On the go: The Pensions Regulator has ended its interest in one suspect in a multimillion-pound pension fraud case.
The watchdog alleged that between 2012 and 2014, some 245 savers were persuaded to transfer their pension savings, totalling £13.7mn, into 11 schemes managed by three defendants — Alan Barratt, Julian Hanson and Susan Dalton.
The regulator said the transferred funds had been dissipated by the defendants, with almost all of the savings lost.
However, it announced on March 30 that it has dropped its case against Julian Hanson, who had pleaded not guilty.
TPR said that “while it remains satisfied the evidential test continues to be met in the case of Mr Hanson, after careful consideration it had determined that it is no longer in the public interest to proceed with the case against Mr Hanson”.
Defendants Barratt and Dalton will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on April 22. Both have admitted charges of fraud by abuse of position.
Barratt initially entered a not guilty plea last year to a charge of fraud by abuse of position, before changing his plea to guilty in January 2022.
The defendant had been arrested in Alicante, Spain and extradited to the UK under a European arrest warrant.
The arrest marked the first time that TPR had worked with the police to extradite a pension fraud suspect.
