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THE Financial Conduct Authority has finally lost patience with unauthorised investment company Park First Limited and its boss Toby Whittaker. The regulator has started court proceedings seeking compensation for 4,500 investors who ploughed £230 million into the scheme, buying car park spaces with a promised yield of 10-12 per cent.

The FCA alleges that the scheme was illegal from the start as it was a Collective Investment Scheme similar to a unit trust. Such schemes require FCA authorisation. The watchdog also claims the scheme was marketed with ‘false or misleading statements’. In 2017, about three years after the unlawful scheme began, the FCA decided not to prosecute Park First and its promoters. Instead, it negotiated a deal under which investors were offered their money back or a move into a different deal which the FCA helped put together. I revealed earlier this year that the FCA had struck a secret agreement with Park First, sounding tough in public but privately allowing the company to delay paying out on refund claims.

In July, Park First ran out of road as refund claims mounted. The group collapsed into administration, under the control of insolvency experts Smith & Williamson. As part of a planned Company Voluntary Arrangement, the group’s existing bosses would stay on, and they and the companies in the group would put £33 million towards partially repaying investors.

But now creditors and investors are pressing for the group to be put into liquidation, and the bosses threaten to withdraw the £33 million offer.

At present, the cash is held in bank accounts over which the FCA has a veto. The threat to snatch back the £33 million appears to have been the last straw for the regulator, though at present it is only seeking civil court compensation orders. The possibility of criminal prosecutions remains on the table.