Macanthony Realty International review: Justice needed!! - Fraud & Deceit by these MRI crooks 35

MacAnthony Realty is a house of thieves. I unfortunately worked with the Florida office, until I figured out the scam. The company policies relating to profits and customers are nothing short of criminal fraud. A full investigation is long overdue. The ring leaders Darragh MacAnthony & new CEO Dominic Pickering belong in jail for the evil they have done. My only advice is run, don't walk from these guys. Everything you have suspected, nasty rumors on various blogs and reports from news papers are way too kind.

Hey i have aprtly paid for my two apartments in bansko one being the aspen heights and the other being ski apartment. i am about to pay the other half for both apartments but now, after reading so many bad things about them i dont know what todo...im stuck inthe middle...how can i cliam my money back...if i pay them the rest do istill getthe chance to get the keys to my apartment...i am really stuck please help

any adive will be deeply grateful. if you know anyonw i can contact please feel free to contaact me asap

Hi Alison

we have started to combine groups now and are collecting people's stories and statements of their experience with this company, CFP and the solicitors legal Independence. We are all people who are going through the same ordeal. There is a member who has worked very hard to recognition from their MP and MEP. These in turn are contacting the OFT and others.

Anyone else who feels lost in this, please get in touch and add your story to help prove there are many people who have been misled by these companies.

It is called the MRI Support group.

mrisg@hotmail.co.uk

we have also been let down by mri and are totally frustated by this company. We have had nothing but trouble from day one and get fed up with constsant ways in which this company demands money from us. We have bought two properties on the aspen golf development one of which is still not furnished and now they are saying that it will not be furnished untill we pay this vat on the pack of which we knew nothing about. They were supposed to be built on the front line of the golf course but are obviously not. We are very keen to get in touch with people who want to get a group action together as to take up seperate cases would be to costly and probably ineffective.

I bought property in spain through MRI. They have rented it out ( in Sept last yr ) and have not paid me the money. This is dishonest. They don't return phone calls or emails. Any advice on what I can do?

Hi,

Please can you advise us? We purchased a property in Aspen Valley, paid the first two installments and where then advised by an independent person that the land was still mortgaged which was in breach of the contract. I confirmed this with the MRI lawyer who confirmed the land was mortgage and that MRI was in breach, however she was not prepared to cancel our contract and proceed to get us our money back. Since then we have paid the independent advisor to terminate the contract and they are now asking for more money to proceed with the court I would like to know if there are any other people preparing to go to court with Pavlova and Dramov Law Firm (acting under trade mark Legal Services Agency) I have check with the Bulgarian legal system and the lawyer is a registered and practicing, however I cant find any web site or listing for the company. Therefore before we send any more money in to the big black whole called 'property investment' I would like to know of anyone else who had had any dealings with this company or if anyone has successfully received any of their money back.

Kind regards

Desperate from Canvey!

I have also been in touch with Legal Services Agency but have the same reservations as it's difficult to validate who or what they actually are. I was made aware of them via the mysterious Dave from Aspen Refund. I've spoken to him on the phone a number of times but would welcome any feedback from anyone else.

Thanks.

MT

I've setup a personal webspace with some info on ...

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/number5/web1.htm

I too have purchased through MRI back in Mar'07 and it has been a nightmare ever since. I could write about all the problems I have encountered but this would be the size of the New Testament by the time I finished.

The highlight however, has been that we were basically advised by MRI representatives in Bansko, when we asked about financing the investment as we were not wanting to release equity to do so, that replied "we shouldn't worry about getting finance as someone will give you finance over here".

After nearly a year of going through the mortgage application with CFP, who were introduced to us by MRI on our initial visit to Bansko, and numerous calls from MRI wanting us to sign up for this and that if we didn't want to miss out, we were eventually given initial approval in Nov'08 only for it to be taken away in Dec'08 due to the bank concerned pulling all such products from the market. This left us in a difficult situation in that we had no money to complete the investment and were in danger of losing the 20, 000 euro approx we had already forked out to MRI and their sidekicks for property, after sales, rental management services etc.

With no other avenues open to us in which to raise funds we were resigned to the fact that we would loss all the money we had already invested. We weren't too impressed by this as it was MRI et al that led us into this situation in the first place by making such false statements as referred to above.

To add insult to injury we have recently received a letter from lawyers of MRI in London that they wish to take us to court for the outstanding balance owing on the property in there "due to the loss of opportunity to sell to another buyer"! Yeah hilarious!

This has caused us a lot of worry and stress but we have not secured anything against the project so I’m not sure what these people think they can achieve from this action.

