Yesterday, here in the UK, 286 companies were incorporated by Chinese nationals, representing just over 6% of the total companies formed.

So, I thought I'd put together a thread about some of them.

Let's start with Chen Shuangyan.
1/ He started five companies at five different addresses, all over the country, all of which contain his name in the company name.
2/

The road you can see below is Henry Drive in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

It's a typical seaside town, not far from Southend.

Except since 8 June 2023, seventy new companies have been registered to seventeen different addresses in this road.
1/ One address is home to 8 companies, four are home to 6 each, a further four are home to 5, one is home to 4, two to 3, one to 2 and three to 1. Even more bizarrely, only one is registered to a UK resident, and he doesn't live in Henry Drive...
2/

The Tate brothers a long (factual) thread.

Prior to late 2022, I had never heard of Andrew Tate or his brother Tristan. It’s not all that surprising as we inhabit very different worlds and are very different ages.
/1 Since then, I still haven’t watched a single minute of their output either audio or video. I have no preconceptions about either and I have no particular wish to form any.
/2

Burner companies - a thread.

A burner company is one which is set up for a specific short term, probably criminal, purpose.

Because it is not designed to hang around, certain normally essential elements can be dispensed with.
1/n Sadly, the way that Companies House currently works, makes the U.K. a prime target.

None of the information provided is verified and you can create a company, online, from anywhere in the world.

This affords you many advantages.
2/n

Here's a quick update on the register of overseas entities (i.e. overseas companies which own UK property) because I'm convinced it's not working the way most people hoped.

Example:

A Gibraltar Wealth Manager creates a Trustee Company to look after Pension assets.
1/3 The Trustee Company is also registered in Gibraltar but incorporates another company in Nevis which buys property in the UK.

The result is that the Nevis Company owns the property (declared) the beneficial owner is the Gibraltar Trustee Company (declared)...
2/3

Thread!

Brendan McCullum is the New Zealand cricketer who was recently appointed head coach of the England cricket team and (alongside Ben Stokes) has transformed them in no time at all.

Benjamin McCallum is not.

But I’d still like to tell you his story.
1/11 It is possible that there are a whole lot of Benjamin McCallums, all born in March 1989, but I think that is unlikely.

Mr McCallum incorporated his first company on 6 May 2022.
2/11

I mentioned in a previous post that my wife and I had, unwittingly, given our two boys the names of previous kings (James and George).

I also happened to mentioned to my wife that the children of my first marriage also had birth names of former queens (Emma and Charlotte).
1/8 My wife responded by saying that she knew Queen Charlotte, but she’d not heard of Queen Emma before, and it forced me to go and revisit my somewhat shaky memory.

What a story it makes!
2/8

Tucked away in a small house, in a little cul-de-sac on the outskirts of Bristol, close by the river Avon, is the house pictured below.
1/6 Nothing particularly remarkable about it, you might think and, for the most part you'd be right.

Other than the fact it has become home, this year alone, to thirty-six new companies.
2/6

Imagine a world where anyone can walk through your front door whenever they want to.

Total strangers can just walk in and make themselves at home.

What’s more, it’s a world where you are not allowed to put a lock on the door to stop them.
1/n That might seem bad enough but there’s worse.

You can’t easily get rid of them, once they’re in. And we’re not talking about squatters gaining entry while you’re away.

This is all legal while you’re sitting at home, drinking a cup of tea, watching Eastenders.
2/n

Thread
Three new companies registered this morning with Russian directors/PSCs.

Remoteverse Limited - 13957069: Director based in St Petersburg

Chatforma Ltd - 13956746: Director/PSCs (two) Russians living in Russia but provided UK correspondence address
1/n Folmar Tech Ltd - 13956610: Director/PSC Russian living in Spain

The director/PSC of Remoteverse has an existing UK company called Y-Code Studio Limited, an IT solutions company
2/n

Those of us here in the U.K. watching events unfold in Ukraine might be forgiven for thinking “this is all Russia’s fault”.

We need to remind ourselves that:
1/4 U.K. companies were at the heart of the Russian laundromat.

U.K. companies were at the heart of the Azerbaijani laundromat

U.K. companies were at the heart of the Danske Bank scandal
2/4

@cynthiao @markbrantley3 @CompaniesHouse Lana Zamba - note the signature @cynthiao @markbrantley3 @CompaniesHouse Najwa Smaili - hmmm. Similar signature

@markbrantley3 @OliverBullough @ncsmiff
You asked whether “signing accounts” constituted criminality, a fair question. Let me answer that by covering those two elements (“signing” and “accounts”) separately. It’s such an important question that this is likely to be quite a lengthy response. @markbrantley3 @OliverBullough @ncsmiff I’m going to focus, initially, solely on the Nevis entities before broadening the conversation to cover the entirety of world “Moulaye”.

The two Nevis entities with which he is associated are Tallberg Ltd and Uniwell Inc.