Millions of pounds taken from nine defrauded pension schemes were transferred to two shell companies before being disseminated to a multitude of "risky" investments, a court heard yesterday.
Southwark Crown Court heard the underfunded schemes were targeted by defendant Tony Morris after his company The Money Portal bought out GP Noble, a Nottingham-based independent trustee firm, in 2006. A total of £52m was removed from the schemes in two separate "sweeps" in 2007 and 2008. Prosecution counsel David Farrer QC yesterday described the transactions as a "farce". He told jurors the investment vehicle to which about £31m of pension fund money was transferred in August 2007 was "about as unsuitable vehicle for pension scheme investment as you can imagine". The vehicle, F...
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