A DATE for the court case over the London Finance and Capital (LCF) mini-bond scandal has been scheduled for this month, five years after the company collapsed.
The civil case has 10 defendants including Tunbridge Wells businessman and former local Conservative Association chairman, Simon Hume-Kendall, Mr Hume-Kendall’s wife Helen Hume-Kendall and LCF Chief Executive Michael ‘Andy’ Thomson over the alleged fraud.
Administrators Evelyn Partners will be acting on behalf of the LCF bondholders at the High Court of Justice at the end of this month. The reading week for the Judge will begin January 11 and the first sitting is due to take place January 29.
The forthcoming case is expected to run for 22 weeks but could conclude earlier if the defendants opt to settle.
The Times has reported extensively on the collapse of the mini-bond firm, which left over 11,000 bondholders out of pocket, with lost investments including pension pots and life savings totalling £237million.
LCF collapsed in January 2019 after the city watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), froze its bank accounts because of its marketing practices for mini-bonds.
The Tunbridge Wells firm was offering returns as high as eight per cent and selling the products as being similar to ISAs, although they had none of the same protections.
Earlier this year, Mr Thompson appeared in court and was given a 10-month sentence, suspended for two years, at Southwark Crown Court.
