CEO of financial services firm has assets restrained

Despite violating a restraining order on his assets, the former CEO of a financial services business was spared prison time.

As HSBC (review) fights off a split, more banking drama ensures, when a former finance company CEO who spent millions on pleasures while a court order froze his assets was spared prison time.

In March 2019, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) obtained a court order freezing Michael Thomson's assets because of the collapse of London Capital & Finance, where Thomson had been CEO, affecting 11,000 investors and resulting in £230 million in damages.

£95k in assets frozen

While his assets were frozen, the 50-year-old nevertheless managed to access and spend roughly £95,000.

The SFO claims that he transferred funds to his wife's undisclosed bank account and used the funds to purchase items such as a hot tub, horse saddles, and clothing from Next (to the tune of £4,000), a horse-truck conversion (at a cost of £1,000), and a hotel stay (at a cost of £1,000).

Thomson was sentenced to 10 months in jail suspended over two years at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday for twice violating the injunction. According to Judge Alexander Milne KC, these offences constitute contempt of court. He further stressed that judicial orders must be respected and followed rather than ignored.

Sentence postponed

The court decided to postpone Thomson's sentence after considering his mental health, his compliance and cooperation with authorities since the violations, and the length of time it took to resolve the case.

According to SFO's Catherine Collins in court, Thomson broke the law for the first time in January 2020 when he requested a stamp duty refund and deposited the money (about £55,000) into his wife's unrestricted account.

The second incident happened in June, when Thomson had reported damage to an outbuilding and received an insurance settlement of roughly £40,000, which he then transferred to his wife's bank account on the false pretence that it had been used for do-it-yourself repairs during our current inflation period.

Takeaway

Despite the recession, according to Ms. Collins, the money he earned through these two avenues was ultimately used for his own gratification.

Thomson's attorney, Genevieve Reed, contended that her client is an upstanding citizen who has a spouse, children, and grand kids who depend on him, and that he has confessed the violations and cooperated with authorities since the infractions.