After pleading guilty to forgery in July, Stephen Allen has been sentenced to two years and four months imprisonment and disqualified from being a director for eight years.
He originally pleaded not guilty in November 2020.
Not for sale
The forged document relates to proceedings brought by the Financial Conduct Authority against an individual named Renwick Haddow.
Haddow operated several unauthorised collective investment schemes. He was ordered by the high court to pay £16.9m ($23m, €19.7m) in restitution to investors.
Among his assets was an interest in a property in London, which should have been liquidated.
However, Allen forged a trust deed to hide Haddow’s interest in the property knowing that it would reduce the sum available for the restitution payments.
£1m property
At sentencing, judge Bartle QC said: “There came a time when Mr Allen was aware of what was going on and he forged the deed in circumstances indicated – an extremely serious matter knowing what consequences would be.”
Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: “Mr Allen deliberately disguised the true ownership of a central London property worth more than £1m, frustrating payment of compensation to victims of Mr Haddow’s unauthorised investment scheme.
“This is a serious facilitating offence. The FCA will pursue those who facilitate financial crime as well as principal offenders.”
Multiple offender
According to the FCA, Haddow is currently in the US awaiting sentence having pleaded guilty to a separate fraud prosecuted by the department of justice.
In 2018, he was charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with misleading investors in a separate $37m (£27m, €31.6m) scam.
