I enjoy the niche and the nuanced with a particular focus on Peer-to-Peer investment litigation and advancing issues connected to Open Justice.
The journalism on this site is part funded by donations to the Cheese Fund
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Peer-To-Peer Lending
Members of the public stand to lose millions in an industry blighted by accusations of fraud and scandal.
As seen in …
TBC
Previous Posts
1,200 day wait for justice now routine at Snaresbrook Crown Court
Defendants on bail are having to wait over 3 years for a trial date at the busiest Crown Court in England and Wales, but those with the money to do so can have their case treated as a priority, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. A defendant stands in the dock. ‘Not Guilty’ he says, twice,…
Family Court Mags: ‘We can’t micromanage peoples lives, and we’re not going to’
Three-lay-magistrates have approved an order setting out the blueprint for the parenting arrangements of a nine-year-old girl, as only recently relaxed rules allow the case to be reported. It has only been around 10 weeks since the Family Procedure Rules were relaxed to allow accredited journalists to report from family court proceedings before lay magistrates…
SRA urged to take action as we reveal solicitor has ‘purposely frustrated’ investigation
Solicitor Andrew Jonathan Milne delayed an official investigation into his alleged professional misconduct by overwhelming the regulator with complaints and threatening them with two injunctions seeking to prevent them from taking action, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. We can reveal that the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which purports to maintain the high standards of more than…
CEO: Assetz ‘would have collapsed’ if I didn’t sign £1m agreement, court papers say
Stuart Alexander Law, 61, the co-founder and long-time CEO of property finance giant Assetz Capital, is at the centre of a High Court dispute brought by a specialist litigation funder on behalf of disgruntled investors. This site is financed by donations to the ‘Cheese Fund‘ or you can buy me a coffee hereReporting by freelance journalist…
‘Let me talk about my partners death’ – Court of Protection told
The long-term partner of a man at the centre of Court of Protection proceedings has resisted an application made by his “very private” family to prevent details of the case from being reported following the impending expiry of reporting restrictions. Mr AB was a 43-year-old man who became incapacitated after suffering hypoxic brain damage following a…
Second round of pleadings released in £15m Lendy Auditors claim
The parties in a £15m High Court claim against auditors Moore Stephens LLP, said to have caused losses to retail consumers who used the failed investment firm Lendy, have filed amended pleadings, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. This site is financed by donations to the ‘Cheese Fund‘ or you can buy me a coffee hereReporting…
London Capital & Finance solicitor to face disciplinary tribunal
Robert Mannering Sedgwick, 76, who acted for the failed investment firm London Capital & Finance, is set to face the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal amid accusations he “facilitated the preparation, execution and circulation of backdated documents”, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. Reporting by freelance journalist and blogger Daniel CloakeIf you value this content you can buy me a…
SRA v Claire Frances Gill – Notes from the case management hearing
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has been considering case management directions in the matter of a Carter-Ruck solicitor alleged to have “sent or arranged to be sent correspondence which contained an improper threat of litigation”. These are my notes from the case management hearing in the matter of the SRA v Claire Frances Gill. As the…
Stratford Youth Court: Tower Hamlets drug dealer found guilty of assaulting police officers
In court the teenager sat slumped in his seat, eyes fixed on his feet. In June 2024 he had been a different figure entirely: shouting abuse, thrashing against officers and, according to them, lashing out with kicks and a deliberate stamp. PC Paul Martin, a 15-year police veteran stationed at Bethnal Green, recalled the evening…
Charge dropped as police no-show and 14-point-licence-holder avoids disqualification
A trial for alleged careless driving is cancelled at Stratford Magistrates’ Court after the only witness, a police officer, fails to attend court, whilst a man with dodgy brakes avoids disqualification after pleading exceptional hardship. Technically I saw three cases during my afternoon at Stratford Magistrates’ Court before District Judge (MC) Matthew Bone – saw…
Sinking Ship: Lendy’s founders knew collapse was coming – “The company is bust, the model doesn’t work”
A candid email sent between the two co-founders of the failed peer-to-peer lending firm Lendy, which anticipated impending insolvency, was sent over 14 months before the firm collapsed, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. Lendy was a so-called peer-to-peer lending company which facilitated the crowd funding of loans by members of the public secured against property…
