Thread by @SSTInvesting

🦐 THE MORECAMBE FC TAKEOVER SAGA: PART 2️⃣

After further detailed research, a company named ‘Sarb Capital’ appears to run a highly illegal crypto-based investment platform offering clients a batshit 35% WEEKLY ROI

What on Earth is going on? 🤯

THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUES 👇🧵

https://twitter.com/SSTInvesting/status/1621729803463233536

If you haven’t yet read Part 1️⃣, please do so above 👆

*Once again, the contents of this thread should not be considered the legal truth but my personal findings from which you can draw your own conclusions

**All info in this thread is (at time of writing) publicly-retrievable

As outlined in Thread #1, Johal owns a semi-eponymous investment company called Sarb Capital (Ltd), which according to Morecambe FC is the vehicle seeking to acquire full ownership of the club.

‘Sarb Capital’ seemed to have no trace of conducting any business at all, until…

Yesterday’s discovery of sarblimited.com - an ‘institutional digital asset manager’ that offers up to 35% A WEEK return on cryptocurrency deposits on the platform

The crazy part? Sarblimited.com operates under the exact same ‘Sarb Capital’ name + company branding

Intriguingly, the sarblimited.com domain name is registered to the EXACT SAME ADDRESS where Johal’s Sarb Capital Limited is registered, in Edgbaston Birmingham

The website itself also confirms it operates from the same address (image 3)

On Trustpilot, ‘Sarb Capital’ is also listed as a ‘Cryptocurrency Service’, with its profile claimed and written by the company, linking to sarblimited.com

The sole review on the page appears to be fake

uk.trustpilot.com/review/sarblim…

The only two known ‘employees’ of @sarbcapital, Niyah Smith and Saidi Banks, both have a proven interest in cryptocurrency, furthering the *potential* link between Sarb Capital and cryptocurrency involvement

Smith in 2021 describes his crypto involvement as ‘business related’

I stress the *potential* link, because the connection between Johal’s ‘Sarb Capital’ and sarblimited.com cannot be fully verified (it could somehow be a spoof/prototype website), so it would be legally unwise for me to assert the link between the two as 100% certain

But given the multitude of questions already surrounding Johal and Sarb Capital, a coincidence like finding a crypto-based investment website with the exact same company name, address and branding seems just a little too coincidental not to be investigated…

Time to dig in🕵️👇

The company claims it was founded in Edgbaston (home of Johal’s Sarb Capital Ltd) and purports to be “one of the fastest growing fintechs in Europe”, with 59 staff and 4000 users

A little strange for a company with minimal online footprint and no verifiable full-time employees…

The website claims the company is incorporated in Estonia, yet is registered in Nebraska, but legal disputes are to be settled in Singapore, with its main office based in Birmingham

Clearly, something about the legitimacy and integrity of the website/company isn’t adding up…

Crucially, there is no mention across the website of the company being financially licensed, or affiliated to a credible regulatory body, anywhere in the world, thus making it an completely unlicensed and unregulated crypto-based investment platform

What could go wrong here?

There is a labyrinth of conflicting info strewn across the site, and it’s impossible to clarify whether it purports to be an investment management fund, trading platform or crypto exchange - in reality it is none of these

What’s key about the site however, is what follows 👇

The website claims to offer a 4-tiered investment plan, promising up to a 35% WEEKLY ROI depending on the deposit size

In investment terms these can be likened to Certificate of Deposits (CDs), except genuine CDs typically take 7 years to produce a 35% total return, not 7 days…

Upon creating an account on sarblimited.com, you’re asked to deposit funds via any of three specific cryptocurrencies: BTC, ETH, or USDT

You’re then asked to send your cash-equivalent BTC/ETH/USDT deposit to a crypto address, uploading proof of the transfer to the site

The site also claims you can invest in stocks, crypto and metals, although in practice this does not appear to be true

The only actual ‘investment’ option on the site appears to be the crypto-based CDs, promising returns that even Madoff and Stanford wouldn’t dream of offering

What happens after ‘depositing’ funds into the crypto address is unknown

Irrespective of whether Johal’s Sarb Capital Ltd and sarblimited.com are genuinely linked, the site still exists seeking client deposits, and if it isn’t a spoof site, it give rises to two theories:

Theory 1️⃣

Sarblimited.com is a front for (untraceable) crypto funds to be funnelled into the site owner’s pockets, where the site owners have no intention of paying out returns to any depositors, simply defrauding them of their deposits

Those deposited funds could come from anywhere (even the site owners themselves), with the express purpose of the scheme/website being to launder cryptocurrency funds into a holding company

Behind the scenes, a supposedly legitimate and well-funded company balance sheet builds

Theory 2️⃣

The endeavours listed on the website are genuine and are a serious attempt to solicit funds from ‘investors’ (whoever they may be), offering them genuine returns only conceivably consistent with the existence of a large Ponzi-scheme

In either theory, the operator(s) of sarblimited.com through the scheme can accumulate a significant amount of untraceable crypto funds in a short space of time, later converting these into fiat GBP/USD to invest/spend elsewhere

If it turns out that Johal’s Sarb Capital Ltd is indeed responsible for operating Sarblimited.com, and the website is actively accepting solicited client deposits, and the website is not a freakishly unconnected spoof/prototype, then the following would credibly be true:

1️⃣ Sarb Capital is running an unlicensed ‘investment firm’

2️⃣ Sarb Capital promises investors a Ponzi-level ROI upon deposit

3️⃣ Sarb Capital is running a highly illegal crypto-based Ponzi scheme

4️⃣ Sarb Capital’s balance sheet derives its funds from the (Ponzi) scheme

There have obviously been a litany of questions in regards to the source of Johal’s wealth given the fragility of his drinks empire assertions, so the unearthing of a crypto Ponzi-scheme identically named to his investment vehicle looking to purchase @MorecambeFC, is frightening

As ever, @sarbjohal_ is strongly invited to break his silence and speak about the information shared; clarifying the provenance of his wealth, which would help to clear his name of any potential wrongdoing

I do have a bad hunch that might not be happening though…

I’ve seen some wild things in my time in football and the world of finance, but nothing has come close to what could be unravelling here…

As ever, please use the information to draw your own conclusions

@EFL, over to you.

🧵🔚🏁