Look, it's not our fault Rebus went bust.

So what do have here?

Crowdcube get Rebus funded, even though Rebus are employing one Richard Rhys who was and still is a banned person under FCA regulations.

This appeared today -
http://www.ftadviser.com/2016/02/17/investments/rebus-clients-face-bn-in-losses-says-law-firm-nCXfSMkJn73vZ7rmf0euvL/article.html

Rebus take the money, spend it and collect almost £1bn in claims applications then go bang bust. All the investors £800k gone plus some and now its becoming clear that the claims they have stacked up in the office may run out of time, leaving claimants empty handed.

What is the reaction to all of this from the people who in large part enabled this debacle - Crowdcube?

'There will always be failures as it's in the nature of the asset class'' or something along those lines has been trotted out yet again, They will need to get some swing doors in the stables as this excuse has been coming and going a awful lot recently.

How is possible for the DD dept at Crowdcube to miss the fact that Rhys was banned from taking part in ANY activity ASSOCIATED with ANY regulated function?? Quite simply it is not. Not even for them.

So one has to assume they knew but just failed to include it in the pitch?

Crowdcube will of course claim Rebus' demise was not their doing and of course they are right. Or are they?

To promote such a large pitch from a company that included as one of its key members a person who was banned by the FCA for 6 full years, for being either very stupid or very corrupt, seems to us to be irresponsible. Really it is verging on gross negligence. The fact that the company was happy with Rhys' credentials says an awful lot about the rest of the management and therefore about Crowdcube.

The FCA have now stated that Rhys was not in breach of his ban because he worked for Rebus which is not FCA regulated and the pitch was run by Crowdcube which is. We find this very hard to understand given the very precise wording of the ban and the fact that he appeared in the Crowdcube video promoting Rebus on the FCA regulated platform. How is that not breaking his ban?

We have been saying for a few years now that actions always have reactions and you cant fund rubbish companies and not expect the fallout to have far wider consequences than the investors losing their trousers.

It's all rather sad and no doubt will get worse.

Don't worry though, Crowdcube are fine - still pumping out ridiculous projections for grossly over valued and soon to be zombie companies. After all, none of this was their fault.