A multi-million-pound pension fraud prosecution in the UK has seen one of the defendants plead guilty during a hearing at Southwark Crown Court.
Alan Barratt changed his plea to guilty from not guilty to a charge of fraud by abuse of position.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) alleges that Barratt and his two co-defendants – Susan Dalton and Julian Hanson – defrauded 245 savers out of £13.7m ($18.6m, €16.4m).
Between 2012 and 2014, the trio is believed to have persuaded people to transfer their pension savings into 11 schemes under the control of the three defendants.
Barrett was also extradited from Spain in March 2021, where he was arrested under a European Arrest Warrant issued by Westminster Magistrates Court, to stand trial in the UK.
Dalton entered a guilty plea at a previous hearing, while Hanson has pleaded not guilty and will stand trial on 13 June 2022.
TPR said that “all defendants who have pleaded, or are found, guilty will be sentenced at the conclusion of the trial”.
For the time being, they have all been released on conditional bail.
