1. Introducing the JA Wealth Forex trading course scam

Below is a series of excerpts from an interview JA Wealth gave to Jamrock radio. Jamrock Radio is a Luton based station aimed at 13-19 year olds. In the interview the guys from JA Wealth boast they have 16 year olds waiting to take the course after their GCSEs. I'm not usually one for getting morally outraged - but a group of scammers hawking Forex trading course at kids on youth radio strikes me as particularly shitty behaviour. (You taught him well Roland!)

The company uses bling-tastic instagram feeds to lure young people as young as seventeen into thinking that a JA Wealth-life of Bugattis, Bollinger and and biatches is right there for the taking. Suckered in, 'students' then fork out 995 GBP for enrollment on the sham course, believing it will lead to certain profits.

Like the London Fashion Exchange before it, the people behind the scam are targeting youngsters in particular as they know young people are more likely to fall for their dream-selling, and are less likely to know what to do upon realising they have been tricked.


So take it away boys - bury yourself with your own words:

But perhaps you don't believe me? Perhaps instead you believe the four thoroughly non-shifty and super-articulate testimonials presented below:

We should probably make clear now that the star of the above video is actually a long standing friend of the owners of JA Wealth 

Hmm.

More to follow.

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IMPORTANT UPDATE!

JA Wealth have often claimed in the past that they have had no contact from the FCA. We now have evidence that suggests that this is yet another lie:

2. Introducing Joshante Amihiya

Joshante Amihiya is the brains behind JA Wealth (I use the term loosely).

If you want a laugh, read this guff he's written about himself in the third person. The repeated grammatical butchery is his own:

Joshante Amihyia is one of the most exciting young entrepreneurs in the UK, as mentioned by many bloggers and tabloids, and having been spotlighted from a young age. At the age of Twenty, his successes already speak volumes; in only but a few years, he has pursues more of a lifestyle that a career, and the evidence is from his ownership interests in three existing businesses and is actively involved in many others � it�s safe to say he�s come a long way from his playground enterprise schemes. Coming from a large family, the value of hard work was instilled in him from a young age, and it shows. The determination to go above and beyond for success seems to be a driving power- something which is clearly shown in his meteoric rise in the entrepreneurial world. He started as anyone would, with articles and news reports about him in local newspapers. This was followed by a Student of the Year award, with the tabloids describing him as a �The next Richard Branson� � A high praise for anyone. A move from West London to South London was a pivotal point in his life. There were choices that needed to be made, and this was evident to Joshante. He believed out of all the choices, there was only one that really mattered. This choice had two options. Needless to say, he chose the latter and since then he hasn�t looked back. Working in various areas such as retail and banking gave him the knowledge, experience and confidence to eventually set up his own business. From here, the only way is up. He has since been involved in the world of Stock Trading, Working at a private fund gives him the opportunity to become profitable, but he is also involved in another arm of the business, providing support and services for novices and experienced traders alike. He hopes by chasing his dreams, and achieving them, others will acknowledge their own potential and go after it with the same hunger, drive and ambition he does. He�s all about making a difference.

Joshante owns multiple businesses?? Not according to company house! In fact he only owns one - JA Wealth.

What evidence is there of newspaper stories acknowledging his achievements, as claimed in his illiterate spiel above?

The only evidence I can find is that he copped off with a 16 year old X-factor dropout, and that during the course of their "volatile" 6 month relationship he bought her a rather hideous football encrusted with jewels. 

Any evidence of business achievements? erm... nope.
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UPDATE: for some reason, since the publishing of this blog, Joshante has thought it necessary to remove some key work experience from his LinkedIn CV. Luckily we have it here for you, rescued from the site's cached pages and preserved for ever:

Why has he now decided to hide his temping work at House of Fraser? And why has he also got rid of the details of his work in sales at Selfridges? Does he feel that such a CV exposes him as having basically zero experience in the financial sector?

I have been informed that one reason Joshante is hiding his time at Selfridges is that he was sacked from his sales job for stealing. Stealing socks. We have still not ascertained if he stole normal socks or Christmas socks, but more news about this will follow shortly!

Further, we have been informed that he is not a University of Greenwich undergraduate as he dropped out within his first year.

Can anybody see evidence above of the kind of financial background and savvy that would convince you to part with 995 quid?

3. Introducing Jermaine Berry-Gordon

This self proclaimed fashionista with a capital F who likes "nice things and showing off his nice things" is Jermaine Berry Gordon - head of sales and marketing at JA Wealth. (Nice suit).

Interestingly, Jermaine's dad is Patrick Berry, one of Britain's 100 Great Black Britons:

What does our Great Briton think of his less-great son's actions? Well - Patrick seems to think it's not really his concern. 

Just to emphasise: Patrick Berry, our Great Briton, thinks it's not really his concern if his son (who happens to be selling the company on the back of his dad's good name, also see bottom of this post) is hawking sham 995 quid Forex trading courses to naive teenagers.

After all...  if his son likes "nice things" perhaps it's best that unsuspecting teenagers pay for them rather than dad, eh? That's the spirit. Most of the twitter conversation I had with Berry Senior is below:

From the recent Jamrock Radio interview - Jermaine talks about dad:

Finally, here's a photo of Patrick berry (who claims he "knows little" about his son's business) in the JA Wealth office. I assume it was a brief visit, and not much was discussed. Unless of course Patrick was bullshitting.

Finally, call me old fashioned, but, lookign at JBG's twitter, I can't help but think that he comes across as quite an unpleasant human being. Is this really someone you would want teaching you anything? Really?

This whole blog is edging me closer to outright misanthropy by the hour.

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UPDATE 20.05.2014
We are still waiting to hear if Patrick Berry believes it is a good idea for young students with no risk capital to invest 995 GBP in a Forex course.

He says he knows nothing about his son's company. I sense this is not strictly true:

Why is it that such a respected member of society remains silent when his reputation has been used to induce young people to sign up for JA Wealth Forex courses. Not only has he featured on the Instagram feed (the main tool used to encourage people to sign up for the course), his reputation has also been used as a "sell" during the Jamrock radio interview.

We need to know what he thinks about JA Wealth, but he continues to remain silent. Very poor form.

4. Re-introducing Tre McKenzie

Tre McKenzie was a manager at the London Fashion Exchange, the company that was the focus of my previous blog. The London Fashion Exchange was closed down at the end of last year, with its directors being raided by the police (thanks).

In a phone conversation with me last year, Tre McKenzie insisted that the London Fashion Exchange was just shit, rather than a scam (I paraphrase). The police, however,  begged to differ.

I gave Tre the benefit of the doubt, thinking he may have been an unwitting accomplice to Roland Tilman's kack-handed attempt at scamming kids out of their cash - alas - it seems Tre was in on the scam all along. So much so that evidently he though he'd have a go at reworking the London Fashion Exchange con into the JA Wealth con. Some people...

Let's have a closer look at Tre:

The above screen shot is taken from the official webpage of JA Wealth.

His blurb claims that Tre owns a business consultancy. The only company that Tre has registered in the UK is Clearpoint Solutions. For lazy people who don't want to check the link, below is part of a screenshot.

Tre was working on Clearpoint Solutions last year, but the development of the project seemed to be halted in its tracks when the London Fashion Exchange team got busted. The website still has place holder text throughout its pages, and it is obvious that the company never traded. (Although the site claims that the London Fashion Exchange was a 'client' ! Ha!)
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UPDATE!

Tre has quickly updated the CPS website to remove the placeholder text. Sneaky! To view the page as it was on May 8th you can still view the cached pages (cached pages show how the site looked in the past). I have posted a screenshot below (click the image for a larger view):

"Arenean nonummy hendrerit mau phaselntes nascetur ridic ulusm dui fusce feu. Cras vitae neque turpis, in luctus risus. Donec et placerat orci. Praesent pulvinar lectus mas"

Sorry Clearpoint Solutions - I don't speak bastardized Latin.

Now let's compare the above homepage with a description of the company on Tre's LinkedIn page:

An extensive client list?? Founded in 2011?? And your website is full of placeholder text in 2014??

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So what does this leave on Tre's CV?

A stint as a middle manager at a failed scam company (click here to read some letters from unhappy customers), and a stillborn company that never traded with a website full of placeholder text.

Is this a man you want to pay 995 quid to for a Forex course?

5. ALERTS!

PYRAMID SCHEME ALERT!

Original Link

Oh and whilst we're here, BOT ALERT!

The army of rent boys is approaching!

And have another one: RENTAL CAR ALERT!

And how about this for potential Forex traders FEE FOREX COURSE ALERT!

Wot? A pound coin on a graph? No flash cars and biatches?

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Let's have a look at some more of JA Wealth's claims:

Firstly, read this: Over 85 percent of Forex traders lose money. Imagine the percentage of green, teenage Forex traders who lose money - it will undoubtedly be an even higher percentage.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to guarantee profits trading Forex. To advertise that a client will be guaranteed "200 quid profit a day "is an outright lie.

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Several points: 

1.)A company that is raking in the money would be able to afford a PR or marketing expert able to write in proper English. 

2.) The first part of the statement claims the company operates beyond the remit of the FCA as it is an educational establishment. The second part holds that the FCA's lack of interest in JA Wealth is proof that they are not a scam company. Logic seems to be taken as seriously as grammar at JA Wealth.

