Six people, including two former managers at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) have been found guilty of committing bribery and fraud against business customers after a four month trial.
Different sources have reported that the total amount of the fraud may range from £240m (€278.8m) to £1bn.
Lynden Scourfield pleaded guilty to six counts including corruption, while five others were also convicted at Southwark Crown Court.
Between 2003 and 2007, Scourfield had told his SME customers to use supposed ‘turnaround firm’ Quayside Corporate Services, which was owned by co-defendants David and Alison Mills, and received bribes for doing so.
Scourfield and his accomplices then charged the businesses large fees and engaged in aggressive asset stripping.
Dobson, also a former HBOS manager, David Mills, Michael Bancroft, Alison Mills, and John Anthony Cartwright were convicted on counts including bribery, fraud, and money laundering.
Jonathan Cohen, another defendant, was acquitted. Stephen Rowland, the CPS special prosecutor, told the BBC: “It involved millions of documents; a lot of the material we had to look at was electronic. So we had a very large amount of material to work through and consider.”
The sentencing is due on Thursday.
