17.30
World HQ.
This morning: considering the historical trends in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s, background reading for a section of The Writing Project.
Editing the EG Calendar Of Events for 1991.
The street I…
II...
III...
Lunch by the back door & a walk down the garden, returning to The Calendar Of Grief. When there is a down, a toxic immersion such as this, good that it is balanced by an up, a purification & cleansing. So, part of my day’s considerations is of what is higher, as well as what has flowed from lesser impulses given permission to govern behaviour.
The bean counters took over (Anthony Sampson 2004). Accountant SG Alder Esq. has been referred to in this Diary on a regular basis. Not mentioned before are fellow accountants John Goldring & Keith Moore. These last two accountants used client money to further their own interests, were caught before they were able to return the “borrowed” funds, and did time. John Goldring was Toyah’s accountant while she was managed by Messrs. Alder & Fenwick - quite a conjunction of professional advisors, then. Mr. Goldring was also responsible for John Wetton’s pension fund, which went from something to nothing while John was in Los Angeles; similarly with half a dozen other artists.
Litigation writs
John Wetton… has launched a High Court compensation action… as a result of unauthorised loans made from his pension fund by his former accountant. Wetton… issued a writ against chartered accountants Casson Beckman, and former partner in the firm John Goldring. The writ claims Goldring, a former trustee of Wetton's pension scheme, made unauthorised loans from the scheme to a property development company of which he was a director and major shareholder. Goldring is accused of acting in breach of trust and in breach of his fiduciary duties to the pension fund trustees.
Johnny the W is unable to speak of this today: he is subject to a gagging clause in the settlement deal with Casson Beckman, which materialized shortly before a Sunday newspaper was about to blow the story. But John smiles when he says: No comment. Robert Palmer & Manfred Mann were also among Mr. Goldring’s clients.
Accountant's cut is the deepest
Mary Braid reports Wednesday, 18 October 1995
Following the trial of his accountant, Keith Moore, Sting will probably be forever known as the superstar who was fleeced of pounds 6m and was too rich to notice.
Such an oversight - even over a period of four years - astounds the man in the street. But not all those involved in the business side of rock and roll are as shocked by the story. While one leading music industry accountant said he was "quite frankly flabbergasted" that Sting and his other close advisers - his manager, Miles Copeland, and lawyer, Christopher Burley - failed to spot the huge fraud, others in the industry barely raised an eyebrow.
"This could happen remarkably easily," said Ed Bicknell, manager of the similarly rich and successful rock group Dire Straits. "It doesn't surprise me at all. What does surprise me is that it doesn't happen more often."
Just how often it does happen is difficult to gauge. Scandals do occasionally blow up. Last December, operations were suspended for two weeks at Casson Beckman, an accountancy firm, after John Goldring, a partner, resigned following "apparent financial irregularities" believed to involve pounds 2m. The rock star Robert Palmer was among the clients who were reported to have lost money…
Mr Bicknell said the four-week trial gave a rare insight into the complexity of music industry finance and the burdens it places on artists who have previously had little interest or experience of business, and are too busy making money and touring to develop expertise… Mr Bicknell described how, as stars perform live across the globe for months on end, money pours in from record and publishing royalties and ticket sales and merchandising, often long after it was earned. It floods out again in taxes and huge touring costs. "The situation is very fluid," he insisted. "When artists say they don't know what they are worth they are telling the truth."
Ain’t that the truth.
A letter to The Independent from Christopher Burly, Sting’s solicitor…
Sting too rich to notice?
LETTER: Sting too rich to notice?
Mr Christopher Burley
Friday, 20 October 1995
Sir: Was Sting too rich to notice his ex-accountant, Keith Moore, had stolen over pounds 6m, for which Keith Moore has been sent to prison for six years?... Neither Sting nor anyone else would spot a fraud which took the Fraud Squad three years to prove.
Sting & Trudie, the Lloyd Webbers, John Studzinski & several other guests, including Toyah & her husband, were at lunch with Sir Edward Heath at Sir Edward’s home in Salisbury Cathedral Close, Arundells, and afterwards I had a short discussion with Sting on this topic. That, for another day.
18.50 E-furying.
How about going here and hitting the Hi, Punksters button?
19.10
Done.
21.12 A Minx walk around the town. A wonderful early Autumn evening that feels more like late Summer.
To gentle.
