Former LCF boss and wife sentenced for selling saddles, hot tub

The former CEO ​of collapsed British investment ​firm London Capital & ‌Finance and ​his wife have received six-month sentences for selling saddles, a hot ‌tub and other luxury items in breach of a restraint order, the Serious Fraud Office said on Thursday. The collapse in ‌2019 of LCF, which promised high interest rates on "mini-bonds" ‌before its failure triggered one of Britain's biggest retail investment scandals, cost around 11,600 investors more than £237 million ($318 million). A London judge ⁠called ​the sales ⁠by Michael Thomson and his wife Debbie, whose sentence was suspended for ⁠two years, "an attack on the administration of justice."

Lawyers for Thomson ​did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thomson, ⁠who had already been serving a suspended sentence for a previous ⁠breach, ​admitted to recklessly breaching an SFO restraint order twice and Debbie four times by receiving a £2,000 ⁠holiday refund and selling items with a combined value ⁠of almost £5,800, the ⁠SFO said.

The assets are subject to restraint proceedings because of the continuing SFO fraud ‌and ‌money-laundering investigation. ($1 = 0.7462 pounds)

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