The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is now footing the bill for four finance firms, including one Ponzi scheme.
The four financial advice firms to be declared default in March were:
- One Wealth Management – Glasgow
- Devonshire Asset Management - London
- Huntsman Hawkes – Kent
- Midas Financial Solutions – Aberdeen
Among these four firms was a Ponzi scheme which conned investors out of £13 million. The director of Midas Financial Solutions, Alistair Greig, was found guilty of fraud in March. The High Court in Edinburgh heard earlier this year of how Mr Greig had told his clients and advisers he had access to a high interest account because of “his connections”. He led them to believe their money was safe and that they were guaranteed a return on their investment.
However, while some of his clients were receiving payment under the scheme, the cash deposited to them was coming from the money sent in by other investors. Mr Greig used the funds to live a lavish lifestyle which included a holiday home in Cornwall and a classic car business. Many of his clients lost all of their life savings.
Devonshire Asset Management was chased by FSCS lawyers in 2011 for recommending Keydata products, which famously went into administration in 2009 losing millions of pounds for nearly 30,000 investors.
The FSCS will now pick up the bill for these failed firms, with the lifeboat funding accepting claims from investors for compensation if they been have affected.
How can Smooth Commercial help you if you have been affected?
At Smooth Commercial Law, our team of legal experts have extensive experience in dealing with a whole manner of claims that arise from negligent and/or unsuitable financial advice. We are seeing more and more cases relating to financial mis-selling, and have managed to secure compensation from the FSCS for many of our clients.
Should you have a claim against One Wealth Management, Devonshire Asset Management, Huntsman Hawkes or Midas Financial Solutions, we can deal with your case and look to recover compensation for not just your loss of investment but also any adverse tax liabilities that you may now be facing as well.
You can contact our experienced team by calling 0800 046 9976 or by emailing sb@smooth-commercial-law.co.uk