Exposing the dirty world of personal guarantees. RTs are not an endorsement. #PGwidow
Joined August 2016
- Tweets22K
- Following1.6K
- Followers1.7K
- Likes23.4K
Jane Farmer retweeted
Yep. Banks were begging to lend to viable businesses with assets just to strip them. Only calling in loans that wouldn’t affect the banks’ other UNVIABLE customers if they weren’t reliant down OR upstream of the viable business they were targeting. ABSOLUTE DISGRACE
Jane Farmer retweeted
It is the biggest scandal.
The largest fraud ever.
I learned about it, investigated it and began writing to @TheFCA to expose it in 2013.
That cost me my career as an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). I can live with that, I'm not a great businessman but I'm a 'small time' entrepreneur, I found a way forward, I always will.
I was fortunate, my 13 year drive to expose this is not about me or my losses, its about the generation of SMEs/ entrepreneurs destroyed by this fraud.
And @TheFCA cover up.
Justice should not just be done, "it should be seen to be done".
Jane Farmer retweeted
I’m pleased to share with you some important correspondence sent to @TheFCA CEO Nikhil Rathi by @johnmcdonnellMP in his capacity as Chair of the @appgonifandffs.
The correspondence was in the form of an open letter, hence our being able to share it with you.
The letter is necessarily detailed and long, but a fair summary would be as follows:
The letter challenges the FCA’s handling of whistleblowers and calls for greater independence, transparency and accountability following the death by suicide of whistleblower Simon Andriesz.
There are three important topics covered:
1. Independence and scope of the Paterson Review
John McDonnell MP questions the appointment of FCA Non-Executive Director Lea Paterson to review the FCA’s handling of Simon Andriesz’s case. He argues that Nikhil Rathi’s evidence to the Treasury Committee on 13th October was contradictory and failed to unambiguously establish whether the review is confined to the FCA’s communications with Mr. Andriesz or extends to wider whistleblowing practices. He requests clear, published terms of reference, clarification of who controls the review’s scope and reconsideration of appointing an independent external reviewer. He also seeks confirmation that the report will be published in full with only redactions as necessary.
2. FCA participation in the APPG’s summit about protecting whistleblowers from retaliation
John McDonnell MP criticises the FCA’s decision not to provide an executive-level participant at the APPG whistleblowing summit on Monday 2nd November, offering only an observer. He argues that discussing general principles of whistleblower protection would not compromise the Paterson Review and urges the FCA to participate meaningfully and engage directly with whistleblowers. By not doing so the FCA misses a unique opportunity to learn through engagement; not a good look when the FCA is undertaking a lessons-learned review.
3. Independent survey of whistleblowers
The letter strongly challenges the credibility of the FCA’s 2022 whistleblower survey, which received only 21 complete responses from 68 selected individuals, out of 1,041 reports received during the relevant period. FOI disclosures show the exercise was conducted in a purposive and seemingly contrived manner. For example, only cases selected by the FCA’s whistleblowing case handlers were included. John McDonnell MP calls for an independently administered survey of every individual who has contacted the FCA about whistleblowing since January 2022, with the methodology, questionnaire and results published.
The letter calls for substantive answers to important questions covering whistleblower protection, regulatory responsibilities and historical FCA practices. It requests an urgent response on summit attendance and a comprehensive reply to the other issues raised within 14 days, emphasising that credible scrutiny, demonstrable accountability and a culture of openness are essential to restoring confidence in the FCA.
The full open letter is available for you here:
appgifffs.org/wp-content/upl…
We believe this is a legitimate and necessary challenge of @TheFCA's handling of whistleblowers, particularly following the death by suicide of whistleblower @SAndriesz.
And note that there have been serious concerns in Parliament and in particular by @CommonsTreasury about how @TheFCA deals with whistleblowers going back to at least 2016 - see here, by Lord Tyrie when he was Chair of @CommonsTreasury.
Also if you would like to express interest in taking one of the few remaining complimentary places available at the APPG summit in Parliament on Monday 2nd November, which is all about protecting whistleblowers from retaliation and dedicated to the memory of @SAndriesz, please see here:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F…
Thank you for taking time to read what we believe to be an important message; we hope you agree.
