Legal action

Hi,
Yes we have to organise ourselves. But we have to understand exactly what happened. Is it Albany who screwed up or RBS who decided to size the Mirasol account that does not belong to Albany so RBS is at fault? Maybe we should attack RBS?
How do we organise ourselves?

I would say firsly... we don't use words like "attack" since anyone can be reading these posts and we are all professionals.

Secondly... we are all looking at the worst case scenerio which is... we all worked hard for our money and through no fault of our own, are now at a very high risk of having lost it. So the focus needs to be two fold:


1. We try to get as much information together as possible. Both with how Albany was really structured (in relation to Mirasol for example) as well as what exactly happened Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec timeframe that led to this situation. At this point we have no idea who was at fault, it could be many parties (Albany, Mirasol, RBS, etc) so until we see something solid everything we hear is hear say. Please keep this in mind.

2. We all need to understand what our rights are. Both as EU members as well as specific country residence (UK, BE, etc). As Point 1 becomes more clear with time, this could change Point 2. Is this simply an Arbitration/Administration case? Is this a criminal case? All options are on the table. No one (except perhaps Albany/Mirasol themselves) know right now.

I can tell you this though, when I spoke with Albany South Africa (which is where most Albany UK calls get transfered to right now) I was told that Albany RSA had no idea anything was wrong until after the bank suspended the fund. They were very clear that this was just a big suprise to them as it has been to us and they are now left with trying to clean this up. Of course I have no way of confirming if this was true, but I just wanted to tell you what I was told.

Also... another bit of information. After returning from my Christmas break, I contacted Albany asking them why they haven't transfered my December invoice money yet (as they are usually good about this). I was told (at the beginning of January by my Account Manager) that I just missed the transfer window and would get my money the following week. This, of course, did not happen and ever since then my Albany UK Account Manager has been "on leave" and all his calls get transfered to Albany RSA. I finally got through to someone in the UK office (Cornelius Hattingh MD for EMEA region) who told me that they don't know when my account manager will return and he will "personally" look into this for me, but right now he did not have any more information when I might get paid. That was the last I heard from him and now I don't even know if he works there still as he has not returned any of my calls (I've left numerous voice mail messages).

It's all very strange right now, but for the most part it's simply amazing the COMPLETE lack of factual information. Let's focus on trying to get that and hopefully we can start putting together what actually happened.

thanks Romek,
ok how do you suggest we get the information?

Firstly, let me say that in 15 years as freelancer, this is by far the worst experience I have heard of let alone experienced. But i agree, we have to try to establish the facts as quickly as possible. It is the only hope of getting anything at all out of Mirasol/Albany/the Administrators.

Hi,

Just a few things I noticed about the Albany / Mirasol connectedness:

This is Mirasol's Switzerland address:

Mirasol Holdings Ltd
Leutschenbachstrasse 95
CH 8050 Zurich

This is the same as Albany's Switzerland address:
http://www.thealbanygroup.com/page.asp?section=218

Check out this link:

http://www.linkedin.com/companies/the-albany-group

Waheed is at Albany but also at Mirasol.

romek wrote:

..............
1. We try to get as much information together as possible. Both with how Albany was really structured (in relation to Mirasol for example) as well as what exactly happened Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec timeframe that led to this situation. At this point we have no idea who was at fault, it could be many parties (Albany, Mirasol, RBS, etc) so until we see something solid everything we hear is hear say. Please keep this in mind.
...........

Yes, exactly. The Albany Group's web site still doesn't mention anything about its troubles.
For us more consequential is the fact, though, that they new about these problems at least since Christmas last year (as Mirasol's letter from 3 February states) but still happily transferred money into the Mirasol account.

romek wrote:

...................
It's all very strange right now, but for the most part it's simply amazing the COMPLETE lack of factual information. Let's focus on trying to get that and hopefully we can start putting together what actually happened.

I can confirm that Albany knew about this 16 December. (as they told me before contact broke off). This is yet another reason I'm mad as didn't put in my Dec invoice until the 22nd so they had plenty of time notify me that something was up.

Thing is, if they did know, they had nothing to loose by telling us early. Unless they really thought they could somehow get out of this mess.

Romek, I think you are absolutely right, we need to get facts. The starting point for all of us, whether we have money tied up in Albany like myself, or in Mirasol, or both, is a legal analysis/ review of what happened, which will be relevant to everybody.Therefore this is something we can do as a group and share the costs, I would think. I can't see how we could ever get these facts as individuals. Once we have a legal review and -hopefully- a better idea of what went on, it probably gets more complicated. Each individual case will be slightly different - class legal action might not be suitable. But if we can at least get to the bottom of things, we will have a good idea whether it is worth proceeding or not.

Let's list up :

- We havn't been paid for november invoices
- I was the last time paid by Albany on 31/12 !! They probably did it to get nov & dec cash in
- I have never been proved that funds flowed from Albany to Mirasol (since I did not asked for distribution yet), other people did get money from Mirasol.
- Mirasol system is not compliant - at least in Belgium. I had confirmation from tax lawyer + tax authority (lawyer took contact on behalve of undisclosed client)
- No official sign of Administration - eventhough the pretend to
- no offcial communication from Albany
- an offcial communication from Mirasol just saying nothing at all (we expect ... we believe ...) and unsigned document
- they say the will join the administration - if so proving they are linked to Albany and that they still have funds or junst want to get the 2500$ of waranty
- I havn't had contact from officials except sales men
- I was in contact with Warheed (UK phone number - this means nothing) that first asked me for what company I called. He wasn't able to decide anything nor to give information. He said that he feared for his own job. No one that can decide.
- Still someone answering emails from Albany
- My customer in belgium pays its invoices in the Netherland (ABN-AMRO) !

ok so we know that Mirasol office is in Albany Swiss's premises
Now about Mirasol directors, look at the signature I have on my Garantee Member certificate:
[img]https://servimg.com/view/14843446/3]

any idea of who can it be? Can you all checks at the signatures you have on your contracts with Albany? because directors of Mirasol must be either a lawyers acting as an interface or directly Albany people.

I am fairly certain that this Signature is of Brian Glick; the founding owner of Albany; which kind of makes sens when you think about it.

How can anybody check who were the appointed administrators?
I would like to get in touch with them but have no clue how to find them..

Any ideas?

The signature is from Brian Glick. This is the signature on my contract with Albany Technologies Ltd. This is also the same signture I have on my Mirasol membership document as director of Mirasol

contractorOfAlbanyUK wrote:

How can anybody check who were the appointed administrators?
I would like to get in touch with them but have no clue how to find them..

Any ideas?

LINK: Albany UK Administrators