Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
A former UK tax adviser at broker dealer BGC Group who took part in a £24mn scheme to defraud the US company has been handed a 16-month prison sentence after he failed to repay money to his former employer.
A judge at the High Court in London ordered on Friday that Michael Viney be imprisoned for “grave contempt” after he was found to have dissipated funds that should have been used to repay the US company.
BGC, which was led by billionaire Howard Lutnick before he became US commerce secretary this year, said it was the victim of a “massive” £24mn fraud perpetrated by Viney and another UK employee, Xavier Alcan.
The company accused Viney and Alcan of diverting payments that were intended to be between BGC and other legitimate sources, mainly HM Revenue & Customs, to bank accounts in other jurisdictions. The company reached a settlement with Alcan last year.
Viney has previously admitted that he was liable to pay BGC. He was told to repay about £24mn under the terms of a court order in May 2022, according to a legal filing from BGC. He acknowledged last month that he had breached the order.
The court said on Friday that Viney had made false representations — including to HMRC — and had doctored emails and created false documents as part of the fraud.
Viney had agreed to repay BGC, but later admitted three breaches of a court order, including by dissipating a chunk of the proceeds from a sale of property in Barcelona.
In a ruling on Friday, Mr Justice Dexter Dias said: “The defendant’s conduct amounts to grave contempt for which the only appropriate punishment is an immediate custodial term.”
He added: “The defendant’s conduct is far too serious to justify suspending the custodial term.”
Ian Whitehurst, a barrister representing Viney, declined to comment.
This is a developing story
