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Abbey Brokers 'owes £3m to clients'
25 August 2010
More customers have been duped, former employee claims Abbey Brokers Limited may owe up to £3m to clients after advising them to remortgage their properties and hand the cash over to its director, a former employee has claimed. In July, Money Management exclusively revealed that Abbey Brokers had been found guilty in a civil court of losing almost £1.5m of one couple's money. However, Derek Vivian, an IFA and former appointed representative of the company, said that he believes many more clients may also have been duped. Vivian stated that the company's director Rienze Albert Joseph Asoke Silva, known as Joe Silva, advised customers to remortgage their homes, despite not being FSA registered to do so. Customers handed over some of the cash for Silva to invest in an offshore account, the IFA claims, adding that this did not happen and instead it was put into a bank account of Silva's friend, Hugo De Mel. The allegations are very similar to details released in the previous court case, which stated that husband and wife Abdul Sattar Muhi Al Khudairi and Fathia Dawood Salman were told by Silva to remortgage their London property in order to transfer ownership to their children, releasing almost £1.5m. Silva then told them the cash would be placed into a 90 day notice Jersey account until it was needed, but instead it was deposited in De Mel's account. Silva has since failed to return the money to them despite repeat requests. A High Court Chancery Division ruling stated that Abbey Brokers had breached fiduciary duty, acted dishonestly and has been held liable for the £1.35m of lost money. The FSA has since revoked the authorisation of the company, while Vivian claims that it is shutting down at the end of August, with remaining staff being given redundancy notices. Silva said that after seeking legal advice he did not want to comment. Published by FTAdviser
