Laurence Easeman and the Great Firescout Swindle

The first article on this blog talks a lot about Laurence Easeman and his politics. Easeman has issued a flailing, incoherent response, in which he blames everybody from Peter Tatchell to the “powers that be” for his public humiliation. However, one thing which his response avoids mentioning altogether, is the concern about his business practices and those of his long term business partners.

When we first started looking into Easeman and his company, Albien Law Advocates, we found out about Albien Law Advocates’ parent company, Firescout Corporation. Firescout is a company currently based in the Virgin Islands despite doing all of its business in the UK (for entirely legitimate, not tax-related reasons, we’re sure). Companies House lists the directors of Albien Law Advocates as:

• Neil Francis Heffey – local estate agent and boss at Sutton Estates, a property management company based in Liverpool. Neil Heffey has had some previous media attention back in 2008, when he had signs saying “rent dodger lives here” installed on the homes of tenants.
• Laurence Easeman
• Andrew Edward Clarke
• Kraig Abel-Search
• Samira Morny

Firescout’s website lists six sub-companies:

• Albien Law Advocates – a legal advice service that makes itself look suspiciously like a solicitors, despite a total lack of legal qualifications
• Client Collection Services – a debt collection company, i.e. a bailiffs
• Media Division – “provides the news information the authorities try to keep under wraps”. We’re not sure what this is and we don’t think Firescout really know either.
• Property Maintenance Division – offers repair and maintenance services to landlords and letting agents
• Property Management Division – a property management service
• Tenant Checker – provides landlords with personal information on tenants who may have had difficulty keeping up with the rent in the past, i.e. a blacklist

An interesting range of activities, to be sure. Of particular interest is Client Collection Services and Tenant Checker, given Albien Law’s claimed championing of the poor and downtrodden.

Albien Law Advocates is itself a somewhat nebulous entity. It claims to offer “information and support regarding your legal rights as a UK citizen in any number of situations” and styles itself as a solicitors. It is not at all clear from their website what – if any – legal expertise they have, or what they charge for their services. It has been speculated that they may be breaking the law by presenting themselves as qualified to provide these sorts of services professionally. Anybody facing difficulties with debt, benefits or housing issues would be far better served seeking out one of the many well established free advice services, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau. People having difficulty in Liverpool may also find it useful to contact Reclaim – a self-organised group based locally, who provide reliable support and advice on benefits and housing issues for free.

Another area of activity for Easeman is his People Vs. Banks campaign [link]. Again, this is a somewhat nebulous organisation which appears to consist entirely of Easeman and his friends. They offer a “Bailiff bootcamp” which offers to teach people to repel bailiffs using Freeman on the Land nonsense for a fee of £20. While People Vs Banks presents itself as an activist organisation, it appears that Easeman has found a way to milk a little more money out of it, having set up a premium rate phone line, which he advertised on a (now deleted) page on his website.

The main focus of Easeman’s arguments via People Vs Banks appears to be on “usury.” Usury is a somewhat archaic term for the practice of charging interests on loans. While we have no wish to defend either banks or predatory money lending, individuals and groups who focus on usury as their main point of critique tend to be deeply anti-Semitic. Further evidence of this can be seen from People Vs Banks’ promotion of anti-Semitic, fascist poet Ezra Pound on Facebook

Ezra Pound was jailed as a Nazi Collaborator and was known for signing his letters “Heil Hitler”

Given Easeman and his partners’ contact with vulnerable and desperate people, often struggling with debt and housing problems through both Albien Law and People Vs Banks, it is particularly concerning that their company also runs a bailiffs (Client Collection Services) and housing blacklist (Tenant Checker). This behaviour is at best deeply hypocritical, and at worst highly suspicious. We would strongly encourage anybody who has had contact with Albien Law, People Vs Banks, Sutton Estates and any other Firescout or Easeman associated companies to find out whether Tenant Checker or Client Collection Services are keeping any of their personal data by making a Subject Access Request, as is your right under the Data Protection Act.

