HOUSTON—Former Enron Corp. Chief Executive and felon Jeffrey Skilling is looking to get back into the energy business after serving more than 12 years in prison for his role in one of the biggest corporate scandals in history.

Just weeks after being released from federal custody following his 2006 conviction on fraud, conspiracy and insider-trading charges, Mr. Skilling has been holding meetings with former Enron executives and others, hoping to win backing for a new energy venture, people familiar with the matter said.

... </s> (Reuters) - Former Enron Corp Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling has been holding meetings with former Enron executives and others, hoping to win backing for a new energy venture, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Former colleague Lou Pai, who once led Enron’s energy- services unit, has pledged to invest in the venture and indicated to others he is involved with Skilling, the report said.

People familiar with the matter told the Journal the venture is a digital platform connecting investors to oil and gas projects and is at an early stage.

Skilling resigned as chief executive officer of Enron in August 2001, just months before it filed for bankruptcy amid revelations of widespread accounting fraud and corruption.

He was arrested in 2004 and two years later convicted of 19 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors.

Skilling was released from federal custody last month. </s> Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling is looking at ways to return to the energy business, according to two sources familiar with his activities. Among the ventures he is considering is an idea he came up with in 2015 — and put to paper — while serving a federal prison sentence for his role in Enron's 2001 collapse.

Skilling, 65, completed that sentence last month, and has been meeting with friends and former colleagues since his release into a residential re-entry program in Houston last August. News of his possible return to the industry was first reported Friday by the Wall Street Journal.

The sources described Skilling's idea, broadly, as a software program for oil and gas investors. They stressed that the project is in its early stages. No investors have put any money into the venture, though some individuals who provided input have been required to sign non-disclosure agreements. Skilling developed the idea as an inmate at a federal correctional facility in Montgomery, Alabama, and apparently worried for the rest of his sentence that someone else would come up with the idea before he got out.

Among those Skilling has been discussing his ideas with, the sources said, is Lou Pai, the former head of Enron's Energy Services division, now an industry consultant. Pai could not be reached for a comment.

Contrary to other reporting, the sources told CNBC that the venture does not involve cryptocurrency or blockchain technology. And they said it is one of a number of paths Skilling is considering in hopes of returning to the industry he knows best. </s> Former Enron Chief Executive Jeff Skilling is out of prison after 12 years. And he’s getting the old gang back together again.

Just when you thought the world of business couldn’t get more anymore ethically sound, and just when you thought you weren't going to get any more surefire signs of a market top, Jeff Skilling is recruiting his old friends and colleagues and "looking to get back in the energy business", according to a WSJ report.

But that isn’t even the best part - according to the report, Skilling has already landed an investment from former Enron executive and local strip club rewards member Lou Pai who, after selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Enron stock before the company collapsed, somehow avoided jail time or any kind of major legal repercussions, outside of a paltry $31.5 million settlement.

Pai was formerly the head of Enron's energy services unit and has already pledged to invest in the venture. Pai is reportedly reintroducing Skilling to the business world as a "friendly courtesy" after remaining in touch with Skilling following Enron’s demise and speaking to him while he was in prison, the report says.





 Skilling's new project is said to be a digital platform that connects investors to oil and gas projects. Skilling has also reportedly met with individuals who specialize in cryptocurrency and blockchain because - well, because of course he has.

As the WSJ notes, the exact nature of the project is "something of a mystery", with the people briefed saying it was at an early stage. What is known, and probably will not come as a surprise considering Skilling's background, he "has met with individuals who specialize in cryptocurrency, blockchain and software development in recent weeks."

Perhaps Skilling is hoping to hold California electricity as ransom in exchange for a bitcoin payment made to an unknown address?

But we digress. The former Enron executive is situated in a new office in Houston and nondisclosure agreements have been signed between him and potential partners in his new project. Skilling is said to have began working on his new project while serving six months at a Texas halfway house, before being set free again. He has met with more than two dozen former Enron executives, according to the report, which says he has been met with a "warm reception".

As part of a judgement with the SEC, Skilling is permanently barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company. Pai, who was referred to as "the invisible CEO" in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room has no such bar.

We’re sure that bankers, hedge funds and anybody else who can be complicit in this new venture are eager to line up and collect their fees from what is likely going to be a "disruptive" presence in the energy industry. We can't wait to see how it turns out. </s> Former Enron Corp. Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling is looking to get back into the energy business, with a little help from his friends.

Just weeks after serving more than 12 years in federal custody on fraud, conspiracy and insider-trading convictions following Enron's fall, Mr. Skilling has been holding meetings with former Enron executives and others, hoping to win backing for a new energy venture, people familiar with the matter said.

At least one former colleague has agreed to support Mr. Skilling's comeback attempt: Lou L. Pai, the onetime head of Enron's energy- services unit, has pledged to invest in the venture and indicated to others he is involved with Mr. Skilling, the people said. A person familiar with Mr. Pai's thinking said Mr. Pai was re-introducing Mr. Skilling to the business community as a friendly courtesy.

Messrs. Skilling and Pai declined to comment through a representative.

