Trio faces 69 fraud charges in Jersey court
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Your support makes all the difference.A currency trader, a banker and an accountant faced a total of 69 fraud charges in Jersey's Police Court yesterday. All the charges, brought under the Investors (Prevention of Fraud) (Jersey) Law, relate to currency trades carried out in the island by Nottingham-based dealer Robert Young, who is alleged by his client to have lost $27m of their money.
He appeared in court alongside Peter Stoneman, a senior manager with the island's UBS subsidiary, Cantrade Private Bank Switzerland, and Alfred Williams, a former partner with Touche Ross's Nottingham practice.
The currency trades were carried out between 1988 and 1993 through Cantrade, which is alleged by some 90 investors to have failed to warn them of the massive losses, even though the trades were subject to a 10 per cent downside limit.
Several actions have already been brought in Jersey's Royal Court by the investors against Cantrade and Touche Ross. Mr Williams is alleged to have audited Mr Young's figures claiming trading profits. Both Cantrade and Touche Ross deny the allegations.
In a further civil action, the investors are seeking a judicial review into the refusal in 1994 by Jersey's Finance and Economics Committee to investigate their complaints about Cantrade. The committee decided not to investigate the bank under its regulatory powers following advice from its legal and financial advisers.
Mr Young, 42, who was initially charged with two offences in August, now faces 29 fraud charges. Mr Stoneman, 52, a Jersey resident, faces 19 charges while Mr Williams, 48, from Derbyshire, faces 21 charges.
All the offences relate to the alleged making of misleading and reckless statements and the concealing of material facts. No pleas were taken yesterday.
The Cantrade Bank has also been charged in connection with the alleged fraud. Its Zurich head office says it will deny the 12 offences it is alleged to have committed. The bank has been summoned to appear before Jersey's Royal Court on 6 December. Cantrade has suspended Mr Stoneman.
In court yesterday, the three men were remanded for a hearing on 8 February.
Mr Young is continuing on the pounds 10,000 bail he has been on since August. Mr Williams is on pounds 5,000 bail.
Mr Stoneman is not on bail and has simply been warned for his next court appearance.
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