THE SUN: '£100,000 FRAUD' ON MADDIE FUND

chirpyinsect wrote:

costello wrote:

Dee Coy wrote:

Châtelaine wrote:It seems that photo has meanwhile been replaced by a more "serious" one ...

So it has, Chatelaine. Well well.

Reminds me of the old Billy Bragg song, "Which side are you on, boys? Which side are you on?"

This is what I can't understand why replace a photo, but still allow all the negative comments on their facebook page.

Perhaps the Sun has been instructed to change the photo as they can't be seen to diss the Macs but the comments are allowed to stand as not being said directly by the paper.

Yes Chirpy you could be right there, are the comments being monitored? I haven't
found a positive one yet. Not that I am complaining, I just find it odd.

Weird how this should appear now what with Goncalo's GoFundMe page closing tomorrow.Hmm strange.

Wonder if a new GoFundMe page will be set up on wednesday so the public can donate to get the stolen £100,000 back.

kylie wrote:Weird how this should appear now what with Goncalo's GoFundMe page closing tomorrow.Hmm strange.

Wonder if a new GoFundMe page will be set up on wednesday so the public can donate to get the stolen £100,000 back.

Very funny Kylie. I can think of better causes....

I've long suspected OG has as many financial investigators as murder / abduction ones

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/up-to-£100-000-stolen-from-madeleine-mccann-fund-to-finance--lavish--lifestyle-091630704.html#hn5ng5w

Up To £100,000 Stolen From Madeleine McCann Fund To Finance ‘Lavish’ Lifestyle
Two whistleblowers say an insider connected to the hunt took the money

Up to £100,000 in funds donated to help find missing Madeleine McCann has been stolen by someone connected to the fund set up to find her.

The report, according to two whistleblowers connected to the fund, suggests that a man close to the search forged travel and hotel receipts to hide his theft.

There is no suggestion that Kate or Gerry McCann are guilty of any wrongdoing.

The two whistleblowers told The Sun that the unnamed man tricked Kate and Gerry into believing the cash was being used on the search.

One whistleblower told The Sun, ‘What made the fraud so disgusting was money came from people who shed tears over her disappearance and wanted to do their little bit.’

A spokesman for the McCanns said, ‘‘Madeleine’s Fund takes extremely seriously any suggestion monies intended for the search have been obtained fraudulently.’

‘Kate, Gerry and the other directors of Madeleine’s Fund will co-operate fully with authorities to ensure these claims are fully investigated.’

I wonder if those who "shed tears over her disappearance and wanted to do their little bit" would be happy to know that their money was also used to pay the McCanns' mortgage and their legal fees.

From the above article:

A spokesman for the McCanns said, ‘‘Madeleine’s Fund takes extremely seriously any suggestion monies intended for the search have been obtained fraudulently.’

A slip of the tongue or deliberate?

The quote should be referring to the monies being used fraudulently not obtained fraudulently.

Oh .. Oh ...oh .. Brain leak...possibly ,hopefully !

Poe wrote:From the above article:

A spokesman for the McCanns said, ‘‘Madeleine’s Fund takes extremely seriously any suggestion monies intended for the search have been obtained fraudulently.’

A slip of the tongue or deliberate?

The quote should be referring to the monies being used fraudulently not obtained fraudulently.

Well spotted Poe, my money is on the latter.

If the McCs knew that Madeleine was dead, the money for the fund would indeed have been obtained fraudulently.

These tweets seem interesting if correct.
N.M@AdirenM -48m
It's my belief that whoever published that £100k defraud thought they were doing #mccann a favour, but actually put them into a legal MESS.

(same) - 53m
There's plenty video records where #mccann team solicited money to SEARCH for
Madeleine. If audit shows otherwise they are in a big mess.

http://portugalresident.com/amaral-supporters-plough-last-minute-money-into-legal-fund-as-uk-focuses-on-alleged-maddie-fraud

Posted by portugalpress on October 27, 2015
Amaral supporters plough last-minute money into legal fund as UK focuses on alleged Maddie fraud

Amaral supporters plough last-minute money into legal fund as UK focuses on alleged Maddie fraud
While the gofundme appeal buoying “Maddie cop” Gonçalo Amaral in his legal fight against the parents of Madeleine McCann is being temporarily wound down in Portugal, in UK news this week centres on an alleged fraud within the fund set up to find the missing child.

According to the Sun newspaper, whistleblowers have presented damning evidence pointing to a “person connected to the hunt” for Madeleine using “public donations to fund his own lifestyle”.

The Find Madeleine Fund has consequently been "ripped off" to the tune of over £100,000 - which Portuguese newspapers have translated as “almost €139,000”.

With the story echoing a similar fraud uncovered years ago and centring on a private detective hired by the McCanns, this latest UK-generated Madeleine story follows a weekend exposé in the Sunday People, again covering ancient ground.

