Martin Rigney, 68, committed 16 counts of forgery involving tens of thousands of pounds of clients’ cash, which was lost after it was invested in a high-risk Polish property fund that later went bankrupt, according to reports by the Derbyshire Times.
Rigney was found to have forged documents by either signing signatures himself or by photocopying the genuine signature of his clients after a “long and complex investigation” by the Derbyshire police, which took on the case because the former IFA formerly lived in Hope, Derbyshire.
He was remanded into custody and will be sentenced on 1 September.
Unsuitable investments
The case came to the attention of the police in June 2012 following an investigation carried out by the regulator at the time, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), into Rigney and his company, Derbyshire-based advisory firm Topps Rogers Financial Management.
In October of the same year, Rigney was hit with a £117,330 ($153,218, €131,516) fine and banned by the watchdog from regulated activity for advising 94 clients to invest £12m in unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS) between 2006 and 2010 “without assessing their eligibility to receive promotions or explaining why his recommendations were suitable”, according to the FSA.
His clients, including many pensioners, were originally advised to invest via Royal Skandia bonds with a safe, non-risky spread of investments in various funds.
However, on 20 July the Derby Crown Court trial established that, by way of forging his clients’ signatures, Rigney subsequently switched the investments into the Curzon Capital Investment Poland Geared Growth Property fund, a UCIS vehicle that was suspended in 2008. and whose investors have all lost their money.
Since then, all investors into the fund have lost their money.
As a result of the switch, Rigney also claimed £371,149 in commission income for advising people to go into the Polish fund.
Breach of trust
Many of the people in the trial had no idea their money was being invested into Polish property.
In one instance, documented by prosecuting barrister Martin Hurst at a hearing in May where the banned adviser denied forging clients’ signatures, Derby Crown Court heard how Rigney forged the signatures of dementia sufferer Mary Dawson and her daughter who had power of attorney, so he could allegedly invest £76,000 of their money into the Polish fund.
“His clients trusted him and he abused that trust. It has had a devastating impact on their lives, emotionally as well as financially,” Detective Constable Julie Wheeldon, who led the investigation, told the Derbyshire Times.
“Our job is to protect and get justice for victims. We feel we have achieved that with this conviction.”