182 Lendy investors have died waiting for justice as administration enters 73rd month
Members of the public who had collectively invested £152m in so-called peer-to-peer loans facilitated by the firm Lendy Ltd are still waiting for a resolution following the company’s collapse in 2019, as a report says the administration will now last at least 8-years. Please donate to the Cheese Fund to support crowd-funded journalism of the P2P sector.Reporting…
High Court grants non-party access to trial documents
The mouseinthecourt has been successful in a resisted application for access to witness statements and skeleton arguments during an insolvency trial. The principle “that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done” is often an unachievable ambition in the modern era, with the significant reliance on written…
FCA “deliberately and negligently” broke FOI laws, then sacked the whistleblower, Employment Tribunal told
A former manager at the Financial Conduct Authority has alleged that he was fired after blowing the whistle on “a number of matters of serious wrongdoing” relating to the treatment of Freedom of Information Act requests, and that his manager conspired to get rid of him when he raised concerns, the Employment Tribunal has heard.…
Justice delayed is justice denied: 3.5 year wait for trial date
A defendant must wait 43 months for a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, prompting the judge to reply “wow” and “oh my gosh” when told the date by his clerk. The defendant, a 31-year-old man, had been charged with threatening members of the public with a machete in the Tower Hamlets area. He denies the…
Drowsy juror nods off during trial
A trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court was halted twice because of suspicions a juror was asleep. The first instance occurred during the defence summing up when the jury were sent out on an impromptu break. “A juror may have been napping” explained the judge. A conversation between counsel, held without the jury present, confirmed that…
A fight for a contempt of court judgment
Slightly from the archives – a report about the difficulties I faced when trying to obtain a High Court judgment in 2022. Prompted by a recent post from Celia Kitzinger entitled ‘Contempt of court proceedings: Are they transparent?’ – (Spoiler alert: they’re not) I recalled an exchange of e-mails I had with court staff coming…
East London Family Court holds ‘secret’ public hearing
A so-called committal hearing, where a dad faced up to two years in prison for allegedly breaching a non-molestation order, was not listed in public contrary to court rules. In February 2025 a published judgment caught my eye. A key point of public interest was nestled away in the penultimate paragraph. The claimant, a mother,…
Court orders that a father can kick “trespassing” son out of family home
A deputy district judge has rejected a son’s request that a possession hearing should be adjourned pending resolution of his mothers will. This was no ordinary trespass hearing… Stratford Magistrates’ – Home of the Housing Centre “The claimant seeks a possession order for a removal of trespassers” A fairly standard opening line to a hearing,…
Lendy Auditors “Severely Reprimanded” and fined after breaching regulations
The auditors who signed off the accounts for the failed peer-to-peer investment firm Lendy have been hit with a £180k penalty after intervention by the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. This site is financed by donations to the ‘Cheese Fund‘ or you can buy me a coffee…
Further information released in £15m Lendy Auditors claim
A litigation firm pursuing a £15m High Court claim against auditors Moore Stephens LLP, said to have caused losses to retail consumers who used the failed investment firm Lendy, have filed a 30-page-document with more information about the claim, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. This site is financed by donations to the ‘Cheese Fund‘ or…
Married couple hit by £500k bill as company funds used for “personal expenses”
The High Court has found that a husband acted unlawfully after using company funds to pay £150k of personal expenses, and that he improperly paid his wife company money when he knew the firm was insolvent. The pair may ultimately have to pay almost £500k after falling foul of strict costs rules. This site is…
‘Don’t blame the directors … the auditors should have audited!’ – Lendy court doc says
A litigation firm pursuing a £15m High Court claim against auditors Moore Stephens LLP has denied that its “case is vague, embarrassing and/or impossible for the Defendant properly to understand” in a court document exclusively obtained by the mouseinthecourt. This site is financed by donations to the ‘Cheese Fund‘ or you can buy me a…
Skeleton arguments in judge anonymity appeal case
Two journalists have appealed the decision of a High Court judge to grant anonymity to members of the judiciary who were involved in proceedings concerning Sara Sharif and her siblings. The father and stepmother of Sara Sharif were found guilty of her murder last year. In December 2024 Mr Justice Williams imposed an order preventing…
Barrister accused of falsifying tax returns – the indictment revealed
