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Following a hearing at the High Court today John Anderson, Kenneth Peacock and Kautilya Nandan Pruthi have been ordered to pay approximately £115m to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in relation to their activities in unlawfully accepting deposits without authorisation from the FSA.
The FSA will be seeking to enforce the judgment and return money that can be retrieved to investors who had dealings with Pruthi, Anderson and Peacock.
The ruling follows another High Court judgment on 25 March 2010 which ruled that Pruthi, Anderson and Peacock, under their trading styles of: Business Consulting International, John Anderson Consulting and Kenneth Peacock Consulting, were in breach of section 19 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and unlawfully accepted deposits from UK consumers.
The Judge ordered Pruthi to pay £89,798,938.42, Anderson £13,197,076.15 and Peacock £11,645,052.99.
Margaret Cole, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FSA, said:
"As the Judge commented in his ruling the FSA took quick and decisive action against Pruthi, Anderson and Peacock and was entirely justified in intervening, using the full force of the legislation, to bring the scheme to a speedy conclusion and prevent further consumers being cheated.
"However, this case again emphasises the importance of taking care to ensure that any firm or individual consumers deal with are authorised or approved by the FSA. Authorisation offers consumers valuable protection and access to complaints and compensation arrangements should anything go wrong."
Investors should be aware that previous experience in cases of this type suggests that it is unlikely that money owed to investors by Pruthi, Anderson and Peacock will be repaid in part or at all.
