The former Chief Financial Officer of FCA Regulated firm Lendy has today (Aug 2nd 2022) begun his multi-million-pound claim against his former boss and employer at the London Central Employment Tribunal.
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Contemporaneous Tribunal Reporting by Joe Morgan, additional reporting by Daniel Cloake.
The claimant, former JP Morgan banker Kieran O’Connor, 56, of North London, was in his role as CFO for a few short months after being appointed to the peer-to-peer lending company.
Mr O’Connor is pursuing a claim of unfair dismissal against Lendy Ltd, and a claim in respect of detriment against former CEO and director Liam Brooke, 40, of Southsea following the making of what are said to be protected disclosures.
Mr O’Connor has claimed that before he was placed on garden leave he had raised concerns that Mr Brooke had ‘blurred the lines’ between his “private interests and finances and Lendy’s responsibilities and liabilities to its customers and borrowers and potentially compromised its duties, responsibilities, liabilities and accountability under the Regulations to them”.
O’Connor began his employment in June 2018, and left the business in November the same year when he was given a three-month notice of termination of employment, which ended in February 2019.
The claims, which total £6.6m, include compensation for loss of salary (£750k), loss of bonus (£2.75m), and £36,100 towards “hurt feelings and embarrassment at the circumstances of my dismissal“.
Lendy entered into administration in May 2019, leaving over £160m outstanding on the loan book, with at least £90m of those funds in default.
The mouseinthecourt covered the judgment from a preliminary hearing held for this matter in November 2020: “Lendy CFO reported ‘serious financial irregularities’ before sacking, tribunal finds”.
In this hearing, heard remotely at the London Central Employment Tribunal, an issue of disclosure arose around the question of a page in a notebook being relied on by Lendy and Mr Brooke.
The note, written by a Mr Charles Bellringer, a self-styled “consultant specialising in the provision of advice and support to businesses in the financial services sector“, who was with Lendy at the time, is said to reflect what had happened immediately after a meeting. Mr Bellringer said in written submissions:
“[Mr O’Connor] stormed into the office where I was sat with Liam. During the fairly brief discussion he angrily snapped at me “I have nothing but contempt for people like the FCA and you. As far as I’m concerned people like you are in the gutter!”.“
Mr O’Connor, representing himself at the tribunal, disagreed saying: “I have some doubts whether this page was contemporaneous.
“While I think it was authentic, I doubt it was contemporaneous. It would be useful to me to understand if this record purports to be around the time, it should follow in sequential order.“
Mr O’Connor had made an application for the notebook to see the proximity of the page to any page with a date on.
In written submissions made prior to the hearing Mr O’Connor said of the note:
“The written note is quite clearly not my language nor my style … It reveals [Mr Bellringer’s] clumsy attempt to re-write the course of events as he imagined could have played out with some sort of swashbuckling “Gordon Gekko” Hollywood caricature – the type he felt I must surely be given that I’d previously worked in an investment bank…But Bellringer hasn’t quite pulled it off. The pompous and incongruous style he’s recorded betrays him – it’s quite clearly what he has dreamed up, and not anything like I would ever say. It’s a clunky and ill-fitting construct dreamt up by a resentful and slightly stiff, older English gentleman from Surrey.”
After considering the application for disclosure of the notebook, Employment Judge Mark Emery said: “Where there is a solicitor’s assertion or determination that certain pages are clearly privileged and not disclosable that has got to be taken as read unless you have actual evidence they are not.
“The way forward is there to be a camera where the lawyer or individual is reading the date and when they turn the page to the relevant document shows that page to the camera.
“Also, Mr O Connor when you are satisfied that there have been enough pages and dates referred to be able to say with a degree of confidence that these are indeed chronological or I do not accept they are chronological because there are pages out of order or there are too many pages undated.
“Obviously, you can come back and say you are not satisfied for X, Y, Z reasons.
“You can even review the application as we are not making a final judgement. Our indication is the suggestions being made are the kind of practical ways that these kinds of difficult issues of disclosure of original documentation can be dealt with.“
Mr O’Connor agreed, saying: “Broadly that is ok. To be clear I have no problem with accepting I will not see privileged information. That’s not an issue.
“I think you’ve understood I’m trying to get a sense for whether the note shows any nearness, any proximity to a date that’s close to what I’m looking for.“
It was agreed before the tribunal adjourned for a reading day that Mr O’Connor will give evidence first.
The tribunal continues tomorrow.
Coverage
22/11/2021: Lendy CFO reported ‘serious financial irregularities’ before sacking, Tribunal finds
02/08/2022: Former Lendy CFO’s £6.6m Employment Tribunal claim begins
04/08/2022: Lendy: “It was a dysfunctional company”, tribunal hears on 2nd day
05/08/2022: Lendy was in “regulatory financial cardiac arrest”, tribunal hears on 3rd day
08/08/2022: CEO: Lendy was “in chaos…I found it a bit overwhelming”, tribunal hears on 4th day
09/08/2022: O’Connor “was responsible for knowingly misleading both the FCA and investors” tribunal hears on 5th day
10/08/2022: Tribunal rejects £6.6m claim but finds Kieran O’Connor was “a convenient scapegoat”
Case Details
Employment Tribunal Case No: 1400452/2019
London Central Employment Tribunal
Before Employment Judge Mark Emery
Sitting with Tribunal Members Jennifer Cameron and S Hearn
Claimant:
Mr K O’Connor
Respondent:
(1) Mr Liam John Brooke
(2) Lendy Limited
Mouse in the Court 
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