Top tax barrister Robert Venables KC, 77, of Old Square Tax Chambers is currently facing two counts of dishonestly cheating the public revenue in active criminal proceedings before Southwark Crown Court. The existence of the charges were first revealed by Dan Neidle, of Tax Policy Associates, in a report headed “Robert Venables, senior tax KC,…
Peter Currie victims set to receive 500 pence each after FCA confiscation hearing
The Crown Court has approved a payment of £5,000 to be divvied up among the over 1,000 investors who were victims of the fraudulent activity of a director of the failed peer-to-peer lending firm Collateral (UK) Limited. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments crowdfunded by members of the public. The firm…
Crown Court Judge relents after threat of judicial review
A circuit judge has approved a transcript request made by the mouseinthecourt after we persisted through several layers of resistance. We don’t claim that this is a particularly thrilling read suffice to say it’s a textbook example of the day-to-day difficulties that even simple requests for information cause. Whilst we make no suggestion that the…
Solicitor charged with stalking
Following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Andrew Jonathan Milne, an SRA regulated solicitor, has been charged with the offence of stalking contrary to section 2A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Milne attended Thames Magistrates’ court on Thursday, 9th January 2025. He pleaded not guilty and a trial date was set for 16th…
£23m damages claim against Lendy Admins dismissed
The High Court has struck out a “flawed both procedurally and substantively” claim made by a disgruntled director of a borrowing company which had used the peer-to-peer firm Lendy to finance the purchase and development of an estate in Scotland. The Killean Estate, self-styled as “A Coastal Retreat on the Shores of Scotland’s West Coast”,…
A morning at Snaresbrook reveals court under pressure
The mouseinthecourt spent the morning live-tweeting from the busiest crown court in England and Wales – Snaresbrook. “You’ll come to a gate which looks like the entrance to a graveyard that hasn’t been looked after for a while” is how a barrister once described how the public entrance to Snaresbrook Crown court might look like.…
Lendy auditor: ‘We made mistakes, but blame the dishonest directors’, defence statement says
Auditing firm Moore Stephens LLP has robustly defended a £15m High Court claim which alleged they acted “negligently” and with a lack of “professional scepticism” when they signed off the accounts of the now failed peer-to-peer lending firm Lendy. This site is financed by donations to the ‘Cheese Fund‘ or you can buy me a…
FundingSecure: £888k shortfall in protected client account in January 2019, court documents reveal
One of the joint administrators of the failed peer-to-peer lending firm FundingSecure has told a court details of exactly how much money was missing, and when, from what should have been a ringfenced bank account. Part of a series of reporting on the so-called Quistclose Claim In 2022 this site exclusively reported on retail lenders…
Lendy auditor given new deadline in £15m negligence case
Professional auditing firm Moore Stephens, said to have acted “negligently” and with a lack of “professional scepticism” when they signed off the accounts of the now failed peer-to-peer lending firm Lendy, have been given a new deadline to file a defence at the High Court. This site is financed by donations to the ‘Cheese Fund‘…
Lendy auditor caused £15m loss to investors, court papers claim
Professional auditing firm Moore Stephens acted “negligently” and with a lack of “professional scepticism” when they signed off the accounts of the now failed peer-to-peer lending firm Lendy, documents filed at the High Court claim. This site is financed by donations to the ‘Cheese Fund‘ or you can buy me a coffee hereReporting by Daniel Cloake…
Bedbugs at the Court of Protection
A deputy district judge has set directions to enable the court to consider whether a man’s bedroom should receive a bedbug fumigation. What was initially described as a “very complex and unusual matter” which would result in a “very serious infringement of P’s rights” proved to be shrouded in mystery as contrary to guidance that…
FCA temporarily shut down Blackmore Bond in 2017 – three years before collapse, High Court told
An investment scheme which collapsed in 2020 had previously been given the green light to resume trading by the city regulator after a 12-month-investigation, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. Some 2,800 members of the public lost the majority of their £46m investment, purportedly used to fund property developments, when the Blackmore Bond collapsed. A parliamentary…
Peter Currie fails to challenge conviction at court of appeal
Three senior judges at the Court of Appeal have refused to consider an application by the disgraced former director of the peer to peer lending platform Collateral, who was convicted of various fraud offences last year, to challenge his conviction. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments crowdfunded by members of the…
FundingSecure – representative lender appointed in £500k Quistclose claim
