Beaufort Securities Claims Guide
The Beaufort Securities group of companies provided a number of regulated financial products in the UK, including Discretionary Fund Management portfolios of investments, SIPP pension related services and investments.
But thats all stopped now after a joint investigation between the FBI and the UK’s FCA resulted in an undercover sting with people related to Beaufort Securities.
Many of Beaufort Securities £700m+ assets under management were frozen, and FCA declared the firm insolvent resulting in the company going into administration.
Of course, this resulted in many complaints about and relating to Beaufort Securities.
If you dealt with Beaufort regarding your pensions, investments or a DFM portfolio, you may be able to make a claim on a No Win – No Fee* basis.
Get started nowWhat happened to Beaufort Securities?
Beaufort Securities operated for years and offered many services, but some of it’s DFM portfolios sometimes featured some high-risk investments.
On top of that, some people relating to Beaufort are now being charged with Securities fraud and conspiracy to launder money.
The FCA imposed restrictions on Beaufort so it could not take on new business for a time, and later declared them insolvent, forcing them to an administration with PwC.
Since then, thousands of claims have been made relating to Beaufort.
If you had a SIPP pension with them, or had a SIPP elsewhere but investments with Beaufort, our case assessors are particularly interested in speaking to you for a FREE initial assessment to see if you can make a claim on a No Win – No Fee* basis.
Receive a free call-back from a specialist to get started
Can you claim for Beaufort Securities compensation?
Several financial advisers and the FSCS have been paying out compensation for having been mis-sold Beaufort Securities investments via SIPPs and SSASs for a few years, with Spencer Churchill Claims Advice often leading the claim on a No Win – No Fee* basis.
If you:
- Transferred your pension to a SIPP
- Invested via Beaufort Securities or in other high-risk investments
- Aren’t earning over £100k per year
- Aren’t a Sophisticated Investor
Then you may have been mis-sold, and you could be able to make a claim for negligent SIPP advice.
Speak with an expertThe Beaufort Securities timeline of events
1992 - Company Formed
2003- First Fine
Beaufort was first fined by the FSA (now the FCA) back in 2003:
“The FSA has decided to impose a financial penalty of £150,000 on Hoodless Brennan & Partners Plc (“HBP”) as a result of the conduct of HBP in 2000 in relation to a placing of shares in PrimeEnt Plc (“the PrimeEnt placing”) and its dealings with regulators thereafter. In particular, it appears to the FSA that:
1.1 HBP was responsible for an announcement being issued to the market on 30 March 2000, which was false and misleading. The announcement stated that HBP had placed £2.5 million of shares in PrimeEnt Plc (“PrimeEnt”) when that was not in fact the case;”
2006 - Second Fine
“On 9 August 2006 the FSA fined Hoodless Brennan £90,000 for breaches of FSA Principles 2, 6 and 7 of the FSA’s Principles for Businesses and Conduct of Business Rule […] the FSA considers that Hoodless Brennan’s broking staff deliberately engaged in unacceptable selling practices”
2018 - FBI Sting & Insolvency
While many CMCs were already aware of a potential problem with mis-sold DFM portfolios as part of SIPPs relating to Beaufort, the news that a joint transatlantic investigation had been underway was news to most.
An FBI sting involving persons related to Beaufort Securities and a Picasso painting resulted in sever conspiracy, fraud and money laundering charges.
The FCA declared Beaufort Insolvent with PwC coming in as administrators.
2018 - FSCS claims
Beaufort DFM
DFM stands for Discretionary Fund Management – a portfolio of investments ran by a company on behalf of their clients.
Instead of investing in a single of collection of completely separate direct investments via a SIPP, some people invest in a discretionary fund.
However in the case of Beaufort, we now know that some DFM portfolios contained HIGH-RISK INVESTMENTS, which are often not suitable for an average investor.
Mis-selling in these types of cases may sometimes be related to actions by the DFM, or sometimes against a separate financial adviser for not doing their due-diligence on the DFM.
If you invested via Beaufort through a SIPP, you may be able to make a claim worth thousands in compensation.
Get started now
Beaufort Related Claims
Beaufort Securities FAQ's
How do I know if I was mis-sold Beaufort Securities?
There are many ways that you could have a mis-selling claim relating to Beaufort Securities depending on how and what you did with them.
Because Beaufort operated a SIPP business, it could be that you were mis-sold that SIPP by a financial adviser in the investments inside were not suitable for you.
Or if you invested via Beaufort DFM, that could be another type of case.
It all depends on your circumstances, what advice you received, and what the outcome has been.
You can speak to one of our case assessors with a FREE call-back to find out more. There’s no obligation, just a chat with a friendly professional claims handler.
Is Beaufort Securities a scam?
That would be a matter for the authorities. A ‘Scam’ implies criminal activity, and it is true that people related to Beaufort have been investigated by the US Department of Justice related to various conspiracies.
However for most people, it may be that they have simply been mis-sold their Beaufort Securities products due to negligent financial advice, for which they can make a claim against the advice.
What is a high-risk DFM?
The FCA has long been concerned about the misuse and potential for mis-selling via DFMs.
While the mis-selling of investments via SIPP pensions has been going on for some time, DFMs add an extra layer of obscurity to people’s investment portfolios, meaning that many people may not fully understand what they are investing in.
While all investments carry risk, some are considered to be high-risk because they are not regulated by the FCA, may be prone to trapping money inside (illiquid) and may be more open to fraudulent activities.
When these investments end up in DFMs (often using a different name) they can be hard for people to detect, and are easily mis-sold.
What is the FSCS and how are they connected to Beaufort?
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS for short) is the ‘lifeboat fund’, setup to pay compensation when firms that should be liable to cough-up cannot.
When the FCA declared Beaufort Securities insolvent, the FSCS would almost automatically become likely to pay claims made against the firm.
If you want to know if you can make a FSCS claim over Beaufort Securities, get in touch on 01204 929929 for a free initial assessment.