The exact nature of the project is something of a mystery, with the people briefed saying it was at an early stage. Some of those who have met with Mr. Skilling have signed nondisclosure agreements, the people said. Several described it as a digital platform connecting investors to oil and gas projects.

Mr. Skilling has met with individuals who specialize in cryptocurrency, blockchain and software development in recent weeks, two of the people said.

He would be re-entering the world of energy finance at a time when some oil and gas producers have been having trouble securing backing. In 2018, new bond and equity deals for the sector dwindled to the lowest level since 2007.

A former McKinsey & Co. consultant, Mr. Skilling, 65, helped Enron pioneer a structure known as the "Gas Bank" to buy gas from producers and sell it to large customers, seizing on the opportunity created by the federal government's deregulation of gas markets. He then joined the company in 1990 to run that venture.

Mr. Skilling earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1979, graduating in the top 5% of his class. Before his trial and conviction, he was known as a formidably intelligent and aggressive visionary who transformed Enron into one of the nation's most competitive workplaces.

In February 2001, he became Enron's CEO, only to resign about six months later. Before the end of the year, the once highflying conglomerate had sought bankruptcy protection amid growing questions about its accounting practices, in one of the most spectacular corporate collapses in American history.

The Enron scandal led to dozens of indictments, and the collapse of accounting firm Arthur Andersen. It also upended much of the U.S. energy-trading business for years and prompted tighter corporate governance and reporting requirements, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Mr. Skilling, who was convicted in 2006 of lying to investors about Enron's financial health and sentenced to 24 years in prison, has consistently maintained his innocence. He reached an agreement with prosecutors in 2013 to drop his appeals if they recommended a lighter sentence.

It is unclear how much Mr. Skilling retained of the money he made at Enron, which topped $100 million, according to court documents. Under his conviction, he was ordered to pay about $42 million in restitution and court filings show he spent more than $20 million on his legal defense. As part of a separate SEC judgment, Mr. Skilling is permanently barred from serving as an officer or director of a publicly held company.

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Mr. Skilling began thinking about his next business venture while serving time in an Alabama prison camp, and was already taking meetings on the project while serving six months at a Texas halfway house before he fully regained his freedom last month, two people who have met with him said.

He is now back in Houston and working out of an office near the city's exclusive River Oaks neighborhood, home to some of the energy world's richest executives. He has met with more than two dozen former Enron executives, according to one person who had seen Mr. Skilling, who added that the former CEO has been encouraged by what he viewed as a warm reception.

Among them is Mr. Pai, who resigned from Enron in June 2001 after selling hundreds of millions of dollars of stock to meet a divorce settlement. Enron's stock averaged around $54 a share at the time of some of Mr. Pai's sales in the spring 2001; it was worth just 40 cents by Dec. 3, 2001, a day after the company filed for bankruptcy.

Mr. Pai agreed to a $31.5 million settlement to resolve civil insider-trading charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2008. Under the settlement, he didn't admit or deny the SEC's assertion that he avoided huge losses by selling nearly a million shares of Enron stock, knowing nonpublic information about financial troubles affecting an Enron division he previously headed.

After leaving Enron, Mr. Pai was a silent backer of Element Markets LLC, a Houston-area firm prominent in brokering pollution-emission credits. The company said he is no longer involved.

Mr. Pai remained close with Mr. Skilling following Enron's collapse and spoke to Mr. Skilling throughout his time in prison, said two people briefed on Mr. Skilling's plans. </s> Anbang's Former Chairman Sentenced to Jail for Fraud

Wu Xiaohui, the former head of China's Anbang Insurance Group, has been sentenced to 18 years in jail for masterminding a $10.2 billion fraud https://bloom.bg/2IaLi48 #tictocnews (Source: Bloomberg) </s> The former chairman and CEO of China's Anbang Insurance Group, Wu Xiaohui, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for fraud and embezzlement, Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court said Thursday.

Wu was also denied his political rights for four years and 10.5 billion yuan (around $1.6 billion) worth of his assets were seized, according to the sentence. </s> A corrupt HBOS banker has been locked up for 11 years after he and his cronies 'financially raped' small businesses to fund lavish holidays and sex parties in one of Britain's biggest ever frauds.

Lynden Scourfield, 54, a senior director of HBOS, 'sold his soul' to David Mills by forcing firms that needed to borrow cash to use his friend's crooked consultancy firm.

He 'sold his soul for sex, for luxury trips ... for bling and for swag', a judge said.

Behaving like the 'Mafia', they would then use threats and extortion to seize control of the businesses, plundering bank accounts and pocketing massive new loans granted in their name.

Scourfield, who boasted of being the 'grand wizard', enjoyed luxury holidays, trips on Mills' superyacht and sex with porn stars in return for his help. The scam cost scores of hard-working middle-class business owners not only their livelihoods, but also their family homes, pensions, savings and in one case even her marriage.

Jurors were told the fraud was worth £245million, but victims and police sources said the cost to small firms ruined by the scam was up to £1billion.

Scourfield was jailed for 11 years and three months while Mills, 60, was given 15 years at Southwark Crown Court today.

Michael Bancroft, 73, was jailed for 10 years, Mark Dobson, 56, for four-and-a-half years, and John Cartwright, 72, for three-and-a-half years for their various roles in the fraud between 2003 and 2007.

