In recent weeks, there seems to have been an explosion in the world of viral marketing. With e-mails, IMs, twitters, blogs and what have you from people you barely know, telling you that
"something incredible has arrived!". That is, a company called
me2everyone is giving away company shares.
After making a comment at
About.com and looking further into this "something incredible", things are indeed becoming a bit too incredible. For instance, as a registered UK Private Limited Company, it cannot offer shares publicly
[1]. Yet, me2everyone Limited is
offering shares to members signing up at its website at
me2everyone.com.
Now let us pretend that through some quirkiness of British law, the company
is allowed to offer shares as they are doing now. The Terms & Conditions at the me2everyone.com website contains an important section regarding those shares (quoted directly):
We confirm that me2everyone or one of our connected partner will pay the par value on each of these shares and that you will not be liable for any payment for the shares.
A quick read and your first thoughts might be
"Oh, I don't have to pay for these. Cool!". That is not the case however. The terms and conditions clearly state
"... me2everyone or..." and
"... will pay...". It does not state anywhere that the shares are already paid for, just that they
will be paid some time in the future
by someone me2everyone is not even sure of yet!So what does that mean to you? It means that as long as you are the owner of these shares and they are not paid for, you will be liable for paying for them. Simply put:
they are a liability, not an asset.
For example, let's say you have earned yourself a million of these £0.001-valued shares, and a week later me2everyone goes into debt. As your shares are not paid up, you will be asked to pay for them -- and it is one of the first things debtors will go after to reclaim their losses. And remember, even if you had a share physically in your possession, it does not mean it has been paid up.
Given that, one million x £0.001 is a thousand UK Pounds. For many, this is quite a lot of money. Now multiply that by me2everyone's allotted shares (18 billion), and they can rake in at least 18 million UK Pounds from the gullible people that have signed up and received shares.
LoreKaiThe owner of
me2everyone Limited operates from
LoreKai House, which literally is a house: a modest semi-detached bungalow
[5] located on a quiet cul-de-sac in Bridge, Kent, UK
map. A quick search found that a company
Lorekai Limited is also registered at this address.
Lorekai Limited changed its name from
Schools Enhancement Network Limited in November of 2006
[2] (the same year Lorekai House was purchased
[3]). The registered office for Schools Enhancement Network Limited at that time was located at 30 King Street, Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent NP22, UK
[4] map.
After the name change to Lorekai Limited, the registered office was at the Albion House, 163-167 King Street, Durkinfield, Chesire, SK16 4LF, UK
map until the 15th of July 2008 when it was changed to its current address (Lorekai House).
Lorekai Limited has its current prinicipal business listed as
Activities of households as employers of domestic staff[4]. The company has not been required to publish its accounts in the past, which can only be if the annual turnover is £5.6 million or less AND the balance sheet is £2.8 million or less
[6].
Currently,
Lorekai Limited is
overdue for both its annual return (since 18th of February 2009) and for its accounts (since 30th of November 2008). Companies House has changed
Lorekai Limited status to
Active - Proposal to Strike off[7].
On the 11th of November 2008 director
Estelle Evans resigned and was replaced by
Lorekai Pte Limited of 20 Cecil St, #14-01, Equity Plaza, Singapore 049705.
[7]Lorekai Pte Limited was formed on Lorekai's behalf by a company called
Rikvin.
Rikvin specialises in the formation of new businesses mainly for the purpose of obtaining a EntrePass Visa, which entitles entrepreneurs with companies in Singapore to reside there.
Xen AcademySome of me2everyone's e-mails sent out by its members mention
World Park and
Xen Academy.
Indeed, Lorekai Limited is closely associated with
Xen Academy Limited. Xen Academy Limited began its life in 1999 as a Private Limited Company under the England & Wales Companies House registration #03721979
[8], and was located at Chester House, 11-13 St. Peters Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, OL6 7TG, UK
map.
The company stopped official business in June of 2002 and published its last annual return to the Companies House in 2004, exempt from having to make them public. In 2006, the Companies House struck
Xen Acadamy Limited from its records as dissolved
[8].
The Xen Acadamy website, which still exists at
www.xenacadamey.net, lists
Xen Administration Centre c/o LoreKai Limited at the address 163-167 King Street, Durkinfield, Chesire, SK16 4LF, UK (LoreKai Limited's address prior to June 2008) and is seeking information in order to compensate its members, with a maximum of £700,000. Where these compensations will come from is quoted directly from said website:
"Once done there are two ways forward: we can create a new "XEN" company, with assets and an income stream, where members have shares pro-rata to their losses in the old Xen. Or alternatively we can provide assets and an income stream directly to members. These assets will come from new trading within the LoreKai / World Park group."
