New Zealander's criminal history shocks London client

Mark Brewer's Phoenix Forex drew the attention of the Financial Markets Authority in 2013.

Mark Brewer, a New Zealander who billed himself as a "sales legend" but left the country with warnings from regulators and after being made bankrupt, has resurfaced in London with a new name but similar modus operandi.

London woman Fiona Chui Fong Noden said she was introduced to a "Marcus Henderson" last month, but it was only after she had paid 12,800 ($29,270) for Wisefx foreign exchange trading software - which she says lost her money - that she realised who she was dealing with.

She said the man has introduced himself and signed contracts and emails as Marcus Henderson, and it was only a chance reference that allowed Noden to unmask his true identity as Mark Brewer, a bankrupt and criminal whose most recent business in New Zealand - selling foreign exchange software - left a wake of dissatisfied customers and millions in unpaid debts.

Noden said she was shocked to find the criminal and business history of Brewer, who had claimed to be Australian. Noden said the software she had been sold made "crazy" trades that led to losses and people needed to be warned who they were dealing with.

Brewer has been bankrupted twice in New Zealand - the second annulled after cutting a deal with creditors months before he was due to be discharged - and served a stretch in prison for sexual violation.

Brewer's time in New Zealand left a considerable financial mess. He previously worked selling expensive software purporting to let punters know how to win money gambling on horse races, but the firm collapsed owing hundreds of thousands of dollars and Brewer was convicted of running the business while an undischarged bankrupt.

Brewer's next business fared little better. The Financial Markets Authority took the unusual step of issuing a public warning in 2013 about his Phoenix Forex, saying the advertised claims that its Oakfx currency trading software could generate annual returns of 60 per cent were "unrealistic".

A leaked sales briefing from Brewer showed the "sales legend" had exhorted his Phoenix Forex staff to use unusual methods of persuasion to close deals.

"You can go give them a ****ing reacharound mate, I don't care. Be creative. Get the deal done, now. Take the money, now," he said.

The firm subsequently collapsed and liquidators McDonald Vague said creditors - including customers who had bought the $24,700 software packages - were owed $2.1 million. Unpaid taxes made up $1.2 million of the total owed and the administration was ongoing, liquidators said.

Phoenix Forex was directed by Kendall Twigden, 24, who subsequently married Brewer and moved with him to the UK.

Since departing New Zealand, Brewer and Twigden set up, and soon shuttered, a number of similar-sounding schemes selling automated foreign exchange trading software. Earlier iterations of their Northern Hemisphere businesses include Vodafx and Paymark Autotrader.

The couple had teamed up in Ireland with former banker Jonathan Chubb - who is still listed as the sole director of Wisefx Europe. Earlier this year, Chubb pleaded guilty to stealing 8600 from tenants in Ireland and was sentenced to community work.

At his sentencing hearing in March, Chubb's defence lawyer said his client was now selling software from home, and the offending wasn't well thought-out and was "not the work of a criminal mastermind".

The sentencing judge said: "A species of crime I particularly dislike is white collar crime."

Brewer did not reply to emailed questions or phone calls this week. Questions to Wisefx, which doesn't name any people involved or list any contact phone numbers on its website, were answered via email from someone identifying themselves as Maria Mladenova.

She said Wisefx had "several key differences" from Oakfx, Vodafx and Paymark Autotrader software and she was "proud of our achievements and the product we deliver".

Brewer's new name was his father's surname, she said, and the change was spurred "out of respect for his father's family and following the death recently of his mother".

"We are comfortable there is no deception here."

Mladenova, who does not appear to have any social media presence and did not provide a job title or contact phone number, has not responded to further questions seeking bone fides or a phone call.