London police and Britain’s Serious Fraud Office raid Tchenguiz brothers over Icelandic bank collapse
London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – Joint forces of the London police and Britain’s Serious Fraud Office raided the offices of two prominent London brothers over the collapse of Icelandic bank Kaupthing.
Robert Tchenguiz was the biggest client of the collapsed bank with a loan portfolio of about $2.1 billion (GBP 1.4 billion). He used the loans to invest in several large British companies, including restaurants and retailers.
The police also raided Vincent Tchenguiz brother’s office in Mayfair. Vincent was Robert’s business partner and also had loans with Kaupthing.
135 police officers and SFO investigators, blocked all elevators and prevented the other building tenants from entering the edifice.
Kaupthing was one of three Icelandic banks that collapsed during the global financial crisis in 2008.
160,000 British depositors failed to withdraw their money and the U.K. Treasury had to bail them out to the tune of $3.75 billion (GBP 2.5 billion).
According to a report of a truth commission to the Icelandic Parliament, the Tchenguiz brothers loans from Kaupthing made up 55 percent of the failed bank’s capital base. The report said the bank’s exposure to Robert Tchenguiz went against Kaupthing’s rules.
The brothers, however, said they lost about $1.5 billion (GBP 1 billion) when Kaupthing was closed on October 2008. The two claimed that Kaupthing’s former management duped them into placing millions of pounds of assets as collateral on their loans without disclosing to them solvency problems of the bank.
The London police and SFO said they are investing claims of market abuse, excessive loans to clients and fraud.
View full post on All Stories
