Consumer reviews and reports on scam companies, bad products and services
Ric Lawes
Ric Lawes Location Thailand Co Ltd Ric Lawes Bangkok, Internet
15th of Dec, 2010 by User961727
Ric Lawes (Richard Onslow Lawes) 100% unadulterated fraud of Location Thailand who has managed to cause havoc on numerous productions and failed on more than one occasion to live up to his financial promises and obligations. He has a nasty and somewhat childish habit of blaming others for his failures when that blame should lay directly at his feet. Many industry professionals have suffered greatly by their association with Mr Lawes, not only had they not been paid (or repaid) but they have had to endure slanderous accusations clearly manufactured to destroy their reputation for professionalism and honesty in an effort to cover Mr Lawes numerous inadequacies.


For example in November 2005 Mr Lawes was trying to produce a feature film project Shadow Island. He gave his assurance that an Australian investment group had agreed to fund the project and persuaded the Executive Producer Steven Rouse to fund the pre production costs with a contracted guarantee that he would be immediately repaid as soon as the funds were transferred from Australia and the shooting had begun. (We have seen the contract between Mr Lawes and Mr Rouse and it clearly states this arrangement in the terms of the agreement) It transpires that the Australian investment group had only expressed a mild interest in evaluating the project in more detail once the funds had become available to them. They had never agreed to commit to financing the project and it was one of several options they were likely to consider. Mr Lawes then conducted a game of cat and mouse, actually more a game of cat and mice, firstly by trying to persuade the Australian backers to commit their anticipated funds because the pre production phase was nearly complete and Mr Rouse wanted to exercise his rights for repayment under the terms of his contract with Mr Lawes. And secondly implying to Mr Rouse that the project should go ahead as the funds would be in place in Australia in the next week or so, a classic case I am sure you agree. The Epilogue: After several months Shadow Island principle photography was complete and it became apparent that there were not enough funds to pay the crew, talent, technicians or suppliers who had contributed in good faith to the project. The principle photography was co funded by Exec Producer Mr Rouse to the tune of approximately 6 Million Bhat and by the co producers FM films who picked up a significant portion of the outstanding debt and had also committed several Million Bhat to the ongoing costs in anticipation of the arrival of the core funding from Australia. With no hope of ever seeing the funds the post production of Shadow Island has been postponed and it is unlikely that Mr Rouse, FM Films or any other creditors to the project will ever see their money again. So what of Mr Lawes take on events, it is his view that the Australian investment group had lied to him and that they withdrew their financial support without foundation, and secondly, the project would have been successful if Mr Rouse and FM Films had not withdrawn their support for the project at the eleventh hour. As a discerning individual we will leave it with you to decide who bears the responsibility for the collapse of this production. In order to assist you in making a more informed decision here are a few FACTS that you may find quite persuasive regarding Mr Lawes honesty and integrity. Mr Lawes is insistent that he has at least 25 years experience in the movie industry and his CV boasts of a PHD and a degree in Business. As you will see this is not entirely the case and we have received evidence that Mr Lawes is not quite sure himself, as the following extracts from several CV's and his IMDB.com profile from the internet will prove. The CV's have been passed to us by interested parties in Australia and contain several paragraphs in which he boasts of his financial acumen and that he has been a key player in the floatation of several companies on the NASDAQ exchange. This simply is not true there is no record that we can find of any of the companies actually achieving a listing. CV1 2000-2001 Honorary MBA for services rendered Caledonia University
2003 Ph D dissertation in Motion Picture Lighting. CV2 2001 PhD in Motion Picture Production, Northampton University, Ireland.
2000 - MBA (Hons) Northampton University, G.P.A. 3.55 Now his imdb.com Resume Caledonia University, EU/Malaysia, MBA, 2002
Honorary Degree with Credits for services rendered to Northampton University as Director General for Asia Pacific Caledonia University, EU/Malaysia, PhD, 2005
Dissertation in Motion Picture Lighting from (unpublished) book - "An Introduction To Lighting In Australia" (1989-1996) As responsible citizens we did some background checks and contacted the Northampton University to enquire about the legitimacy of Mr Lawes status within the university as the Director General for Asia Pacific and the response was, and we quote: The University does not have such a position Some years ago Mr Lawes was promoting a new company BLACK OPAL CAPITAL PTY LTD, ACN (Australian Company Number): 69290642 (a renamed previously registered entity) as an organisation that would be capable of arranging finance for productions up to several million dollars by attracting investors from all over the world with the following unique proposal for film financing. Mr Lawes operated from the following addresses:


