SFO secures 10 month sentence for former London Capital & Finance Plc CEO

17 May, 2023 | News Releases

Today, at Southwark Crown Court, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) secured a 10 month sentence (suspended for two years) for Michael Thomson, former Chief Executive Officer of London Capital & Finance Plc (LCF), following his breaching of a restraint order imposed on his bank account.

The SFO had frozen Mr Thomson’s assets as part of its investigation into suspected fraud and money laundering at LCF, where 11,000 investors lost in excess of £237m between 2014 and 2019 in a mini-bond scheme.

The SFO uncovered that Mr Thomson hid £95,000 he received after the order was imposed. This included £55,000 from a tax rebate and an insurance claim worth £40,000 for repair work to a barn that was never completed. The monies were paid into an account owned by Mr Thomson’s wife, in an attempt to hide the money from the SFO.

SFO investigators found Mr Thomson spent some of this money to further conceal and hamper its recovery: buying a £5,000 holiday in Italy, a £3,900 horse saddle, £1,170 on a hotel and spa stay in Torquay, and £5,495 on a hot tub.

Lisa Osofsky, Director of the Serious Fraud Office, said:

“Today’s result makes clear: company executives are not above the law. When they break it, we have the means and the resolve to go after their money, no matter where they hide it.

“Over the past two years we have traced and seized every asset we have gone after, recovering over £140m for taxpayers.”