New shocks came today as the Premier FX scandal leaving scores of families with massive financial losses finally got aired over UK TV.
A team from Sky television arrived in Portugal yesterday. Within hours the report from crime correspondent Martin Brunt was airing time and again, and still today it is receiving repeat slots.
The human angle runs paramount, but criticism of the authorities’ role in this affair – both the Financial Conduct Authority and Barclays Bank which held Premier FX accounts – has also been touched upon as elsewhere the Sunday Times and BBC consumer show Rip Off Britain have been contacting ‘victims’.
And by coincidence (or perhaps not) the following comment has just been posted on an ‘old story’, announcing the death of Premier FX sole director Peter Rexstrew – the man now blamed for using his clients’ cash without any of the safeguards he assured them were in place (click here).
Describing Rexstrew as a “total crook who was siphoning client funds”, Steve MacMillan continued: “ I worked there for a year and left when I realised what was going on. Warned the FCA in February 2018 but they didn’t even bother to investigate.”
This, for the many ‘victims’ seeking justice, could be the smoking gun they need.
If it can indeed be proved that the Financial Conduct Authority did not even bother to investigate, hopes are that clients’ claims for compensation could suddenly get the power they need.
As this drama continues kicking up dust, the Resident has heard from a reliable source that Rexstrew’s former home in Vale do Lobo “has just been sold, and the money must be sitting somewhere” – just as a house purchase in Mallorca is believed to be “going through”.
The source stressed: “Peter was above everything a compulsive trader. I don’t believe for one minute the money is lost. It’ll be sitting somewhere in trading accounts. The issue really is just how to find it”.
Thus police – now said to be working here and in UK – have a lot to go on as clients push in increasing numbers for answers and, above all, justice.
“Barclays and the FCA could pay back tomorrow what has been stolen from us”, said Algarve-based victim Dave Pratley, stressing the amounts at issue – here, in the UK and particularly in Palma, Mallorca – “are just loose change to them. These bodies have to be targeted for negligence and incompetence, and we all have to stick at this together”, he concluded, admitting he and fellow victims were disappointed that Sky’s report hadn’t emphasised this point sufficiently.
Updates to come as further UK-based publicity is expected.
