After working hard and saving carefully, Alan Brozel managed to realize his dream of retiring at 50. He left his life in north London behind and moved to a spacious villa on the stunning Costa Blanca in Spain.
However, fast forward almost 25 years, and at the age of 74, he has found himself back in the workforce. He now works as a cleaner in holiday villas, looks after pets, and drives friends to the airport to make ends meet.
It’s a long way from the luxurious retirement travelling around the world that he and wife Paulene, 63, had planned when they left Barnet in 2000.
Alan, a father of two adult sons, currently resides in a modest two-bedroom house in Gata de Gorgos. He is among the many British expatriates, mostly of retirement age, who fell victim to a scam by the fraudulent investment company Continental Wealth Management (CWM), losing a total of €34 million.
He had poured his life savings of £150,000 from a private pension into CWM, having been promised that his sizable pot would act as a future safeguard for him and Paulene. He was told the nest egg would be invested in low-risk bonds and assets such as gold and silver. But it wasn’t.
After the unlicensed and unregulated company folded in September 2017, Alan discovered his signature had been forged on documents instructing CWM to make high-risk and ultimately foolish gambles with his money.
He told MailOnline: ‘This was my whole pension, the whole lot, I’d only worked for a couple of companies, and they had invested wisely so the pot was substantial.
‘I said to CWM I didn’t want my money risked at all, they promised me low risk bonds and they forged our signatures to invest in high risk.
Alan Brozel is now working as a cleaner after he was scammed out of his £150k pension savings
Jody Smart (pictured), a former model turned bar owner, was the only company director prosecuted following Mr Brozel’s loss. She was convicted last month of fraud
Alan, a father-of-two grown up sons, now lives in a modest two-bed home in Gata de Gorgos (pictured)
‘The idea was we would all give up work and have numerous holidays around the world and the investment money would help cover that.
‘Now I’m 74 and I’m still working cleaning villas and looking after dogs in our house – there is no sign of me stopping. Paulene is still working too.
‘This isn’t what I envisaged when we came out here. This is a totally different direction. There are times we have considered going back to the UK because our income had disappeared.
‘Now I have my £600 state pension plus what I can earn so I have to work, sometimes I do airport runs for friends for a bit of extra money. It completely changed our lives.’
Alan, who had various jobs in the UK including working as a shipping agent and for an electrical wholesalers, invested the money in 2009 and says all was well at first, with thousands of pounds transferred into his account every quarter. But after a few years payments started arriving late or in lower amounts than promised.
Then in September 2017 he received a bombshell email that the company had gone bust, taking all his money with it.
Following years of legal battles, CWM director Jody Smart, a former model turned bar owner, was last month convicted of fraud – with only two victims named on the indictment. Ms Smart was the only director prosecuted.
Mr Brozel had poured his life savings of £150,000 into a private pension
Company secretary Alan Gorringe died before the trial began and director Patrick Kirby is understood to no longer be in the country.
Alan was not one of the victims named on the indictment and has given up on ever seeing the money he invested again. To make matters worse he was so convinced by the company’s slick image he recommended several other friends invest too – and at least one did.
A court in Alicante last month ordered Ms Smart – who now goes by Jody Pearson – to pay out a combined €370,000 to the two victims.
She was also sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail but has been allowed to continue running Oceana Club in Benissa while she appeals the verdict.
Alan said: ‘She’s an absolute con artist, when it came to court in Denia they were let off because if somebody is suing a Brit in Spain the authorities don’t really want to get involved.
‘When they walked out of court I totally lost my rag. They should never have been allowed to get away with it.
‘She’s still running her bar as far as I know. I just hope the court has taken away her passport because if not she will disappear.
‘A lot of the people who invested the money were pensioners, they are elderly people, a number have died or committed suicide, and others have moved back to the UK.
‘It is shocking that it’s been allowed to go on this long.’
Alan was far from the only victim. British expat Marie Noonan, 57, moved from Bournemouth to Calpe on the Costa Blanca 12 years ago in search of better weather, a laid-back lifestyle and affordable housing.
But the online services boss was taken in by a slick presentation at CWM’s impressive offices and was persuaded to part with £22,000 she had recently inherited from her parents.