A judge has approved the appointment of a single person to represent the interests of 2,148 ‘innocent investors’ caught up in the FundingSecure Quistclose fiasco, in which a disgruntled creditor of the failed peer-to-peer lending firm FundingSecure has alleged its £500k investment was misappropriated and should be returned. In 2022 this site exclusively reported on…
Unbolted litigation settles on confidential terms
A long running legal dispute between an SRA-regulated solicitor and the peer-to-peer lending platform Open Access Finance Ltd has settled, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. In 2016, Mr Andrew Jonathan Milne, described in court papers as “an experienced practising solicitor in the City of London”, took out a series of crowd-funded loans facilitated by the…
Cape v Dring submissions to the Civil Procedure Rule Committee
The mouseinthecourt has replied to a consultation run by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee (CPRC) on new rules purporting to take into account the judgment of the Supreme Court following one of the biggest open justice cases in a generation. “The availability of skeleton arguments, and witness statements, deployed in open court hearings is essential…
Solicitor suggesting Sainsbury’s shoplifting slander specifies seriously substantial spend
The High Court has approved a cost budget of £100k a side in a dispute between the national supermarket Sainsbury’s and a solicitor who says he was slandered by a security guard who apparently shouted “you are a shoplifter….you should be in jail” when walking out the store. The Claim In court papers filed in…
Court Documents – LCF Trial
A civil trial between the Joint Administrators of the now failed investment company London Capital & Finance PLC, and those said to have unlawfully benefitted from the misappropriation of funds started on 19th February 2024 and is expected to last 20-weeks. The defendants deny any accusations of wrongdoing. The mouseinthecourt is exclusively publishing documents from…
Solicitor blocked from conducting “a classic fishing expedition”, costs judge rules
An SRA-regulated solicitor, who settled a civil claim against a self-styled “leading provider of specialist mortgages and property finance”, and was then hit by a legal costs bill, is challenging them at the High Court. The court was told that Mr Andrew Jonathan Milne had made accusations of “fraud and dishonestly” against solicitors involved in…
High Court approves substantial open justice request in LCF trial
The High Court has approved three applications for skeleton arguments, witness statements, and copies of the daily transcripts made under the open justice principle in a request made by the mouseinthecourt. The provision of these documents will bring a significant level of transparency to the 20-week-trial between the administrators of a failed investment company and…
Solicitor makes even more “scandalous allegations”, High Court told, as it’s ruled he doesn’t have to pay security for costs
An SRA-regulated solicitor, who had previously told a court that this humble blogger had attacked him outside a court building leaving him “close to death”, has deployed further “scandalous allegations” in a signed witness statement, the High Court has been told. Examples of the “baseless assertions and commentary”, said to be in a recent witness…
London Capital Finance Trial begins
LCF raised £237m by selling some 16,000 ‘bonds’ to over 11,000 members of the public. Marketing material talked of “extensive due diligence” and that “the loans were fully secured”. The reality was very different – security was in fact said to be “valueless or worth a small fraction of the intended value” having been invested…
Rule Committee blames “e-mail fault” on 17-month delay to FOI request
The Civil Procedure Rule Committee (CPRC) has confirmed that they did not consult on an open justice rule change in an FOI response that took over 500 days to process. As part of an ongoing project looking at the transparency of decision making in the justice system, the mouseinthecourt has been examining the work of…
Former Lendy Lawyer to appear at tribunal over “misrepresented” loan
A solicitor who worked for the failed peer-to-peer lending firm Lendy has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal over allegations he obtained a loan for his company by providing false information, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. Please donate to the Cheese Fund to support crowd-funded journalism of the P2P sector.Reporting by Daniel Cloake. SRA-regulated-solicitor Stuart Phillip Nuttall,…
FundingSecure – “innocent investors” given March deadline in 500k Quistclose claim
A judge has approved directions in a High Court claim after a disgruntled creditor of the failed peer-to-peer lending firm FundingSecure alleged its £500k investment was misappropriated and should be returned. In 2022 this site exclusively reported on retail lenders who were raising money for legal advice after being faced with the prospect of being…
Open Justice at the War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation tribunal