If the law is equitable and stands for justice surely these crooks don't have a leg to stand on unless they stole it from one of their many scammed customers. It is them that should be taken to account for their deceitfulness and down right fraudulent activities.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated; my advice is to stay well clear of these crooks

All,

Please register your complaint wiht the Serious Fraud Office if you are from the UK. There may be no gurantees that they will investigate but as this scam runs into millions of pounds from hundreds of UK investors/consumers you never know, and atleast official bodies will become aware of the scale of the matter.

Hi All,

Yes the same thing has happened to myself & my partner... we bought an apartment each in Bugaria (Aspen Valley) and we also are not impressed with MRI handling of the situation... the fact that the banks have withdrawn the mortgage products and that MRI do not seem to take this on board... they have offered that if we could pay the remaining amount over a period of 3 years... at a cost! of course... and of course its not attainable... BUT THEY ARE A Business... Not one i'd recommend to other people... customer satisfaction is not part of their aftersales care... in my experience.

We stand to lose nearly 58.000 between us... The solictors do not keep us up to date, and when we get in touch, they can't remember who we are, and we have to repeat the situation... not helpful- since this is a very stressful situation... The solictor informed my partner a couple of weeks ago that MRI are being taken to court, since we had informed them that we can not make a payment and we do not want the bills/ fines that MRI are enforcing on a daily basis, since we have lost quite enough money already.

We have no idea what is going on... We are kept in the dark by all...

Anyone any further than us?
Tracey Manchester

I have read with interest peoples comments with MRI . I have also purchased in Bansko, Aspen Heights,
and I have to say customer satisfaction and aftersales care are not one of their qualities. They are not very forth coming
with information and I do not have a lot of confidence in them. I know that I have purchased a property that was way overpriced
and find myself in the situation of having got approval for mortage it will not cover the full cost leaving me with a shortfall to fund which I do not have.
Would like to get in touch with other people who purcahsed in Aspen Heights and hear their comments

Frank (Dublin)

Hi all,

We are in the process of finalising the purchase of an apartment in Aspen Valley but we have just heard from another property company that MRI are in the process of winding up? We would love to hear from anybody who has completed the purchase of an apartment in this development as our solicitor at Legal Independence is putting pressure on to forward the final payment.

Many thanks,

Lisa

Frank

We are in same boat with Aspen Heights. We have paid large deposits, have received nothing but threats for balances but are told MRI cannot complete as they are not going to repay loans to Bulgarian Government.

I put a dep down on Pirin Rise in March 06 as did my daughter and her then fiance, they bought 2 x 2 bed apartments

I was unable to get the 70% mortgage I had been told would be NO Problem and they then offered me a mortgage on 30% of the remainder meaning that on top of the £25, 438.80 I had already paid they wanted the same again, and I could mortgage the deficit at an rate of interest rate 9.9 % fixed

long story short I would have had to pay cash of £50, 876 and take a 9.9% mortgage on the rest £25, 438.80 - I asked MRI to sell and even said I WOULD TAKE A LOSS - NO JOY AND WHY would there be when they can shaft new clients! - also the furniture package went fr 3K to 8, 500k! in 9 months. I have resigned myself to losing all the cash I had in the world - my pension

Now that's not the worst of it, my daughter's finance died suddenly in August 06 and nothing we have been begging MRI / Legal Indep to do since has helped to get their dep back..she was 71/2 mths pregnant and now has a 2 year old to raise - she cannot get a mortgage as her partner was the earner and they are insisting that SHE can go ahead dispite being told otherwise - £58, 878.80 he paid and they state that as her signature is also on the doc's his death is not a get out of jail card, now UK law states ALL his assets are in probate and will eventually got into trust for her son so her hands are royally tied, she cannot fight for something that is not hers yet they say she CAN take a mortgage..

Some one somewhere should be able to stop these thieves, they promise everything but when you call the staff are new from one week to the next - so NO culpability as you cannot speak to the person who made the empty promises

Eileen Mid Ulster

I have bought in Apsen Heights and I am currently waiting on the title deeds. My situation is similar too many I was told by CFP (who I paid 900 euros too) that I could get a mortgage and since many products have been removed meaning I have had to find the finance myself . I will be looking to get a refund as they did not offer me a product.
I have had to get a loan which I am paying an arm and a leg for. I was fortunate to only buy an overpriced studio along with an overpriced furniture package. I have put in about £53, 000 for the whole lot and it is likely to go up.

As I have been caught in the whirlwind of the so called 'overseas investment' I can only really learn from this and make sure due dilligence is done independently.