Marie said: ‘Jody should be in jail for what she did.
‘When I found out what happened I just started shaking, I went ballistic.
‘It wasn’t so much about me, it was about everybody else, it just broke my heart.
‘There is a gentleman out here who committed suicide because they just emptied out his bank account. Others have never been the same after and have died shortly after.
‘And she’s just getting on with life and chatting to people like nothing’s going on.’
Court documents named Ms Smart as the sole administrator of CWM, which defrauded one victim, Timothy Benjamin, out of £300,000 under the false pretence of buying a house on the Costa Blanca. Sally Hodgson, who worked for Jody as an admin assistant, lent €70,000 to the company believing it would be repaid in instalments but was fired and never repaid.
Other former employees and senior figures including Jody’s then husband Darren Kirby have not been prosecuted
Marie added: ‘They played a good game. I remember seeing their advertising just after my parents had left me this inheritance and I thought it would be good, rather than have the money dwindle away from spending it.
Mr Brozel’s current job is a long way from the luxurious retirement travelling around the world that he and wife Paulene, 63, had planned when they left Barnet in 2000
Jody Smart was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail but has been allowed to continue running Oceana Club in Benissa while she appeals the verdictÂ
‘They came to my apartment and it was all very professional, they were going through what options we could take. Then later we were invited to their very nice CWM office. It was all really impressive.
‘But they just saw expats as cash cows, people who’ve worked hard and done well all their lives and they have ruined that.
‘I was in a mess when it happened, I was absolutely devastated when I discovered I’d lost the money.
‘I could only think “oh my god, that was my parents’ money they had worked hard all their lives for, why was I so stupid?”.
‘I just feel really guilty and angry with what’s been going on with the courts.’
The scam has helped bring some of Spain’s large expat community together to support each other in pursuing private legal action against CWM’s former bosses.
But while Marie says she doesn’t believe the fraud would’ve been allowed to carry on for so long in the UK, she has no regrets about choosing to live abroad.
She said: ‘We moved out here for the lifestyle, the weather and the wonderful expat community but I definitely feel in this case we were seen as easy targets.
‘The law in Spain was much more relaxed and I don’t think they would have got away with it for so long in the UK.
‘But it hasn’t changed my view of being out here and I have even met new people through our experiences.’
Another victim, Ann Rountree, who owns The Phoenix Restaurant Gran Alacant, said she and her partner lost her entire pension in the scam.
She wrote on Facebook: ‘B*****d stole our pension funds! She’s got what she deserves, though I don’t know how the others have evaded prison.
‘Say a little prayer for us, at least to get our pension money back. Both mine and Don’s whole lot GONE! That’s the price of a WHOLE HOUSE, (UK prices) and I’m not joking.’
Ms Smart describes herself on Facebook as a wedding planner for Oceana Weddings which advertises destination ceremonies to British couples.
Her social media paints a picture of a glamorous jet set lifestyle travelling to luxurious holiday destinations including Venice, Greece and Thailand.
Mr Brozel’s old house is pictured: After years of hard work, careful saving and investment he was able to achieve his dream by retiring at 50
Mr Brozel could finally swap his life in north London for a large villa on Spain’s beautiful Costa Blanca – but the joy was short-lived
Mr Brozel said: ‘Now I’m 74 and I’m still working cleaning villas and looking after dogs in our house – there is no sign of me stopping’
Oceana Club’s website contains a smiling picture of Jody with husband Franco Pearson stating: ‘Our vision for the Oceana is artistic gastronomy, mouthwatering flavours, which is complemented with wonderful cocktails and a stunning panoramic view of the Mediterranean Sea just metres from the water. Simply irresistible’.’
Victims told MailOnline they believe Jodie used money from the scam to fund Oceana – a claim she denies.
Through her lawyers she told Olive Press it was ‘uncertain’ whether she would spend time in jail but admitted she had been ordered to pay out €370,000 to two ‘creditors’.
Her lawyer went on to defend her glamorous lifestyle, which he said was the ‘product of years of hard work’.
He insisted there should be ‘no objection to how my client spent her money’ and added Oceania is ‘a business that generates employment and added value and had nothing to do with the legal proceedings’.
