We are returning money to investors in illegal deposit-taking schemes operated by John Anderson, Kenneth Peacock and Kautilya Nandan Pruthi.
The three individuals also traded as John Anderson Consulting, Kenneth Peacock Consulting and Business Consulting International.
Unauthorised deposit-taking
Anderson, Peacock, Pruthi and their firms were unlawfully accepting deposits from consumers in the UK and abroad.
On 29 June 2010, the High Court ordered that Pruthi must pay us £89.8m, Anderson £13.2m and Peacock £11.6m but they failed to provide the funds and were declared bankrupt.
We initiated bankruptcy proceedings to recover as much money as possible so that investors could be compensated for their losses. BDO LLP was instructed to handle the three separate bankruptcy proceedings and Mr Matthew Chadwick was appointed as Trustee. He then set about the difficult and lengthy task of realising the individuals’ assets so that the resulting funds could be returned to investors.
In order to return the funds to investors as fairly as possible, we drafted a distribution plan which was put before the Court for approval. On 5 November 2014, we obtained an order from the High Court directing us to implement our distribution plan and return money to investors who deposited money with Anderson, Peacock and Pruthi.
On 10 September 2015, the Trustee in Bankruptcy was given permission by the High Court to release the funds recovered in the bankruptcies to us for onward distribution to investors.
We have now received this money and have started returning it to investors this week. However, due to the amounts recovered in the bankruptcies, investors will only receive a small percentage of the amount they are owed.
Mark Steward, Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA said ‘The jailing and bankrupting of Mr Pruthi, Mr Anderson and Mr Peacock may bring some comfort to victims as will the distribution of remaining funds which will be completed over the next few weeks. Investors can protect themselves from fraudsters by avoiding dealing with firms and individuals who are not regulated by the FCA and by avoiding investments that sound too good to be true.’
You can see the amended High Court order[1] which includes our plan to distribute the money.
If you invest or deposit money with a firm that is not authorised by us, you will not be able to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service[2] or claim compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme[3].
You can check the Register[4] to see if a firm is authorised or an individual approved by us.
If you are concerned that a firm or individual has accepted deposits without our authorisation, please contact our Consumer Helpline[5] on 0800 111 6768.
You can learn more about protecting yourself from scams on our ScamSmart website[6].