The High Court has ordered four fraudsters who ran a series of scam pension schemes to pay back £13.7m they took from 245 victims between 2012 and 2014.
David Austin, Susan Dalton, Alan Barratt and Julian Hanson squandered the millions after 245 members of the public were persuaded via cold-calling and similar techniques to transfer their pension savings into one of 11 scam schemes operated by Friendly Pensions (FP) between November 2012 and September 2014.
Victims were told that if they transferred their pension pots to the schemes they would receive a tax-free payment commonly described as a ‘commission rebate’ from investments made by the pension scheme – a form of pension scam.
On 23 January, the High Court ruled that Austin, Dalton, Barratt and Hanson should repay millions of pounds they took from the schemes over a two-year period.
Judge Mark Pelling ruled that Austin had been the “mastermind” but all four defendants had acted dishonestly.
He ruled Austin and Barratt were jointly and severally liable to pay more than £7.7m plus interest, that Austin and Dalton were jointly and severally liable for about £5.9m plus interest and that Austin and Hanson were jointly and severally liable to pay just over £122,000 plus interest.
The judge also ordered that the defendants must pay the costs of TPR and Dalriada, the independent trustee appointed by the regulator, on an indemnity basis.
Austin laundered funds from the schemes into his bank account and the accounts of family members in the UK, Switzerland and Andorra through a number of businesses that he had set up in the UK, Cyprus and the Caribbean, including FP.
According to The Pensions Regulator (TPR), Austin’s family had lived a life of luxury using the money and had posted evidence of expensive goods, ski holidays and trips to Dubai and the Mediterranean on social media.
Dalriada will now be able to seek the confiscation of the scammers’ assets for the benefit of the victims.
‘Stripping the schemes almost bare’
TPR executive director of frontline regulation Nicola Parish said: “The defendants syphoned off millions of pounds from the schemes on what they falsely claimed were fees and commissions.
“While Mr Austin was the mastermind, they all took part in stripping the schemes almost bare. This left hardly anything behind from the savings their victims had set aside over decades of work to pay for their retirements.
“The High Court’s ruling means that Dalriada can now go after the assets and investments of those involved to try to recover at least some of the money that these corrupt people took. This case sends a clear message that we will take tough action against pension scammers.”
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