In Portugal meantime, the friends and supporters of Amaral have decided to pull the gofundme online appeal launched six months ago by a single mother from Birmingham who was only 14 when Madeleine went missing.

The last donations are still flowing in before the page is to be officially closed on Wednesday, October 28, having raised in excess of €73,000.

The official reason for closure was that supporters felt there was “largely sufficient” in the fund’s account to “face eventual future expenses”.

A source has since confirmed to the Resident that other forms of fundraising remain open, as the way ahead will almost certainly involve further appeals.

For now, the decision by judges at Lisbon’s Appellate Court on Amaral’s appeal against the €500,000-plus damages awarded against him in the civil action taken out by the McCanns over his book “A Verdade da Mentira” is due any day.

But the source explained to us that if the appeal is upheld - that is, if Amaral “wins” and at last sees his assets unfrozen after six years of litigation - “the McCanns will almost certainly appeal”.

“The next step would be an appeal to the Supreme Court, and then even to the Constitutional Court,” said the source.

And should Amaral lose the fight, which he feels centres on his right to freedom of expression, then a new online appeal will be needed to fund a case against Portuguese justice in the European Court of Human Rights.

As the Resident explained six months ago when 22-year-old Leanne Baulch set up the gofundme page, the British tabloid press vilified the bid, saying it was powered by “sick online trolls”.

Unpleasantness continued to the point where Ms Baulch - the single parent of a toddler - removed herself from the process altogether.

It was then that the page transferred to the friends of Amaral. But the unpleasantness is understood to have continued, with internet manipulation of the appeal’s online code so that a few weeks ago it virtually disappeared from sight.

In their announcement to the 2,791 subscribers sent out last Thursday, the group writing collectively said: “May we use this moment to wholeheartedly thank those who have expressed their support for Gonçalo Amaral’s right to an appropriate defence. Whether you have contributed financially or by sending a support message, you have made an impact. You have made a difference.”

By NATASHA DONN natasha.donn@algarveresident.com

- See more at: http://portugalresident.com/amaral-supporters-plough-last-minute-money-into-legal-fund-as-uk-focuses-on-alleged-maddie-fraud#sthash.7EZbOnO2.dpuf

Appeal decision is due any day now? Great news, I really hope the decision is awarded in Dr.Amaral's favour. And that the McCann's are unable to request a further appeal against the decision.

And it's about time Gonçalo Amaral has that "buoyed" feeling too IMO

costello wrote:Appeal decision is due any day now? Great news, I really hope the decision is awarded in Dr.Amaral's favour. And that the McCann's are unable to request a further appeal against the decision.

Light begins to dawn and the fevered activity of the last week or so explained?

Could also explain why GA is closing the GoFundMe appeal. The last thing he wants is for funds to be donated by people not realising a decision is imminent. Wouldn't want there to be any misconceptions. Particularly as other funds may be under scrutiny at this time

And just may be, the reason for the opening line of last weeks article in the Portugal Resident:'For reasons that are remaining very quiet.'

Freedom wrote:So is this someone separate from Kevin Halligen? We are talking about a report in The Sun where garbage is regurgitated ad infinitum.

http://www.mccannfiles.com/id285.html

Joana thinks so. She wrote this in reply to TB but seems to have been ignored so far :-

"It's not about Richard Halligen, it's about Método 3, imo. And if I'm correct about the M3 guess, the McCanns or the "Trust" directors already knew this at least as early as in Jan. 2014. And did nothing about it.

edited to add: The Sun article distorts the story (what a surprise eh?). The story goes: Two men, detectives formerly belonging to a detective agency hired by the Fund/Trust via BK on October 2007 (alleged in book), wrote a book that was published in 2014. That book was banned later that same year from a country's market by an injunction of the director of a now extinct detective agency, on the grounds of "breaching the confidentiality of the information" those detectives had gathered whilst working for that agency. That book is apparently back on the market. In the book there is a chapter regarding the investigation that detective agency did on Madeleine McCann disappearance. In that chapter (chapter 13, page 174) it is alleged the detective agency committed a fraud against the fund. The detectives, and book authors contacted BK and the "Trust" directors regarding the fraud, in early 2014. To much surprise of the detectives and book authors the "Trust" directors held a conference and decided to not take action, alleging they would "not meet" or "discuss" the investigations of any private investigation "whilst the MET continues their investigation".

If this is not the story the Sun is alleging to, sorry in advance."

That's interesting, Mimi.

So a third party after all according to Joana. So the only question the that could be levied against the fund directors is why was this not investigated in January 14, why has it taken the Sun to prompt you into action?

And they will reply, because we didn't want to potentially compromise the Met investigation in any shape or form, and still don't now.

Smelling of roses again?

