- Customers of Cask Spirits Global Limited paid nearly £100,000 for whisky casks which many by no means legally owned
- The firm focused its customers by means of social media promoting and cold-calling
- Certificates had been additionally issued within the identify of an organization that doesn’t exist
A whisky investment firm has been shut down after customers paid for casks they by no means legally owned.
Cask Spirits Global Limited used high-pressure gross sales ways to promote whisky cask investments, promising customers substantial returns and tax benefits.
However, of the 17 customers the Insolvency Service recognized who paid a complete of £97,249, solely 4 had legitimate possession documentation.
True losses could also be even larger as the corporate failed to supply 27 of the 29 requested accounting paperwork.
Some customers obtained certificates for casks that didn’t exist. Others had been registered within the firm’s identify reasonably than their very own or referred to warehouses with no relationship to the corporate in any respect.
Certificates additionally contained false storage location data.
Indeed, one buyer, who had been promised returns of 120-150%, was informed his cask was saved at a bonded warehouse in Scotland. When he checked, the warehouse denied any connection to the corporate.
Cask Spirits Global Limited was wound up on the High Court in London on Tuesday 25 August.
Mark George, Chief Investigator on the Insolvency Service, stated:
Our investigations recognized severe issues about the way in which Cask Spirits Global Limited was run and the hurt triggered to customers who invested in good religion.
People handed over thousands of pounds for whisky casks they by no means legally owned.
Despite claiming to have stopped buying and selling, the corporate appeared to nonetheless be lively and posed an ongoing threat to the general public. We is not going to hesitate to behave the place an organization can’t be trusted with individuals’s cash.
Cask Spirits Global Limited was included in June 2024.
The firm operated beneath the identify “Cask Spirits Ltd” on its web site and customer-facing supplies, regardless of no such firm current at Companies House. Customers really paid Cask Spirits Global Limited, however their title paperwork made no reference to the true firm.
Cask Spirits Global Limited listed two London addresses in its supplies however investigators discovered it had no verified presence at both.
Customers had no dependable technique to contact the corporate in the event that they needed to complain or search a refund.
The firm additionally operated a number of undisclosed financial institution accounts and did not file its statutory accounts persistently.
Cask Spirits Global Limited ceased contact with customers round March 2025 and regardless of claiming to have stopped buying and selling at that time, it tried to open a brand new account with a bonded warehouse the next month.
The Official Receiver has been appointed liquidator of Cask Spirits Global Limited.