The Latest Spanish Property News from Kyero.com
August 9th, 2007
The Costa del Sol Action Group (CDSAG), which claims to represent more than 700 families who have suffered losses totalling more than £80 million due to bad advice, has told OPP about its latest class action against a group of financial advisers.
The lawyers acting for the CDSAG, IURA Despacho Jurídico of Fuengirola, instituted proceedings in Spain’s Supreme Criminal Court in Madrid culminating in a class action on behalf of ‘selected aggrieved parties’ against ‘certain financial advisers and product providers in Spain and the UK’. The CDSAG also reports that some of the accused have appeared before the courts in Benidorm and Marbella.
“The class action is now approaching its final stages and we anticipate prison sentences and swingeing financial penalties on the guilty parties,” said Gwilym Rhys-Jones, Adviser & Investigator for the CDSAG. The Group, which offers it services free of charge, claims a criminal ‘denuncia’ has now been accepted by the Fiscal (Public Prosecutor) which alleges fraud and illegal misappropriation amounting to more than £2 million mostly representing the life savings of British pensioners.
“Interestingly, those responsible look like ending up serving prison sentences in both Spain and the UK,” adds Rhys-Jones. “The CDSAG has already been responsible for the arrest in Spain of the seasoned three times jailed fraudster John Michael Doust who is currently on bail for an upfront mortgage fees fraud. In that case the Provincial Fraud Squad of the Málaga National Police asked the CDSAG to put the case together after which arrest warrants were issued.”
The Comisíon Nacíonal del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) and the National Fraud Squad in Madrid estimate that up to 17,000 expatriates in Spain have suffered bad advice from unscrupulous and unauthorized financial advisers. This suggests that there is enormous potential for FSA regulated IFAs in the UK to offer services to Brits buying overseas.
