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Reform treasurer’s company seeking millions after alleged fraud, High Court told
Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy’s company is seeking millions in damages from a technology start-up which claimed to be the “next Facebook” following a “clear and straightforward case of fraud”, the High Court has been told.
Candy Ventures Sarl (CVS), a portfolio of companies founded by Mr Candy, is taking legal action against Dutch businessman Robert Bonnier over allegations he “lied” to “deceive” it into investing around 7.5 million euro (£6.5 million) in Aaqua BV, which he directs.
Mr Candy, who was announced as Reform’s treasurer in December last year, owns 90% of CVS.
Barristers for the company told a trial on Tuesday that Mr Bonnier claimed Apple and LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) were set to invest one billion US dollars in Aaqua, and as a result, CVS swapped shares in podcasting firm Audioboom for “worthless” shares in Aaqua.
It is asking a court to rescind the investment or order Mr Bonnier and Aaqua to pay £5.7 million in damages.
Mr Bonnier is representing himself at trial and in August was blocked from defending the claim for breaching court orders, with barristers for CVS telling the court he was “restricted to attendance and making oral submissions” and was “not allowed to advance any factual case”.
He has told the court that while he “overstated the prospects of an investment” into Aaqua, he did not believe CVS would “rely” on it.
In written submissions for the trial in London, Jonathan Nash KC, for CVS, said: “In late 2020/early 2021, Mr Bonnier lied to CVS, time and again, both orally and in writing, to deceive it into investing in his company, Aaqua.
“He told CVS that he had discussed Aaqua with two of the world’s biggest names, Apple and LVMH, and believed that they would invest in the company.”
He continued: “In fact, and as Mr Bonnier well knew, none of that was true.”
He added: “As a result of his flagrant fraud, CVS, like other sophisticated investors, was duped into investing in Aaqua.”
Mr Nash told the court Aaqua, which is now insolvent, was established in the Netherlands in 2020 to develop a “new social media software application”.
Mr Bonnier is claimed to have told Mr Candy and Steven Smith, CVS’s executive director, that Apple and LVMH were set to invest in Aaqua, which Mr Smith told the court was “completely fundamental” to CVS’s decision to invest.
Mr Candy met Mr Bonnier in Dubai in January 2021.
Mr Nash claimed Mr Bonnier said he personally knew Apple chief executive Tim Cook and LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault, and told Mr Smith that Aaqua would be the “next Facebook”.
CVS agreed in February 2021 to transfer 1.5 million shares in podcasting firm Audioboom to Aaqua, worth around £6.5 million.
It also agreed to purchase 15,000 Aaqua shares, which were believed to be worth around 7.5 million euro (£6.5 million), but Mr Nash said the value of these was “false and artificial, induced, as it was, by Aaqua and Mr Bonnier’s fraud”.
Following this, Mr Bonnier told Mr Candy on WhatsApp that Apple’s investment was “a foregone conclusion”, but the investment never occurred, Mr Nash said.
Mr Nash said by the summer of 2022, “CVS’s patience had run out”, and when Mr Smith asked Mr Bonnier about the situation, he responded that he was “simply no longer comfortable talking about founder partner relationships”, with legal proceedings being launched that year.
The barrister said Mr Bonnier had since said he had only met Mr Cook once, in 1999, and only met Mr Arnault at “large social gatherings”, adding Mr Bonnier knew his claims were false and “intended to mislead” CVS.
The court was told Mr Bonnier claims he did not believe that Apple and LVMH’s supposed investment caused CVS to invest, which Mr Nash denied.
Mr Nash said in court that Mr Bonnier claims he did not say Apple and LVMH were involved, and “all he did was express his aspiration that he could get Apple and LVMH on board”.
But the barrister said the businessman “went much further than that”, stating: “What was said and what was said dishonestly, and what was highly material to my client’s view of this investment, was that there were active discussions with Apple and LVMH which could reasonably be expected to lead to investment.”
In written submissions, Mr Bonnier admitted “selling his aspirations for Aaqua very enthusiastically, and occasionally perhaps going too far in those efforts”.
But he said he had a “proven track record of ‘pulling off the impossible’ and creating substantial value for shareholders”.
