A group of websites that aim to bring tax and financial strategies once associated with the ultra-wealthy to a much wider consumer audience is offering advice from named ‘experts’ whose identities TaxWatch has been unable to verify.
A TaxWatch investigation has found links between these websites and the online businesses of former Rangers FC owner Craig Whyte.
The network of websites around the ‘Liberty Mundo’ brand offers paid-for consultations on tax minimisation, offshore structures, alternative residencies, passports, corporate restructuring, and privacy methods for cryptocurrencies. The websites list named experts and advisers whose existence, and professional or personal histories, TaxWatch was unable to confirm. AI image detection software suggests that some of their profile images are AI-generated.
Although the techniques described on the websites may be lawful depending on individual circumstances, some of the advice nonetheless promotes the exploitation of gaps in international reporting regimes and the use of privacy-enhancing cryptocurrency tools which make assets and transactions more difficult to trace. This raises significant consumer protection concerns, particularly given the absence of regulation of tax advice in the UK.
Two now-dissolved UK companies registered to the address given on one of these websites have listed a director with the same name as one of the ‘experts’ named on the websites, but each company has given different nationalities and birthdates five years apart for the individual in their listings at the UK companies registry, Companies House. It is not known who created the profiles of the individuals mentioned on the websites, or who registered the information about the two companies’ directors with Companies House.
Unlike many other countries, anyone can sell tax advice in the UK without any qualifications, and regardless of their background or professional affiliation. TaxWatch’s report shows how offshore tax advice and potentially high-risk crypto-asset and trust services can operate between regulatory boundaries. At least five regulators have responsibility for parts of these activities: HMRC for tax compliance, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for financial advice, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for claims about products and services, Companies House and the Insolvency Service for company administration. None of these regulators has a mandate to regulate tax advice, which is left to private professional bodies whose membership is voluntary.
TaxWatch’s analysis of internet records, website source code and corporate documents shows links between the ‘Liberty Mundo’ network of websites and Craig Whyte. Whyte is not named on the Liberty Mundo website or linked sites.
These links include an IP address that has been exclusively used by Liberty Mundo, four associated websites, and Craig Whyte’s personal website; shared logos, images and other web content; mentions of ‘Craig’ as an author in the source code and URLs of Liberty Mundo and associated websites; and corporate links, including both Craig Whyte and a company behind one of the Liberty Mundo-linked websites having been sequential directors of another UK company, Whyte’s role ending in August 2014.
Craig Whyte became widely known after acquiring the Scottish football club Rangers FC in 2011 before the club entered administration in 2012. In October 2014 he was disqualified from acting as a company director for 15 years until 2029.
There is no suggestion that the individuals named in the report have acted unlawfully, or that Craig Whyte has breached his director disqualification. There is no suggestion that Craig Whyte is the only individual linked to Liberty Mundo and other associated websites, or that he is responsible for providing their content and services.
TaxWatch is calling for:
- Minimum standards and independent oversight for tax advice provided to UK consumers, including consideration of FCA registration for tax advice providers and/or a dedicated tax advice ombudsman.
- Stronger Companies House checks to identify and investigate director identity red flags, including cases involving identical names and discrepant personal details.
- Stronger FCA and ASA protection, including powers to regulate or block overseas-hosted platforms marketing high-risk financial and tax services accessible to UK consumers.
TaxWatch made efforts to contact all named individuals, directors, websites and entities named in the report, setting out relevant information in the report in full, and requested comment or correction to questions of fact. Only Craig Whyte responded. He did not provide an on the record comment, but has denied involvement (which we do not allege) in the UK and New Zealand companies listed in the report, whether as a director or shadow director, shareholder, beneficial owner, ultimate beneficial owner, in their management or control, or in any filing made with a company registry.
