by OUR BUSINESS REPORTER
Investors who lost millions of pounds in the failed Avocet 'wonder fuel additive' disaster have reacted with anger and disbelief after being told a mysterious Singaporean named Rebecca Seddon has been gathering evidence for a $400 million lawsuit for damages to be raised in Delaware, USA.
Paperwork and emails sent to Not Just Sheep & Rugby include allegations that 'Rebecca' is yet another fictional character dreamed up by Avocet/Genfro life presidents Martin Frost and Dr Bob Jennings while they are pursued through the English courts for recovery of substantial sums of money and property.
As we reported previously, shareholders in the failed businesses, including Omega Infinite and Avocet Natural Capital, were regaled with tales of an enigmatic plutocrat by the name of Tim Carter who was ready to pay tens of millions of pounds on behalf of an obscure corporation for Avocet's "much sought after" intellectual property.
None of the people beyond the Group's management who attempted to meet Carter or acquire his mobile phone number managed to clap eyes on him before Mr Frost stopped referring to him in communications circulated to shareholders. Needless to say, no transaction was every completed.
It becomes clear from the correspondence passed to us that Rebecca Seddon is just as elusive as Tim Carter. In a farcical twist, at Christmas time last year both were the subject of a missing persons report to Northumbria Police. The force declined to investigate after explaining that failing to reply to emails "does not constitute missing".
According to one email from Mr Frost - he is currently bankrupt and has been the subject of an ongoing fraud investigation by Police Scotland - "Rebecca, using the 'black arts' proved that [a named accountancy firm] lied to Leeds Court".
Leeds Court, of course, was the venue where a judge ruled that Mr Frost had used hundreds of thousands of pounds of Avocet company cash to purchase two up-market flats in Scarborough.
Apparently, 'Rebecca' first appeared in October 2023. Her role within the group of companies which are either being liquidated or are in administration has never been explained in detail.
However, in a so-called news release sent out by Mr Frost: "Singaporean Rebecca Seddon, working in the US for major intellectual property investors, provided on Thursday January 4th to Leeds High Court and to Prime Minister Sunak documentary evidence that (named individual and accountancy firm) have lied to the English Law Society and the UK courts. Both the High Court and Parliamentarians have accepted Rebecca’s evidence, especially that of conspiracy between……"
A more plausible statement is included in an email exchange during August 2024 between 'Rebecca' and one of the leading players in the Avocet fiasco who we have decided not to identify. The individual concerned had been supplied with convoluted reasons for Avocet's downfall.
He wrote: "Dear Rebecca, what a shame that just 2% of all this was not made available prior to those who invested from Autumn 2017 onwards. The constant explanations, which are similar to previous incarnations, have not led to anything that was promised. There is now a shift from being informed of, and advanced a ‘gift’ some months ago, yet the last I read that is now, post a judicial victory. So many shareholders are totally in the dark, yet some are numb with the voluminous tales of, ‘big lies’, bad buggers, and naughtiness."
In response, Seddon declared: "I do not agree that we shall end up with a pyrrhic victory. An offer of £30 million we have already refused. I do not agree that our legal discussions will roll on forever. Meaningfully, we expect this year to have much improved offers. I only became involved in October 2023, and during this last 10 months I believe I have achieved more than all your other past historians. I am already running late for a meeting, so I will respond in more detail later".
The unnamed leading light argued that much information was generally concealed or unavailable to most investors. His own due diligence had been less than normal based on the quality of others on the share roster, so that was his own fault.
"I believed Martin, had I known any of 2014 to 2017, I’d have run a mile. I invest in people first and the business second. It wouldn’t be the first failure for me where the entrepreneur didn’t deliver. This is the messiest investment I’ve ever made."
The writer of that message was also told by 'Rebecca': "As you are aware the liquidators of Omega Infinite Plc are seeking to bankrupt Dr Bob Jennings and Rose Mary Jennings. In the Newcastle High Court trial set down for January 2025".
And it was claimed most of those to be targeted with lawsuits including law firms, insolvency experts, The Sunday Times, The Herald, the Scottish Government etc. would settle "rather than put up with the trauma and publicity regarding their own guilt."
Only last month former Avocet employee Tristan Jeffrey - still owed more than £33,000 with 8% annual interest being added after employment tribunal victories against Avocet - made several attempts to meet 'Rebecca' and Jennings to discuss his late father's 250,000 Avocet shares.
At one point he wrote: “Rebecca Seddon, I will meet you any place any time, simply say where and when. As previously mentioned, I have all the documentation requested: a reminder that I do not want this information falling in to the hands of the corrupt business associates and convicted criminals you have links to, hence the importance of meeting in person.”
Mr Jeffrey did not receive a reply from either Seddon or Jennings, or from the firm of solicitors representing Jennings.
The doubts concerning Rebecca's existence were outlined in a post on the Avocet Shareholders' Forum this week.
The writer said: "“Rebecca” has been writing to a small (less than 50) group of shareholders - a group that appears to consist of people he [Frost] would like to annoy together with the last of his dwindling ‘true believers’.
"The messages are a rehash of Frost’s past claims combined with renewed promises of great riches soon to come from the Delaware lawsuits. If you want to be credible as a person separate and distinct from Frost modify your writing style so that it does not consist of the same dense, rambling, run-on sentences containing inflammatory rhetoric and antipathy".
*Singapore Sling - The Singapore Sling, widely regarded as the national drink, was first created in 1915 by Raffles Hotel bartender Ngiam Tong Boon. Mix gin with cherry brandy, Benedictine, bitters, pineapple and lime juice to make this classic cocktail. Garnish with pineapple and a cherry.
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