As the ‘Veteran Law Project’ is launched by former army officer Charlie Radclyffe, the mouseinthecourt dropped into an Armed Forces Compensation tribunal hearing to see what’s going on. “The Veteran Law Project aims to improve the experiences of service personnel and veterans harmed by their military service” says the blub on its homepage with “Open…
HMCTS did consult on ‘seriously inaccurate’ public guidance document, FOI request reveals
An HMCTS ‘guide for members of the public’ on ‘How you can attend or access courts or tribunals’ was criticised by the mouseinthecourt as unhelpful, devoid of any tangible detail, and in some cases just plain wrong. The Courts and Tribunals Observers’ Network described the document as paying “lip service to the principle of open…
Churnalism – the case of Mr Farbrother
Should news articles based solely upon a police press release be identified as such? I think they should – anything that purports to be high quality public interest journalism, but is in fact low quality churnalism, should be labelled as such. Churnalism is, to put it bluntly, the copy and pasting of press releases, perhaps…
Lendy: 20% of borrowers failed credit policy checks but were still given loans, confidential report reveals
A review of the Lendy loan book by insolvency experts Duff and Phelps, published in February 2018 shortly after the FCA found “vital” failures, has revealed a smorgasbord of weaknesses at the now insolvent peer-to-peer lending firm, with members of the public set to lose millions. The confidential document, which says it “must not be…
Tribunal judges say no change needed in consultation on open justice
A recent consultation by the Tribunal Procedure Committee on non-party access to documents has concluded that no change is necessary, an FOI request made by the mouseinthecourt has revealed. This is despite an acknowledgement that there is no rule expressly providing a right of access by third parties, unlike the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR 5.4C)…
Solicitor sent “disgraceful and inexcusable” communications in £40k property dispute, court finds
SRA-regulated solicitor Andrew Jonathan Milne has been told he must sell a block of flats in North Wales after the existing leaseholders were not offered the chance to buy the building first, the county court has ruled. The judge has also reported Milne “to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for consideration and, if appropriate, investigation” after…
SRA v Post Office – Court documents
Described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history, the Post Office scandal is likely to already be on the radar of anyone reading this law themed blog. I won’t attempt to write an introduction save to point interested readers to the website of the man who literally wrote the book on it -…
Fine words – but new HMCTS public guidance falls short
“fine words butter no parsnips” said Lord Justice Toulson in his infamous opening paragraph of a judgment on open justice. But as HMCTS publish ‘a guide for members of the public’ on ‘How you can attend or access courts or tribunals’ the mouseinthecourt criticises the new guidance as unhelpful, devoid of any tangible detail, and…
FundingSecure launch bankruptcy proceedings against two borrowers
Two borrowers, who unsuccessfully argued at the County Court that their mortgage broker had been “bribed”, have been presented with bankruptcy petitions by the failed peer-to-peer lending firm FundingSecure. Please donate to the Cheese Fund to support crowd-funded journalism of the P2P sector.Reporting by Daniel Cloake. In July 2016 an amount totalling some £68k, crowdfunded by members of…
Solicitor made “scandalous allegations” of attack by blogger which were “palpably untrue”, court told
SRA-regulated solicitor Andrew Milne claimed in a signed witness statement that not only did the defendants in a high court case he’s personally pursuing arrange for him to be attacked and that he “nearly died” — but that it was this humble blogger that did it! In 2016, Mr Andrew Jonathan Milne, described in court…
Timetable set for Currie brothers proceeds of crime hearing
A crown court judge has set a timetable for a proceeds of crime hearing to recover funds from two brothers who were convicted for various fraud offences earlier this year in connection to the failed peer to peer lending platform Collateral. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments crowdfunded by members of…
FundingSecure “misrepresented” £650k loan, Financial Ombudsman secretly ruled
The peer-to-peer lending firm FundingSecure was ordered to refund an investor after making findings of misrepresentation and unfairness — But the platform entered administration before the investor could be compensated and the decision notice published. Please donate to the Cheese Fund to support crowd-funded journalism of the P2P sector.Reporting by Daniel Cloake. FundingSecure were an FCA-regulated online peer-to-peer…
FundingSecure administrators to remain neutral on £500k claim against “innocent investors”
A disgruntled creditor of the failed peer-to-peer lending firm FundingSecure has launched a high court claim alleging its £500k investment was misappropriated and should be returned. Last year this site exclusively reported on retail lenders who were raising money for legal advice after being faced with the prospect of being joined to this claim. Read…
