Lucas Ross Reviews 14

Had a tough time being made redundant on Christmas eve. they had dealt with my redundancy the best way they could do. They were emailing us right away no questions went unanswered. Just friendly team throughout thank you

When I contacted Lucas Ross I desperately needed some guidance as I had found myself in a situation way beyond anything I had experienced before.
I'm trustee of a small charity and I had discovered that there had been many inappropriate financial transactions. These had depleted our funds to the point that we couldn't meet our financial commitments.
Philip Ross provided me with clear precise advice as to the options available and the likely cost of each.
Thankfully, and mainly thanks to Philip's advice we have found a way forward that, at present, has enabled us to keep our charity open.
However, should our situation change and we need to take the insolvency option we, the trustees wouldn't hesitate to engage Philip and his company.
I can't recommend them highly enough.

I’ve worked with Lucas Ross during a pretty challenging period, and overall, the experience has been a good one.

There were some early issues, but they were process-related rather than anything personal. Once things had settled, the support and guidance became much clearer and more consistent.

Mark Reece, in particular, has been excellent throughout. He’s been understanding of the situation, easy to deal with, and pragmatic in his advice, which is exactly what you need when you’re navigating something like this.

At each stage, I’ve felt supported and well-advised, with a focus on moving things forward rather than getting stuck in the details.

Not an easy situation to go through, but having the right people around you makes a big difference. I’d recommend them to anyone going through something similar.

My experience with Lucas Ross has been wholly positive and, having read a number of Trustpilot reviews linked to EBLN, I struggle to recognise the service described from my own dealings with them. From the outset, the staff were professional, accessible and empathetic. In particular, Lucas Ross themselves were approachable and took time to acknowledge the human side of liquidation — something that was overlooked when originally speaking with other licensed and regulated firms. Questions were welcomed, explanations were clear, and I never felt dismissed or treated as an inconvenience. Because of the nature of some of the EBLN‑related reviews, I raised those concerns directly and sought clarity on the context behind them. I was signposted to the publicly available progress reports, which — when read in full — clearly address many of the issues being raised online, including matters that are subject to regulatory and criminal scrutiny.
Based on my direct experience, I found Lucas Ross to be transparent, and I was dealt with professionally and humanely.

Wanting to do the right thing, and being able to do so are often far apart on achievability especially if the road map is unclear. Lucas Ross gave clarity, and support through an incredibly difficult time when putting a charity into administration and liquidation. The Lucas Ross 'team' were always approachable, available and gave clarity around the process and steps that needed to be taken to instigate, undertake and then formalise the process. At no time did they give the impression that my questions were irrelevant and were able to provide a degree of certainty in what was an incredibly difficult and challenging time.

Extreme Disappointed.
The organisation I used to work for used Lucas Ross as their insolvency practitioners at some point last year.
I sent several emails asking for help and seeking clarification as to why my colleague and I did not receive the amount stated on our B1 documents, while all of our other colleagues received the correct amount.
When the practitioner eventually responded, he provided some information and stated that he would get back to me after checking whether there were any errors in my original submission. Unfortunately, he never did. Despite repeatedly emailing him and then another member of staff, I received no further response regarding my query.
I am extremely disappointed with how this was handled, particularly the lack of support and communication from this organisation.
If you’re looking for a company that does things half‑heartedly and fails to follow up, this is the one for you.

I am a trustee of a charity and needed help with our current predicament. They were so helpful, incredibly knowledgeable and made me feel at ease. I was able to take their concise summary to the board and engage their services

It is impossible not to agree with the content of all of the posts written on this company.
I like many invested in EBLN the insolvency of which Lucas Ross is supposedly handling. Like others our experience of the company is poor to say the least with mails being completely ignored.
How they could have agreed and accepted the behavior's shown by EBLN Director Beverley Ryan in the initial creditors meeting beggars belief. The introduction of unlisted creditors following the submission of the so called Statement of Truth particularly as most were Ryan family members along with a single substantial investor who has now seemingly disappeared raises the question of authenticity. All never once questioned by Lucas Ross.
It would certainly appear that the drive to appoint this company may well have been colored by their own admission of their lack of experience with companies the likes of EBLN.

I am one of the many creditors of EBLN who have so far trusted Lucas Ross to facilitate the early completion of their investigation of the above company .
instead it appears that Lucas Ross are more likely to be looking after their own management than assuming any responsibility to report any progress on our behalf.
Can we look forward to some progress in the near future ? /

Lucas Ross have been dealing with the liquidation of an investment company of which I was a client and now a creditor. They were appointed in February 2022 but I have not received a single update or reply from emails. I have recently discovered that they are three months overdue in filing their accounts and there is currently an ‘Active proposal to strike off’ against Lucas Ross at companies house. This does not inspire confidence in a company supposedly responsible for investigating the financial affairs of others.

