Special administrators working on the shuttered wealth management firm WealthTek LLP have found a potential £81.4m shortfall in client money.
New information from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which last month closed down the Newcastle-based firm, also reveals that director John Dance has seen assets worth £40m frozen amid a fraud and money laundering probe. The FCA says WealthTek, which had about 1,470 clients also traded as Vertem Asset Management and Malloch Melville, did not have permission to hold client money or custody assets.
The watchdog has previously said it moved to protect consumers amid "identification of serious regulatory and operational issues" and since closing down the firm is conducting a regulatory and criminal investigation into both WealthTek and 48 year-old Mr Dance, who was arrested by Northumbria Police in April.
