Fraud claim over Yellow Pages
UK Finance’s chairman is facing a court hearing next month in a multi-million pound claim alleging he defrauded shareholders while chair of Yellow Pages-owner Hibu.
The case in the US has been a major headache for City grandee Bob Wigley, who lost his chief executive Stephen Jones over a sexism row earlier this week.
The claim relates to Wigley’s time as chairman of directories business Hibu which crashed into administration in 2013 wiping out the holdings of smaller shareholders.
An action group of 450 aggrieved former shareholders sued Wigley, Hibu and other directors of the company in the US last summer. The case is set to go before the US District Court in Philadelphia on July 20 on a motion to dismiss the claim, according to documents filed in the US this week.
The lawsuit, first filed in August last year, alleges that Wigley and Hibu chief executive Mike Pocock, who died in December 2018, misled shareholders with positive updates about the firm’s position, while moving cash to subsidiaries to prepare for administration.
The claim accuses Hibu and its former directors of fraudulent misrepresentation, deceit and negligent misstatement. The claim said: ‘The conspiracy culminated when, in secret cooperation with its lenders, the company effectively divested itself of assets so as to qualify for “administration” and extinguished the rights of its shareholders, with no compensation.’
The defence argues the case should be dismissed as the court lacks jurisdiction over the defendants and the claim has been filed too late.
Chris Belcher, from the Hibu action group, said shareholders took the case to the US after feeling let down by the UK regulatory response to their claims.
Wigley could not be reached for comment yesterday.