Marshall Island Mystery: Lendy Directors to pay £3.4m, report reveals

The total amount payable by the two former directors of the failed peer-to-peer finance firm Lendy Ltd, accused of misappropriating funds worth £6.5m via off-shore entities, has been revealed in a report published earlier today.

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Extensive coverage of the claim can be read in “Lendy v Brooke & Others – The Marshall Island Mystery“.

The defendants have explicitly denied any accusation of wrongdoing throughout.

Former Director Liam Brooke (centre) with TV presenters Martin
Roberts and Phil Spencer during the Lendy sponsored Cowes Week

Although we haven’t had sight of the confidential settlement agreement a paragraph from the recently published Joint Administrators’ Seventh Progress Report does reveal what is described as a headline amount.

Investigations
As noted in the previous report, an all-party mediation was held with the respondents of the claims. Settlement discussions continued during the reporting period, and we can confirm that a settlement agreement was reached between the parties. The headline terms of the settlement is for payment of £3.4m in full settlement of the claims, with the funds expected to be paid in full by the end of 2023.

The first payment under the settlement of £300,000 has been received from the respondents

It is not known how the total of £3.4m has been deduced or how it has been apportioned among the 5 defendants which include the former Directors:
(1) Liam John Brooke (born June 1982) of Queens Crescent, Portsmouth
(2) Tim Alastair Gordon (born July 1979) of Ryefields Park, Chichester
And companies linked to the directors:
(3) LP Alhambra Limited (A company registered in England)
(4) RFP Holdings Limited (A company registered in England)
(5) Brankesmere Limited (A company registered in England)

Legal Charges

We previously reported on a court order, made by High Court Judge Mr Justice Miles, which recorded that a legal protection, known as a charge, could be granted over several properties owned by the defendants in favour of Lendy and the Joint Administrators.

It is understood that the personal homes of the two former directors are included in the list attached to the order.

Analysis of the Companies House filings for each of the corporate defendants reveal that the charges have now been registered.

Brankesmere Limited (director Carmen Pamela Guillamon Gonzalez, 33) owns the freehold over the Office at Brankesmere House. Here’s the Lendy Team posing in front of the building:

The registration for the Brankesmere charge can be read here.

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Likewise, filings for RFP Holdings Limited (director Sara Bryce-Gordon, 38) reveal a charge has been registered over the property at Ryefield Park.

It is understood that part of this property had been let-out as a “luxurious self-catered holiday cottage with a log burner” on booking.com.

Ryefield Park Swimming Pool

Fun fact: With rates advertised as £350/night it would take over 26-years to pay off the full settlement agreement.

The progress report states that payments under the agreement are expected to come in during 2023. This site will keep a close eye on any developments going forward.

In October we contacted the Joint Administrators’ and asked:
– Whether the Joint Administrators’ will be publicly withdrawing their allegations of fraud.
– Whether they felt the settlement represented a good outcome for the members of the public/investors on the platform.

They declined to provide a response.