Mills's wife Alison, 51, also played a major role in the corruption and was sentenced to three and a half years.

There was standing room only in the courtroom, which was packed with victims and their supporters, and applause and cheers from the public gallery when the sentences were passed.

Sentencing, Judge Martin Beddoe said the case involved an 'utterly corrupt senior bank manager letting rapaciously greedy people get their hands on vast amounts of bank money and their tentacles into ordinary and honest businesses'.

'Letting them rip apart those businesses without a thought for the lives and livelihoods of those affected in order to satisfy their rapacious desire for money and the trappings of wealth,' he added.

Scourfield had not shown a 'shred of remorse' for ruining the lives of the employers and employees of those companies, he continued.

'People haven't just lost money but in some instances their homes, family and friends,' he added.

'People who could have expected to be comfortable in retirement were left cheated, defeated and penniless.'

The judge described Mills as 'a thoroughly corrupt and devious man, adept at exploiting the weaknesses of others'.

'He is the devil to who you (Scourfield) sold your soul in exchange for sex, for luxury trips with or without your wife, for bling and for swag,' he added.

Some of the victims lost their companies, livelihoods and even their homes as a result of the scam.

Paul and Nikki Turner, from Cambridge, were ignored for years when they tried to report what was going on after their publishing company, Zenith, was run into the ground in the scam.

'They defrauded us, denied for 10 years that the fraud had happened, ignored the debt from the fraud and tried to evict us 22 times in order to cover up the fraud,' Mrs Turner said outside court.

'It's a huge success for us that the trial has gone on.'

She added: 'The other victims have gone through terrible things, they have gone through the loss of businesses and lost homes.

'Other people lost everything, including marriages broken up, because of this.'

When the wealthy gang of four men and a woman were convicted for the five-year fraud on Monday, Thames Valley Police commissioner Anthony Stansfeld described it as a 'shocking' and 'disturbing' crime.

He said: 'That a fraud of this size could have taken place either displays complicity or incompetence, a lack of corporate governance, complacency, and an absence of proper safeguards.'

The case bears similarities to the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street, in which Leonardo DiCaprio plays a crooked broker who made millions as part of a stock market fraud – using his ill-gotten millions on lavish parties, cars, prostitutes and drugs.

HBOS, the holding company behind Halifax and the Bank of Scotland, finally discovered Scourfield's unsanctioned loans in 2007. Just 18 months later the failing bank had to be taken over by Lloyds and required a £20.5billion taxpayer-funded bailout to cover toxic debts caused by excessive lending.

The Mail has seen numerous letters from the bank over the following years in which senior officials repeatedly denied it contributed to the failure of the companies that were fleeced, prompting accusations that it attempted to 'cover up' the scandal.

Victim Joanne Dove, who lost her business, home and marriage through the fraud, said: 'It was financial rape... I lost everything, my reputation, all our money, all our pension schemes.' It also emerged that:
• None The fraud carried on unhampered for four years because of a 'fundamental flaw' in the bank's checking system.
• None Former Tory Minister Sir James Paice said the head of HBOS 'flatly denied' the lender had done anything wrong after Scourfield was finally sacked.
• None Sir Victor Blank, the chairman of Lloyds TSB at the time of the HBOS takeover, was warned of a 'huge fraud' by one of the victims, but an associate wrote back to say it would 'not be appropriate to respond'.
• None Lloyds now faces a huge compensation claim from those defrauded.

Scourfield, who worked on impaired assets in the Reading branch of HBOS, was the 'goose laying golden eggs' for Mills and his consultancy firm Quayside, Southwark Crown Court was told.

Scourfield enjoyed 'sexual entertainment... on a fairly frequent basis' in return for his part in the scam. Wads of £4,000 cash to be spent on prostitutes were delivered to a central London flat where he entertained the women.

Nicknamed 'funny money', it was kept in a drawer along with a stash of Viagra. Suzie Best, a £250-an-hour escort and former adult TV star described the fat cat banker as a 'short, balding Danny DeVito lookalike' after one session at the rented flat in 2005.

She said the man with 'grey, brushed-back hair' asked her to go to the bedroom with him, but she 'didn't think he could get an erection at any stage'.

Ms Best, who costs £300-an-hour, called Scourfield and his friends the 'posh t**t bankers' and met them regularly at a rented London flat.

Suzie would perform sex acts on some of the men and also performed in 'girl-on-girl shows' for their pleasure.

Scourfield also suffered from 'suffered from premature ejaculation, liked to undress girls and liked girls to wear suspenders and mini-dresses', the court heard.

His favourite escort Suzie also offers 'verbal and physical domination' for clients who like spanking and humiliation.

Envelopes filled with wads of cash were delivered Scourfield at a flat in Portman Square.

If he was not there they were left in the 'blue drawer' which was where Bancroft kept a stash of viagra.

Cartwright told the man dropping off the cash it was 'funny money for Scourfield to pay for girls'.

Another call girl, a porn star, kept a diary detailing a lurid lesbian show she and three other women performed for Mills and Scourfield in October 2005. A later entry read: 'Chinese meal. Then drinks at flat and quick shag. Easy £1,500.'

