A BUSINESS called The Billion Pound Empire, which promised applicants it could turn £150 into £1 million within a year, was being controlled from a Tilford garden shed. A probe by the Companies Investigations Branch (CIB) of the Insolvency Service has exposed the scheme promoted by Ipedia Ltd from company director Stephen Cocker's garden office at Shepherds Way. The claim made in internet advertisements was that 1,000 individuals would each make £1 million, thereby creating a billion-pound business empire. Applicants were told that the project would involve a television series that would be broadcast on the internet or via satellite television, a book and a DVD. A website used by the company claimed that hundreds of applications were being received every week. In fact, by the time the company was ordered into compulsory liquidation in the High Court last Wednesday, only 93 people had signed up. CIB investigations found that the "meticulous and ingenious" business plan did not exist and a petition to wind up the company in the public interest was presented last month. Consumer minister Ian McCartney commented on the case: "These scams are outrageous, ripping off those who can least afford it. The people behind them have no shame and we will not hesitate to shut them down." Mr Cocker, who at one time ran the Hazelbank Nursery near to his home, had been the sole director of Ipedia Ltd since June 6 and Mrs Joanne Cocker was the company secretary. The company misrepresented that it controlled a media company called Channel6TV with an internet television station on which it was about to broadcast. It claimed the TV channel would follow the progress of applicants as they worked on the Billion Pound Empire. In truth Channel 6TV was simply a guise for the company, which had no equipment, no studio and was incapable of producing a television programme or carrying out what it purported to offer. Ipedia used a "6TV logo" on its advertisements, a channel6TV signature block on some emails and two websites, but had no connections whatsoever with any existing television stations with a similar name. CIB's investigation also found that the company had no proper banking arrangements and did not keep adequate accounting records.
