Brothers Peter and Andrew Currie were convicted on 22 May for fraud by false representation, fraud by abuse of position and converting criminal property in a prosecution brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Both will be sentenced on 7 July 2023.
Peter Currie was convicted by unanimous verdicts of two counts of fraud and one of money laundering and Andrew Currie was convicted of one count of fraud and one of money laundering at Southwark Crown Court, following a five-week trial. Andrew Currie was acquitted of one count of fraud.
Before its collapse into administration in February 2018, Collateral, the failed investment firm, offered peer-to-peer-style investments on a website, fraudulently claiming it was authorised and regulated by the FCA.
Register change
In December 2015, Peter Currie, a Collateral director, swapped the details of a separate company he had agreed to sell − Regal Pawnbrokers Ltd − for the details of Collateral on the FCA register. Over the following 18 months, the company was advertised as authorised, to persuade people to invest in loans on the Collateral platform.
In January 2018, the FCA notified Peter Currie that it had uncovered the register change and ordered that Collateral cease undertaking unauthorised business.
After this, Collateral not only continued to receive investments, but Peter and Andrew Currie also removed approximately £750,000 from the Collateral client accounts.
At around the same time, the Curries appointed an administrator, without informing the FCA as required, and transferred a further £88,000 from Collateral funds.
On 27 April 2018, on the FCA’s application, the High Court ruled that this appointment was invalid and appointed alternative administrators proposed by the FCA.
Commenting on the case, the regulator said: “The integrity of the FCA register is vital to consumer protection. The Curries masqueraded as an authorised firm to defraud consumers by falsifying the official record and the jury has quite rightly concluded their conduct was criminal.”
