Warning!  This company is a complete scam!                                           Latest  

Introduction:
These appear to be yet two more related Ponzi-style schemes very similar to those we have already exposed. Theses scams also involves potential borrowers, predominately builders and property developers, handing over money for loans that never eventuate.

Wikifrauds has the details of some dozen clients of EFSL who have all paid up-front fees ranging from about A$17,500 to over A$400,000 and not one single loan has ever been settled despite settlement dates being advised to these clients.

Some clients have been waiting in the long queue for over a year. EFSL's lawyers, Astills of Queensland, have even issued mortgage documents for these loans but never settled. (One would think that the law firm by now would have wondered why not, and asked questions of their client, EFSL)

It appears from the information provided to Wikifrauds that EFSL has never actually had any money to lend, and that at some time around the last quarter of 2010, they claimed to their clients that they had sought to obtain underlying backing funds for their portfolio from some USA-based lending outfit, and that they had forwarded a vast amount of the client's fees to this lender, but to no avail - the allegedly promised funding never came.

Notwithstanding the obvious problems of having no money to lend, the company continued to take new loan applications and fees right up to January 2011, and to continue the facade of producing new mortgage documentation and advising these new clients of settlement dates - none of which have eventuated. With no other apparent income, EFSL and its directors can only have survived this long by using clients fee's as working capital.

EFSL is now telling clients that they are required to pay yet another up-front fee of 20% of the loan required, and that they can then expect settlements towards the end of 2011. One newly found source of funds is supposedly a company called Spearhead Services Group. A lot is now known about this group which has now been exposed as another major fraud run by one evangelistical predator, Tua Toki.. The 20% fees required jointly by EFSL and yet another Melbourne based company (name withheld) are to be paid in a one way deposit to a small-time suburban solicitor's trust fund, James Watts Lawyers of Milton, a Brisbane suburb. The spiel that some EFSL clients have been given is that Spearhead is an introducer to this other company, and that these funds are being enabled via some obscure United Nations or charity-based NGO fund for third world development projects, coordinated by a former barrister, name also withheld. Further information about this will be released in due course.

Disgruntled EFSL clients are looking to lodge formal allegations of fraud with the Queensland police shortly.

In the meantime, Flaherty and Wheeldon have decided that their website should be "updated". It has been in this status for several months now since Wikifrauds exposed the fraud.

However, it is affiliated with and manages Civic Capital Mortgage Fund, a company run by Flaherty's father, Terrence Flaherty. This company allows EFSL to use its Australian Financial Services Licence under which the EFSL frauds have been committed. Investors should be wary of doing business with this company also as it is part and parcel of the whole scam. (See website for proof of the connection.) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Michael Flaherty and Greg Wheeldon:

Michael Flaherty, a South African, is the CEO of EFSL. It is understood that he lives in a rented house and has very little in tangible assets in Australia.
Flaherty also had another company, Flo Concept Group Pty Ltd, to which administrators were appointed on December 9, 2009. Employees were left in a situation where, contrary to law, their superannuation had not been paid. The outstanding amount is $90,774.61. The ATO is owed some $198,418.00. Flaherty, who doesn't care who he hurts nor how much he hurts people, was meantime of course, running around in two Audi Turbos. And in a bit of sleight of hand accounting, these two expensive luxury vehicles were listed as assets of the company when in fact they were under leasing contracts with BOQ.
 
Greg Wheeldon, also a director of EFSL, is the company's in-house lawyer. He boards with another couple and likewise apparently has very little in real assets. Wheeldon was previously involved in the $87 Million collapse of Secured Mortgage Management and Summit Mortgage Fund in June 2008.

EFSL Website: Until recently the EFSL Website provided readers and borrowers alike with a lot of glossy information about their funding prowess. It is now undergoing a re-design, or so it says. We think they have ducked for cover.

Empowered Financial Services Limited (ACN 137 742 442 ) is an unlisted public company, limited by shares, and first registered on June 17, 2009.

Spearhead Services Group (ACN 142 915 704) was first registered on April 01, 2010 and operates from a 66th floor apartment at Q1 in Surfers Paradise Queensland. The CEO is a Mr Tuo Toki. We are also advised that allegedly connected to Spearhead are two legal men, one un-named, and a Robert Corrie. Their specific involvement levels is unspecified at present, and we are looking further into these connections. The ASIC registration details show the locality of the registered office as Michellton QLD. Mr Corrie's accounting office is also located at Michellton, QLD. Tua Toki is telling clients that Mr Norrie set up his "NGO" lending platform and gives clients the clear impression that Norrie is part of the deal. At this stage we cannot confirm this, and it may well be that Tuo Toki is just using the name for window dressing.

Wikifrauds knows of a number of clients who have sent large fee amounts (up to $100,000) to Spearhead and Tua Toki, and no action has been taken in advancing their loan applications, with many clients wanting their money returned, which is not happening. Tua Toki is reportedly not paying his employees on time, does not have an employee superannuation fund, and can't even reimburse his sales people's petrol accounts.

Concerned readers or clients who have not already discussed these two companies with us are urged to do so in complete confidence. Contact us.

Latest from another victim:

Pasted below is an email exchange between us and a victim of Flo Concept Group. Read from bottom up. We have the victim's permission to publish: