ANGRY investors say they have lost nearly £1.6m after the collapse of a North East sports betting firm.
Centaur Corporate Holdings, which is based in Seahouses, Northumberland, and its subsidiaries Centaur Global, Centaur Academy and Centaur Swift, called in the administrators a fortnight ago. But the full extent of their huge losses is only now emerging.
Centaur Global worked like a hedge fund with investors putting in money for analysts to try to make a return on. Instead of trading in shares, the company was betting on the results of sporting events.
As recently as December 7, letters from the company seen by The Journal were telling clients that “taking a long term view pays off”.
And investors still believed they had tens of thousands of pounds in their accounts after the company sent out statements last month detailing their finances.
But one of the company’s clients, who did not wish to be named, said: “All client funds were kept separate in a single account and then they would get permission to make bets with it.
“But just over a week ago they sent out a letter saying they were going into liquidation and there was no money left.
“As recently as a statement sent on December 13, detailing November trades, they said my account balance was over £20,000, but that was money which it would now seem didn’t exist.”
The company claimed its analysts included former staff from bookmakers such as William Hill, as well as former Republic of Ireland football star and newspaper columnist Tony Cascarino.
The Journal was unable to reach Mr Cascarino for comment.
Between January 2004 and November 2011, the firm’s website, which is still running despite the closure of both the company’s Northumberland and London offices, claimed it had grown some investments by 1,400%.
But 2011 saw one of its horse racing funds, named after the French philosopher and author Voltaire, lose more than four-fifths of the money invested in it.
And even the firm’s flagship Newton fund, which according to a letter to clients on December 7 had enjoyed “10 winning years” and an average annual profit “of over 200%”, lost a third more than the cash gamblers had put in.
The letter to investors claimed the losses were down to “sheer bad luck”.
In another letter obtained by The Journal, Northumberland businessman Keith Sobey said he wished to express his “sincere apologies” for the fact his companies had filed for liquidation.
“This is not an action we have taken lightly and Andrew (Cork, a fellow Centaur director) and I have invested over £300,000 in personal monies trying to keep the business trading,” he said.