Scourfield, who earned £88,600 a year, was also given free rein to travel across the world and splash out with an Amex card at Mills' expense. He spent more than £57,000 on jewellery, clothes, and hotels during 'boys' jollies' in Germany and the US.

Mills took him on several holidays, including a £4,000 seven-day cruise in Florida paid for on an Amex card from a struggling business.

Scourfield and Mills took their wives for a six-star cruise from Nice to St Tropez, staying in a royal suite on the three-day trip.

The Quayside consultants also enjoyed a luxury life from the money they stole. Mills and his wife Alison lived in a detached six-bedroom home, with swimming pool, tennis court and gym, in the affluent town of Chorleywood, Hertfordshire.

They also owned a 100ft £2million luxury superyacht called Powder Monkey, which was moored in the Mediterranean. Accomplice Michael Bancroft lives in a six-bedroom farmhouse in Warwickshire and had a villa in the Algarve.

He was employed by Quayside despite previously using £645,000 of shareholders' cash at another company to pay for his lingerie model mistress, work on his family home and golf holidays.

Scourfield got away with his 'deliberate, systematic and sustained' scam for so long because of a 'fundamental flaw' in the banking system, the court heard.

He would log unapproved loans in a bank system which would be sent to the company head office in Edinburgh. But the system was open to abuse because anyone with an appropriate level of authority could change limits on the system.

For three years between 2004 and 2007 there were also no audits at the Reading branch where Scourfield worked, the court heard. It was not until later that HBOS director Tom Angus became 'increasingly concerned' and arranged for a preliminary review that found 'many gaps in formal sanctioning'.

Scourfield was suspended for gross misconduct the following month, after which Quayside's involvement in the scam was discovered.

Two further internal investigations and a third by Deloitte found 'serious negligence and possible improper conduct'. But the Mail has seen documents showing that the bank repeatedly denied that any wrongdoing either in its lending or its use of Quayside as a consultancy long after it knew of serious problems.

Andrew Reade, who was left £250,000 out of pocket after his company Keenets was pillaged by Quayside, wrote to Victor Blank, the then chairman of Lloyds TSB, at the time of its takeover of HBOS in 2008 outlining in extensive detail the scale of the consultancy's 'huge fraud'.

He attached a dossier describing how many companies had suffered because of what was described as a 'huge fraud' involving Scourfield and Quayside.

But the next day he received a letter from the banker's executive assistant saying it would be 'not appropriate' to respond to the issues raised.

Sir Victor, a former business ambassador for Gordon Brown, was chairman of Lloyds in 2008 when the credit crunch hit.

Sir James, a former Tory minister who campaigned for bank collapse victims as an MP, said: 'The head of HBOS flatly denied to me that the bank had done anything wrong in a face-to-face meeting, despite all the evidence we now know to the contrary.

'I am pleased that justice has been done but very sorry it has taken so long. Clearly HBOS is going to have to recompense the very hard working men and woman who have suffered so badly.'

Mark Dobson, who was also a manager at HBOS, Mills and Michael Bancroft, were convicted on counts including bribery, fraud and money-laundering.

Alison Mills and John Cartwright were also convicted for their parts in the conspiracy. Another defendant, Jonathan Cohen, was acquitted. Scourfield pleaded guilty at an earlier trial last year. They will all be sentenced later this week.

A Lloyds spokesman said the bank assisted police throughout the probe.

Couple suffered '13 years of hell' but never gave up on tireless campaign to expose fraudsters

By TOM KELLY FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Nikki and Paul Turner suffered '13 years of hell' after falling victim to the HBOS fraudsters.

After their business was destroyed in the scandal, the couple led a tireless campaign to expose the crime – despite repeated denials of wrongdoing by the bank and threats to evict them from their home.

Their ordeal began in 2003, when they took out a £160,000 business loan from HBOS to fulfil their dream of starting a music publisher called Zenith Cafe.

In 2004 they were introduced to senior HBOS director Lynden Scourfield, who forced them to use crooked Quayside Corporate Services.

Quayside charged tens of thousands pounds in fees, but repeatedly gave incorrect advice. It was only after Zenith Cafe was forced out of business that the Turners discovered many other victims of the fraud.

Finding themselves broke, and with their accounts frozen, they were forced to sell their jewellery to finance investigations into the scam.

They wrote repeatedly to the bank, regulators, police and MPs, but said the banking group not only repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but also attempted to repossess the Turners' home through 22 eviction hearings.

Mr Turner said: 'It was a complete cover-up. The bank repeatedly attempted to mislead us, the other victims, our MPs and other authorities.' Mrs Turner added: 'What happened at HBOS Reading was fraud on an industrial scale.'

The Turners said they managed to keep hold of their five-bedroom home in Cambridge after the courts accepted that there was potential misconduct by the bank and refused to allow it to repossess the property.

But the couple estimate the scandal cost them £11million.

Unlike the Turners, Joanne Dove really did lose everything – her marriage, £1.2million business, savings, pension and home. The award-winning businesswoman is now a single mother of four living in social housing, so hard-up she could scarcely afford to pay the travel costs of attending court to see her tormenters go to jail.

