Is Edward Banayoti Ernest Anderson, involved in a multi-million-dollar scam?

Edward Banayoti is a scammer who had to change his name to clear it. Before his name was Ernest Anderson and using that scam, the man ran a major investment scam in Canada.

After getting into the limelight for his fraudulent activities, he simply changed his name and started making himself seem like a credible investor and businessman. 

The following review explores his criminal past, how his name change helped him, and why you should be wary of him: 

The Criminal History of Edward Banayoti: 

Edward Banayoti faced an investigation from Canadian authorities for his suspected fake mortgage deals through an unlicensed investment firm. 

The firm was Golden Gate Funds LP and it settled with the Ontario Securities Commission in 2009 to pay $4.7 million in penalties. 

This is proof enough of his fraudulent activities. Surely, a regulatory authority wouldn’t agree to a multi-million settlement unless the suspect was guilty. 

In 2005, the Ontario Securities Commission had begun investigating Golden Gate Funds. It was an unlicensed firm marketing its investment products illegally to consumers. 

The fraudulent company was able to get over 150 people to invest more than $8 million into its fund. At the time, Edward’s name was Ernest Anderson. Later, the company went bankrupt and the investors lost their entire investment. 

In 2009, Edward Banayoti accepted before an OSC tribunal that he didn’t use the investor funds for mortgage investments. Instead, he used the money to pay for operation costs and to pay previous investors. 

Basically, his company was following the conventional Ponzi scheme model where the firm takes money from investors promising huge returns. Ponzi schemes use the funds of their new investors to make payments to its previous investors and the cycle continues until it’s unable to get any new investors. 

Such schemes are illegal and extremely dangerous. All of their investors end up losing their money and the only one who comes out as the biggest beneficiary is the person running the scheme.

There are plenty of such fraudulent operations going on. For example, QuinReward is a Malaysian Ponzi scheme, which has made headlines for its illegal activities. Another example is Nesten whose founders used to run Ponzi schemes in South Korea.

There is no proof whether Edward Banayoti paid the $4.7 million penalties he agreed to pay as part of his settlement with OSC. 

The Obvious Red Flags in Golden Gates and Edward Banayoti:

It’s worth noting that Edward promoted his investment scheme by claiming to be an investment advisor. This was illegal to do so because he is not a registered finance professional. 

Furthermore, he is originally from Russia and changed his citizenship to Canada. 

The registered address of Golden Gates was a virtual address. Furthermore, legal loopholes allowed him to avoid any prison sentences when he was arrested for running his investment scam in Canada.

Now, he is using virtual addresses for his new ventures in the UK. This includes his current ventures, Defence Unlimited:

Although a Canadian court had barred him from starting any investments in 2007, he is still able to do so because of his name change. 

Edward Banayoti and His Short-Lived Marriage with Princess Aisha Bint Hussein

After his settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission for running an investment scam, he changed his name from Ernest Anderson to Edward Banayoti in 2015. 

Then, he founded Defence Unlimited, an arms brokerage company. 

It is listed as a lobbying and political consulting firm in EU military progress and licensing procedures. Then, he married Princess Aisha Bint Al Hussein in 2016 and divorced her 6 months later. Aisha is the sister of Jordan King Abdullah and the daughter of Hussein, the former king of Jordan. 

That’s not all.

He made headlines in 2016 when he made a bid to acquire a 49.9% stake in Air Malta. Edward had made this bid through Banayoti Holdings Limited, a UK firm. 

He registered the firm just a few months ago and its share capital was EUR 1.85 million. However, he had never paid up the capital, according to legal documentation. 

He met with the representatives of the Maltese government once and it didn’t yield any positive results. The government said that due diligence revealed that Edward and his companies would not match government plans to identify a strategic partner which can assure a positive turnaround for Air Malta.

In 2018, he dissolved the UK company. 

Conclusion

After going through the above points, it’s clear as day that Edward Banayoti is a fraudster with a history of running scams. 

He scammed 150 investors in Canada through Golden Gates and ended up settling with the OSC for a $4 million penalty which he hasn’t paid yet. 

Furthermore, he has been involved in plenty of illegal activities and claims to be a billionaire. However, there is no proof of how he was able to amass this fortune. 

Beware of this individual. Avoid Edward Banayoti aka Ernest Anderson at all costs.