A couple who took £7m from thousands of customers who sought help from their debt management firm but spent much of the money on lavish holidays and cars have been banned from the UK financial services industry for life by the sectors regulator.
Adrian and Christine Whitehurst, nicknamed the vampires of debt, set up First Step in 2007, promising to help hard-pressed families bring their debts under control with easy monthly payments.
But by the time the firm was placed in administration in 2014, £7m was missing from client funds, according to the Financial Conduct Authority and the 4,000 people who paid in have little chance of seeing any of their money returned as it is not covered by a financial services industry compensation sche…
Read the full article at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/23/couple-nicknamed-vampires-of-debt-took-7m-from-firms-clients
