I am trying to sort this out into order, stripping out all the pointless crip-crap about Matt deliberately making enemies all over Ambridge unless it is particularly absurd.
On 7th April Matt came back, and on 9th April told Lillian he was part of a consortium setting up a racecourse in Costa Rica, and was in the UK on business.
(On 10th April Matt was gratuitously offensive to Brian on the golf course, in front of Justin.)
On 18th April Matt paid £50,000 into Lilian’s bank account.
On 26th April Matt tried to sell Brian on the idea of the Costa Rica racecourse, and we heard of it for the first time. He also, for no particular reason, told Brian what had happened between Lilian and Paul.
On 11th May Matt had a meeting with Latif Hussein, and talked in terms of big investments – but at the same time told him the investment consortium was oversubscribed and they were not accepting new money, so it seems to have been a little futile and I couldn’t see why he was bothering. (And this is when Latif would have asked a couple of questions, then told the world and his wife starting with Justin and Brian that there was no possibility that the racecourse could be real. He said that he had read the brochure, and that it was clear they were building a racecourse in Costa Rica, so he would have known where to ask what.) Matt also said he had been having meetings with stud managers, and that he was interested in breeding-stock, looking to breed for class three upwards, ideally going on to the classics.
Also on 11th May he started the employment of Anisha.
On 5th June Justin (who had heard that Latif had invested in Melling Equestrian) accosted Matt to tell him that he hoped Matt was not getting Latif mixed up in anything, but Matt said he had nothing to do with it: he had thought the fund was closed but Latif went straight to the top. After Matt had gone, Justin told Lilian that he was going to investigate to see what was going on. (But clearly didn’t do so particularly hard.)
On 6th June “Justin tells Brian that he has found out that Matt’s operation seems to exist. Melling Enterprises or similar. Hugo Melling was at school with Miranda’s brother in law so that’s all right then.” Not exactly due diligence: he rang his ex-wife, it seems, but quite failed to ring anyone in Costa Rica.
On 3rd July Matt started to plan “an investment day” at Grey Gables: not actually his but for a friend, all A-listers. On the same day he approached Christine for advice about horses. (As if.)
On 5th July Justin and Latif chatted: Latif was "interested in the scheme of Hugo Mellings for the racecourse. He seems like a good kind of a guy and Latif is very confident in his investment. The money isn’t in the bank yet but it looks like a handsome dividend. Latif suggests that Justin should join in on Matt’s investment day at Grey Gables but Justin doesn’t think it’s for him. Justin admits that while he doesn’t want to invest, he is curious about Matt’s role in all of this. " (But still neither of them did the checks which took Lilian and Jolene a few minutes on the telephone.)
On 17th July the investment day happened at Grey Gables, with Latif among those present (Why? He had already invested.) In spite of knowing that Christine had no money, Matt encouraged her to come in to the presentation, which impressed her, and introduced her to Hugo. (Why? She had no value: she had not yet even thought of selling Woodbine Cottage.)
On 21st July Justin lost patience with Matt (he was being rude about the pig-unit) and " A few phone calls to his friends in Melling Equestrian Investments Ltd should see Matt on his way, especially given his recent performance on the investors day. " (But he still had not found out anything about it?) “He simply intended to crush him.” (But made no particular effort to do so.)
On 23rd July Justin confided to Brian that he intended to get Matt fired. (Ah, that explains it: too busy chasing the individual to bother with the business.)
On 9th November Lilian spoke to “Alex” at Melling whatever-they-are (it seems to be a variable, this time they were Investments) and learned very little.
On 10th November James had gone and had a look at the “office” in Regent Street and established that it wasn’t an office, then rang Lilian and told her so; she and Jolene got on the phone to Costa Rica and within half an hour or so had established that that there is no new racecourse being built in Costa Rica, that the alleged location is in a national park which would never have got planning permission, and that nobody in racing circles there has ever heard of Melling Investment or Matt Crawford.
So why were Brian, Justin, and Latif unable to make those phone calls, or in Justin’s case get his financial advisor to make them for him?