Broker's £1.7m libel case against FSA thrown out

Adam Lucas, who ran Essex brokerage People Loans, claimed the FSA libelled him by publishing a decision notice in which the regulator said Lucas failed to pay £1,349.41 in fees. The final notice cancelled his permissions to carry on regulated activities, thereby removing his approved persons status. But in what is thought to be the first libel case brought against the FSA the High Court Judge has backed the regulator and thrown out the case. The court ruled Lucas' case was an "abuse of the process of the court", and ordered him to pay the as yet undisclosed sum of the FSA's legal c...