Former chairman and chief executive of the Versailles Group and a British national, Carlton Cushnie, who was convicted of defrauding investors in Versailles Traders Ltd and Trading Partners Ltd (BVI) in 2004, has paid over GBP 10 million in compansation in one of the largest criminal confiscation orders ever satisfied.
Carlton Cushnie (56) was sentenced in June 2004 at Southwark Crown Court to 6 years in prison for taking part in the conspiration to defraud private investors who provided money to a UK-incorporated Versailles Traders Ltd and a British Virgin Islands-incorporated Trading Partners Ltd. Cushnie was also disqualified from being a company director for 10 years.
In June 2005, a confiscation order of more than GBP 10 million was made against him and in November 2006 this sum was received by Her Majesty’s Court Service (HMCS).
The extent of benefit from crime and the identifying of assets realised in the confiscation order against Cushnie were traced by SFO investigators with the help of the London Regional Asset Recovery Team. The order was largely satisfied by the sale of Cushnie’s villa near Saint Tropez, registered on the name of his French holding company. The sale of the villa was arranged by his lawyers in October 2006.
The confiscated amount will be paid out as compensation to the victims of the fraud.