World HQ.
This morning: considering the historical trends in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s, background reading for a section of The Writing Project.
Editing the EG Calendar Of Events for 1991.
The street I…
II...
III...
Lunch by the back door & a walk down the garden, returning to The Calendar Of Grief. When there is a down, a toxic immersion such as this, good that it is balanced by an up, a purification & cleansing. So, part of my day’s considerations is of what is higher, as well as what has flowed from lesser impulses given permission to govern behaviour.
The bean counters took over (Anthony Sampson 2004). Accountant SG Alder Esq. has been referred to in this Diary on a regular basis. Not mentioned before are fellow accountants John Goldring & Keith Moore. These last two accountants used client money to further their own interests, were caught before they were able to return the “borrowed” funds, and did time. John Goldring was Toyah’s accountant while she was managed by Messrs. Alder & Fenwick - quite a conjunction of professional advisors, then. Mr. Goldring was also responsible for John Wetton’s pension fund, which went from something to nothing while John was in Los Angeles; similarly with half a dozen other artists.
Litigation writs
John Wetton… has launched a High Court compensation action… as a result of unauthorised loans made from his pension fund by his former accountant. Wetton… issued a writ against chartered accountants Casson Beckman, and former partner in the firm John Goldring. The writ claims Goldring, a former trustee of Wetton's pension scheme, made unauthorised loans from the scheme to a property development company of which he was a director and major shareholder. Goldring is accused of acting in breach of trust and in breach of his fiduciary duties to the pension fund trustees.
Johnny the W is unable to speak of this today: he is subject to a gagging clause in the settlement deal with Casson Beckman, which materialized shortly before a Sunday newspaper was about to blow the story. But John smiles when he says: No comment. Robert Palmer & Manfred Mann were also among Mr. Goldring’s clients.
Accountant's cut is the deepest
Mary Braid reports Wednesday, 18 October 1995
Following the trial of his accountant, Keith Moore, Sting will probably be forever known as the superstar who was fleeced of pounds 6m and was too rich to notice.
Such an oversight - even over a period of four years - astounds the man in the street. But not all those involved in the business side of rock and roll are as shocked by the story. While one leading music industry accountant said he was "quite frankly flabbergasted" that Sting and his other close advisers - his manager, Miles Copeland, and lawyer, Christopher Burley - failed to spot the huge fraud, others in the industry barely raised an eyebrow.
"This could happen remarkably easily," said Ed Bicknell, manager of the similarly rich and successful rock group Dire Straits. "It doesn't surprise me at all. What does surprise me is that it doesn't happen more often."
Just how often it does happen is difficult to gauge. Scandals do occasionally blow up. Last December, operations were suspended for two weeks at Casson Beckman, an accountancy firm, after John Goldring, a partner, resigned following "apparent financial irregularities" believed to involve pounds 2m. The rock star Robert Palmer was among the clients who were reported to have lost money…
Mr Bicknell said the four-week trial gave a rare insight into the complexity of music industry finance and the burdens it places on artists who have previously had little interest or experience of business, and are too busy making money and touring to develop expertise… Mr Bicknell described how, as stars perform live across the globe for months on end, money pours in from record and publishing royalties and ticket sales and merchandising, often long after it was earned. It floods out again in taxes and huge touring costs. "The situation is very fluid," he insisted. "When artists say they don't know what they are worth they are telling the truth."
Ain’t that the truth.
A letter to The Independent from Christopher Burly, Sting’s solicitor…
Sting too rich to notice?
LETTER: Sting too rich to notice?
Mr Christopher Burley
Friday, 20 October 1995
Sir: Was Sting too rich to notice his ex-accountant, Keith Moore, had stolen over pounds 6m, for which Keith Moore has been sent to prison for six years?... Neither Sting nor anyone else would spot a fraud which took the Fraud Squad three years to prove.
Sting & Trudie, the Lloyd Webbers, John Studzinski & several other guests, including Toyah & her husband, were at lunch with Sir Edward Heath at Sir Edward’s home in Salisbury Cathedral Close, Arundells, and afterwards I had a short discussion with Sting on this topic. That, for another day.
18.50 E-furying.
How about going here and hitting the Hi, Punksters button?
19.10
Done.
21.12 A Minx walk around the town. A wonderful early Autumn evening that feels more like late Summer.
To gentle.
