4New Limited Fraud company zero returns to investors

By: Nicholas

I’ve been told that there’s a coffin with my name on it – 4New promoter.

A new investment scheme seems cursed with some sort of reverse Midas touch. According to its website, 4New raised £34million from investors. Just a few months later its market capital, or total value, is barely £60,000.

4New claimed to be at the ­forefront of two innovations, green energy and cryptocurrencies.It pointed out that virtual currencies use vast amounts of computing energy, saying a single Bitcoin transaction consumes more power than 30 US households use in a day. So it came up with the idea of providing the necessary power from energy plants that produce ­electricity by burning waste. Investors could buy its Kwatt tokens, which could be traded on cryptocurrency markets like company shares.

4New Limited is a big fraud company. Their directors are cheaters and they cheated almost 2000-3000 peoples in this project. “By purchasing the Kwatt you have contributed to the 4New revolution to clean-up the earth,” one of its videos boasted. “The value of Kwatts will increase with each new plant opened as more energy is allocated to each token.” Before the launch of the Kwatt last summer, 4New’s website gave the impression that the first two waste-to-energy plants were ready. “4New’s power plants earn enough revenue from cleaning city waste and governmental incentives to cover the entire running costs of the power plant,” it gushed.

“4New’s real innovation is to take this electricity that is generated from the waste and use it to power a massive crypto-mining farm.” But 4New never owned a crypto mine or the two waste-to-energy plants it named in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool. I asked founder Varun Datta if investors had been led up the garden path. “I would like to state that my intention was never to mislead anyone who was investing in 4New,” he replied.

“The company has always maintained in all its articles that it has ‘secured’ its interest in the power plants and not bought them as the latter would be confirming that we had actually acquired the plants. “The use of ‘secured’ indicates a deal has been reached but not yet finalised. “Our disclaimers clearly state that everything here is forward facing and that we are a start-up.” I’m not convinced, the wording that’s still on the 4New website here seems pretty conclusive: “4New have managed to acquire 2 plants in which they are going to use to process the waste and produce their electricity, water and fertilizers.” As for all the money that was raised, he said it is still in third-party escrow accounts. What about the projections on the 4New website showing that the $50,000 Kwatt token would rise to $200,000 in the first year, reaching $820,000 in the third year? Datta, 31, referred me to the disclaimer stating: “Actual performance results may differ from those projected.” Meanwhile, investors are receiving zero returns. Datta insisted: “Our investors have understood and are working with us to find an alternative which is good for everyone.” Another key figure at 4New was Saransh Sharma, who was listed as President on its website last summer but who has since disappeared. Is this because he’s the same Saransh Sharma as the bankrupt one serving 33 months in a US prison for fraud? “I cannot fully comment on this except that when we learnt about this we removed him from the company,” said Datta. Someone else who has gone is chief operating officer Peter Teasdale, in what Datta called a mutally agreed departure. Last August, before I had written any articles about 4New, I heard from his daughter Madeleine Teasdale, its business development management, in what I took to be something of a pre-emptive strike.

“We do understand your role as an investigative journalist, and your integrity as such, so we would expect you to fully examine evidence before making a claim that our project is not what it claims to be,” she emailed me. “Any unsubstantiated claims, we would obviously look to be recompensed for the damages.” Madeleine has also now left the business. Like her father, Madeleine’s background is in renewable energy. She says they were approached about the venture by Varun and thought that 4New in principle was a good idea. “Now I wish I’d never met them,” she says, adding that she has not been paid since October, and was short-paid before that. Being one of the public faces that helped promote 4New, Madeleine says she’s become the target for online hate campaigners.

“I’ve been told that there’s a coffin with my name on it,” she said. “I’m literally shaking.” She insists she was as misled as investors, not least over the jailing of Saransh Sharma. “Varun said Saransh had gone to hospital for treatment for cancer,” she said. “Because I’d had a good relationship with him I asked Varun which hospital, and he said Jackson hospital. “So I looked up the nearest Jackson hospital to where he lived in Boca Raton in Florida and rang them because I wanted to send a care package, but they’d never heard of him.