Lendy – Final directions revealed after secret hearing
The administrators’ of the failed peer-to-peer firm Lendy have had their proposals on how to deal with various issues resulting from its insolvency approved by the High Court. The company collapsed in May 2019 following action taken by the Financial Conduct Authority and RSM Restructuring Advisory LLP were appointed as administrators. Lendy acted as an…
Lendy: FCA ordered loan book review in 2017 after identifying “vital” failures
A senior associate at the FCA said in a confidential letter that “a number of weaknesses were identified [at Lendy] around the accuracy and quality of information” provided to retail investors some 10 months before the city regulator gave the ultimate seal of approval in the form of full authorisation. It took almost two years…
Court of Appeal told that Mother “is not a subject, she is a human being”
Three senior judges in London have dismissed an appeal brought by the daughter of an incapacitated woman whose medical treatment became the subject of court proceedings. A tweet explaining that the co-director of the Open Justice Court of Protection Project had been refused remote access to a hybrid hearing perked up my ears somewhat. And…
Unbolted: Milne claim timetabled for trial
A High Court claim against a peer-to-peer lending company and 612 participants in the underlying loans has been given a timetable for trial following a one day hearing. In 2016, Mr Andrew Jonathan Milne, described in court papers as “an experienced practising solicitor in the City of London”, took out a series of crowd funded…
Lendy director ‘borrowed’ £350k from client account, 2016 FCA report reveals
A “strictly private and confidential” letter, exclusively seen by the mouseinthecourt, shows that the city regulator was aware, some 32-months before the FCA shut the platform down, that then co-director Tim Alastair Gordon, 44, had “borrowed” £350k from the company client account. Please donate to the Cheese Fund to support crowd-funded journalism of the P2P sector.Reporting by Daniel…
Submissions relating to the call for evidence concerning open justice
In 2022, the Justice Select Committee began examining the effects of digitisation on the courts, the media and open justice. This concluded with the publication of its report – Court Reporting in the Digital Age. The MOJ launched a call for evidence which concluded in September 2023. Here are the written submissions made by the mouseinthecourt.…
Inside the Court of Protection Rule Committee
After lengthy correspondence the Court of Protection Rule Committee have released their meeting minutes to the mouseinthecourt. The committee was described by the then vice-president Mr Justice Hayden as “the operational spine of the court”. They provide a fascinating insight not only into being able to see what was discussed but also conversely what isn’t.…
Lendy: Confidential 2017 FCA report reveals catalogue of concerns
A “confidential” letter sent from a senior associate at the Financial Conduct Authority has revealed that the city regulator was aware of an astonishing number of detailed concerns about failed peer-to-peer lending firm Lendy in June 2017. It took almost two years after the date of this letter before the FCA finally pulled the plug…
Arrested mother questioned in the Family court
A mother who was arrested at Heathrow Airport while “attempting to leave the jurisdiction” was detained by police and taken to the Royal Courts of Justice the following day. It’s said the mother had failed to comply with a court order requiring her to disclose the location of her son and other details. This is…
FundingSecure: Investors angry as FCA close investigation
Members of the public who invested in the failed peer-to-peer lending company FundingSecure, who stand to lose millions of pounds as a result of lax business practices, have expressed “total, complete and utter ANGER” after the FCA conclude their 5-year-investigation – with no public action taken. The mouseinthecourt has complied a list of some of…
Currie brothers jailed after Collateral fraud trial
Two pawnbroker brothers were jailed for a combined eight years earlier today after trying to pass off FCA permissions they had for a reality TV show as a big money finance lending company which led to over £11 million loss to investors. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments crowdfunded by members…
‘We know her best’ – family members disagree with the litigation friend
A judge in the Court of Protection has set directions for trial after a dispute emerged between a so-called ‘litigation friend’ and family members. This was a well-attended hearing with the front row consisting of barristers representing the Local Authority and P’s litigation friend, along with P’s daughter in law and her husband appearing in…
Guilty verdicts returned in Collateral fraud trial
Earlier today a jury returned their verdicts against two brothers who ran the finance firm Collateral UK Limited. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments crowdfunded by members of the public. The firm and two related companies entered administration in April 2018. The two defendants, Andrew Currie, 57, and Peter Currie, 59,…
Lendy director released from freezing injunction
