Salesman we exposed could be extradited
SCOTLAND Yard has launched a legal fight to gain an extradition warrant after an alleged corrupt stockbroker named in a series of Mail on Sunday investigations flew to Thailand rather than face trial.
Stephen Todd, 35, is charged with laundering money on behalf of a criminal gang from North London.
According to police, he ‘concealed quantities of banknotes’. Also charged is Michael Adams, whose £1million home was raided by police in 2015.
Todd was a salesman for disreputable broker Pacific Continental Securities and then Square Mile Securities. Both closed after investigations by the City watchdog.
He then headed Hamilton Bentley & Partners. I warned in 2007 and again in 2009 that its land investment scheme was illegal, but Todd was nevertheless granted a stockbroking licence for his next company, White Square Investments, which also closed down. He remains on the Financial Conduct Authority’s register of authorised brokers, though he is described as ‘inactive’.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court last Thursday, I was one of nine witnesses who submitted evidence, which included more than 150 pages from the files of The Mail on Sunday. Todd is due to appear for trial on September 11. The extradition case continues.