Stephen Allen has pleaded guilty to forgery after the Financial Conduct Authority pursued him to recover money investors lost in a £16.9m Unauthorised Collective Investment Scheme (UCIS).

The FCA has been working to satisfy a restitution order in a related UCIS issue.

The forgery charge relates to events that followed proceedings by the FCA against Renwick Haddow for operating several unauthorised collective investment schemes. 

Between 2009 and 2013, consumers were persuaded to invest in rice farm harvests in Sierra Leone and in carbon credits intended to be generated from land in Sierra Leone, Brazil and Australia.

The FCA launched legal action in July 2013 against the operation and promotion of the four schemes and also against false and misleading statements made to consumers by individuals involved with the schemes.

The regulator secured a judgement against Mr Haddow and others in 2018. At the conclusion of these proceedings, Mr Haddow and others were ordered by the High Court to pay £16.9m in restitution.

Among other assets, Mr Haddow had an interest in a property (13 Brook Mews, London) which should have been available to the FCA for part satisfaction of the restitution order.

However, Mr Allen forged a trust deed that hid Mr Haddow’s interest in the property, knowing it would be used to avoid the property being sold for the benefit of victims of the unauthorised collective investment schemes.

Mr Allen has admitted the forgery through his guilty plea this week.

The property has now been sold and proceeds have been distributed to affected investors.