Please share your thoughts and repost as you wish - we need to get this message 'out there.'
Jane Farmer retweeted
The Treatment of Litigants in Person in Ireland’s Courts Raises Serious Questions
🔹A recent visit to the High Court Central Office left me deeply concerned about how ordinary citizens are treated when engaging with our courts.
🔹I attended casually dressed, wearing a baseball cap. The visit had been prearranged, but I was availing of the “walk-in kiosk” method.
🔹My initial reception was decidedly abrupt, discourteous and distinctly unwelcoming.
🔹Then something remarkable happened.
🔹The staff member assisting me opened my court file (which remained in their possession at all times) and evidently recognised from its contents that I am a solicitor.
🔹Their demeanour changed immediately and dramatically. Suddenly, there were smiles, courtesy and a noticeably more accommodating attitude.
[Thank you to my parents to @ucddublin @LawSocIreland @KingsInns @sra_solicitors @NYSBA]
🔹The only apparent difference for the about turn appears to have been the discovery of my professional status.
🔹This raises troubling questions about how members of the public, particularly litigants in person unfamiliar with court procedures, are treated.
🔹Access to justice begins at the public counter, not merely at the courtroom door.
🔹The Courts Service is a publicly funded institution. Courtesy, impartiality and respect should never depend upon professional qualifications, connections or financial means.
🔹We are constantly reminded that citizens must respect the administration of justice. But respect must be reciprocal, and public confidence must be earned.
🔹 And, as anyone who knows me will appreciate, I have never had much of an appetite for “two-faced behaviour”.
🔹 Witnessing both faces appear on the same side of a public counter was distasteful - not to mention the further faces outside the Court Services elicited from the discussion.
🔹Life is far too short for such performances & karma has a rather longer memory than most of us.
@SamanthaLaDuc @NiamhParker4 @Wftproof @kenoflynnTD @JMcGuinnessTD @OCallaghanJim @alomohan @ArturNadol7566 @stevemiddi1 @BankConfidenti1
Jane Farmer retweeted
‼️The Hidden Credit Line Scandal‼️ is not an exclusively British scandal.
The ☘️Irish ☘️operations of two major British banking groups demand equally rigorous scrutiny:
🔹RBS/NatWest Group: Ulster Bank Ireland DAC and its predecessor, Ulster Bank Ireland Limited.
🔹Lloyds Banking Group: Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Limited, subsequently merged into Bank of Scotland plc, and the former Halifax operations in Ireland.
🔹Irish SMEs and property-owning customers were exposed to undisclosed derivatives liabilities, inflated break costs, manipulated valuations and enforcement actions that effectively transferred losses from British banking groups onto Irish borrowers.
🔹On examination of certain files, lending & “swap documentation” the hidden exposures are prevalent but the accounting treatment, collateral arrangements, intercompany exposures, restructuring decisions and ultimate beneficiaries of enforcement all deserve rigorous scrutiny.
🔹Why were Irish businesses compelled to absorb losses that properly belonged on the balance sheets of British banking groups?
🔹And what did @centralbank_ie know, when did it know it and why was no action taken?
🔹Any independent statutory inquiry must examine the Irish dimension, including the conduct of the banks, their auditors, their other professional advisers, the regulators & judiciary.
🔹Irish borrowers must not be excluded from the search for accountability.
@kenoflynnTD @JMcGuinnessTD @Farrell_Mairead @geraldnash @ErinMcGreehan @EdwardTimmins_1 @jackfchambers @SimonHarrisTD @MichealMartinTD @PearseDoherty @MaryLouMcDonald @JohnEdwardLee @cpkeena @IRLDeptFinance @IRLDeptPER
THIS IS THE NEXT BIG UK SCANDAL
The Hidden Credit Line scandal has run since the 2000s.
NatWest (@NatWestGroup), Royal Bank of Scotland (@RBS_Help) and Ulster Bank (@UlsterBankNI) sold business owners loans with an interest rate swap attached.
It was marketed as protection if rates rose. It actually created hidden exposure against the customer's own assets that nobody clearly explained. When rates fell after 2008, banks used that exposure to call in debts, strip assets and push profitable businesses into insolvency.
