According to the Jersey Evening Post, Byrne faces 10 new charges in relation to advice he gave clients while at the helm of Lumiere Wealth, which was ordered to be wound up by the Royal Court of Jersey last October.
The IFA firm was majority owned by Guernsey-based Providence Global and promoted the Providence Investment Funds PCC, which offered investors returns of up to 14% from a Brazilian financial operation.
Byrne is currently under investigation by the Jersey Financial Services Commission.
Last month, four men were arrested on suspicion of fraud as part of the ongoing investigation into the collapsed Guernsey-based Providence Investment Fund that saw some investors lose their life savings.
Investment fraud
Byrne is accused of trying to bribe a 77-year-old woman to lend him £1m, by tricking her into signing a document that turned out to be an unsecured personal loan agreement.
Other allegations are that, in 2014, he made a statement, promise, or forecast that he knew to be misleading, false or dishonest in order to persuade a woman in her 60s to invest £200,000 ($248,616, €224,636).
Byrne is accused of lying to investors by reassuring them that their capital would be “safe” and that the capital would be “ring-fenced” by law, reports Jersey Evening Post.
Byrne is currently out on bail but is due to appear in the Royal Court in the coming weeks.
Providence Fund
The Providence Fund and its manager, Providence Investment Management International Limited (Pimil), were put into administration in August 2016 following an application by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC).
The decision was taken after all of the directors from both companies resigned in early August, having informed investors that the fund had been suspended on 29 July 2016.
Deloitte was appointed administrator and found, as part of its review, that the Providence parent company was insolvent. As a result, joint liquidators were appointed to Providence Global on 22 August.
A criminal investigation into Providence was launched on Guernsey in October 2016.
Brazil connection
Providence Global also owns Brazilian factoring company, Providence Fomento Mercantil, Investimentos e Participações into which the Providence Fund invested.
The closed-ended absolute return fund aimed to provide investors with annual returns of between 7% and 14.25% from investments in Brazilian debt, based on the short-term debt of small and medium-sized businesses.
The minimum investment was $50,000, €37,500, or £30,000.
