Stormy waters as investors chase King’s Cup yacht owner
A Flying Sporran Financial Warning
It’s said that owning a boat is just like pouring money down the drain. Now investors are chasing the owner of a winning boat in the annual King’s Cup Regatta on Phuket trying to find out what happened to their cash.
Two guys, Scot Bryan Gauson and Englishman Keith Wotherspoon ran an investment fund called Boston Asset Management out of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The company has been liquidated.
Gauson, who was banned from being a director of a company by the Court of Sessions in Edinburgh, well yonks ago, is the owner of this yacht ‘Piccolo’, which definitely does not quantify the money he has not accounted for.
As for Boston Asset Management, well its site is down and the Malaysian Securities Commission has added the Boston Asset Management Group to its list of unauthorized websites and investment products.
People seeking their money back have been told that ‘funds have been frozen in Switzerland’.
Best Money Manager!
On its website Boston Asset Management claimed to have first place awards for Micro pal Investment – Malaysia and Singapore Equities, and a Bloomberg Award for being one of the region’s ‘Best Money Managers’.
The yacht ‘Piccolo’ has been a frequent prize-winner in the
Keith Wotherspooon
King’s Cup and Gauson has been in attendance picking up the plaudits. Piccolo was also the winner of the 76 Sydney to Hobart race.
The yacht is up for sale and has not been entered for this year’s event. Just how much these two men banked, or lost, is not known.
But those who have contacted me believe they have lost in the region of 20,000 pounds sterling plus each..but I guess Piccolo is worth a few bob.
Gauson and Wotherspoon have been prevaricating and they claim that Boston Asset Management Pte was already on a watch list when they bought it, but they did not know!
They insist the funds are intact but just cannot get their hands on it. If the funds are indeed frozen there is no reason why they cannot provide investors with the wheres and whys.
Several ‘investment’ companies have recently taken a dive after putting their money in previously very successful Australian fund managers.
Bryan Gauson finally replied to one investor today: “
When funds get frozen unfortunately many people are unreasonable blaming Boston who unfortunately are also an innocent party on this occasion. Several clients are effected by these funds being frozen unfortunately for some reason you had not received the information allegedly sent out by your agent to you.
“I was under the impression that all clients effected were informed. I will send you details that show your funds were sent to Boston Capital and no funds were ever handled by Boston Asset Management Pte Ltd. Singapore.
“BAM pte ltd was a company we purchased from two local Singaporeans and it was discovered had hidden problems not completing filing for the MAS on time several years running and also having an outstanding court case.
“We were advised by the top lawyers in Singapore to drop the company altogether and we never even opened a bank account for the company. The former director had the company on both investor watch lists in Singapore and Malaysia prior to us purchasing and was eventually made bankrupt.
“Hence the good advice not to use the company again when all was revealed to us. We used it for marketing purposes until the skeletons came out the woodwork.”
The client remains confused. They bought a bankrupt company? !!!!!
I just don't understand why people use these 3rd party financial planners/services when you can get most of it through your bank at a lower fee than 3rd party providers charge…
I guess its greed & the hype of making exhorbitant profits out of their investment. When will people learn that you are the best Bank & investing in a stranger is a "big" gamble. Even Soros has has pulled his stakes out of JP Morgan & Goldman Sachs so thats got to tell you all somethings brewing with ther banks & investment firms???
"If it sounds too good to be true……then it is"
Wise words.
@BangkokGuy, contrary to @Pepe's somewhat ignorant comment most people who use Financial Planning services, Asset and Wealth management services and Investment advisers do so to diversify their investments and adopt a more risk averse portfolio. For the most part banks in the global markets have failed spectacularly with their larger investment portfolios, if you were unlucky enough to have bought into some of the funds operated by the European and Nth American banks you would be lucky to get your initial investment back after 5 or more years, let alone any return on the investment. Sure sale hype and greed play a part for some investors but it would be the vast minority.
I have found quite the contrary over many years investing from SE Asia. My bank has provided an excellent service, products which have performed well over 5 years and the security of knowing who I am dealing with. Fly by night financial advisers used to contact me on a weekly basis but you can tell who they are, just ask for the name and address of their firm. Very few can answer such a simple question. Bangkok has a lot of sharks.
Article makes no sense