Collateral UK, once a peer-to-peer lending platform that went into insolvency in 2018, has seen fraud convictions of its founders.
According to the Financial Conduct Authority that filed the charges, Peter Currie was convicted of two counts of fraud and one of money laundering. His brother Andrew Curie was convicted of one count of fraud and one of money laundering.
The FCA states that Collateral, which was formed in 2014, claimed to be authorized by the regulator but was actually never approved to provide online P2P transactions.
The regulator states that in January 2018, it notified Peter Currie that they had uncovered an unauthorized register change and ordered that Collateral cease its business. Apparently, Collateral ignored the FCA’s demand and continued to receive investments.
The Currie brothers then removed customer funds amounting to £750,000 and transferred the money to accounts they controlled.
The FCA says the Curries claimed to be authorized to defraud investors.
Sentencing will take place on July 7, 2023.
After the company went into administration it was reported that investors would receive a portion of any lost funds.