To conclude, on top of the clear evidence of Easeman, Heffey and Clarke being deeply racist apologists for Nazism, it seems that there is a strong current of hypocrisy and sinister behaviour behind their public activities

Laurence Easeman: Russell Brand’s Pal, Nazi Sympathiser, Bailiff

Laurence and Russell – Best Friends Forever?

At the time of publishing, Laurence Easeman was due to speak at the London launch of Russell Brand’s new book – Revolution, alongside human rights activist Peter Tatchell and Brand himself, amongst others. As anti-fascists who have been investigating Easeman for some time, we decided it was time to publish. This posting is a collective effort by this group of anti-fascists.

Will the Real Laurence Easeman Stand Up?

Laurence Easeman, who is he? Well you may get a different answer depending on who you ask. There are lots of people who seem to think, not least himself, that he is a “man of people”, a tireless champion of the poor and disadvantaged, people who are in debt and who are being hounded by bailiffs and debt collectors, someone who knows the law and how to take on those bailiffs and debt collectors at their own game. However, there are a few people who think he is a hypocrite, a liar, an anti-Semite and fascist. In the interest of balance, perhaps the best way to decide between these two seemingly radically opposing opinions is to look at the evidence.

Laurence Easeman V “The Banks”

Laurence Easeman is a bit of a local celebrity on Merseyside. He is the son of the actor Margi Clarke and has directed videos for such bands as The Coral and The Polyphonic Spree. One of this article’s authors first became aware of him when he started posting on the Occupy Liverpool Facebook page at the end of 2011. Those posts, as I remember, were nothing out of the ordinary, just the same as the usual stuff that was posted by users on that page – articles about bankers, the money system etc. So far, so banal. Lately, Easeman has emerged as an anti-bailiff activist. He runs a page on Facebook called “People vs The Banks”. The page description is as follows:

“The People vs The Banks is a project to educate and illuminate people to the fraud of Usury and Private Banking and what the (sic) can do about it”.

He also advertises something called a “Bailiff Boot Camp” on this page. This event promises to give people the knowledge that will enable them to “laugh in the face of Bailiffs” (for a fee).

“Albion Dawn”/”Albien Rising”

In 2013, local antifascist activists became aware of attempts by fascist groups to infiltrate the nascent anti-fracking movement. An event called “Frack Off” was publicised on Facebook, the attendees of which included Laurence Easeman, apparently representing a group called “Albion Dawn.”

The name of this group rang alarm bells, since it so closely resembled that of the Greek fascist/neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn. A look at the Facebook page of Albion Dawn appeared to confirm that it was indeed a fascist group. Furthermore, several of the speakers at the “Frack Off” event were also listed as attendees at a David Irving lecture in Manchester around the same time. David Irving is a so called “revisionist historian” who has been convicted of holocaust denial in Austria and was sentenced to three years in prison.

It should be noted that despite the name of the event, there is no connection to the environmental campaign group, Frack Off, and local anti-fracking activists have distanced themselves from the event discussed here.

Sometime later a group called “Albien Rising” appeared on Facebook, with one of the admins listed as Laurence Easeman. After repeated attempts to join the group, one of this page’s authors was accepted in to it. In amongst the usual conspiracy theory content there appeared to be a strong element of anti-Semitism.

The group was only active for a short time after this before the admins changed the settings to prevent anyone from posting. Shortly after the group vanished from Facebook. Some of the most anti-Semitic comments come from one individual going under the name of “Kraig Abel”. This profile (now defunct) was listed on Laurence Easeman’s Facebook friends list. Another commenter is Andy Clarke, who is Facebook friends with both Easeman and Abel. Andy Clarke in particular does not seem to be shy about his far right sympathies.

Easeman’s business partner Andy Clarke

“Albien Law”

After more research it soon became apparent that Easeman, Clarke and “Abel” were all linked to an organisation called “Albien Law”. The company advertises itself as “a Company developed to assist self-litigants or those who cannot afford the increasingly high costs of litigation.”