I still receive phone calls of agents of mri and it just makes me sick the crap they come out with. However I have learnt my lesson never again .

Frank I was wondering if you have recently seen the Aspen Heights development?

Regards,

Jay

I know many people who have been scammed in two developments in Sunny Beach, both sold by MRI. One is Palazzo---originally sold as apartments, but on completion somehow morphed into an aparthotel. People who bought here found they could not access their apartments unless they gave two weeks notice each time they wished to visit and also found that their apartments were being used (rented out ) by the developer without their consent. He made a derisory offer of yearly return and then refused to pay even that. MRI and Legal Independence refuse to do anything about this scam.
MRI also sold Renaissance a sister project by the same developer. All construction on this project is now stopped and yet no deposits have been returned. MRI have told us that deposits will not be paid back because the developer is gone into liquidation. This is totally untrue. No mention of liquidation can be found in Bulgarian court records, and the same development company own 51% of Palazzo.
Those of us who have been conned in Bulgaria must find a reputable law firm (in Bulgaria) to fight our cases.
Legal Independence will do nothing except ignore you and protect their founders MRI.

In 2005, I paid a 30% deposit on two seperate developments in Sunny Beach. The first development completed in June 2006, and despite a good credit rating and furnishing the completed apartment, spending nearly a full year ringing CFP, MRI and Legal Independence, the mortgage eventually failed to come through and I lost the lot. There have been many argument’s since and nothing as come of this. The second apartment completed this year, but luckily I arranged the mortgage myself. Guess what I had a phone call in January asking me how my new apartment was going, this eventually led to the possible offer of one of the Chairman’s own apartments in Bansko to make up for my losses.

I have never had an answer as to why the mortgage never came through. At the time I was dealing with CFP, MRI and LI, there was no credit crunch, however I gave them in excess of a 20, 000 euro deposit, and paid for an MRI furniture pack amongst other expenses, e.g. notary, survey etc. I received absolutely nothing in return!

We bought in the Renaissance development in Sunny Beach and have also been told that the company has gone into liquidation. We were offered a substitute property in Bansko but there was no chance we were going to put more money into MRI. I am sure there are numerous other people out there looking for answers and their deposits back? The problem is where do we go from here?
Alan

I was duped into going to work for these criminals in Marbella. Lasted 3 weeks and left out of pocket, out of work and out of patience. I returned home to Dublin and I went to picket an mri "sales event" in Leopardstown and was allowed to see God, Darraragh McClown himself. In the 15 mins we talked he tried every trick in the book to threaten me and he is without a doubt one of the most arrogant b*****ds I have ever had the displeasure of speaking to. I walked away broke but with my head held high as I had clearly rattled the con man. To anyone thinking of buying from these clowns one word of advice...RUN. The whole company is a lie and a very vunerable house of cards.

Marc Power marc.power@yahoo.com

I am genuinely, really sorry for anyone who trusted this cowboy organisation and lost (or were conned out of) their money in the process. All I can say is rest assured that your cash is going to good cause propping up Macanthony’s failing football club - the POSH!

Totally agree with everyone`s comments. Got involved with these COWBOYS in MAY 2006.

All i can suggest is to join the action group`s, there are several, & FIGHT for what is rightfully yours.

MACANTHONY, HIS FAMILIY, PICKERING ETC ARE CROOKS & FRAUDSTERS along with CAPITAL FINANCIAL PARTNERS (NOW OWNED BY MACANTHONY`S BROTHER IN LAW) . I CANNOT PROVE, BUT SUSPECT, AS MANY OTHERS DO, THAT LEGAL INDEPENDENCE WERE IN ON THIS SCAM AS WELL.

MY ADVICE IS, DO NOT ACCEPT BEING THREATENED BY MACANTHONY OR HIS LAWYERS, CARTER RUCK, IN LONDON. IT IS BEING PROVED IN LAW COURTS OF THEIR IMMORRAL, ILLEGAL BUSINESS PRACTICE.

I HAVE WRITTEN MANY EMAILS TO MRI & CAPITAL FINANCIAL PARTNERS CALLING THEM FRAUDSTERS & LIARS, BECAUSE THIS IS TRUE, (HUNDREDS & HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE TELLING THE SAME STORY CAN`T ALL BE WRONG). I HAVE ALSO INVITED THEM TO TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST ME, VIA THEIR SOLICITORS, BUT SUPRISE SUPRISE, I`VE HEARD NOTHING, BECAUSE THEY KNOW I WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED OR BULLIED BY LIARS.