How would taking action against contractors who had accepted payment and not carried out the job have anything to do with the Met's investigation? The Met are supposed to be trying to find out how and where Madeleine disappeared. Looking at this from the perspective of the trustees of the Find Madeleine fund, I simply cannot see how private detectives taking their money not doing the job they paid them to do could possibly have anything to do with Madeleine's abduction? Are Metodo 3 now accused of abducting her?

I would guess they'd say something along the lines of 'The police are in possession of all the findings we have accumulated as a result of the hunt for Madeleine, and that includes the findings of the agencies we hired. As we do not know which of these are relevant to the ongoing investigation by OG, we do not find it prudent at this time to potentially muddy any waters by conducting and further investigations, financial or otherwise, ourselves.' or some such mumbo jumbo.

I would guess the aim would be to avoid having to have to involve any outside parties in any aspect of scrutiny of the fund. But that is just my own interpretation not based on fact. But otherwise, like you say, why not investigate in January 14?

So you hear that the detectives you hired to search for your child may have - what? - taken the money and done nothing? Made stuff up? But you decide to make no further enquiries because the Met are now investigating Madeleine's disappearance. Even though any such fraud will have nothing to do with the Met's Maddie hunt, and would indeed be far outside their jurisdiction as it would have taken place in Spain.
The McCanns are still asking the public for donations towards their search on their website - how could they simply ignore such a thing? If Joana is correct, and this is about Metodo 3, then coming after the Halligen episode it looks extremely bad. Why would anyone simply ignore individuals taking large sums of money from their missing child's precious search fund if they are doing nothing to earn it?

Dee Coy wrote:

Popcorn wrote:

Dee Coy wrote:That's interesting,  Mimi.

So a third party after all according to Joana. So the only question the that could be levied against the fund directors is why was this not investigated in January 14, why has it taken the Sun to prompt you into action?

And they will reply, because we didn't want to potentially compromise the Met investigation in any shape or form, and still don't now.

Smelling of roses again?

How would taking action against contractors who had accepted payment and not carried out the job have anything to do with the Met's investigation? The Met are supposed to be trying to find out how and where Madeleine disappeared. Looking at this from the perspective of the trustees of the Find Madeleine fund, I simply cannot see how private detectives taking their money not doing the job they paid them to do could possibly have anything to do with Madeleine's abduction? Are Metodo 3 now accused of abducting her?

I would guess they'd say something along the lines of 'The police are in possession of all the findings we have accumulated as a result of the hunt for Madleleine, and that includes the findings of the agencies we hired. As we do not know which of these are relevant to the ongoing investigation by OG, we do not find it prudent at this time to potentially muddy any waters by conducting and further investigations, financial or otherwise, ourselves.' or some such mumbo jumbo.

I would guess the aim would be to avoid having to have to involve any outside parties in any aspect of scrutiny of the fund. But that is just my own interpretation not based on fact. But otherwise, like you say, why not investigate in January 14?

Maybe this is why the whistle blowers went to the media - had the Trustees/directors had decided not to pursue the matter?

Once donated, the money is there for the McCanns to do what they like with. If they have been defrauded, then it is up to them to take action to recoup it and while it would demonstrate a cavalier attitude towards fund donators, they could choose to take no action
Only if there were a suggestion that they were involved in, or benefited from this fraud -(ie money laundering) would it be a matter for the police.

Popcorn wrote:So you hear that the detectives you hired to search for your child may have - what? - taken the money and done nothing? Made stuff up? But you decide to make no further enquiries because the Met are now investigating Madeleine's disappearance. Even though any such fraud will have nothing to do with the Met's Maddie hunt, and would indeed be far outside their jurisdiction as it would have taken place in Spain.
The McCanns are still asking the public for donations towards their search on their website - how could they simply ignore such a thing? If Joana is correct, and this is about Metodo 3, then coming after the Halligen episode it looks extremely bad. Why would anyone simply ignore individuals taking large sums of money from their missing child's precious search fund if they are doing nothing to earn it?

I absolutely agree with you. I don't fpr one second believe the directors didn't look into it because ofthe Met investigation, I'm saying that this is the excuse they offered for not looking into it. Apparently the decision for the Met investigation came after a meeting of the directors of the fund when they decided on the Met exc justification:

"...The detectives, and book authors contacted BK and the "Trust" directors regarding the fraud, in early 2014. To much surprise of the detectives and book authors the "Trust" directors held a conference and decided to not take action, alleging they would "not meet" or "discuss" the investigations of any private investigation "whilst the MET continues their investigation"

Just my own opinion, but I reckon they didn't want any scrutiny of the accounts in any form and that's why they said this. Same as now, I'll bet .

Apart from now it appears they'll be forced to act as the Sun "knows" and Clarrie has been forced to say they will. Will it be an internal investigation, I wonder?