Easeman, Clarke and “Abel” (whose real name is listed as Kraig Abel-Search) are all listed as directors of Albien Law, along with another two individuals. One of these individuals, is Neil Heffey. Heffey is a partner in a company called Sutton Estates. He achieved some media exposure in 2008 for putting signs up outside the homes of tenants who “refused to pay for their living accommodation” (link to article). Heffey was also listed as a speaker at the aforementioned “Frack Off” event (see above) and listed as representing Albion Dawn.

“Firescout Corporation” – Playing Both Sides?

After some more research it was discovered that Albien Law is owned by a company called Firescout Corporation, which is registered in the Virgin Islands for tax purposes. Among the listed directors of Firescout Corporation are Neil Heffey, Laurence Easeman and Andy Clarke. Firescout also owns several other companies, which all appear to be run out of the same address in Kirkdale, Liverpool.

As can be seen, alongside Albien Law, there are several other companies listed under Firescout Corporation, including “Client Collection Services” and “Tenant Checker”. Client Collection Services is described as “A company offering invoicing, debt collection and other financial services to UK businesses and citizens.”

Tenant checker “allows landlords and letting agents to check a prospective tenant’s ability to pay their rent”.
While we admit we’re not experts on these matters, it would strongly appear that both the above mentioned businesses seem to be at odds with Easeman’s self promoted image as a “champion of The People”. “Client Collection Services” appears to me to carry out the same kind of service as a bailiff, while “Tenant Checker” appears to be a blacklist by another name.

Another outfit which appears to be operating form the same Derby Road address is something called “The Rent Dodger Database”, which claims to provide “a valuable service to lettings agents and landlords in order that they can make better decisions when agreeing their tenancies.”

This too appears to be a blacklist by another name. Perhaps one of the reasons that Easeman presents himself as an expert on bailiffs is because essentially he is one.

The Rise of Laurence Easeman

Over the last month, Laurence Easeman’s profile seems to be getting higher: he has involved himself in the recent Focus E15 movement, which saw the occupation of houses in Newham, London. He recorded a video with Russell Brand here. He is also listed as being on the same bill as Brand at the launch party for Brand’s new book in London on 22nd October 2014. As Easeman’s star has been rising, he has not attempted to hide his views about a wide range of topics, all of which could be seen through his frequent postings on his Facebook profile which was, until recently, able to be seen by anyone. Here Laurence and his familiar cronies treat us to their opinions on everything from feminism, to “Cultural Marxism”, to how the Nazis were misunderstood.

This is not the first article about Laurence Easeman. Several others have written blogs about him. Easeman’s response has been to threaten litigation and to challenge his detractors to an “open public debate or a boxing match”. Let us be clear on one point: we have no interest in pursuing a vendetta against any individual. The information provided here is all on the public record and we believe it to be in the public interest. Laurence Easeman and his friends have left a trail of evidence across various social network platforms, which appear to indicate that they support neo-fascist/neo-Nazi ideas.Here he leaves a supportive comment on the English website of the Greek Neo Nazi Golden Dawn Party:

The Fall of Laurence Easeman?

I find it very difficult to believe that someone of Easeman’s intelligence could support a group like Golden Dawn and be entirely ignorant of that group’s aims and founding principles. As Easeman’s profile in the mainstream media appears to be getting higher, the authors of this article would ask all those who oppose anti-Semitism, racism and the fascist ideology to consider the evidence we have provided here. Russell Brand badly needs to do so, but so, more importantly, must ‘ordinary people’ in the very important social justice struggles which Easeman seeks to attach himself to. First and foremost amongst these, housing and anti-bedroom tax campaigners cannot allow him to take advantage of their genuine desperation. Follow Easeman and you’ll likely lose your home, but he’ll lead you on a very dark road whilst making money off you into the bargain.