Hot stuff.

A thought:

Some like it hot…

There are those that say Rangers Company Secretary Gary Withey is fighting more fires than the entire Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service.

•      Fire fighting against Levy & MacRae.

•      Fire fighting against Martin Bain

•      Fire fighting against HMRC for the ‘wee bill’

•      Fire fighting against HMRC for the ‘big bill.’

But a hot issue nearer home will no doubt be distracting Mr Withey.

The legal firm in London where Mr Withey is a partner, Collyer Bristow, is faced with a £50 million bill in a complicated negligence case. There has been talk of “bankruptcy fraud and scam” in coverage of the case in the prestigious legal site, the lawyer.com.

http://www.thelawyer.com/1009611.article

Collyer Bristow are being sued by 550 investors for selling them:

“complex investment initiatives, known as ‘Innovator Schemes’, that were ­promoted by the firm as tax-advantage vehicles. Investors hoped to be able to claim tax relief on sums invested by them for ­participation in the schemes, which would use the cash to buy and exploit technologies. The intended investment vehicles were 19 entities, 16 of which were LLPs and the remaining three general partnerships.

It is alleged that the ­project, which Collyer ­Bristow is accused of ­promoting, was a scam and a fraud and that conditions for the claimants to become members of the schemes and for their subscription monies to be paid to the partnership vehicles were never fulfilled.”

All the partners at Collyer Bristow, including uninvolved parties like Mr Withey, have a lot riding on the outcome of these legal battles.

If they lose the case against the investors and they don’t win the case against their broker then Collyer Bristow could be landed with a bill of over £50 million that they may not be able to pay.

Sound familiar?

Of course fire fighting creates lots of heat.

No problem to Mr Withey, after all he was named in the legal “Hot 100” in 2010.

http://www.collyerbristow.com/fileserver.aspx?oID=1450&lID=0