A solicitor who worked for the failed peer-to-peer lending firm Lendy has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal over allegations he obtained a loan for his company by providing false information, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report.
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Reporting by Daniel Cloake.
SRA-regulated-solicitor Stuart Phillip Nuttall, 52, is understood to have become Lendy’s General Counsel in March 2019 on a consultancy basis.
Unrelated to his appointment the peer-to-peer lending platform collapsed some 8-weeks-later.
According to a decision notice published in January 2024 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority “on or around 3 November 2018 he obtained a loan for his company, Sentium Group Limited, by misrepresentation in that he provided false information to the loan company”.
Sentium Group Limited, self-described as being involved in ‘private security activities’, was dissolved in July 2019.
A second allegation states that “between July 2020 and September 2021, [Nuttall] failed to co-operate with the SRA in relation to the ongoing investigation against him.“
The third allegation states that “on 10 December 2021 [Nuttall] falsely represented to Counsel’s Clerk that he had authorised payment of Counsel’s fees when he had not done so.”
Whilst the Tribunal has “certified that there is a case to answer in respect” of these allegations it is stressed that they “are subject to a Hearing before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and are as yet unproven.”
A case management hearing has been listed for Thursday 22 February 2024 before chairman Mr Bellamy Forde.
The tribunal has confirmed to the mouseinthecourt that “the matter has not been listed for a substantive hearing” yet.
We tried to e-mail Mr Nuttall for comment prior to the publication of this article but our request was returned “Undeliverable”.
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