She said: 'I can only liken my experience of dealing with HBOS appointed executives to how I would imagine dealing with the Mafia would be.

'It was financial rape... I lost everything, my reputation, all our money, all our pension schemes. My children lost their father in their lives and the idyllic childhood they previously had. Our family was devastated... they robbed me of my life's work.'

Miss Dove ran the eco-nappy company Cotton Bottoms, which by 2003 had grown so rapidly that she needed a £400,000 loan to expand.

Lynden Scourfield approved the loan, but insisted she hire Michael Bancroft from QCS as a non-executive director on the board.

The crooks then systematically bled the company dry, eventually taking it away from Miss Dove amid threats as while she was expecting her fourth child.

Bancroft even locked her in a room as he demanded controlling shares in the company.

She said: 'I felt like a hostage. It was like having a huge parasite implanted in the guts of the business.'

She said Bancroft put her at loggerheads with her husband, a co-director of the company, by secretly offering him a deal to buy out the firm and give him a new position.

In desperation, she was forced to sell the business to a competitor at a sixth of its value, leaving her ruined.

A 'goose laying golden eggs', a textiles tycoon and a businessman who preyed on small businesses: Profiles of the corrupt financiers and their cronies who orchestrated the scam

Debauched HBOS banker Lynden Scourfield, 54, built up a £245million of toxic debt as he pumped cash into failing businesses for David Mills to cream off.

Scourfield was the 'goose who was laying golden eggs' and Mills rewarded him with luxurious trips around the world and viagra-fuelled encounters with high-class hookers who were repulsed by his bulging gut.

One sex worker, known by the alias Suzie Best, described the fat cat banker as a 'short, balding Danny Devito lookalike' after a session at a rented Portman Square flat in 2005.

Another sex worker, dubbed FR, kept a diary detailing a lurid girl-on-girl show she and three other hookers performed for Mills, Bancroft, and Scourfield in October 2005.

Scourfield, whose HBOS salary averaged £88,600 a year between 2003-2007, was given free reign to travel across the world and splash out with an AMEX card at Mills' expense.

He spent more than £57,000 on jewellery, clothes, and hotels during 'jollies' in Dusseldorf, Germany, and the US.

In February 2004 he and Mills enjoyed a lavish holiday in Florida and Miami as Mills paid for a £4,000 seven-day cruise on an AMEX card from a struggling business.

A month later the Scourfield and Mill took their wives for a three-day all inclusive six-star cruise from Nice to St Tropez, staying in the ship's two-bedroom Royal Suite.

Mills and Scourfield went to the PGA golf show in Orlando a year later.

Scourfield also used the AMEX card to pay for stays in the five-star Westbury Hotel in Bond Street, Mayfair, and meals at Wilton's Oyster Bar in St James's, central London.

Alison Mills made sure to keep him sweet and flew him out to Barbados for her 40th birthday party with the Bancrofts. She also invited Scourfield and his wife Jacqueline, 53, on trips to Ascot, including a stop in the Royal Enclosure in 2006.

In November that year he and Dobson traveled to Bangkok for five days for Mills' 50th birthday - a trip that cost in excess of £13,500.

When Scourfield applied for a mortgage with the Portman Building Society between 2003-2004 Mills wrote to say he would receive up to £100,000 for 'consultancy fees' from QCS that year.

An investigation revealed £340,142 of explained income in the Scourfield's accounts between 2004-2007, and a further unexplained income of £340,142.

Prosecutors are unable to say exactly how much he received as many gifts took the form of untraceable bungs.

Scourfield admitted conspiracy to corrupt, money laundering and four counts of fraudulent trading at Southwark Crown Court on 12 August last year and is currently behind bars.

His wife Jacqueline Scourfield was the sole director of a 'slush company' called Zudiki which prosecutors say was 'established to enable Lynden Scourfield to receive and launder the proceeds of the corrupt relationship between him and David Mills'.

In 2013 she was charged with one count of money laundering between January 2004 and October 2010, but prosecutors later offered no evidence against her.

David Mills was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to corrupt, four counts of fraudulent trading and one count of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Alison Mills, from Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, was cleared of one count of fraudulent trading but found guilty of one count of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Former NatWest banker and venture capitalist David Mills, 60, engineered the HBOS scam.

Mills preyed on struggling companies, charging exorbitant fees for 'consultancy' work by Quayside Corporate Services even though the firm wasn't a member of any recognised professional institute.

He also transferred failing businesses' assets to his shadowy firms The Sandstone Organisation and Knightingale Investments - neither are said to have had a 'genuine commercial purpose'.

The conman ensured HBOS funds would be pumped into the businesses he took over by bribing Scourfield - his 'golden goose' - with cash, lavish hospitality, viagra-fuelled romps with high-class escorts.

Mills and his wife Alison, 52, used the profits to fund the purchase and running costs of their £2million 100-foot long yacht Powdermonkey, shored up in the Mediterranean.

Alison, who has a 'well-established background in business and finance', organised the couple's social calendar to ensure Mills' gang 'remained loyal'.

