LCF – Financial Treason & Crime

London Capital & Finance spent £70m of bondholders’ cash on firm with two fraudsters

Jim Armitage, 21 May 2021

Bosses at the collapsed investment firm London Capital & Finance invested £70 million of bondholders’ money with a hotel property firm where two senior players now have fraud convictions.

Prime Resort Development was one of the biggest recipients of LCF loans, but administrators to the bust lender say its assets in Cornwall, Cape Verde and the Dominican Republic, are only worth up to £15 million. One of Prime’s main players, Paul Seakens, was convicted last week over a carbon credit “boiler room” scheme that defrauded vulnerable investors out of £36 million. He is due to be sentenced on 28 May.

The other, Terrence Mitchell, was sentenced in December 2018 to two years’ jail for fraud and six months for “carrying on regulated activities” at collapsed savings scheme Anglo Wealth. Continue reading “Article: London Capital & Finance spent £70m of bondholders’ cash on firm with two fraudsters”

Britain to crack down on online fraud after LCF collapse

Huw Jones, 21 April 2021

Britain will crack down on online scams and make platforms that make money from advertising financial products more accountable, financial services minister John Glen said on Wednesday.

A report into the collapse of London Capital & Finance investment firm recommended that the government should consider including financial fraud in its proposed law on online safety. LCF was authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority but the mini-bonds it sold online were unregulated.

The government said on Monday it would pay up to 120 million pounds in compensation to many of the 11,600 investors who lost up to 237 million pounds when the fund collapsed in early 2019. The Serious Fraud Office is investigating the collapse. Continue reading “Article: Britain to crack down on online fraud after LCF collapse”