A global “investment” scheme that targeted the Muslim community over two years has left some people claiming to be thousands of pounds out of pocket. The Muslim Entrepreneur Network (MEN) was launched in 2015 by two east London businessmen as an online resource for subscribers to learn from each other.
Early on the organisation partnered with two Canadian venture capitalists described as millionaires, Rafaqat “Rocky” Mirza and Aziz “Com” Mirza. With their encouragement members were encouraged to join what was described in video marketing materials as an “investment” scheme, the Leverage Program, which failed to deliver on several promises and saw millions of pounds transferred to a nexus of other companies across the globe.
Some 22 households in Redbridge and five in Havering are thought to have paid into the scheme, and hundreds of thousands of pounds in refunds were distributed last year. But those still running Leverage have stated it is both legitimate and ongoing, and that they have been the target of a “smear campaign”.
An investigation has learned:
• At least 1,400 people parted with between £225 and £25,000 each to join the Leverage Program in 2017 and 2018;
• Scores of others invested in enterprises promoted by MEN and its directors, with one person from Redbridge stumping up £250,000;
• Investment cash was transferred to the Mirza brothers’ concerns overseas, with £1.8m alone transferred to Dubai;
• Cash brought in later for a separate venture appears to have been used to refund the first Leverage investors, apparently without investors’ being told;
• For six months in 2018 the organisation rented space at Al Madina Mosque in Victoria Road, Barking for use as its official premises;
• Would-be investors were drawn in on social media by a combination of religious terminology, hyper-marketing and the promise of “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunities.
