Crooked land boss jailed for ‘buy-to-let’ contempt
Probes a world of scams and scandals
A TRICKSTER who operated a huge international land scam has been j ai l ed for six months for contempt of court. This is after diverting buyto-let rents to his wife, in breach of court orders freezing his assets so his victims could be repaid losses of more than £15 million.
Robert McKendrick, 59, of Alderley Edge in Cheshire, was behind Agri Capital. From 2009 onwards, the company offered investments in parcels of land in Sierra Leone which, it claimed, would be used to grow rice. Advertisements promised 50 per cent capital growth in the first year, an estimated 15 per cent annual income from harvests, and all with a full money- back guarantee.
I warned in 2010 that the scheme was not authorised by the then City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority. I asked McKendrick who would honour the guarantee if no rice was actually harvested. His reply was: ‘ Agri Capital underwrites this.’ So, if Agri Capital itself got into difficulties, investors would have little chance of recovering their money.
Three years later, in 2013, the renamed City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, began legal action after deciding the scheme was unlawfully promoted and operated without its permission. A court ruled McKendrick had misled investors, and it ordered a freeze of his assets.
McKendrick hit the headlines again in 2016 when his wife and daughter were attacked and their home ransacked by a gang organised by his Russian former lover, Karine Solloway. She had lent McKendrick more than £1 million and had not been repaid. In 2017, Solloway was jailed for ten years. Three men who carried out the robbery were also jailed.
Last year, the regulator resumed its legal action. McKendrick was ordered to reveal all his assets, and he was barred from disposing of them. He was told he would have to pay the FCA so it could refund his i nvestors. He has si nce been declared bankrupt, but in breach of court orders he secretly appointed his wife to manage dozens of properties he owns. This allowed her to pocket the rents and draw highly inflated management fees.
Mark S t e war d , d i r e c t o r o f enforcement at the FCA, said: ‘Mr McKendrick misled investors and then, in contempt of court, failed to comply with court orders requiring him to properly account for the losses.’
The regulator is now taking proceedings to enforce court judgments and distribute the proceeds to McKendrick’s victims.