High Court orders return of £32m stolen from pension funds

The High Court yesterday ordered the return of £32m stolen from pension schemes in the biggest pensions fraud case since Robert Maxwell. The total fraud was £52m taken from nine pension schemes in 2007 and 2008.

The nine schemes are now under the control of Independent Trustee Services Limited ("ITS") which was appointed by the Pensions Regulator to look after the interests of the affected schemes when it suspended GP Noble Trustees Ltd in 2008. 

Following initial intervention by the Pensions Regulator and its suspension of GP Noble, ITS commenced a tracing process and legal action to recover the funds. ITS appointed Taylor Wessing to assist in unravelling the complex international fraud. A cross firm team of lawyers has worked on the case culminating in the successful court order. 

Head of Fraud David de Ferrars and Corporate Recovery Partner Nick Moser led the Taylor Wessing team, which also includes Pensions Partner Mark Smith and Senior Associate in the Commercial Disputes group Heidi Wales.  

Speaking after the court order Heidi Wales says:

"With 27 defendants and tens of thousands of documents this has been a substantial team effort, which will continue in order to recover the remaining missing funds."

Chris Martin, Managing Director of ITS, says:

"ITS is delighted with the Court's decision. It represents a key step along what has been a complex path towards recovering assets and giving certainty to scheme members.

"We will work with the Pensions Regulator to consider our options in terms of seeking recovery of the remaining funds."

Mr Justice Peter Smith complimented ITS, Taylor Wessing and counsel for their efforts in getting such a large case to trial so effectively.

Lawyers David de Ferrars, Nick Moser, Heidi Wales, Mark Smith

Notes to editors

For more information please contact Helen Needham at Taylor Wessing:

DDL + 44 (0) 20 7300 4156