World ParkWorld Park Limited is currently registered at the same address as
Lorekai Limited under the Enland & Wales Companies House registration number #06329162
[9]. It is also a Private Limited Company, which was founded in July of 2007.
World Park Limited advertised in February 2008 that it was seeking investments of a minimum US$250,000 to create
"a new resort on a 22000 hectare estate in Namibia". The contact persons listed are
David Cundill and
Michael Leonard.
[10]The details of
World Park Limited are otherwise not as detailed. Its website is currently a placeholder for
RackSpace, a web hosting provider. However the
Internet Archive Wayback Machine shows a web page for the 7th of February 2005 (prior to the Lorekai Limited
name change) with the following contact details
[11]: LoreKai Limited, Dept WP, 3000 Aviator Way Manchester, M22 4TG, Phone: +44 870 734 5700, E-mail: info@se-net.co.uk.
The address, 3000 Aviator Way is a building owned by
Regus, a company that specialises in virtual offices around the world.
Schools Enhancement NetworkThe website listed on worldpark.tv's arvhived website,
se-net.co.uk, is no longer in existence, however the Internet Archive Wayback Machine shows several pages for
The Schools Enhanchement Network, Ltd. [12] (the company name of
Lorekai Limited prior to its change). Its main page of June 10th 2006 is quoted:
"Launched in 2006, the Schools Enhancement Network aims to deliver new financial resources into schools across the UK. This will be achieved through a fresh energy efficiency initiative and a powerful new market awareness drive linking into local business.
Our full-feature website launches in May 2006 giving teachers, parents, pupils, businesses and members of the community a dynamic and exciting place to improve innovation and make real lasting changes to education in the United Kingdom."
The last record page for this website was 1st of February 2007, containing the same page as the the one created June 2006.
MYMoneyTree.tvAs mentioned earlier, Lorekai Limited changed its director to Lorekai Pte Limited of Singapore (a company can be a director, such as a holding company for example). LoreKai Pte Limited of Singapore is also the director of me2everyone Limited, and owns
MYMoneyTree.tv. It supposedly connects its members to entrepeneurs, allowing the members to provide loans repayable in 6 to 18 months.
While the main site is currently
"closed for 2 months", various other webites give some insight into this company, such as the original web designer for the MYMoneyTree.tv website
[13],
Creative Mediapulse. There, MYMoneyTree.tv is boasting a featured project that appears to be quite similar to
World Park:
"Imagine walking on a 54000 acre estate to see a giraffe drinking from the pool. Imagine being in a luxury villa just a few hundred yards from the signature golf course. Imagine real tranquility on an estate that created $1.4bn in revenues."
Furthermore, the website's FAQ associates the entrepreneurs with the
Complete Earth Foundation registered in the Bahamas and the following people:
- Michael Leonard (Founder)
- Estelle Evans (Assistant Director)
- Neal Evans (Director)
- David Lewis (Company Secretary)
- Ragini Dhanvantray (Director)
- Bob Manes (Director LoreKai USA)
- Alan McDonald (Special Advisor - UK)
- Alan Clements (Special Advisor - UK)
- Tim Fielding (Special Advisor - Australia)
- Maureen Foers OBE (Special Advisor - UK)
- Abdelrahman Fares (Special Advisor - Jordan)
- Barry Tait (Special Advisor - NAFTA)
- Boulat Rafikov (Special Advisor - Africa)
- Raju Mathani (Special Advisor - Chile)
- Sam Davidson (Special Advisor – Western Europe)
Some of the peopleMichael Leonard is mentioned as the founder of MYMoneyTree.tv and me2everyone Limited.
Michael Leonard is also the registered contact for the
Lorekai Pte Limited.
Estelle Evans used to be the Director of Lorekai Limited
[7] before being replaced by
Lorekai Pte Limited. Estelle is apparently the wife of Neal Evans. A
Plaxo page under the name
Neal & Estelle Evans[14] shows
Dave Cundill as one of the connections.
Dave Cundill was one of the two mentioned contact persons for investments in World Park Limited
[10]. Dave Cundill is also part of the
me2everyone Ripple Team
[15].
Ragini Dhanvantray is the CEO of Rikvin
[16], a company that specialises in the formation of companies for the purpose of an EntrePass Visa in Singapore. It am not sure if Ms. Ragini was rightfully mentioned as one of the directors. During the formation of a company through a third party, a temporary director appointed by this third party until the client takes over this position. This is to speed up the paperwork process for new company formations (as the temporary director can sign all the documents required on the client's behalf).
David Lewis is listed as the technical contact for me2everyone.com's domain name, as well as the actual property owner of
Lorekai House.