UPDATE This letter has just come to our attention:

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Private equity firms invest in other companies - they buy failing companies either fromthe outside, or they take over the management of companies by adding personnel onto the board of directors (from the private equity house). They then work on improving the company in order to sell it at a profit in the future. Is this what JA Wealth is doing? I don;t see that it is.

The majority of private equity consists of institutional investors and accredited investors who can commit large sums of money for long periods of time. Private equity investments often demand long holding periods to allow for a turnaround of a distressed company or a liquidity event such as an IPO or sale to a public company.

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A series of emails between myself and a director of JA Wealth:

Hi Tre,

Just to help my conversation tomorrow: Is JA Wealth a private equity company?

And secondly - what information on the blog are you disputing?

Thanks

Tre Mckenzie	9:39 PM (17 hours ago)
to me

That the course is a scam.

Regards,

Tr� Mckenzie 

veniamin tal <veniamin.tal@gmail.com>	9:53 PM (16 hours ago)
to Tre

You sell a Forex trading course that you say guarantees 200 quid a day profits - whilst over 85% of Forex traders lose money.

In addition, you sell the course off the back of your 'reputations' but your CV is fake, as are Joshante's claims to being a business hotshot.

And can you please tell me if you are or are not a private equity firm?

Thanks

veniamin tal <veniamin.tal@gmail.com>	10:04 PM (16 hours ago)
to Tre

Are you a private equity firm? It's a simple question.

Tre Mckenzie	12:46 PM (1 hour ago)
to me

Please come to the office to see for yourself.

Regards,

Tr� Mckenzie 

veniamin tal <veniamin.tal@gmail.com>	12:47 PM (1 hour ago)
to Tre

So you can;t simply tell me if you are a private equity firm? Jermaine and Joshante seem to think so. What do you think?

Tre Mckenzie	12:55 PM (1 hour ago)
to me

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

E14 5LQ

Let me know the time your coming in, so I can put your name in reception.

Regards,

Tr� Mckenzie 

veniamin tal <veniamin.tal@gmail.com>	1:09 PM (1 hour ago)
to Tre

You expect to be taken seriously as a "legitimate company" but the director of operations can't even tell me if JA Wealth is a private equity firm or not?

Tre Mckenzie	1:12 PM (1 hour ago)
to me

I'm inviting you to come so we can talk and all your questions will be answered.

Regards,

Tr� Mckenzie 

veniamin tal <veniamin.tal@gmail.com>	1:15 PM (1 hour ago)
to Tre

And I'm explaining to you that a failure to answer simple questions by email is staggeringly strange for a company that regards itself as "legitimate".

veniamin tal <veniamin.tal@gmail.com>	1:15 PM (1 hour ago)
to Tre

Are you a private equity firm?

Tre Mckenzie	1:27 PM (1 hour ago)
to me

Tom,

After this I'm not going to reply. 

Your whole blog is about the company being illegitimate.  Yet you've failed to come and see for yourself. All if any serious claims for JAW to be a scam are made by people who have never stepped foot in the office. [This blog has proved that Tre McKenzie and Joshante Amihyia's claims to be successful entrepreneurs are false - all document are available online and are in the public domain. It has not been necessary to go anywhere near Canary Wharf to do this]

You haven't provided a single name of any student that claims to be scammed. [We have collected several statements, some are shared in section 8 of this blog]

Your personal attacks on individuals are childish. 

Your hiding behind and alias, is cowardly. [The evidence I have collected and shared is important -  my name is an irrelevance]

Come to the office speak to students, past and present. Speak to the people that have quit their jobs / moved out / are financially stable after doing the course. [The course has been running for 2 months - how can anyone determine if they are financially stable after less than two months of trading a volatile market??]

I understand your supposed motive but you are wrong. 

You can sit the course for free.  So you can see for yourself. 

Come into the office.

Regards,

Tr� Mckenzie 

Tre Mckenzie	1:27 PM (1 hour ago)
to me

I have nothing more to say, unless your coming in.

Regards,

Tr� Mckenzie 

veniamin tal <veniamin.tal@gmail.com>	1:30 PM (1 hour ago)
to Tre

Tre,i'm not sure which universe you inhabit, but there is no need for me to go anywhere. I already have all the documents that prove you lied about your business experience. I have all the documents to prove Joshante is not the business genius he claims to be. I have enough evidence to prove at least two of your testimonial were recordings of by long standing friends (one of whom is looking for a retail job as we speak) - why should we trust you on anything else?

You defended LFE to the end, and what happened? Think about it.

Perhaps this settles it...?