In April of this year the High Court had granted the FCA an injunction preventing Brookbourne from continuing its business and freezing its assets after the FCA’s investigation showed that the firm had been taking illegal deposits from consumers and was operating a scam property fund.
Following the winding-up order the Official Receiver becomes liquidator of the company and will be initially responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and dealing with the claims of creditors. Information about the assets and liabilities of the company will be communicated to creditors by the Official Receiver in due course, but the FCA’s experience with this type of scheme is that there are rarely sufficient assets to cover the losses suffered by consumers. Accordingly, consumers are unlikely to receive anything but a very small proportion of what they invested.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned consumers will not have access to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for any losses as Brookbourne is not an FCA-authorised firm.
Brookbourne Trading Limited
Address: 288 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 4QP
Tel: 020 7698 2700
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.brookbourne.com
How to protect yourself
We strongly advise consumers only deal with firms that are authorised by the FCA, and to check the Financial Services Register[1] to ensure they are. It has information on firms and individuals that are, or have been, regulated by us.
If a firm does not appear on the Register but claims it does, contact our Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768.
There are more steps you should take to protect yourself from unauthorised firms.
You should also be aware that if you give money to an unauthorised firm, you will not be covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if things go wrong.
Report an unauthorised firm
If you think you have been approached by an unauthorised firm or contacted about a scam, you should contact our Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768. If you were offered, bought or sold shares, you can use our share fraud reporting form.
You can see more ways to report an unauthorised firm and find out what to do if you have been scammed.