Andrew and Peter Currie get jail phrases for fleecing customers by means of Collateral P2P platform

On 14 July 2023 Peter Currie and Andrew Currie have been sentenced to five.5 years and a pair of.5 years imprisonment for fraud and cash laundering following prosecution by the UK Monetary Conduct Authority (FCA).

Earlier than its collapse into administration in February 2018, Collateral supplied peer-to-peer type investments on a web site fraudulently claiming it was authorised and controlled by the FCA.

In December 2015 Peter Currie, a Collateral director, swapped the small print of a separate firm he had agreed to promote – Regal Pawnbrokers Ltd – for the small print of Collateral on the FCA’s public Register. Over the next 18 months, the corporate was marketed as authorised by the FCA to encourage individuals to spend money on loans on the Collateral platform.

In January 2018, the FCA notified Peter Currie that that they had uncovered the Register change and ordered Collateral to stop unauthorised enterprise. After this, Collateral not solely continued to obtain investments, however Peter and Andrew Currie additionally eliminated roughly £750,000 from Collateral consumer accounts.

At across the similar time, the Curries appointed an administrator with out informing the FCA as they have been required to, and transferred £88,000 from Collateral funds.

The FCA efficiently challenged the appointment of this administrator in courtroom. A brand new administrator appointed following the FCA’s intervention estimated that of the £17.9m in buyer loans excellent on the time of Collateral’s collapse, roughly £11m is not going to be recovered. That is due to important shortfalls between the valuations utilized to the property used as securities for the loans and the quantities the directors have been capable of realise available on the market.

On the sentencing listening to, each defendants have been additionally disqualified from being firm administrators.

In sentencing, His Honour Choose Griffith remarked in respect of Peter Currie that ‘Collateral was constructed on foundations of sand and dishonesty’ on account of his fraudulent register change.

In respect of Andrew Currie Choose Griffith mentioned ‘the clearest impression of your actions …. was to get extra money out to the detriment of traders.’

Andrew Currie was sentenced to 2 years 6 months imprisonment for fraud by abuse of place and a pair of years 6 months for cash laundering opposite to s.327 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Each sentences to be served concurrently.

Peter Currie was sentenced to three years 6 months imprisonment for fraud by false illustration, 2 years for fraud by abuse of place and a pair of years for cash laundering opposite to s.327 of POCA 2002. Counts 2 and three to be served concurrently however consecutively to Rely 1.