It is actually amazing how long authorities watch before they act. In this case, the London Stock Exchange’s supervisory authority at B90 Holdings PLC, until recently known as Veltyco Group PLC. Founded in 2016 by the now arrested German Uwe Lenhoff and his Dutch partner, real estate investor Dirk-Jan Bakker, B90 Holdings has a record of numerous regulatory violations. These include incorrect publications, failure to disclose material facts, as well as the arrest of the founder, main shareholder, and manager. Since Lenhoff’s arrest, the zombie status of the company has been maintained by the predominantly Dutch shareholders with financial contributions.
Scam Frontend
For years, B90 Holdings has been used as a front-end for large scams such as Option888, XMarkets, TradoVest, or LottoPalace and thus facilitated the fraud on thousands of retail investors. This has been established as a fact in criminal investigations in various jurisdictions. The supervisory authority of the London Stock Exchange has not yet reacted to this. This is unacceptable in the interest of the investors who have been harmed.
Financial market regulators of numerous regulatory regimes have warned against the scams in the B90 Holdings network. The public-listed company ignored and consistently concealed this fact. By law and regulation, the board should have disclosed these material events to the public and could have stopped these scams years ago. The stock exchange supervisory authorities have not reacted to this to date. Why not? Good question, isn’t it?
The connection between the scams and the acting persons around Uwe Lenhoff, Falk Preussner, and Dirk-Jan “DJ” Bakker and their companies can be easily found in the stock exchange admission prospectus of the former Veltyco Group PLC.
Read the admission document here
Dutch Shareholders
The Dutch network has once again helped the zombie company financially.
B90 Holdings (formerly Veltyco Group) announced on 7 May 2020 that it had set up new financing to ward off insolvency. The company has issued convertible loan notes for the third time in the last 8 months and received GBP 450,000 from its shareholders. The money was urgently used to pay critical creditors and regulatory charges and fees. Trading in the company’s shares on the London Stock Exchange has been suspended since mid-March 2020 already.
The notes have been subscribed again by the company’s Dutch shareholder Peter Paul Westerterp and another undisclosed investor. Additionally, the company’s director Mark Rosman has subscribed. Westerterp and Rosman are currently holding approximately 4.4% and 3.1% respectively of B90 Holdings’ issued share capital. The fresh money is too little to live and too much to die. I think it’s only to keep the company from dying these days. It’s zombie financing.
Regulatory Actions urgently needed
B90 Holdings was at that time as Veltyco Group according to its own account massively involved in the acquisition of customers (victims) for the scams like Option888 or LottoPalace. Likewise, the management with Uwe Lenhoff, Marcel Noordeloos, or Hans Dahlgren was personally involved in the management of these scams or the companies behind them. This legally establishes the company’s liability for the aggrieved retail investors.
The US-American Melissa Blau was CEO for a few months in 2018 and left the company due to its business practices. Despite the knowledge of Lenhoff’s illegal business, no complaint has been filed with the appropriate authorities. This is a criminal offense in itself.
It is time that both the stock exchange supervisory authority and the responsible authorities in London and Amsterdam intervene. In the interest of the thousands of small investors who have suffered damage, but also for the benefit of a healthy financial market.
