Former Lumiere chief executive Chris Byrne should have handed all key documents to the island’s regulator – his £2.7m ($3.5m, €3m) fraud trial has heard.
Byrne, who denies fraud, was handed a ‘forthwith notice’ by the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) when it became concerned about the governance of his advice firm Lumiere Wealth in June 2016.
In court, JFSC director of enforcement Barry Faudemer said the notice compelled Byrne to hand over all relevant documents, both electronic and paper.
Local newspaper Bailliwick Express reported that Byrne handed over a laptop and hard drive, a disc, his wife’s computer, and an iPad.
Faudemer told the court that the JFSC was only given other key documents after the police seized them at Byrne’s house at a later date. He said he would have expected these to have been handed over at the time.
Not obliged to hand over documents
The defence advocate for Byrne asked Faudemer if the documents seized by the police were also on the hard drive or any of the electronic devices, which he was unable confirm or deny.
The court also learnt that if Byrne didn’t have the documents at the time, but they later came into his possession, he was not obliged to hand them over.
Faudemer also told the court that when he carried out his home visit Byrne was “helpful”.
£75,000 incentive
The enforcement director also testified that Byrne told him there was a deal between him and the boss of Providence, the collapsed investment firm that was a majority shareholder in Lumiere.
He said the deal, which hadn’t been declared to the JFSC or the directors of Lumiere, involved Byrne being paid £75,000 every three months for ‘introducing’ clients to Providence.
According to Faudemer’s evidence, Byrne also told him that between leaving his previous job as a financial adviser and getting a licence to operate Lumiere he’d “acted as an intermediary” or “introducer”, putting clients in touch with Providence.
This is important because Byrne also faces charges of offering financial advice when he wasn’t registered, reports Bailiwick Express.
Investing in Brazilian debt
Out of the 19 related fraud charges Byrne faces, 14 are connected to previous dealings with clients and Guernsey-based Providence Global, which collapsed in August 2016.
Providence was wound up by order of the Royal Court of Guernsey following an application from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) after all of the directors of two Providence subsidiaries quit over two days.
Lumiere Wealth was majority owned by Providence Global and promoted the Providence Investment Funds PCC, which offered investors returns of up to 14% from a Brazilian financial operation.
In a separate trial in the US, the chief executive of Providence Companies Group admitted to orchestrating a $150m (£117.6m, €131.7m) scam that duped mostly elderly and vulnerable people across the world.