She hosted the Scourfields and the Bancrofts at her 40th birthday party in Barbados and organised trips to Ascot which the Scourfields and Dobson attended.

In 2003 Mills hosted Scourfield at his property in Majorca for a week, and the pair later flew to Los Angeles together.

While in America they stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Orlando and the Mandarin Oriental in Miami during a spending spree funded by Mills' AMEX card.

In 2004 David Mills wrote in support of Scourfield's mortgage application to the Portman Building Society, telling them he was due to receive a bonus of up to £100,000 from QCS.

A year later Alison booked a table for the couple and the Scourfields at the Ditchling Ball, an annual high-society charity event in West Sussex.

Mills also attended one of the gang's infamous sex parties, watching prostitutes perform girl-on-girl action at a rented flat in Portland Square with Scourfield and Bancroft.

More than £28million passed through David and Alison Mills' personal accounts during the conspiracy.

During her police interview, Alison claimed: 'I was not involved in my husband's businesses. I played a supporting role as his wife.'

She was represented by David Cameron's older brother Alexander, a QC who specialises in fraud cases.

Found guilty of one count of conspiracy to corrupt, three counts of fraudulent trading and one count of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Textiles tycoon Michael Bancroft, 73, was no stranger to controversy before he joined QCS.

Jurors heard he took £645,000 of shareholders' cash from the Ritz Design Group to cover 'personal expenditure' between 1986-1991 after becoming principal shareholder and CEO of the company through a management buyout.

He spent hundreds of thousands on building, decorating and interior design work carried out to his then home 'Faddiley Hall' in Cheshire.

There were also charges in connection with family holidays in Europe and stays at luxury Scottish golf resort Gleneagles.

Bancroft also abused his company Barclaycard and AMEX cards and is said to have used shareholders' cash to pay for a flat for his then mistress, a lingerie model.

In 1991 he formally accepted wrongdoing, resigned, and agreed to pay back the money to avoid a criminal prosecution.

Bancroft joined Mills' team of corporate bandits and took director roles at struggling companies Flip Media Ltd, Simon Jay Ltd, and porno mag business Remnant after being engaged as a QCS 'consultant'.

He kept a stash of viagra in the cupboard at a rented flat in Portland Square that Scourfield used for his romps with prostitutes.

Bancroft and his wife Beverley, 67, owned a villa on the Algarve in Portugal and hosted the Scourfields there in 2004 and 2005.

But the relationship soured after Scourfield left HBOS and Bancroft sent him a solicitor's letter demanding more than £11,000 for the hospitality.

Bancroft splashed £100,000 on a failing businesses' credit card during the con and clawed in at least £200,000 of unauthorised payments.

He told police: 'My business expertise is in textiles. Throughout the 80s and 90s I gained a lot of experience in turning round companies in the textile industry and improving their financial results.'

Cleared of one count of fraudulent trading but convicted of one count of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

John Cartwright, 72, was a long-time associate of Bancroft who was said to have helped to cover his tracks when shareholders' cash was taken from Ritz..

Cartwright worked as the company's financial director and cooked up false invoices to throw investigators off Bancroft's scent.

He also helped himself to £12,000 in shares to pay for a car and 'fancy meals' for his wife.

He too agreed to repay money in 1991 to avoid prosecution.

The Ritz auditor, Stephen Wilkinson, said of the pair's scheme: 'At the time I was appalled that they had committed such a blatant fraud against the company and colluded with others to hide it from the other directors, employees and shareholders.'

Cartwright raked in £200,000 in unauthorised payments after Mills and Bancroft recruited him to QCS to prepare management accounts for struggling HBOS client Magenta.

He failed to disclose £150,000 of income to HMRC while working for the textile firm.

Cleared of one count of fraudulent trading and one count of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Accountant Jonathan Cohen, 57, organised tax affairs for Scourfield and Mills to provide a 'professional shield' for their con, it was alleged.

Cohen, the co-founder of Brett Adams, became 'hopelessly compromised' as he relied on Mills' businesses for his turnover and took a £151,000 loan from one of his firms in 2006.

Scourfield supervised Brett Adams' accounts, pumping HBOS money into the business when it ran into financial difficulties.

Cohen also worked for QCS as a consultant while he was auditing the company's finances - a 'significant conflict of interest'.

He previously worked as a finance director for investment company Caplay and financial services company Newmarket Investments before it dissolved in September 2016.

Caplay was listed on AIM, a submarket of the London Stock Exchange launched in 1995 to allow smaller, less-viable companies to float shares in a more flexible regulatory environment.

In 2014 he became director of bookkeeping company Brennah Ltd - he lives in a £600,000 detached house in Pinner, Middlesex.

Found guilty of one count of conspiracy to corrupt and one of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Scourfield's HBOS colleague Mark Dobson, 56, was rewarded for his part in the scam with £30,000 from Mills and extravagant hospitality.

Dobson worked in the bank's cash flow finance department before moving to Impaired Asset's Reading Office with Scourfield.

He later moved to HBOS's Bishopsgate office as a director.

The banker approved loans to two high-risk clients - Eyesaglow and the St David's Centre (a shopping development in Swansea) - while Mills siphoned the cash through his criminal business enterprise.

