The FCA has banned convicted P2P fraudster brothers Andrew and Peter Currie from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity.
Peter and Andrew Currie were convicted in 2023 for defrauding investors through the collapsed peer-to-peer lending platform Collateral (UK) Ltd.
Andrew Currie was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, while his brother received a sentence of five years and six months.
The FCA said the brothers’ convictions and disqualification from acting as directors demonstrated a, “clear and serious lack of honest and integrity” and that they pose a severe risk to both consumers and confidence in the UK financial system.
The pair had built up £17.9m in loans through their business at the time of its collapse, with an administrator estimating that approximately £11m would not be recovered. At the time of entering administration, Collateral had 1,132 investors.
Before its collapse into administration in February 2018, the Collateral P2P platform offered peer-to-peer style investments on a website fraudulently claiming it was authorised and regulated by the FCA.
While the P2P platform did not have permission from the FCA to conduct regulated activities, another company owned by the pair, Regal Pawnbroker Ltd, held interim FCA permission to conduct consumer credit business and the register was amended by Peter Currie to make it appear that Collateral held the interim permission by changing the name from Regal to Collateral. This enabled Collateral to be falsely presented as authorised and regulated by the FCA when it was not.
All advertising and corporate paperwork for Collateral falsely informed potential investors of the purported authorisation, with the Judge observing that without this fraud the platform, ‘would not have been able to thrive’.
Within two days of the FCA first highlighting concerns about Collateral, the brothers transferred funds from the firm despite having given undertakings to the High Court not to move any of the platform’s assets. Funds from Collateral were then used for personal gain, including the purchase of a property in Spain.
In its final notice, the FCA noted that neither brother had referred the matter to the appeal tribunal within 28 days of receiving its decision notice.