The UK financial regulator is taking legal action against the former investment star Neil Woodford for allegedly offering unauthorised investment advice online – the latest blow for a fund manager whose £10bn empire collapsed six years ago.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it was seeking an injunction against Woodford and W4.0, a United Arab Emirates-registered company, to stop them carrying out “potentially unlawful activities”. In a statement, the FCA alleged that Woodford and W4.0 are “providing regulated investment advice and making financial promotions through the subscription-based platform www.w4pz.com without authorisation”.
“FCA sues Neil Woodford for allegedly offering unauthorised investment advice online, months after banning him from the City.”
The move comes a year after the FCA announced it would ban Woodford from holding senior manager roles and managing funds for retail investors in the UK as a result of the collapse of his flagship equity fund in 2019. At its peak, Woodford’s fund was worth more than £10bn, but a string of poorly performing investments – including the estate agent Purplebricks, the finance company Burford Capital and the doorstep lender Provident Financial – combined with heavy exposure to harder-to-sell private companies, led to its suspension and eventual collapse.
Woodford resigned in October 2019 and closed his investment company. Administrators later wound down the fund, returning money to many of its 30,000 investors at a steep loss. The FCA fined Woodford and his firm £46m and issued a damning report, stating that Woodford “is not a fit and proper person to perform regulated activities associated with managing open-ended funds”. Both Woodford and his investment management company said they planned to challenge the fine and ban in the upper tribunal.
W4.0 has now responded to the watchdog’s latest action. In a statement, the firm said it “does not accept the FCA’s characterisation” of its site. The company, which trades as W4.0 and is registered in the United Arab Emirates, gave no further details. A date for the hearing has not yet been set.