Tim Alistair Gordon, 43, one of the two former directors of the failed peer-to-peer finance firm Lendy Ltd, has been released from a freezing injunction, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively reveal. The freezing injunction was imposed after accusations emerged that Mr Gordon, along with fellow director Liam Brooke, 40, had misappropriated company funds worth £6.5m via…
Judge tells jury: The FCA are not on trial [Day 18]
The judge in the Collateral trial that alleges two brothers misled thousands of investors by claiming to be authorised by the FCA has told jurors the authority is not on trial, a court heard. Accusations levelled at the Financial Conduct Authority suggested they engaged in a “face-saving exercise” as they failed to adopt a “robust…
FCA admits they “left the window to the car open and someone was able to reach in”, jury hears [Day 17]
Any FCA case worker who “knew their onions” should have spotted Collateral’s name change on the interim permission register, jurors were told. The 12 men and women deciding the fate of the former Collateral brothers were told their excuses were “nonsense” and “invented”, according to the prosecution. While the two defendants’ representatives tried to convince…
Lendy: Valuer “materially over-valued” £4.5m Hampton Court loans, court papers claim
Details of the claim made by the Joint Administrators’ of the failed peer-to-peer finance firm Lendy Ltd against Castleplus Ltd, a valuation company based in Mayfair, have been revealed the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. The underlying loans on the platform are understood to total £4.5m collectively crowdfunded by some 5,300 members of the public. Lendy…
Jurors given ‘route to verdict’ in Collateral Fraud trial [Day 16]
The younger brother and former director of Collateral was the “driving force” and is as responsible for fraud as his eldest brother who changed the company’s name on the Financial Conduct Authority’s interim permission register, a court heard. Jurors will be asked to consider “family dynamics” and the relationship between the two brothers as they…
Criminal Procedure Rule Committee change rules promoting open justice
In the same month that the Ministry Of Justice wants “to hear your ideas on how the government can reinforce and enhance open justice in today’s era” the procedure rule committee responsible for the criminal jurisdiction is removing rules allowing note-taking by laptops and live-tweeting by legal commentators. The Criminal Procedure Rules govern the way…
Peter Currie – “I wanted everything to be correct, above board.” [Day 15]
The director of the failed peer to peer lending firm Collateral, accused of fraudulently changing the name of his company on the FCA interim permissions register, has told jurors that he “never thought for a minute what I’d done was wrong” adding that “what I’d done has traumatised me” Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance…
The FCA “don’t fully understand P2P as a market”, jurors hear [Day 14]
As one of the Currie brothers enters the witness box it’s revealed that as early as October 2016 the FCA had concerns that the peer-to-peer finance firm Collateral was being “potentially misleading” in aspects of its work. Jurors also heard of Peter Currie’s “devastation” when the FCA finally took action in January 2018. Collateral (UK)…
Collateral Director tells jury: Rishi Sunak wants compensation for investors [Day 13]
The former director of Collateral has claimed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak complained to the Financial Conduct Authority requesting compensation for investors if the brothers who led the company are not convicted, a court heard. More than 340 letters of complaint and 15 MPs representing their constituents have requested the FCA investigate their handling of the…
Collateral Director: “We are in court now as a bit of deflection of blame from the FCA”, jury hears [Day 12]
One of the directors of Collateral admitted administrators paid him a sum intended for staff wages and he kept it as a “part payment” of what he was owed by the company, a court heard. Andrew Currie, 57, accused of having the company pay out over £370,000 to him before it was forcibly closed, said…
“The FCA was as clear as mud”, Collateral director tells jury [Day 11 PM]
One of the directors of Collateral charged with fraud insists he always wanted the business out of the hands of the FCA, claiming: “I’m not a regulatory person”. Andrew Currie, 57, accused of having the company pay out over £370,000 to him before it was forcibly closed, also claims he lost the invoices for the…
Jury hear the ‘agreed facts’ in Collateral FCA fraud case [Day 11 AM]
As the case for the prosecution closes, the jury are read out a number of agreed facts. These contain statements which are in not in dispute between the parties but can form important background information for the jury. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments crowdfunded by members of the public. The…
Lendy “expects to recover more than £8,000,000” in valuers breach of contract claim
