Due diligence on The Captain Tom Foundation (part 1).
Checking for synthetic identities in Companies House.
Starting with the directors of The Captain Tom Foundation, I’ll demonstrate how multiple synthetic identities conceal interests from auditors and from anyone doing due diligence to meet the requirements of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing legislation.
I’ve copied the information in italics from Companies House. I’ve removed Nationality, assume British, Country of residence, assume England and Role, assume director, unless it is different to these, to save space.
THE CAPTAIN TOM FOUNDATION Company number 12586021
Officers:5 officers / 2 resignations
DEMAID, Simon David
Correspondence address Staple House 5, Eleanors Cross, Dunstable, England, LU61SU
Role ACTIVE Director Date of birth February 1976 Appointed on 12 May 2020
INGRAM-MOORE, David Colin
Correspondence address Spencer Gardner Dickins, 3 Coventry Innovation Village, Cheetah Road, Coventry, Warwickshire, United Kingdom, CV1 2TL
Role ACTIVE Director Date of birth March 1957 Appointed on 1 February 2021
JONES, Stephen John
Correspondence address Staple House 5, Eleanors Cross, Dunstable, England, LU61SU
Role ACTIVE Director Date of birth July 1962 Appointed on 7 May 2020
INGRAM-MOORE, Hannah Melissa
Correspondence address Spencer Gardner Dickins, 3 Coventry Innovation Village, Cheetah Road, Coventry, Warwickshire, United Kingdom, CV1 2TL
Role RESIGNED Director Date of birth September 1970 Appointed on 1 February 2021 Resigned on 15 March 2021
THOMAS-WALLS, David Stephen
Correspondence address 3 Coventry Innovation Village, Cheetah Road, Coventry, Warwickshire, United Kingdom, CV1 2TL
Role RESIGNED Director Date of birth May 1967 Appointed on 5 May 2020 Resigned on 4 February 2021.
Starting with Simon David DEMAID, by clicking on his name, the company appointments registered to his identity are listed.
Simon David DEMAID Total number of appointments 2
Date of birth February 1976
THE CAPTAIN TOM FOUNDATION (12586021)
Company status Active
Correspondence address Staple House 5, Eleanors Cross, Dunstable, England, LU61SU
Role ACTIVE Director Appointed on 12 May 2020
MILTON KEYNES BUSINESS LEADERS PARTNERSHIP LIMITED (06682673)
Company status Active
Correspondence address Howes Percival Llp, 1st Floor, Bell House, Seebeck Place,, Knowlhill, Milton Keynes, England, MK5 8FR
Role ACTIVE Director Appointed on 17 November 2016
Occupation Solicitor
Now I’ll check to see if he has any other identities, by searching for other officers with this name and date of birth. It is very unusual to have two people with the same names and date of birth, although it can happen.
A search in Companies House using the term Simon DEMAID returns 9 people with this surname, all with different first names and dates of birth. Please click on the link, as this search result is a great example of what “normal” should look like. Nothing to see here…except, it’s odd that he uses the address of Howes Percival Llp - I would have expected to see this company amongst these appointments. So, I’ll check the officers of this company HOWES PERCIVAL LLP people.
My hunch was right. He is a member of the Limited Liability Partnership, Howes Percival LLP, but he uses a different spelling of his name, “DE MAID” instead of “DEMAID”. His second identity reads:
Total number of appointments 1
Date of birth February 1976
HOWES PERCIVAL LLP (OC322781)
Company status Active
Correspondence address Nene House, 4 Rushmills, Northampton, England, NN4 7YB
Role ACTIVE LLP Member Appointed on 1 May 2013
I conclude that Simon David De Maid (DE MAID) and Simon David Demaid (DEMAID) are two identities belonging to one person. I allege that Simon De Maid created a synthetic identity, using a misleading spelling of his name, on 17 November 2016 to register his appointment to the Milton Keynes Business Leaders Partnership Limited.
I located the Howes Percival website and searched for Simon De Maid. There was just one result returned. “Simon De Maid” is quoted within an article Extended Furlough Guidance Published. He is listed as a partner on the “people” page, and there he uses the spelling “Simon deMaid”. Cliking on his entry provides the following information:
Partner SIMON DEMAID Locations MILTON KEYNES NORTHAMPTON
Services EMPLOYMENT AND HR LAW EMPLOYMENT AND HR FOR INDIVIDUALS GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (GDPR) IN HOWES: A SERVICE FOR IN-HOUSE LAWYERS
Sectors AUTOMOTIVE EDUCATION HEALTHCARE
To summarise, the first director of the Captain Tom Foundation that I’ve looked into, Simon David DEMAID, has one identity using this spelling and he is also a director of the Milton Keynes Business Leaders Partnership Limited, since November 2016 . This is his only identity using the spelling DEMAID, however, he has a second identity which was registered earlier, in May 2013, using the spelling DE MAID. This identity only has one appointment, Howes Percival LLP, and on this company website both spellings of his name are used, DEMAID on his employee profile and DE MAID in a published article. The dual use of spellings of Simon David De Maid, does not meet the definition of clarity. His two identities do not meet the definition of transparency.
Does he declare his directorships of The Captain Tom Foundation and the Milton Keynes Business Leaders Partnership Limited on Howes Percival LLP’s official platform? The Captain Tom Foundation is not mentioned on Howes Percival website. A search on Milton Keynes Business Leaders returns 250 results. The fifth one reads “SIMON DEMAID. With a number of high profile Milton Keynes clients, Simon heads up our Milton Keynes operations. Simon is a well-known and highly respected member of the Milton Keynes professional community. He is a member of the MK Business Leaders Partnership.” This reference is inaccurate, it obscures the fact that he is a director of a private, limited liability company called Milton Keynes Business Leaders Partnership Limited.
I allege that Simon De Maid has failed to fulfil his obligation to be transparent and accountable, by failing to disclose his directorships of The Captain Tom Foundation and the Milton Keynes Business Leaders Partnership Limited on Howes Percival LLP’s official website. Since he has failed to disclose the interests which are held in a synthetic identity, I conclude that Simon De Maid deliberately misspelt his name to create a duplicate identity to conceal his interests in these companies from audit and due diligence of Howes Percival LLP.
Similarly, his membership of Howes Percival LLP is concealed from audit and due diligence of either The Captain Tom Foundation and the Milton Keynes Business Leaders Partnership Limited. Ideally, I would now check The Captain Tom Foundation website and the MKBLP website to see if they disclose that Simon De Maid is a director, and whether he has disclosed there that he is a member of Howes Percival LLP. But it’s getting late. So I’ll say good night.
To be continued…