STAND UP FOR YOURSELVES & IGNORE THEIR THREATS.

Please find below a reply I received from the DPBR. If you search myflorida.com and search for MacAnthony you will find an area where you can make a complaint.
A certain person at MRI told me that I obviously did not understand the DPBR's role. I was pretty sure that I did, but contacted them to clarify this. There reply was what I expected.
Apparently, they investigate complaints about real estate agents and brokers and it does not matter if you did not buy in Florida, or the USA, nor do you have to live in the USA to make a complaint.
I have explained to MRI that I am not doing this for vengeance, but because I do not want anyone else to go through what we have and still are.

Thank you for contacting the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR).

The department does regulate real estate sales agents and brokers. All complaints submitted are reviewed by a complaint analyst. The analyst reviews the complaint and if there appears to be a violation supported by documentation, a case number is assigned and the case is forwarded to the appropriate regional investigative field office for investigation.
1. If the complaint does not have sufficient information to support the alleged violation, it is assigned a case number and a letter is sent to the complainant requesting additional information.
2. If there does not appear to be a violation of real estate license law or the Department of Business and Professional Regulation does not have jurisdiction over the matter, a letter is sent to the complainant explaining that a case will not be opened.

When filing a complaint, please be sure to include any documentation which addresses the complaint.
Examples of this documentation may include:
*Sales Contract (front and back)
*Cancelled checks (front and back)
*Lease/Rental Agreement (front and back)
*Listing/Management Agreement (front and back)
*Closing Statement
*Multiple Listing Printout
*Appraisals
*Repair Bills
*Monthly Statements
*Correspondence
*Agency Disclosure Statement
*Judgment/Civil Law Suit

Once your complaint is received the Division of Real Estate will send the complainant a letter upon receipt of the complaint. After a review of the complaint, a complaint analyst will inform the complainant, by letter, of the status of the complaint.

I trust you will find this information helpful. If you need further information, please E-mail call.center@dbpr.fl.us or call the Customer Contact Center at [protected]

This response prepared by:

we also paid a deposit of 13, 000 back in 2006 for an apartment in sunny beach and have had numerous problems speaking to anybody from mri, we couldnt sort a mortgage out havent been able to complete the transaction and have had no deposit back, so we may as well have put that money down the grid, we could really do with that money at the moment as times are reallly hard for us but dont know where to start trying to get the money back.

Join the mri-sg.org support group. There are hundreds of people on here who say they have lost money to MRI - including ourselves. I realise that you have lost your deposit, but the good news is that you haven't lost as much as we did by completing, so you were actually lucky that you didn't complete. I know that you have lost a lot of money, so am not making light of it, but we have lost twice that much by completing, then finally selling it last month. I wish to god we hadn't completed.
Where did you buy? I am aware that a lot of people at our development didn't complete for various reasons.
Now that we have sold our apartment, I intend to do everything in my power to get justice for what happened to us, and to all the others, like yourselves, who have lost money.
Some people have no consciences and don't care how they make their money.

I concur, join the mri.sg.org support group. There are over 1200 members to date, with new members joining daily. We are now actively fighting as a group to bring MACANTHONY TO JUSTICE & are staging another March in London soon. As a member you would be welcome to join us. To join the group you just have to tell your story so Admin can verify it & then you will have complete access to everyones stories, regarding MRI. Be prepared to be totally shocked at just HOW LOW MACANTHONY & CO ARE PREPARED TO GO.

If you join you may well be able to be part of a LARGE class action against MARTINEZ ( AKA LEGAL INDEPENDENCE) IF YOU WERE INTRODUCED TO THEM BY MRI.

Does anyone know the date that Aspen suites completed in the end?

Amanda 76,
Contact mri.sg regarding Aspen suites. There are many members can probably answer your question.

I would also advise people to contact their MEPs (Member of the European Parliament). Ours is working for us, trying to get something done about what happened. She is currently asking other MEPs if they have any knowledge about any other cases..

I was a Telemarketer at MRI and proud of it. My memory of Darragh may be slightly different, funny how all this moaning has come on the back of economic down turn world wide is now the fault of one man, all these people on this site and others were just greedy the first question when booking an inspection trip was in 90% of case how much money can I make, if I buy 3 can I sell 2 too pay for the 3rd and get it for nothing. We're you all so thick that you didn't realise any investment carry's a risk and that you were over reaching your finances, as ususal no you just want someone to blame, typical spineless wingers jumping on anything you thought had an easy profit in. As usual none of you ever thought about basic economics, you know buy when prices are falling sell when they rise.
Try something new stop [censor]ing except responsability for your own actions and stop blaming others.
Darragh wherever you are good luck for the future, and thanks for the goodtimes.

