Richard Cayne always looking for best in class products for his clients had suggested investment into a land banking project called White Sands Beach by Royal Siam Trust out of Bangkok, Thailand. Sadly when White Sands Beach Managing Director Gregory Pitt decided to illegally remove rightful ownership from its investors, this is when Richard Cayne took action. Some of the claimant investors have gotten together and recall comments from Richard Cayne in 2012;
“Fraud on the part of the managing director of the White Sands Beach/Royal Siam Trust project was not a risk that I feel investors signed up for. Certainly all investors know that investments have risks associated with them but these are normal market risks such as demand or political risk and both had been experienced by the White Sands Beach project. Back when I started recommending in 2005 the story could not have been better as The Prime minister at the time had bought up large tracks of land in the area and all the Thais I had spoken with confirmed Trat, Thailand had the best potential for growth. This is exactly what investors look for in a land banking investment. Unfortunately the country thereafter also experienced a change of government followed by a coup and other politicians having their own agenda caused a shift in growth trends in the country. This is not to say that the land is no longer desirable but it no longer has the steam behind it that it once had.
All but a few unrealistic clients understand market risk though there are just some out there who are unrealistic in expectations. Through no fault of my own Gregory Pitt the managing director of White Sands beach and Royal Siam Trust decided he would remove investors interests which was certainly illegal and immoral, I could not just stand by or walk away while innocent investors were being harmed so I acted for them and took legal action resulting in Gregory Pitt getting an 18 year imprisonment sentence. Just like forecasting the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 I don’t think anyone could have foreseen that Gregory Pitt would do such a thing.”
We certainly aren’t happy with the situation where it is unclear if we will get our investment back but we very much appreciate Richard Cayne standing by us as he could have walked away.
Certainly with the two anti-Semitic individuals anonymously posting negative comments about Richard online most of us would have walked away if we were him as life is too short and we must move on. If there is a definition of a good financial adviser we would say Richard Cayne fits that bill as while nobody has a crystal ball he really has taken a level of responsibility that most advisers would not have.