British pension bosses facing trial for £70m Swedish fraud

TWO British fund managers, one with a serious heart condition, are set to be extradited to Sweden, where they face months in solitary confinement.

A UK court has cleared the way for the businessmen to be sent for trial over an alleged £70million fraud on a Swedish pension scheme.

Anthony Farrell, 51, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Christopher Thomas, 63, from Cranberry, both in Staffordshire, deny any wrongdoing.

Scandinavian prosecutors say both men will be held in solitary confinement until their trial – which could be 18 months away – to prevent them colluding.

Their lawyers argued this is a breach of their human rights at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Mr Thomas, a father of teenage children, suffered a severe heart attack in 2012 and has stents for ongoing chest pains. Mr Farrell was the chief executive and Mr Thomas a portfolio manager at Malta-based Temple Asset Management.

TAM managed investments for Falcon Funds, a £213million pension fund. But its dominant investor, the Swedish Pensions Authority, suffered losses of £70million in 2017 and launched a criminal investigation, accusing Falcon and TAM of defrauding 22,000 pension investors.