Perry Carroll is still peddling his version of the Solar Cloth Company disaster

Peregrine Carroll, to give him just one of his used names at CH, took £967k off Crowdcube investors. His company Solar Cloth Company, then went into administration, was sold for tuppence to a company that also went into liquidation. SCC owed around £3m. It is now finally dissolved.

You can read all about it here and here

We only mention this again as we glanced at Perry Carroll's CV on Linkedin, when doing some research into what had happened to the various people who have abused Crowdcube and we found he had rewritten history. Take a look here. It is pretty shocking when you consider what a mess he left behind and the fact that his past record, hidden by Crowdcube's total lack of DD, would have suggested this was a guaranteed outcome.

Then take a look at what the Crowdcube official SCC page says - no mention of any failure at all. You wouldnt believe it if you did not see it with your own eyes. Why are they not obligated to give the public the facts about this sort of catastrophe under FCA rules? It is exactly the sort of useful information investors need to avoid another con. 

Perry now goes by the name Peregrine Sakata-Carroll. Well that's for now anyway. Operating out of Cambrdige, he runs his own consultancy. There is nout as queer as folk, eh.

Insolvency Service get it wrong again over Solar Cloth Co

The UK Insolvency Service has looked at the dealings of the Director of The Solar Cloth Company and decided that they do not warrant any action. 

No that is not a joke. 

You may remember the SCC. It helped itself to loads of investors cash using false information about the founder and his previous antics. The story was well written up in The Times. It was a caste iron case of fraud - all helped out by the Crowdcube platform.

Now in letting this individual go, without any reprimand the Insolvency Service quotes Section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 where in order to be disqualified, said director has to have acted in a way that makes him unfit to be a company director. Text below -

Dear Sir/Madam, 

The Solar Cloth Company Limited Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 I refer to previous correspondence in this matter and advise that as a result of the investigation undertaken, the Secretary of State does not propose to take disqualification proceedings against the directors of the above company. Such disqualification proceedings when brought are done so pursuant to Section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. 

Whilst this may not be currently relevant to you it might be helpful for the future if I advise you of the wording of that section. 

It says: (1) The court shall make a disqualification order against a person in any case where, on an application under this section, it is satisfied — (a) that he is or has been a director of a company which has at any time become insolvent (whether while he was a director or subsequently), and (b) that his conduct as a director of that company (either taken alone or taken together with his conduct as a director of any other company or companies) makes him unfit to be concerned in the management of a company”. 

Accordingly if, in the future, the Secretary of State should learn of any unfit conduct relating to this company it could be included in any disqualification proceedings brought in respect of this or any future company failure. 

Yours faithfully Naomi Fulford 

Well if this guy has not acted in such a way then we are not going to see any companies' directors disqualified ever again. Also, it seems unlikely the company will be able to oblige the Secretary of State in the final comment as it no longer exists! What a ridiculous outcome.

So just beware the presence yet again of one Perry Carroll or whichever name he chooses from his list. He'll be the one flying some amazing money spinning business and asking for your cash.

We wrote about him and SCC here

Clearly something needs to done about the 1986 Act - yet another piece of useless legislation that pre dates the mass use of the internet. Just WAKE UP will you please.

Solar Cloth Company administration creates more questions than it answers

The Solar Cloth Company raised around £1m on Crowdcube and within 18 months it had collapsed, taking all this and other money with it. 

It is one of the scandals that Crowdcube try very hard to ignore. Recent revelations by the liquidator will make this much harder. It really is one massive bloody mess entirely facilitated by the Crowdcube platform. It looks likely that the final outstanding loss will be north of £3m. Crowdcube will of course have kept their revenue from the 'deal'. 

We have written about the lack of due diligence carried out by Crowdcube on the CEO - Perry Carroll, or Peregrine Carroll, or Perry Sakarta Carrol or any other aliases he used at Companies House to hide his bankruptcies and failed enterprises. According to the Crowdcube pitch he was a leader in his field and a successful businessman. They simply never bothered to check.

This is what the Crowdcube pitch stated in 2014 -

Key drivers: Sales will benefit from a combination of a higher company profile, increased install base, and intense lead generation activity from an enlarged sales team.

Sales estimates: Sales forecasts of £7.5m, £40m and £48m over the next three years are in line with other new entrants to the photovoltaic industry. A B2C installer of solar panels demonstrated a similar rapid growth over three years of £0.2m, £7.5m and £26m.

Basis of modelling: The company sales forecast has been modelled on industry averages. Sales projections are conservative and within reach of the company structure. A current pipeline of over £4.5m has been achieved with only one full-time sales professional.

The evidence very clearly shows that all this was rubbish. Instead of £7.5m, the company's revenue was £180k and instead of £40m the company was closed. The obviously outrageous claim to a current pipeline of £4.5m is simply a lie. All of this was checked and rechecked by the Crowdcube DD department before they published it on their FCA regulated platform. It is clear the platform is not fit to hold a FCA licence of any description.

Now the interim report shows just how poorly run this company was. The debt declared by the directors on collapse, that was due to their landlords, was put at £600. The claim that has come in from the landlords agents is for £185,000. This is sounding a bit like the reverse of the Crowdcube projections.

Meanwhile nothing has been done to sanction Crowdcube, who despite claims to the contrary, are still pumping out fantasy numbers for companies that will never get close to them. They have friends in high places. The FCA are still sleeping on it - literally.

The final report will reveal just how far off the mark Crowdcube were. A recent article here is worth a read.