Former City trader hit with £2m confiscation order
A former City trader has been hit with a £2m-plus confiscation order for concealing assets from his bankruptcy trustee and thus, his creditors.
Tahseen Goni, 41, from Luton, has been ordered to pay a confiscation order of £2,084,897.37 and prosecution costs of £118,352.36, following a hearing at Cambridge Crown Court on 28 July 2016.
Mr Goni was convicted of concealing property from the Official Receiver in August 2015, following an initial investigation by the Insolvency Service and a full criminal investigation and Prosecution by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
The Investigation found that in October 2008 Mr Goni, a previously successful ‘spread betting’ trader, incurred substantial losses and was left with a debit balance of £238,021.30 on his personal account with a company providing financial spread betting, Contracts for Difference (CFDs), stockbroking and foreign exchange services. The company obtained judgment in default against Mr Goni and threatened to petition for his bankruptcy.
Mr Goni then began to put in place arrangements to enable him to continue to trade in the lead up to and following his impending bankruptcy. This involved him making use of both trading accounts and bank accounts in the name of a family member.
The investigation found Mr Goni had sufficient assets to pay off his creditors during the period of his bankruptcy. Despite his duty to declare them to his trustee in bankruptcy, he concealed them. This resulted in him being prosecuted and on being convicted, sentenced to 2 years imprisonment. At the subsequent confiscation hearing the court ordered that the benefit from his concealment of £2,084,897.37 should be confiscated of which £537,057.03 was to be paid to his creditor(s). A further £118,352.36 was ordered to be paid to cover prosecution costs.
Deputy Chief Investigating Officer Ian West from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills said:
“This is a substantial penalty and bankrupts should be in no doubt, that if they conceal assets from their trustee in bankruptcy that the Insolvency Service and the department for Business, will take firm action to have them prosecuted, their benefit confiscated and their creditor(s) recompensed.”
Notes to editors
Tahseen Goni is of Bedfordshire and his date of birth is 7 June 1975.
Mr Goni was made bankrupt on 27 July 2010 on a petition filed against him by IG Markets Ltd.
A Contract For Difference (CFD) is a contract between two parties, typically described as “buyer” and “seller”, stipulating that the seller will pay to the buyer the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at contract time (If the difference is negative, then the buyer pays instead to the seller).
The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.
Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.
BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies. Further information about the work of the Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team is available.
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