Law firm Kingsley Napley has won a case on behalf of its client, liquidator DM Financial, in its action against the former investment managers and promoters of Trafalgar Multi Asset Trading Co Ltd and various parties connected to the fund.
The decision in Trafalgar Multi Asset Trading Co Ltd (in liquidation) vs James Hadley & others was handed down on Friday 19 May.
Trafalgar was a Cayman-Islands-based fund with around £21m ($26m, €24.2m) assets under management before it went into liquidation in early 2017.
The action sought to recover assets misappropriated from British pensioners, in a protracted pension fund civil fraud case.
It built on a 2022 Court of Appeal decision in liquidator DM Financial’s favour, which recognised bribery claims against James Hadley, the former promoter of the fund, as well as Bentley Thwaite and Platinum Pyramid Limited who were connected to transactions involving the fund. Kingsley Napley also advised on that earlier claim at first instance and in the Court of Appeal.
The latest decision means that judgements were obtained against Stuart Chapman-Clark (also known as Stuart Grehan), Mark Lloyd, Pinnacle Brokers Limited and CGrowth Capital Bond Limited in relation to dishonest assistance, unconscionable receipt and conspiracy to injure by unlawful means, and against James Hadley in breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy.
‘Rife with illegality’
There was also a finding of vicarious liability for bribery against CGrowth Capital Bond Limited. Nicholas Thompsell, sitting as a deputy judge of the High Court, commented in the judgement that the arrangements between the parties who established Trafalgar were “so rife with illegality and other types of unlawfulness, that one hardly knows where to begin”.
Stephan Doran, principal of insolvency services at DM Financial, said: “We have been pursuing legal action against the former asset manager and recipients of Trafalgar’s funds since 2018, alleging that some £19m of pension fund investments were diverted by them under an unlawful and elaborate scheme.
“We were successful in the majority of causes of action in our latest claim and will continue our efforts on an international basis to maximise recovery for the fund and its ultimate UK pensioner beneficiaries.”
In 2017, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it was investigating Trafalgar. The investigation is still ongoing.
The SFO said that the fund is well-known in the international advisory community, and was aimed at expat investors in Europe and other jurisdictions.