Steve Middleton (@stevemiddi1) and Mark Wright, a former RBS manager, built BankConfidential (@BankConfidenti1) to collect the evidence.
Mark Wright put in about £60,000 of his own pension. Neither made a penny and both lost their careers for telling the truth.
In November 2022 they met the FCA (@TheFCA) with Lord Prem Sikka (@premnsikka) and derivatives expert Ian Tyler.
James Hurley (@jameshurley) of @thetimes had already written 4 articles calling it financial and accounting fraud. The FCA let NatWest review itself and concluded it was not technically criminal fraud.
BankConfidential published its full report in November 2025. On 14 April 2026 it prompted a Westminster Hall debate led by John McDonnell (@johnmcdonnellMP), chair of the APPG on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services (@appgonifandffs). MPs asked for a judge led statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005. Six reviews had already produced no justice.
Ian Byrne (@IanByrneMP) said this scandal belongs alongside Hillsborough, Post Office Horizon and infected blood. He also noted the FCA is a private company limited by guarantee with immunity from civil liability.
Andrew Candy was hit with an undisclosed £70,000 break cost. He lost his business and family home and spent 17 years seeking answers.
Economic Secretary Lucy Rigby (@LucyRigby) replied that the FCA is independent and ministers should be careful about interfering.
The regulator failed for over a decade, and its independence is now the reason given for not investigating that failure.
Nobody has gone to prison... yet.
Sources: @stevemiddi1, @BankConfidenti1, @jameshurley, @thetimes, Hansard Westminster Hall debate 14 April 2026, @johnmcdonnellMP, @IanByrneMP, @appgonifandffs, @TransparencyTF, @TheFCA, @LucyRigby, @_moneymarketing
Jane Farmer retweeted
THIS IS THE NEXT BIG UK SCANDAL
The Hidden Credit Line scandal has run since the 2000s.
NatWest (@NatWestGroup), Royal Bank of Scotland (@RBS_Help) and Ulster Bank (@UlsterBankNI) sold business owners loans with an interest rate swap attached.
It was marketed as protection if rates rose. It actually created hidden exposure against the customer's own assets that nobody clearly explained. When rates fell after 2008, banks used that exposure to call in debts, strip assets and push profitable businesses into insolvency.
Steve Middleton (@stevemiddi1) and Mark Wright, a former RBS manager, built BankConfidential (@BankConfidenti1) to collect the evidence.
Mark Wright put in about £60,000 of his own pension. Neither made a penny and both lost their careers for telling the truth.
In November 2022 they met the FCA (@TheFCA) with Lord Prem Sikka (@premnsikka) and derivatives expert Ian Tyler.
James Hurley (@jameshurley) of @thetimes had already written 4 articles calling it financial and accounting fraud. The FCA let NatWest review itself and concluded it was not technically criminal fraud.
BankConfidential published its full report in November 2025. On 14 April 2026 it prompted a Westminster Hall debate led by John McDonnell (@johnmcdonnellMP), chair of the APPG on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services (@appgonifandffs). MPs asked for a judge led statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005. Six reviews had already produced no justice.
Ian Byrne (@IanByrneMP) said this scandal belongs alongside Hillsborough, Post Office Horizon and infected blood. He also noted the FCA is a private company limited by guarantee with immunity from civil liability.
Andrew Candy was hit with an undisclosed £70,000 break cost. He lost his business and family home and spent 17 years seeking answers.
Economic Secretary Lucy Rigby (@LucyRigby) replied that the FCA is independent and ministers should be careful about interfering.
The regulator failed for over a decade, and its independence is now the reason given for not investigating that failure.
Nobody has gone to prison... yet.
Sources: @stevemiddi1, @BankConfidenti1, @jameshurley, @thetimes, Hansard Westminster Hall debate 14 April 2026, @johnmcdonnellMP, @IanByrneMP, @appgonifandffs, @TransparencyTF, @TheFCA, @LucyRigby, @_moneymarketing
Jane Farmer retweeted
SHE DIED WAITING
Heather Earley, mother of three, has died waiting for her money. @PostOffice kept her waiting so long she ran out of time. Impressive logistics.