Bob Manes was the president of
MoonCell, Inc. of 206 Tyler Von Way, Fredericksburg, VA 22405 USA
map. MoonCell focused on
"integrated wind-solar energy units and advanced LED luminaries for use at the small to medium scale"[17].MoonCell appeared to be quite operational in 2004, with a government contract for solar electric power systems valued at US$27,210 and indoor/outdoor electric lightning fixtures valued at US$ 96,000
[18] [19]. This in contradiction to
Xen Academy's remark, quoted from www.xenacademy.net:
"... in 2002 one of those technologies (MoonCell) collapsed and Xen's future (so tightly connected to MoonCell) seemed bleak. Two years later trade creditors refused to accept a repayment package and suddenly Xen herself was no more".
Although MYMoneyTree.tv mentions a
LoreKai USA, there is no such entity, thus its unlikely Bob Manes was actually appointed as the director. MoonCell, Inc. ceased its operations in 2007
[20]Maureen Foers OBE, also mentioned in me2everyone documentation and emails, is the Managing Director of
Durban Ltd., a company that focuses on business support and development. She is also a Director of the
Humber Economic Partnership. Maureen Foers is also listed as director of me2everyone Limited as of 6th March 2009.
There is no known
Complete Earth Foundation, though registrations details in the Bahamas, like other off-shore registrations, are difficult to obtain.
Note: All the mentioned details were found in the public, and the references are provided below. You are to draw your own conclusions regarding any of these companies.
References:
[1]: Section 755, paragraph 1 of the Companies Act 2006: "A private company limited by shares or limited by guarantee and having a share capital must not— (a) offer to the public any securities of the company, or (b) allot or agree to allot any securities of the company with a view to their being offered to the public." - Source: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts2006/ukpga_20060046_en_43
[2]: Lorekai Limited name change and details regarding its current principal (core) business: http://mintportal.bvdep.com/MintPortal-HJCJAIFIGIIIDIBIBIDI.urk
[3]: Sale Date of 5 Windmill Close, Canterbury is listed as 21/04/2006 - Source: http://www.houseprices.co.uk/windmill-close-bridge-canterbury-ct4/
[4]: Old address of Schools Enhancement Network Limited source: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22SCHOOLS+ENHANCEMENT+NETWORK%22
[5]: A property for sale on Windmill Close, Canterbury: http://www.propertyfinder.com/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=502812278
[6]: Accounts Filing Exemptions "(5) Are there special rules for small and medium-sized groups?" - Source: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gba3.shtml
[7]: The Companies House document search for Lorekai Limited #05683113: http://www.thecompanymerchant.co.uk/cms/companies-house-search?companyid=05683113&doc=y
[8]: The Companies House document search for Xen Academy Limited #03721979 under dissolved companies: http://www.thecompanymerchant.co.uk/cms/companies-house-search?companyid=03721979&doc=y
[9]: The Companies House document search for World Park Limited #06329162: http://www.thecompanymerchant.co.uk/cms/companies-house-search?companyid=06329162&doc=y
[10]: A Google cached page title "Better Profit for Smart Investors - Entries Tagged as Business Opportunities", with details of "World Park Program:Latest Developments" posted on 20th February 2008 (actual site inoperative): http://tinyurl.com/8mjmut
[11]: Wayback Machine archive for World Park, dated 7th of February 2005: http://web.archive.org/web/20071028103040/http://www.worldpark.tv/
[12]: Wayback Machine archive for The Schools Enhancement Network, date 10th of June 2006: http://web.archive.org/web/20060421093633/site.se-net.co.uk/
[13]: MYMoneyTree.tv website as created by its web designer: http://www.mediapulsetech.biz/moneytree/
[14]: Neal & Estelle Public Profile at Plaxo: http://www.plaxo.com/directory/profile/51541401575/f904ccd0/Neal+&+Estelle/Evans
[15]: A blog post showing David Cundill as a Ripple Team member: http://makethousandsw10.blogspot.com/2009/02/hello-carol-thankyou-for-your-completed.html
[16]: Press releases that mention the CEO of Rikvin: http://www.rikvin.com/Singapore-Company-Registration-Press-Release.html
[17]: Details regarding MoonCell, Inc.: http://www.sbrd.net/dir/OrgDetails.cfm?oid=270
[18]: MoonCell, Inc. government contracts for 2004: http://www.governmentcontractswon.com/department/defense/mooncell_inc_138127951.asp?yr=04
[19]: MoonCell, Inc. government contracts for 2003-2004 (located near the bottom of the page): http://www.city-data.com/zips/22405.html
[20]: Company changes identified by 4specs.com: http://www.4specs.com/s/changes/changes_2007.html