Yeah right. What a load of rubbish. You obviously have no idea what happened to most of the people who are moaning. People have every right to moan when they were told one thing, then the reality was totally different.
We were told that all the developers were thoroughly checked out and were all reliable, reputable and trustworthy. Our developer has used people's apartments then kept the money for himself. Not what I would call trustworthy.
We were repeatedly told that MRI would help us out with our problems, but this never happened. We were shown one apartment, then told we had to complete on a totally different apartment - obviously inferior, or lose our 30% deposit.
We bought at the first phase of a development and were told that the second phase had been totally sold - lies. We were told that we would get a guaranteed rental - lies. On and on it goes. We weren't greedy, we were just looking for one apartment.
The downturn has nothing to do with what happened to us. If we had got what we were told we would be quite happy. The point is that we didn't.
You need to get your facts straight. Perhaps you were one of the lucky ones, but that doesn't give you the right to go slagging people off who have lost a lot of money.
I did debate as to whether you were worth replying to, but maybe you genuinely believe that Darragh is a good guy. You are definitely in the minority, in my opinion.

abg123
Firstly, have the GUTS to give your full name. I can't make up my mind wether to feel sorry for you for believing in MACANTHONY or to DESPISE you for being party to this FRAUD.
As for your comment re economic downturn being to blame, i question your intelligence. But maybe i shouldn't as it is apparent about 90% of his workforce were frightened little SHEEP. The remaining 10% like MACANTHONY & CO WERE GREEDY FRAUDSTERS & COMPLETE LIARS.
I Purchased in Bansko in 2006 when the WORLD ECONOMY was riding high. If i had not been LIED to about the completion date i would not have been in the position of not being able to get a mortgage because of the DELAY. This circumstance is WHOLLY down to MACANTHONY & HIS LYING EMPLOYEES.
Finally, for the record i have always been a hard working, honest individual & far from being Greedy was just trying to help secure some help toward a pension so as not to be a Burden on the state.
By the way, how much has the FRAUDSTER PAID YOU TO WRITE YOUR COMMENTS.

Izzy think I remember you, if you have been so hard done by why not use your full name? Was it MRI building your apartment I dont think so as if my memory is correct you bought in Sunny Beach and what your saying is true apart from 1 small fact that you dont want to believe, the developer lied to EVERYONE including MRI, if I am wrong and have you mixed up with somebody I am sorry.
Chris thanks for the insults Darragh didn't pay me to write this I havent spoken to him in 2 years, so you bought in what at the time was a 3rd world country things get delayed it a fact of life. I'v never ripped any one off in my life, never needed to, as for being scared of Darragh it's a good job you arn't insulting me in the way you are Darragh otherwise I might just have to pop round and see you, now that would give you a bad hair day. The sad thing is that most people (by the sound of you included) were not sophisticated enough investors to weigh up the risks of investing where they did, that wasn't MRI's fault. I know you don't want to here it but a good investor takes into account everything including what happens if, before they invest

abg123,
I have waited to reply as i wanted a friend to read your post. He is a Sergeant in our Local Police Force & was interested in your THREAT TO COME ROUND TO SEE ME. Yes you were definately a MACANTHONY employee, BULLYING & TRYING TO FRIGHTEN DECENT, HONEST PEOPLE. As MACANTHONY, MICHAEL MOODIE, DEAN MASTERS & ALL THE OTHER [censor] who tried to intimidate & frighten people know, i am not afraid of threats. Bring it on i say, i am waiting for the opportunity to get some JUSTICE.
Also, no, i was not a Sophisticated ( worldly wise) investor ( very intelligent though) which is why as a Novice i fell for MACANTHONY'S SCAM. John Stapleton's report fooled me, as it did many others. We cant all be experts at everything in life, so we did what we thought was right, tried to choose an expert in this field. HOW WRONG WE WERE, WE CHOSE A FRAUDSTER & LIAR.
I will continue in my quest to bring MACANTHONY & CO. TO ACCOUNT & will NEVER GIVE UP.

Money paid for (3) packs of furniture for (3) apartments in Morocco, paid for in Sept 06. paid in full and sent by HFIX to MRI. Which I have receipt of invoice for. My family brought apartments through MRI as well, that is now settled after a lot of lies and deceit and promises. Lucky that we have a building.
We have involved a Spanish lawyer, but he is unable to contact anyone who's number we have given him. Seemed to be at a full stop at the moment. Anyone who can help please do.