A former IFA has lost his appeal to overturn a six-year jail sentence for stealing £1m ($1.38m, €1.15m) of client money via a self-invested personal pension (Sipp) scheme he invented.
Darren Say went to the Court of Appeal to challenge his 2017 conviction and eight-year company disqualification as he said it was “manifestly excessive”.
The court said that the sentence of six years’ imprisonment was not “manifestly excessive or in any way wrong in principle”.
It added: “The judge was best placed to make the necessary assessment of seriousness. He said the appellant had perpetrated a fraud by his abuse of position which had impacted upon the financial affairs of individuals.
“The disqualification was intended to be punitive, and to reduce, as far as possible, the risk that the appellant would in future commit further offences when dealing with people’s money.
“We think the period of eight years’ disqualification was entirely appropriate and proportionate. It was neither manifestly excessive nor wrong in principle. Accordingly, the appeal against the disqualification order is likewise dismissed.”
Details
According to the original court case, Say invented a pension scheme where he loaned money to investors for their Sipp.
He founded Noisnep Capital, a business that provided “interest free, advanced pension funding for the nine out of 10 savers who faced an average £250,000 shortfall at retirement”.
Two years later, he founded Noisnep Limited, where Say promised to “bring about a consumer-led revolution to the pension industry”.
Members were promised up to £500,000 on 0% interest over a five-year period to fund pension contributions. The scheme promised that Noisnep would take up to 100% of the risk.
He told investors, some of whom were his own employees, that their funds would be used to develop a luxury holiday resort in the Bahamas which would be worth in excess of £100m when finished.
Instead, Say took £1m, made up of his clients’ pension funds and tax breaks from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), for himself.
The Sipps business was separate from advice firm Wealth Connection Limited, of which Say was chief executive between July 2010 and October 2016.