Location Thailand Co Ltd
Suite B2 Level 16
GMM Grammy Place
50 Sukhumvit Soi 21 (Asoke Road)
North Klongtoey, Wattana
Bangkok 10110
Thailand Black Opal Capital Pty Ltd
St. Anne's House,
Diadem Court, London W1D 3EE
United Kingdom
+44 709 236 7853 This happens to be the UK business address of De Warrenne Pictures, a production company run by Mr Tom Waller. One can only hope Mr Waller was aware of this apparent association and that he has extricated himself cleanly from any dealings he may have had with Mr Lawes. www.blackopalcap.com (Please note this website is now unavailable, but Mr Lawes has saved the information that it contained on a number of other websites, which we have downloaded) Together with his partner (in crime?) Chris Bracey Gibbons (an investment boiler room operator) they attempted to raise the capital. Of course this avenue proved spectacularly unsuccessful considering the level of expertise in business management that Mr Lawes professes to have gained throughout his illustrious career. The following is an accurate extract of the web presentation. THE PLAYERS The Business Strategic Alliance between Mr Christopher Bracey-Gibbon & Dr Richard Lawes came about on meeting in Thailand. Mr Bracey-Gibbon had a company Patrician Enterprise Limited introducing business contacts and Dr Lawes had just finished publishing the Motion Picture Production Directory for Thailand. They are now in the throes of publishing the Location Thailand ?Business Network Directory' (for 2004) of some 10,000 pages for Businessmen needing information and contacts throughout Thailand. Mr Christopher Bracey-Gibbon is the principal and President of Black Opal Capital Pty Ltd. Canadian by birth, he is a former securities dealer and stockbroker (16 years) and has huge database globally of people unhappy with simply ?parking' their money in institutions. Apart from Canada, he has lived in the United Kingdom, United States and now Thailand to take advantage of the economic growth cycle being experienced. He is presently working from offices in Canada and Thailand to establish the revolving film fund. Thailand is an emerging economy and recognised as a safe environment for filmmakers as opposed to other Asian countries. OUR UNIQUE FORMULA Black Opal Capital Pty Ltd is an Australian registered company with representative offices in Thailand and Canada offering Joint Venture participation for venture capitalists wishing to lend funds for the production of motion pictures by way of a revolving film fund. Capital acquired is placed in escrow accounts until fully subscribed. Depending on the option requested, funds are then directed to either an Investment Bank or the Production Company (Queens land Film Studios Pty Limited).
Capital Guaranteed Funds will go to an Investment Bank and converted to a Financial Instrument. Capital will not be at risk, depleted or utilised in the production of the film. This option does not allow profit share in the films.
The Fund Manager under the Capital Guaranteed Option takes the risk and funds the projects.
Equity Loans (direct finance) will be transferred to the Production Company. As the financier, the lender becomes the first priority in payback and no profits are split until the lender is fully paid out.
Both options selected are covered contractually.
This is not qualifying under Australian Taxation Law Section 10BA for tax deductibility capital input.

Sounds good doesn't it, for a company with AUS6.00 paid up capital! It has subsequently come to our attention that Mr Lawes has also tried his hand in the production of ?Adult Entertainment' productions and we have been reliably informed that Mr Lawes has stuck firmly to his production principles, and failed to fulfill his financial obligations once again. Claims to have been "commissioned" to produce porn for a certain Thai royalty. Finally something that we believe shows Mr Lawes true colours, his current role as a proverbial snake oil tradesman in the promotion of a pseudo medical product called Oxyrich. Oxyrich is a product from Australia, Mr Lawes and his wife are the ?official' representatives of this product and are responsible for its promotion in Thailand as a cure all.


This product has subsequently been rated as one of the Top 10 most useless products on a leading TV expose show in Australia in 2006, more information on the product can be found via a quick search of the internet along with some damming reports from medical practitioners and association about the legitimacy of the claims of the curative properties of Oxyrich and other similar products. Here is a link to get you started; Not much in it's self perhaps but, in an email Mr Lawes sent to Friends and business associates regarding the remission and recovery of his wife who had suffered with stage 3 cervical cancer. Mr Lawes suggests that one of the significant factors in his wife's new found health was and we quote.. I put this down to the following reasons (sic) Diatonic Stabilized Oxygen You guessed it Oxyrich! We wonder why Mr Lawes has not included his medical degree on his many and varied CV's along with the details of his forthcoming Nobel Prize for services to mankind in the eradication of cancer.


