At the end of 2012 it was reported that Wrathall was taking Barclays to court over losses of up to £1.3m in a missold investment fund - this was in addition to his approx. £1.5m loss in the Argyle administration. I can't find out whether his court action was successful or not, anybody know if it was? He really has made a horlicks of some of his investments since he sold his caravan parks for millions. I hope he has plenty left because Argyle are sure going to need it.
LINK
A former director of Plymouth Argyle Football Club is taking Barclays to court over what he has described as a “disastrous” pre-crisis investment.
Ex-Plymouth Argyle director sues BarclaysTony Wrathall, 54, claims that he lost between £800,000 and £1.3m in a commercial property fund that was sold to him by Barclays Wealth in 2006, according to court documents filed in the London commercial courts last month.
The investment was “disastrous”, according to Wrathall’s court filing.
He had invested £1m in the LaSalle UK Commercial Property Fund, managed by LaSalle Investment Management, in January 2007. LaSalle is not accused of any wrongdoing in Wrathall’s court filing. After the fund was liquidated by its managers in July 2008, Wrathall recovered £357,233 of his initial investment, according to his court filing.
Wrathall alleges he was missold the investment by Barclays Wealth and is claiming for damages, interest, costs and further relief on the loss of his investment and the advisory fees paid to Barclays to initiate the investment.
He is claiming for an unspecified sum, although his court documents claim he lost between £800,000 and £1.3m as a result of the investment.
Wrathall paid £63,845 to Barclays for ‘advisory services’, according to his court filing. He claims that the bank committed him to the investment against his wishes, that he should not have been sold the investment and that he was not told about all of its features.
He claims he was told by Barclays that he could divest from the fund at any time, although later found that he was “locked in” until the end of June 2008 – immediately prior to its liquidation.
A well-known businessman in the South West of England, Wrathall had made about £6m from the sale of a holiday park company he owned with his wife in 2006, according to his court filing.
He had been a director of Plymouth Argyle since 2005, and was on the club’s board when it required the assistance of administrators in March 2011. He left his position as a result of the administration.
Plymouth Argyle was docked 10 points by the Football League for entering into administration and was subsequently relegated from League One – the third tier of English football – to League Two – the fourth tier.
The club had previously been a mainstay of the English Championship – a tier below the top flight Premier League – until its relegation to League One in 2010.
It was bought out of administration in October 2011 by former Citi banker James Brent’s Akkeron Group.
Wrathall’s solicitor, Barclays and Plymouth Argyle all declined to comment.