The claim form in a breach of contract claim against Lee Baron Limited, a specialist property management company based in London, has been published by the High Court, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively reveal. We previously exclusively reported that the Joint Administrators’ of the failed peer-to-peer finance firm Lendy Ltd had filed the claim in December…
Court of Protection listing mishap leaves observers in dark
The Civil and Family Listing Manager at the Leeds Combined Court Centre has offered a “sincere apology” after “failings by this office did indeed deprive you of the opportunity to observe the hearing”. The hearing in question was before Court of Protection judge Mr Justice Poole and was part of a long running covert medication…
Collateral director: “the FCA are looking for a scapegoat”, jury hears [Day 10]
Directors of a firm accused of lying to their investors about their accreditation claim they were made a “scapegoat” by the FCA as the register allowed them to easily change the company’s name, a court heard. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments crowdfunded by members of the public. The firm and…
Collateral directors took £763k out of company after FCA identified breach, jury told [Day 9]
Collateral paid director Andrew Currie’s girlfriend’s company £275,000 just before the company went into administration which led to purchases of properties in Lancashire and Spain, a court heard. The Financial Conduct Authority investigated bank statements that found where monies went in the days just before lending was officially stopped, jurors were told. Collateral (UK) Limited…
Collateral advisor told directors: “We are not going to be able to fob this off”, jury hears [Day 8]
The two directors of a firm accused of lying to their investors to claim they were authorised by the FCA were told by their own lawyer they would have to be “18 years old” to convince anyone they had made an honest mistake, a jury was told. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which…
Register change “would have been obvious to any case officer if the FCA had done their job” jury told [Day 7AM]
Defence silk for Peter Currie grills FCA caseworker Robert Cooper on the regulator’s knowledge of problems with the Collateral (UK) platform, and what’s said to be its failure to act. This is a mammoth post covering just the morning of Tuesday April 25th, in short: Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments…
Collateral Legal Advisor: The FCA “passed us from pillar to post throughout the process” [Day 7PM]
A compliance director for the failed finance firm Collateral UK Limited took the stand to explain the difficulties the company had when dealing with the Financial Conduct Authority. “There didn’t seem to be a proper handover process when it moved from one caseworker to the next” was one complaint the jury heard. Collateral (UK) Limited…
FCA: We had ‘access’ to the Collateral platform since October 2016 [Day 6]
An FCA case worker, in his first afternoon in the witness box, has confirmed that the FCA was given ‘access’ to the Collateral platform in October 2016, and had been given a copy of the company’s loan book. Concerned were raised that there appeared to be links between borrower companies and the Curries themselves. Collateral…
FCA failed to pick up on false register entry for 22 months, jury told [Day 5]
A jury at Southwark Crown Court has heard statements from members of the public, including a retired chartered accountant, who say they only invested using the platform because of its apparent FCA authorisation. The FCA claim the platform only appeared on the FCA register after a director fraudulently changed an unrelated company’s entry, a mistake…
Collateral Directors had motive to lie to secure investments, jury told [Day 4]
A jury at Southwark Crown Court has heard evidence from an investor in the failed platform Collateral (UK) Limited and from an FCA investigator. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments crowdfunded by members of the public. The firm and two related companies entered administration in April 2018. The two defendants, Andrew…
Collateral Directors “lied to their investors” jury told [Day 3]
As the barrister representing the FCA opens the case, a jury at Southwark Crown Court hears that two directors of an investment firm are believed to have lied to their investors in order to make money for themselves. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments crowdfunded by members of the public. The…
FCA vs The Currie Bro’s: The Criminal Trial
The investigative court reporting blog mouseinthecourt is providing coverage of the criminal trial brought by the Financial Conduct Authority against the directors of Collateral (UK) Ltd. The defendants are Peter Currie, 59, and Andrew Currie, 57. Read the indictment here. They have previously pleaded not guilty to two charges under the Fraud Act 2006, and…
“50 issues” in Lendy Sunbeam loan dispute, court told
Litigation between the guarantor of a £14.3m loan, collectively financed by 4,900 members of the public, and the company which facilitated the transaction has had a pre-trial review at the High Court earlier today. Please donate to the Cheese Fund to support crowd-funded journalism of the P2P sector.Reporting by Daniel Cloake. In July 2016 the peer-to-peer lending company…
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