associates in Australia have done some initial research on our behalf and suggested that we may find a Dunn & Bradstreet search on Mr Lawes very interesting indeed. The following information was uncovered, and we feel it makes very good reading in its self, but when combined with the perpetual personal PR Mr Lawes inflicts on cyberspace, we are sure that you will agree that perhaps there is a new career path beckoning our man in the Far East as a top flight comedy artiste! Here is a list of some of the companies Mr Lawes has either owned or created : 1) Black Opal Capital PTY LTD DEREGISTERED - 19 CORIANDER PLACE ELLEN GROVE QLD 4078
(This company was discussed in our first expose)
BLACK OPAL FILM FINANCE PTY. LTD - DEREGISTERED - 97 GLEN ROSS ROAD SINNAMON PARK QLD 2) Cinequip (QLD) PTY LTD
3) Global Equities International PTY LTD - Current
4) Nuworld Enterprise PTY LTD - (Ceased/former)
5) Queensland Film Studios PTY LTD (Ceased/former) - 17 FOXMONT DRIVE CARINA QLD 4073
6) Rock and Waterscape Systems PTY LTD
7) Hollywood of Asia Pty LTD - 7 NUNDAH CLOSE BOMADERRY NSW 2541
8) FINBAIRN PTY. LIMITED - UNIT 3 12 TUCKWELL PLACE MACQUARIE PARK NSW 4078
9) A.C.N. 005 603 038 PTY LTD - 19 CORIANDER PLACE ELLEN GROVE QLD The first interesting anomaly is related to Mr Lawes date of birth, it appears that unlike the universe it took a total of 8 probably very traumatic days for his dear mother, for Mr Lawes to be created and finally join us here on planet Earth. And in the case of his company Hollywood of Asia PTY LTD it seems that Mr Lawes was truly in touch with his feminine side as he lost an entire decade from his tempestuous and quite frankly Mittyesque life. Queensland Film Studios PTY LTD, he gives his birthday as 20/08/1952, for
Hollywood of Asia PTY LTD, he gives his birthday as 27/08/1962, for,
Black Opal Capital PTY LTD, he gave his birthday as 27/08/1952 for,
Enterprise PTY LTD, he gave his birthday as 28/08/1952.
We can only surmise that he is possibly (or should that be allegedly) one or all of the following: A) Forgetful
B) Suffering from some mental condition
C) A crook
D) Just plain stupid Of course these conclusions are our suggestions and we are sure there may be many more innocent scenarios that may explain these inconsistencies, poor handwriting and poor data processing by official departmental staff spring to mind. There is however a further body of evidence that eliminates the potential for third party errors as an excuse and the following snippet certainly appears to add weight to our initial conclusions. Like many people Mr Lawes has listings on several perusal sites, linkedin.com and myspace.com for example. He seems inconsistent with both the details and his representations even when he has direct control of the information. On linkedin.com he has the following: CEO Jade Dragon Media & Entertainment Limited (UK) - Company No. 06460036
(Public Company; 11-50 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
January 2008 present (9 months)
Concept Company with revolving Film Fund and Motion Picture Management. Jade Dragon Media is not a public company but a private one, with 100 - 1 shares. It occupies an accommodation address in London, England which is also the home of PROGRESSIVE EQUITY LTD.
48 CHARLOTTE STREET
LONDON
UK
W1T 2NS On Dec 27 2007, 11:42 AM on the Hedge Media Community Forum Under the heading: Looking For Capital the following was uploaded by a Mr Mike Young of Progressive Equity Ltd. ?I am looking for advice and assistance relating to a new Film and Media company I am involved in. The firm owns the rights to dozens of film and documentary scripts, and is currently in production. The Producer, Ric Lawes, based in Asia is at the top of his game, and we need additional capital, equity preferred but other capital structures considered to produce the pipeline of ideas. Any advice on where to look for media and film company investors would be appreciated. [email protected]' Interestingly there were no comments or track backs. Notice under number of employees he has 11-50.. Hmm we do wonder who they could be? Any ideas? Next he had the following: Owner
Queensland Film Studios
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry) July 1986 present (22 years 3 months) Motion Picture Production & Management it appears that on D & B it stated that this company had in fact ceased trading. Now to his education. Or whatever he calls it. On linkedin.com Caledonia University (EU)
PhD, Motion Picture, 2004 2005
Dissertation in Motion Picture Lighting Caldeonia University (EU)
MBA, Business, 2001 2002 The previously published backgrounds from our first episode: CV1 2000-2001 Honorary MBA for services rendered Caledonia University 2003 Ph D dissertation in Motion Picture Lighting. CV2 2001 PhD in Motion Picture Production, Northampton University, Ireland.
2000 - MBA (Hons) Northampton University, G.P.A. 3.55
Now his imdb.com Resume Caledonia University, EU/Malaysia, MBA, 2002
Honorary Degree with Credits for services rendered to Northampton University as Director General for Asia Pacific
Caledonia University, EU/Malaysia, PhD, 2005
Dissertation in Motion Picture Lighting from (unpublished) book - "An Introduction To Lighting In Australia" (1989-1996) Not quite sure of the dates? Or is he just expanding the impossible truth? And yes, well done to the eagle eyed amongst you who spotted the spelling error of Caledonia Caldeonia perhaps it's a wonderful imaginary land where you can acquire free of any charge or guilt a fictitious PhD, Google it for yourself.

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