A finance firm’s ex-chief executive has been jailed for six months after concealing thousands of pounds including lavish spending on horses, holidays and hot tubs.
Michael Thomson, 53, was sent down after appearing in the dock today at Southwark Crown Court alongside his wife Debbie, who was also sentenced.
Her six-month jail term, however, was suspended for two years, while the court heard the couple were now separated.
Thomson admitted breaching orders that had previously threatened him with prison.
Thomson, formerly CEO of the London Capital & Finance investment firm, was convicted after selling luxury items in breach of a court restraint order.
He and his estranged wife, also 53, were subject to the order as part of the Serious Fraud Office’s ongoing investigation into suspected fraud and money laundering at LCF, where 11,000 investors lost more than £237million between 2014 and 2019.
Thomson was already serving a suspended sentence for a previous breach of the order for transferring £95,000 to Debbie Thomson, in an earlier attempt to conceal funds from SFO investigators.
The restraint order is designed to preserve assets while criminal proceedings are pending.
Michael Thomson, 53, ex-CEO of London Capital and Finance, has been jailed after a Serious Fraud Office investigation – he is pictured here outside Southwark Crown Court in 2023
Yet the Thomsons received a £2,000 holiday refund and sold items – including a hot tub and horse saddles – with a combined value of nearly £5,800, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.
Michael Thomson previously pleaded guilty to recklessly breaching the order on two occasions.
Debbie Thomson admitted to four breaches and was handed a six-month sentence that was suspended for two years.
Judge Alexander Milne today told the Thomsons that their actions ‘were a contempt of court and the court has to take contempt seriously’.
The judge described they had carried out ‘reckless breaches rather than deliberate’ but it was effectively an attack on the administration of justice.
He told them: ‘However, reckless is in itself serious and what is clear is that this was another set of breaches resulting in the restriction of funds that were to be secured.’
More than £100,000 in assets has been lost by the Thomsons’ actions, the SFO has said.
After sentencing, Paul Napper, the SFO’s head of proceeds of crime and international assistance division, said: ‘Today’s outcome sends a clear message that attempting to frustrate an SFO investigation carries serious consequences.
‘We continue to advance our inquiry into LCF on behalf of the thousands of investors who lost everything through its abrupt collapse.’
Southwark Crown Court heard from separate lawyers offering mitigation on behalf of the two defendants, who were described as having separated.
Debbie Thomson’s counsel told that she had suffered mental health issues and was living with the couple’s teenage daughter.
Michael Thomson’s assets had been frozen in 2019 as part of an investigation into suspected fraud and money laundering at LCF.
The firm went into administration in January 2019 suffering losses of £236million – affecting its 11,605 bondholders, many of whom were pensioners and had invested their life savings.
According to the SFO, he funnelled money into his wife’s unrestrained bank account which was not subject to the order and splashed out on a £5,000 Italian holiday.
Other spending was said to include a £5,495 hot tub, a £3,900 riding saddle, £1,170 on a hotel spa in Torquay and £3,000 at the retailer Next.
The money came from a £40,000 insurance payout for damage to a barn on which Thomson never completed repair works.
In September 2020 the SFO identified the false insurance claim but in January 2021 Mr Thomson insisted this was for repair work and was not a breach of his restraint order.
But at the end of 2021 the SFO learned that a further £55,000 for a stamp duty refund was paid into Mrs Thomson’s account – in an attempt to hide the money.
In July 2022 Mr Thomson eventually admitted a breach and contempt of court for both the insurance claim and stamp duty refund – but was spared prison that time.
But the judge Mr Milne, who had ruled over the case in the past, today told Thomson: ‘It’s been urged upon me that that your mental health has deteriorated – but there’s a limit to how much a crown court can take.’
Defence counsel for Debbie Thomson told how she had moved in with the couple’s daughter and her young child, while also taking HGV lorry driving courses.