He said: “However, it was always understood that ultimately the claimant would form their own independent views on whether the founder’s vision would be achieved.”
The Dutchman also said CVS had “expressly stated and agreed that it would conduct its own diligence on the specific point of the likelihood of an investment” by Apple and LVMH.
He continued: “The claimant suffered no loss as a result of its investment; any loss it did suffer was brought about by the claimant’s own actions.”
The trial before Mr Justice Bright is set to conclude later this week.
NEW DELHI: Govt on Saturday significantly increased export duties on diesel and aviation turbine fuel to dissuade oil refiners from exporting these fuels and to ensure adequate availability in the domestic market amid ongoing tensions in West Asia. The ministry of finance issued a series of notifications hiking the export duty on diesel by more than 150% – from Rs 21.5 per litre to Rs 55.5 per litre – with immediate effect. The levy on ATF, or jet fuel, was increased from Rs 29.5 per litre to Rs 42 per litre. The export duty on petrol continues to be nil. Under the revised structure, the special additional excise duty on high-speed diesel has been raised to Rs 24 per litre, while the road and infrastructure cess now stands at Rs 36 per litre, which means a large chunk will now flow to the Centre. Govt said these duties are not meant to boost revenue, but to stop fuel exporters from taking undue advantage of price differences. The Centre had, on March 27, imposed an export duty of Rs 21.5 per litre on diesel and Rs 29.5 per litre on ATF in a bid to check windfall gains, as fuel was in short supply in international markets due to a squeeze on energy supplies amid the military conflict and export curbs imposed by China. It had also slashed excise duty on diesel and petrol to shield consumers and oil companies from the impact of high crude prices. Retail prices of automobile fuels in India have not increased despite high volatility in the international crude market, while only a small part of the international price pressure has been passed on to domestic flights. The windfall tax on exports of diesel and ATF helps the Centre partly offset the impact of the excise duty cut. On March 27, govt had estimated revenue gains from export duties at around Rs 1,500 crore in a fortnight. The further hike in export duties is likely to lead to higher revenue gains. In a statement, the ministry of petroleum had said, “At a time when international diesel prices have surged sharply, the levy is designed to disincentivise exports and ensure that refinery output is directed first tow-ards meeting domestic demand.“
A convoy of vans, lorries, tractors, and even a limousine took part in a slow moving protest around the town centre on Saturday afternoon.
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Stock markets are as turbulent as they have ever been. Those not used to seeing their wealth jump and plunge from day to day might well be wary of trying them out for the first time.
But by investing for the longer term, investors who pick a stocks and sharesISA will almost certainly do better than those who play it safe by holding savings in cash – and they will never pay tax on any earnings.
The average stocks and sharesISA account is worth over £65,000, significantly higher than the typical cash ISA, which holds less than £13,500.
“With UK inflation elevated at around 3 per cent over the past year, it’s not a great time to be sitting on cash, especially given that over the past 12 months, the average stocks and sharesISA grew around 11 per cent, compared to an average return of 3.48 per cent for cash ISAs,” explained Dan Moczulski, eToro UK’s managing director.
With the new tax year’s allowance now in effect – worth £20,000 per person – we asked five experts to pick one fund they would be willing to buy into themselves.
While not recommendations for everybody, they offer food for thought, as well as better diversification and lower risk than buying individual company shares.
Scottish Mortgage FTSE 100
Annabel Brodie-Smith, communications director of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC)
Brodie-Smith is going for the Scottish Mortgage FTSE 100 investment trust managed by Baillie Gifford.
This company invests around the world in exciting private companies like SpaceX and Revolut, as well as public-listed companies like Meta, Nvidia and ASML.
Get a free fractional share worth up to £100.
Capital at risk.
Terms and conditions apply.
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Get a free fractional share worth up to £100.
Capital at risk.
Terms and conditions apply.
ADVERTISEMENT
They are aiming to invest in the companies shaping the future – a mix of technology, healthcare, consumer services and more. The trust currently trades on a 5 per cent discount and has low charges of 0.31 per cent. This is an investment trust for long-term investors with a high appetite for risk.
