the Official Receiver's investigation to a fruitful closure.

The Editor