Stewart Ford is seeking £650m in damages from the financial regulator and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for "causing" the collapse of Keydata, the investment firm he founded and which attracted almost £500m of investors' capital.
Ford said the Financial Services Authority (FSA) - the watchdog at the time of Keydata's insolvency in 2009 - exceeded its statutory authority as a regulator in its handling of the business' struggles. He will claim the FSA - in partnership with PwC - brought down Keydata "as a blatant attempt to prove it could be effective" following the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Keydata, which was marketed to retail investors via financial advisers, was declared insolvent in June 2009 in part due to the discovery that many of its plans, though marketed as eligible for ISA investments, did not hold...
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