Harlequin Hotels and Resorts
If you were encouraged to invest pension money or savings into Harlequin, we’d like to hear from you as soon as possible. Here at Beat the Banks, we’ve been involved in compensation cases against a number of failed investment schemes, and we’re ready and waiting to see what we can do for you. All it takes to start the process is a call to our specialist team on 0800 193 1234.
Harlequin is one of the earliest and certainly one of the most notorious of such schemes. Potential investors were given the hard sell by slick sales professionals who earned a small fortune thanks to their persuasive powers and their glossy marketing materials. It’s thought commissions were worth up to £35,000 for individual investments that totalled £200,000.
Looking back now, it’s easy to see why unregulated advisors were so keen to sell, and why investors were coerced into signing up. Here was a chance to add value to savings and pension pots and to make those retirement years more secure, more comfortable and more content. There was also an opportunity to leave something behind for loved ones as well.
Sadly, this isn’t what happened at all. It’s thought at least 6,000 people invested in the scheme, and that the total forked out exceeded £400 million. The premise was that the money would be invested in luxury holiday resorts in the Caribbean, one of which was the now infamous Buccament Bay in St Vincent. Many of the villas that were proposed were never built, and the investments that were made are now useless.
Resorts were planned in St Vincent and Grenadines, St Lucia, Barbados and the Cayman Islands, but the lavish projects failed to materialise. Currently, the owner of Harlequin and the company itself are the subject of investigations by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), and cases are regularly being referred to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).