Millions from London Capital & Finance flowed through accounts of four men, say administrators
Millions of pounds of money invested in collapsed mini-bond company London Capital & Finance flowed through the accounts of four men, the administrators report said today.
The report said Andy Thomson – LC&F’s chief executive, Simon Hume-Kendall – the chairman of one its biggest borrower London Oil & Gas, Elten Barker – who was a partner in London Oil & Gas’s parent group, and Spencer Golding – whose business received over £12m from LC&F, were in “the personal possession or control of” multiple millions of pounds of investors money.
Read more: Nicky Morgan calls for probe into collapse of London Capital & Finance
Hume-Kendall and Thomson have agreed to pay this money into an escrow account for the benefit of bondholders to be returned if the bondholders receive full repayment from the assets of LC&F.
Golding and Barker have been asked to commit to the same arrangement but have not yet responded, the report said.
“There are a number of highly suspicious transactions involving a small group of connected people which have led to large sums of the bondholders’ money ending up in their personal possession or control. We are pressing these people to return those funds to us for the benefit of the bondholders and failing this we will pursue those individuals, as appropriate, for recovery of those sums,” the report said.
Read more: Fraud office launches investigation into London Capital & Finance
LC&F went into administration in January after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found its advertising had been misleading.
The company had 11,605 bondholders who invested £236m into 14,000 mini-bonds.
That money was then lent by LC&F to a small number of borrowers.
The company employed an agent called Surge to raise money from the bondholders, paying that agent 25 per cent of the funds raised, equivalent to £60m.
The administrators estimate bondholders could receive just 20 per cent of their money back.
The FCA and the Serious Fraud Office are both investigating the collapse of the company, with the SFO having made four arrests.
None of the individuals named were available for comment.