No charges after huge fraud probe into deals
Lawyer turned financier and Scotland’s biggest bankrupt, Gregory King was at the centre of one of Britain’s biggest fraud investigations.
In 2005, he launched a hedge fund called Heather Capital, which attracted up to £400 million from worldwide investors to fund land deals in Scotland.
He was later accused of selling land – including the site in Kirkintilloch bought for £6m by Minette Compson’s Advalorem – for hugely inflated prices to associates before the cash was filtered through a network of offshore companies he was in charge of in locations, including Gibraltar and the Caymans.
King, 51, from Glasgow, who denied any wrongdoing, enjoyed the high life at his £5m Marbella mansion on Spain’s Costa del Sol. But, in 2010, Heather Capital collapsed and liquidators claimed about £90m was missing from the fund.
Police in Scotland began a fraud investigation that resulted in King and three associates being reported to the Crown Office. All four denied any wrongdoing.
King was bankrupted in Gibraltar in 2017 over debts of £7.5m after an alleged multimillion-pound property scam. The following year, the Crown decided not to prosecute, sparking concerns about its ability to investigate and prosecute complex financial cases in Scotland.
King’s Spanish mansion was later seized by insolvency practice CVR Global and sold for £5.11m to pay off creditors, with trustee Adrian Hyde commenting: “Mr King appeared to have left in a hurry as it was full of paperwork, clothing and other personal effects.”
Auditors believe King has retained assets worth many millions, including land and property in Scotland.