St James Fiduciary and Wealth Management http://www.stjamesfiduciary.com/stjames/
Warning!
Date: Jan 14, 2013
This company which claims to be
located in Switzerland, is a total sham. DO NOT do business with them.
This appears to be a scam being run out of Queensland, Australia. Wikifrauds was asked to investigate this company late last
year.
The alarm bells:
1. Our first enquiries were to FINMA, the regulators in Switzerland who
immediately advised (see below email from FINMA) that no such companyis registered in Switzerland. In fact the company is now on their blacklist.
2. Our second thought was to check their alleged physical address on
Google maps - a vacant building under construction - although we have
no idea how old the Google Maps photo is. Extend benefit of doubt?
3. We have now been advised by a legal firm in Switzerland that indeed there is no such company at that address whatsoever.
4. Following the advice from FINMA, on November 23 2012, we checked the domain ownership in "Who Is":
ID#10760, PO Box 16
Nobby Beach
QLD 4218
Note - All postal mails rejected.
Creation Date: 16-Jan-2012
Expiry Date: 16-Jan-2013
5. A follow-up check on the domain ownership now shows no details at all.
Email from FINMA:
"Dear Sir, Reference is made to your recent e-mail to Nora Benninger. Ms
Benninger asked us to look at your request. A company called St James Fiduciary
Wealth Management has no license by FINMA. We neither see a registration in the
Swiss trade register nor an entry in the official phone directory. It seems the
company has no physical presence in Switzerland, despite the phone number with a
Swiss prefix on the website. This website is registered in
Australia.
We can only recommend to be extremely prudent when dealing with this
company.
We always look at companies who seem – due to their activities in or
from Switzerland, or based on the description of their purpose according to
their website – to perform activities that fall under FINMA's supervision
without possessing the necessary authorization to do so. Bound by the official
secrecy we will not be able to give you an update about possible measures taken.
This restriction also applies to developments in the case of WGA and Ahsan Ali
Syed. We are not able to share any information with you. Thanking you for your understanding, we remain Yours sincerely Christina
Bürgi General
Secretariat Eidgenössische
Finanzmarktaufsicht FINMA
Autorité fédérale de surveillance des marchés financiers
FINMA
Autorità federale di vigilanza sui mercati finanziari
FINMA
Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority
FINMA Einsteinstrasse
2, CH-3003 Berne
Tel.
+41 31 327 91 73
Fax
+41 31 327 91 01 christina.buergi@finma.ch
questions@finma.ch
www.finma.ch
We have also been provided some further information by a would-be
client who also checked with St James, and below is part of the reply:
"In answer to your question we are not required to be regulated as we do not
deal in securities, nor do we operate any kind of collective investment
scheme. We can however, arrange project financing for
your client. Also, please note that we are very selective with
who we do business, and being invited into these arrangements is really a
privilege and not a right. Ana Straus St James Fiducary Wealth Management
Corporation Holbeinstrasse 30 Zurich 8034 Switzerland (CH)"
Funny thing here is that nowhere on their website does St James Fiduciary claim the ability to be a financier of any sort, yet here they are promoting it to a potential client.
If anyone can provide further information about this outfit, or knows Ana Straus, please contact us in confidence.