In 2006 the Mills' invited him and Scourfield to attend the Royal Enclosure at Ascot on QCS's tab.

Later that year he was seen chugging on a large cigar at Mills' 50th birthday bash in Thailand.

Dobson told the 2010 Deloitte investigation that QCS had been 'successful' and that 'the bank was fully paid out'.

HBOS dismissed him in 2012 for gross misconduct.

He lives in a £1.3million freehold flat in Barnsbury, north London.

HOW A TOP HBOS BANKER AND A CROOKED BUSINESSMAN MADE MILLIONS BY TARGETING SMALL BUSINESSES THE HBOS SCAM: HOW IT WORKED The QCS 'consultants' - Mills, his wife Alison, 52, Michael Bancroft, 73, and John Cartwright, 72 - ransacked the businesses' accounts by charging exorbitant fees and expenses Senior Impaired Asset [IA] manager Lynden Scourfield, 54, exploited 'systemic and personnel weaknesses' within HBOS to make millions with crooked businessman David Mills, 60, and his associates. They targeted 200 small businesses that were struggling to repay HBOS loans between 2003-2007. The bank's IA division took control of the failing clients in order to steady the ship and protect their loans, or to recover what funds they could through asset stripping. Scourfield threatened to stop the flow of cash to companies unless they hired 'turnaround consultants' from Mills' firm Quayside Corporate Services [QCS] for up to £30,000 a month each. Once they agreed, Scourfield authorised more than £500million of loans to the high-risk clients from his HBOS office in Reading, regardless of their ability to repay. The QCS 'consultants' - Mills, his wife Alison, 52, Michael Bancroft, 73, and John Cartwright, 72 - ransacked the businesses' accounts by charging exorbitant fees and expenses. When the firms went into administration, Mills seized what assets were left and transferred them to his sham companies The Sandstone Organisation and Knightingale Investments. The QCS gang spent the profits on millions or pounds' worth of property across Europe, birthday bashes in Thailand and Barbados, trips to Ascot, and a yacht. Scourfield was rewarded with at least £1million by way of luxury holidays, lavish gifts, and orgies with high-class escorts. His IA colleague Mark Dobson, 56, helped to divert funds from two high-risk clients to Mills' bogus businesses in return for £30,000 and lavish hospitality. Accountant Jonathan Cohen, 57, was said to have organised Scourfield and Mills' tax affairs to conceal the scam while his troubled firm Brett Adams raked in loans from HBOS's IA division. He was cleared of any involvement by the jury today. RUMBLED: HOW THE CORPORATE BANDIT WAS CAUGHT OUT HBOS had a 'second pair of eyes' principle, which meant all credit applications Scourfield authorised should have been looked over by his manager and senior director, Paul Burnett. The Managing Director of Credit Risk Hugh McMillan should have been alerted to the biggest deals. But neither man realised Scourfield was funnelling tens of millions into Mills' criminal enterprise - despite the fact that escalating debt from his loans was recorded and submitted to Mr Burnett. It was only when senior HBOS director Tom Angus was appointed to oversee IA in January 2006 that the bank began to wake up to his flagrant corruption. Within six months of his new role, Mr Angus asked to see authorisations for Scourfield's credit applications. Mark Dobson, 56, helped to divert funds from two high-risk clients to Mills' bogus businesses in return for £30,000 and lavish hospitality. He had to chase the fraudster repeatedly before receiving a suspicious bundle of documents that contained 'no evidence of appropriate sanctioning' in January 2007. A month later HBOS carried out a review of 38 struggling businesses that had received irregular loans from IA and together owed the bank £375million. The conclusion was damning: the bank stood to lose up to £288million from companies that had engaged QCS under Scourfield's supervision. Mr Angus confronted the conman with the findings at the bank's Bishopsgate office on 8 March 2007 - but within hours he went off sick with 'work-related stress' and never returned. HBOS suspended Scourfield for gross misconduct and he resigned in April 2007. The former banking giant carried out two further investigations but neither one uncovered the 'true nature' of Scourfield's corrupt relationship with Mills. Prosecutor Brian O'Neill QC said: 'Some other employees of the Bank do not emerge well from the investigation, most particularly Paul Burnett, who was Scourfield's immediate line manager. 'There is little doubt that his apparent lack of oversight was partly responsible for Scourfield's ability to act in the way that he did and for as long as he did.' He continued: 'Had Burnett and others paid closer attention to the crib sheet figures, Scourfield's activities may have been identified sooner.. 'Burnett lost his position at the Bank as a result of his failures as a manager.' Jurors were told 'systems and processes undoubtedly contributed to Scourfield's ability to behave dishonestly' as he began 'exploiting systemic and personnel weaknesses which he knew to exist'. But Mr O'Neill insisted there is 'no evidence' Mr Burnett or any other HBOS employees were complicit in the conspiracy, and said the bank wasn't 'knowingly turning a blind eye' to the con. HBOS, once the UK's biggest mortgage lender, suffered a devastating collapse during the credit crunch - and taxpayers were left to foot the £20.5billion bill. The banking giant was formed by the 2001 merger of Halifax and The Bank of Scotland and loaned £435billion within seven years as it pursued an aggressive expansion plan. But it lost £10.8billion in 2008 as profits plunged by 70 per cent when the credit crunch hit. The Banking Standards Commission later slammed HBOS bosses for 'catastrophic failings' and a 'colossal failure of management'. Former CEO James Crosby, the 'architect' of HBOS's failed strategy, forfeited the knighthood he was granted for 'services to the finance industry' after leaving the bank for a senior FSA role in 2006. Mr Crosby, thought to draw more than £400,000 a year from his HBOS pension, said he was 'deeply sorry' for the disaster. In 2012 HBOS senior executive Peter Cummings was fined £500,000 and banned from banking for life by the FSA for his part in the bank's near-collapse. Mr Cummings retired in 2009 with a £352,000 a year pension after making his name by lending to high-profile clients including Top Shop founder Philip Green. Lloyds Bank acquired HBOS in January 2009 as part of the rescue package. Amid the chaos, Lloyds instructed Deloitte to investigate Scourfield's activity after the Financial Services Authority (now the Financial Conduct Authority) issued a requirement notice. The criminal investigation didn't begin until after the report, dubbed Project Windsor, was completed in 2010. The 2010 report revealed that of the £250million written off by HBOS's IA division, £245million related to customers under Scourfield's management. Nearly all of them had engaged QCS's 'consultancy services'. Businesses that fell prey to the criminal plot include golf equipment firm Seoul Nassau, fishing tackle company Sharpe's Holdings, aviation group Corporate Jet Services (who owned Club 328 and Euromanx), textile business Magenta, restaurant and nightclub operator the Mezzanine Group, and Remnant Media, a company setup to buy porn mags including Asian Babes. HBOS began legal action against some of the clients, including couple Paul and Nikki Turner, who ran Cambridge-based music publisher Zenith before it was destroyed by Scourfield's scam. The bank took the Turners to court more than 15 times in an unsuccessful attempt to evict them after Scourfield devastated their business. Oxfordshire farmer Justin Riggs, 57, said his livelihood was 'annihilated' when Scourfield authorised a £375,000 loan and advised him to sell land and chicken coops in 2004. The farmer was forced to remortgage his house when his loan rose by £7,000 after he had paid £231,000 in interest and fees. Mr Riggs' plight was discussed in parliament in 2009 as MP Ed Vaizey noted: 'There is a pattern in the way that Mr Scourfield engaged numerous people. 'He has taken businesses and loaded them with loans, charges and consultancy fees. It's now up to HBOS to come to the table.' The six-year investigation, dubbed Operation Hornet, was 'the most complex and far-reaching' fraud case in Thames Valley Police's history, involving 120 officers. </s> LONDON — Two former HBOS bankers and four business partners were sentenced to between three-and-a-half and 15 years in jail by a British judge on Thursday for orchestrating a $307 million fraud that siphoned off money from struggling businesses.

