Carl Cushnie

Carlton Ellington ("Carl") Cushnie is a businessman from the United Kingdom. In the late-1990s, he was estimated to be the richest black man in Europe and among the 100 wealthiest people in Britain. However his finance company, Versailles, went bust after an investigation by the Department of Trade and Industry in 1999 revealed that most of the company's trading turnover was fabricated and the company was part of a Ponzi scheme. Cushnie was sentenced to six years in prison in 2004 after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud.

Biography

Cushnie was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and moved to London at the age of 13. He began his career as a computer programmer at ICL, before going on to found a software business, Pentagon Business Systems PLC. He later founded Versailles, a group of companies which purported to be involved in the factoring business, effectively providing loans to manufacturers by buying their merchandise after a sale had been agreed to another company but before they had been paid for it. Potential investors were told that Cushnie used computer software to personally keep track of exactly what each investor's money had bought, whether it be "shorts or golf balls".

The company was floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 1995 and moved to the full London Stock Exchange Official List in 1997. Its share price was 8 pence at the time of flotation, and rose to 250 pence in December 1999, thanks to annual accounts showing turnover and assets significantly higher than they in fact were. Cushnie retained a controlling stake in the company which gave him an estimated worth of £340 million, and sold part of his shareholding at the top of the market for £28.6 million. Following his conviction, one investor sued to recover their losses. Cushnie first claimed that they were not the relevant investor, a suggestion described as "completely fanciful" by the judge, then that the documents were forgeries, which the judge said had "simply no evidence" to support it.

Although his appeal against conviction was refused, he continues to maintain that he was innocent of all fraud committed within the company. Cushnie continues to reside in the UK.