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Wiltshire man pleads guilty to defrauding Friends Provident of £2m
A Wiltshire man has pleaded guilty to defrauding Friends Provident of more than £2 million by manipulating an investment bond product.
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A Wiltshire man has pleaded guilty to defrauding Friends Provident of more than £2 million by manipulating an investment bond product.
Paul Wood of South Wraxall, Wiltshire, pleaded guilty to eight acts of fraud committed between 2005 and 2009 at Swindon Crown Court.
Wood bought an investment bond from Friends Provident and discovered a loophole which allowed him to defraud the insurer, according to Wiltshire Police. Friends Provident said it had spotted the fraud and closed the loophole exploited by Wood, a 'senior financial manager'.
The 49-year-old used the money stolen from Friends Provident to finance a ‘comfortable life-style’ and purchased a holiday in the French Alps, Wiltshire Police said, adding that it will apply for an order to confiscate his assets. The court case has been adjourned until 23 July for pre-sentence reports.
A Friends Provident spokesman said: ‘This was a customer who found a loophole in one our products that enabled him to defraud us of a certain amount of money. We have changed the product so this can’t happen again. It was a one-off.’
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5 comments so far. Why not have your say?
Anonymous 1 needed this 'off the record'
Jul 07, 2010 at 12:55
So you can get great value from investment bonds, for a while?
report thisAnonymous 2 needed this 'off the record'
Jul 07, 2010 at 13:13
IT took 4 years for Friends P. to find out it was losing £2 million? I would think their auditors may well have to bear some of the rsponsibility for the loss.
report thisJ Bewey
Jul 07, 2010 at 13:36
When are Insurers going to be charged over defrauding us over their risible bond investments?
report thisKeith Dillingham
Jul 07, 2010 at 16:28
Not much detail in this article. Will have to read the newspaper to find out what happened.
If he 'purchased a holiday in the French Alps' then will the police be confiscating the holiday?
report thisAnonymous 3 needed this 'off the record'
Sep 02, 2010 at 18:30
FP have got a cheek using the phrase 'one-off' when the fraud was repeated hundreds of times over 4 years.
Will FP be fined for their involvement?
Before you all voice your protestations, hear me out:
If I hand over the keys to one of my most valuable possessions to a car valet, I 'd be none too impressed if I discover it had been stolen whilst in his care. That said, I'd run him out of business if it then later transpired he'd left the car out on the street, unlocked, with the keys in the ignition and the engine running!
Can anyone tell me what penalties FP will suffer as a consequence of their flagrant disregard for their duty of care towards their customers' funds?
I mean the FSA fines institutions millions for just losing client addresses - what's their view for losing millions of pounds?
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