Former HBOS bankers Lynden Scourfield and Mark Dobson, businessmen Michael Bancroft, David Mills and his wife Alison Mills and accountant Tony Cartwright were convicted on Monday of various crimes after a five-month jury trial in London.

Scourfield, who was bribed with designer watches, sex with prostitutes and exotic foreign holidays by his business associates for his role in the scam, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in jail. His former colleague Mark Dobson was handed four-and-a-half years in jail.

Mills was sentenced to 15 years in prison and his wife Alison to three and a half years.

Mills’ former business associate Bancroft was sentenced to 10 years in jail and Cartwright handed a three-and-a-half year term.

Judge Martin Beddoe said Scourfield had “sold his soul … for sex, for luxury trips with and without your wife, for bling and for swank.”

The sentences are among the toughest handed out for a high-profile, white collar fraud in Britain in recent years.

The bankers asked struggling business owners to employ a turnaround consultancy as a condition for getting a loan and they were obliged to pay the consultancy high fees for services and, in some cases, hand over ownership.

Many of the businesses involved went into liquidation, resulting in job losses and financial hardship.

“Their victims were people who were trying to contribute to the economy,” said police detective Nick John. “They were normal people running small- to medium-sized businesses who needed support and instead had their livelihoods, and in many cases, their lives destroyed by the greed of these parasites.”

HBOS, once Britain’s biggest mortgage lenders under the Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands, incurred losses of 245 million pounds ($307 million) related to the conspiracy.

The bank was rescued in a state-engineered takeover in 2008 by rival Lloyds Banking Group. Lloyds subsequently needed a 20 billion pound bailout of its own.

Scourfield headed a division at HBOS that dealt with small companies in financial distress. In return for expensive gifts, cash, foreign travel and sex with prostitutes, Scourfield referred his clients to Mills and his restructuring consultancy.

HBOS would extend far more money than the businesses needed, which the consultancy would then siphon off.

Other high-profile cases related to Britain’s financial sector in recent years include that of Tom Hayes, a former UBS and Citigroup star trader, who was initially sentenced to 14 years in 2015 for manipulating Libor interest rates. His sentence was reduced to 11 years on appeal.

Magnus Peterson, the founder of one of London’s oldest hedge funds, who was convicted of perpetrating a $540 million fraud in 2015, was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
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