Amey Finance Academy has been wound up at the High Court following investigations into the company’s trading by the Insolvency Service.

The academy was set up by sole director Desmond Amey, 43, in December 2018 to offer financial education and advice on cryptocurrency. However, some consumers lost their investments based on false assurances made by Amey, including casual advice to an investor on WhatsApp stating investments were ‘100 certy’ and to ‘trust me bro’.

The company also failed to provide up-to-date accounts, meaning its financial dealings could not be scrutinised by Insolvency Service investigators.

According to Companies House, Amey last filed micro accounts for year end December 2021 claiming losses of £19,879 while accounts for 2022 were eight months overdue.

The failure to deliver adequate accounting records and a general lack of transparency shown prevented the Insolvency Service from establishing the true extent of the company’s activities, its assets and liabilities, or the use of £5m which passed through the company’s bank account between October 2019 and March 2022.

Back in 2021, Amey also published a book, Starting your Property Side Hustle, describing himself as a ‘residual income specialist’ on the front cover.

The problems with the academy first came to light when complaints were made that consumers lost money in investment opportunities and Amey Finance Academy was not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for providing financial services or products in the UK.

Amey misled customers, telling one customer who went on to lose all the money they invested that their investment would not drop below 90%.

He also promoted cryptocurrency schemes run by other companies such as HyperFund which raised more than $1.7bn from investors worldwide.

Warnings about HyperFund were issued in the UK and New Zealand, with the company also investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

In interviews with investigators, Amey provided contradictory information about his company’s relationship with HyperFund and said he only used the Amey Finance Academy business bank account to help people buying cryptocurrency via a separate company called Bleuguava.

His failure to provide up-to-date accounting records meant the Insolvency Service could not establish the true relationship between Amey Finance Academy and HyperFund or Bleuguava.

Further investigations by the Insolvency Service showed that Amey’s email signature stated he was managing director of Amey Commercial Finance Ltd which was dissolved in 2017.

His email signature also incorrectly said he was authorised and regulated by the FCA, who issued a warning in July 2022 that his company was unauthorised and targeting people in the UK.

Amey released a video on YouTube in October 2023 implying that he still had an office at 1 Canada Square at Canary Wharf in London. In reality, he had been evicted for failing to pay rent in January of that year.

Mark George, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: ‘Desmond Amey used Amey Finance Academy to recklessly persuade individuals to invest in cryptocurrency schemes and mislead them about the risks of doing so.

‘His claims to offer a financial education and concierge service will be of no comfort to customers who lost their money in investments he actively encouraged.

‘The public deserve protection from companies trading in an opaque and objectionable manner which is why we applied to have Amey Finance Academy shut down.’

The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator of the company. 

All enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made to the Official Receiver Email: [email protected]