This fund went up 27 per cent in the last year and is up 68 per cent over five years.
iShares Over 15 Years Gilts Index Fund (UK)
Alan Miller, CIO at SCM Direct
This fund tracks the FTSE Actuaries UK Conventional Gilts Over 15 Years Index and is therefore a fund investing solely in sterling-denominated UK government bonds, with a minimum remaining maturity of 15 years. It holds 27 gilts, has net assets of £2.95bn, and carries a Morningstar Gold medal.
There are no performance fees and a charge of just 0.1 per cent a year.
Miller says: “One of the most compelling opportunities in the market is hiding in plain sight: UK government bonds.
“Here’s the number that stops people in their tracks: 4.95 per cent compounded over 10 years is a 62 per cent return before charges, backed entirely by the UK government and sheltered from tax inside an ISA.”
Gilt yields are close to multi-decade highs. Locking in a yield to maturity of nearly 5 per cent inside an ISA wrapper, where all income and gains are tax-free, is exceptional by historical standards, and at an ongoing charge of just 0.1 per cent per annum, virtually nothing is lost to fees.
He adds: “Boring has rarely looked this good. It’s the kind of deal most active fund managers can only dream of offering.”
This fund is basically flat over the last year and up 9 per cent over five years. That’s because interest rates have been very low – as they are now higher, it should fare better from here.
Man Income
Paul Agnell, head of investment research, AJ Bell
Of the Man Income fund, Agnell says: “The fund’s pragmatic and analytical managers, Henry Dixon and Jack Barrat, invest in undervalued UK companies across the market cap spectrum, which are paying a yield at least in line with the market. In order to avoid value traps, the managers also look at a firm’s cashflow and assets.”
So, the team seek out undervalued and unloved companies, of which the UK market continues to present opportunities.
Their investment process centres on identifying two types of stocks: those trading below their replacement cost (what it would cost today to replace a company’s assets and operations) that are also cash generative, and those where the market appears to be undervaluing profit streams.
The fund has made an excellent start to 2026, up over 10 per cent in the first two months alone and was up 28 per cent over 2025. Banks were a key contributor over 2025, led by Lloyds, but with strong contributions also coming from Barclays and Standard Chartered.
The charge on the Man Income fund is 0.9 per cent.
Murray International
Philippa Maffioli, Blyth-Richmond Investment Managers
Murray International aims to blend global diversification with a solid income stream. The yield is around 3.5 per cent.
Maffioli says: “I like Murray International’s focus on dependable cashflows and sensible valuations, rather than chasing the highest yield. It also isn’t tied to the UK market, so you’re spreading risk across regions and currencies.”
Day-to-day decisions now sit with Martin Connaghan and Samantha Fitzpatrick, but the approach remains consistent: sustainable income with long-term growth potential. If you reinvest the dividends, it can be a strong compounding option over time.
It charges fees of 0.5 per cent. It is up 36 per cent in the last year and up 60 per cent over five years.
Pantheon Infrastructure Plc
Jonathan Moyes, head of investment research, Wealth Club
Pantheon Infrastructure Plc aims to provide investors with some diversification away from global stock markets while providing the potential for attractive equity-like returns over the longer term.
The FTSE 250 trust co-invests alongside some of the world’s leading infrastructure managers. Its portfolio includes large-scale data centres, gas distribution networks, US renewable energy and storage developers, as well as one of Europe’s leading temperature-controlled logistics and transport businesses.
Moyes says: “These assets are prized for their mission-critical nature and long-term contracted revenue streams. Nonetheless, shares in Pantheon Infrastructure change hands at an attractive 13 per cent discount to net asset value.”
That means the shares in the fund are valued more highly than the actual fund, which means easy wins – if that discount narrows. Trusts’ valuations do not always do so, while others might trade at a premium – in other words, more than the sum of their parts.
Investors should note this is a high-risk investment and should form part of a diversified portfolio. The trust has total ongoing charges of 1.29 per cent. The fund is up 30 per cent in the last year, but is too new for a five-year view.
Depending on which investment platform you use, and like any other fund, there may also be share dealing costs, so look to minimise those where you can so they don’t eat into your long-term returns.
When investing, your capital is at risk and you may get back less than invested. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.
[CinePlex360] Please moderate: “Meta’s lat
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