As a creditor of a company [EBLN (UK) Ltd] - whose initial liquidation some nine months' ago is being administered by Lucas Ross - alarm bells are ringing.
Lucas Ross have not filied their financial accounts with Companies House (due by August 24th 2022). This has led to a First Notice on October 25th in 'The Gazette' which, if unaddressed, will lead to this company to being struck off the register on, or after, 60 days from the First Notice.
Needless to say, the optics of a liquidator going into compulsory liquidation are, for a company barely two years' established, eye-catching and worrisome.
How this situation has affected, or will affect the capacity of Lucas Ross in the performance of their professional duties remains unknown.

this is what I sent to LR:

Sir, I am writing to you as a client and creditor of EBLN UK.

It is apparent to me that EBLN UK has been trading whilst insolvent and therefore fraudulently.
I have reported this to the FCA, with necessary documentation required.

I had many conversations and promises from Jack O’Malley, also emails from Neel and Chloe, regarding trade confirmations and statements. I was led to believe that assets were being bought and sold, when in fact this was paper-trading and thereby they were continually liquidating my assets without permission.
I tried unsuccessfully to withdraw funds onward from early 2021.

I have bank statements that refer to the Dubai registered parent company EBLN DMCC and I would like to know from you as the present Insolvency Practitioner, its relevance to the liquidation of EBLN UK, as this has not been addressed.

Equally, why does EVR Bullion (the company that was supposed to be doing the actual buying and selling) not appear as a debtor on EBLN UK’s balance sheet, and will you be placing EVR Bullion in liquidation as part of tracing and recovering assets?

I would be most grateful if you could also address the following.

The possibility that no assets were ever bought, has this been investigated?

There is also absence of evidence and justification for why EBLN UK are greatly understating amounts owed to creditors.

Please can you indicate what you have been doing for the past 6 months?

For instance, have you reported the director of EBLN for trading while insolvent? If not, why not?
Have you reported Luke Ryan as a shadow or de facto director of EBLN?
Have you reported the director(s) of EBLN for fraudulent trading?
Have you reported the director(s) of EBLN for failure of basic fiduciary of care to clients?
Have you received full cooperation from Beverly Ryan?
Have you taken possession and gained access to the Orb System (where all 'trades' are recorded)?
Have you established whether EBLN's supposedly largest 'creditor', White Knight One Limited (now dissolved) was genuine?
Have you found evidence that EBLN ever actually owned crypto in the quantities clients were led to believe?

To date, Lucas Ross have not informed creditors in any way as to what they are, or are not doing to complete the liquidation.

[Review written & posted on 5 July 2022]

Context:

I am a creditor of a specialist investment/trading firm where assets vanished from my non-discretionary account without permission or explanation. Public records at Companies House show I am one of 200 or so such individual creditors. The firm in question - which traded through an associated company using unnamed suppliers, and had a foreign-domiciled parent - put forward Lucas Ross Limited to handle its proposed liquidation.

Poor impression of proceedings so far:

After receiving details of all creditors from their client in early December 2021, it took Lucas Ross almost 10 weeks just to hold an initial Creditors’ Meeting, mid-February 2022.

A choice of two proposed liquidators - Lucas Ross and AN Other - was put to creditor vote. Although the live vote at the Meeting appeared in clear favour of AN Other, the following day it was Lucas Ross who declared themselves appointed Liquidator. The published final voting tally revealed 6 previously undisclosed creditors - their ballots submitted by proxy - had swung the vote in Lucas Ross’ favour.

Anomaly: not one of these 6 previously undisclosed creditors had been recorded on the List of Company Creditors (part of a document signed as a sworn ‘Statement of Truth’) circulated ahead of the Meeting. 5 of these creditors had demonstrable links to Lucas Ross’ client. The sixth was purportedly the largest of all creditors. You would have thought these were not the profile of creditor you could forget you had. Why had they not featured on the official record? Were they genuine creditors and thus properly entitled to vote?

It seems short-sighted of Lucas Ross not to have issued any form of appropriate statement to address this anomaly - if only to explain how and when it would be clarified. Instead, the matter has been passed over in silence for almost 5 months, the questions have lingered and grown with the entirely predictable consequence that many continue to question the legitmacy of the liquidator’s appointment.

Separately, communication from Lucas Ross has in my experience been poor: far too many emails have not been replied to or even acknowledged. Basic requests for information have gone unanswered. I write as a creditor who has tried to provide relevant information to aid a liquidator perform their statutory duties.

Overall, I question and remain to be convinced whether Lucas Ross have the personnel and comparable case experience to address the specific demands of this particular liquidation in which public interest is so high.

The staff at Lucas Ross I have spoken to - each very personable over the phone - recognise that the inner workings, inter- and intra-company dealings of this particular specialist investment/trading firm, are a far cry from those of the companies and sectors with which Lucas Ross are more familiar.