Retail investors could lose millions as risky forex trading firm crashes into liquidation
An unregulated forex trading firm is set to go into liquidation leaving retail investors millions of pounds out of pocket.
Hudspiths, which recently established ventures in Dubai and Luxembourg, has appointed insolvency practitioners UHY Hacker Young to oversee a creditors' voluntary liquidation.
This follows attempts by creditors to wind the company up after it stopped paying returns late last year, which the company blamed on banking problems.
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The firm had promised investors interest of up to five per cent a month which it said it would generate through trading in risky foreign exchange derivative products.
According to a letter to creditors from the liquidator, seen by City PM, Hudspiths has an estimated £7.3m in its trading accounts, of which £6m is in third party accounts.
The liquidator wrote that he was “uncertain as to the recoverability of these funds”.
According to photos of its trading platform from November 2018, Hudspiths had over £70m in funds.
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Speaking to City PM, chief executive Karl Lubieniecki said that figure represented funds traded on behalf of some of its larger clients.
He said at least £50m had been pulled out of the firm in recent weeks.
Lubieniecki said the firm received around £10m in investment from clients in the UK.
He also said the overseas branches of Hudspiths were completely separate companies which had now cut any ties with the UK business.
Lubieniecki, whose now-deleted Linkedin account pictures him posing on a luxury yacht, became the registered owner of a six-bedroom neo-Georgian house in Swindon in June 2018, according to the Land Registry.
The house has been put on the market in recent weeks with a £2m price tag.
Speaking to City PM last month, Lubieniecki said the house belonged to one of his overseas investors.