Lawyer @SimonMGoldberg (well worth to give him a follow) shared the sad news today.
Heather Earley was one of 555 postmasters who took the Post Office to the High Court and won, and she died before getting her redress, the money owed to put her life back together.
He points to a @BBCNews article from 2024 on victims who died before getting redress. Winning in court and never seeing the money is a rare talent.
Heather Earley was a mother of three who ran a local shop with a Post Office counter in Mossley, Newtownabbey, in Northern Ireland. In December 2013 the Horizon computer system said she was £10,000 short. A computer said so, and in the Post Office computers are never wrong..
She says one customer kept using a flaw in the system. Every time that customer withdrew £100, the system added £100 to the balance instead of taking it off. I wish my bank worked like that.
Heather Earley called the police, and the customer was prosecuted and convicted. That put the blame on the customer, and the Post Office still demanded the £10,000 from her, took money from her wages and refused to give it back even after the conviction. Crime solved, victim billed ...
She borrowed from family and maxed out three credit cards just to buy stock for the shop. She cashed in £50,000 of her pension to save the house and clear her debts. Her village lost its post office and its shop, a truly generous service to the community.
In 2019 the Post Office settled the group case for £57.75M. Around £46M went on legal and funding costs, which left roughly £20,000 for each of the 555 people. The judge, Mr Justice Peter Fraser, had said the Post Office at times acted as though it answered only to itself, and it seems to have taken that as a challenge.
Reports say at least 350 Horizon victims have died before their final payouts, so at this pace the scheme will finish the moment nobody is left to be paid.
Heather Earley wanted justice and enough money to rebuild what was left of her life. Simon Goldberg says the lawyers and other parties who held up and nickel and dimed her redress should feel nothing but shame, though shame does not appear to be billable. Stop fighting these people and pay them before it is too late.
Heather Earley never got her cheque.
RIP Heather
Jane Farmer retweeted
Bent judiciary looking after bent lawyers, what a surprise...
The UK legal system is just a money machine for delinquents & incompetents these day, anyone expecting Justice is unfortunately delusional.
Jane Farmer retweeted
TOLD HE WAS THE ONLY ONE
Anthony Gant's son was in a wheelchair when Dad faced court. @PostOffice, a caring employer to the end, sent him a prosecutor...
He ran Nantoer Post Office in Newtown, Wales, after leaving London stockbroking in 2003. From 2005 the accounts kept showing money missing, so he rang the helpline, got no help and plugged the gap himself with savings, credit cards and takings from his own shop and pub. Brilliant business model, where the branch manager pays for the company's computer.
About £10K had vanished on screen by the time he ran dry. He also inflated the cash figures to make the books look normal, knowing it was wrong, because he was too frightened to tell anyone. A thriving speak up culture, clearly.
In April 2007 Post Office auditors found about £14,500 short. He was suspended that day and the family had to leave their home at once. He lost the branch, the shop, the house and the pub lease, which is a very thorough way to say thanks for your service.
He was questioned without a lawyer. He says he was told the computer system had no problem, that he was the only one, and to plead guilty to false accounting so a theft charge would vanish. Transparency.. they say.
In October 2007 a Shrewsbury court gave him 6 months suspended, 100 hours of unpaid work and an order to repay £14,500. His son was in and out of Birmingham Children's Hospital for injections under general anaesthetic, and he thinks telling the judge kept him out of prison. Justice by luck.
He earned just over £1,000 a month and had to hand back £500 of it, so other bills slid and his wife went back to full time work with a young child at home. He paid every penny, and says the Shropshire Star claimed he had funded a lavish lifestyle. Lavish indeed.
In 2022 he told the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry @PostOffInquiry that the old story still ranked above the one clearing him. Apology traffic is notoriously slow.
The 100 hours of community service did wonders for his standing locally. He gave up coaching kids' rugby, and someone in a pub garden said, in front of his three children, that they were the family that stole from the Post Office. His children got grief at school, nobody helped, and he later had a mental breakdown.
In 2020 a @BBCPanorama programme showed him it had happened to many others. The Criminal Cases Review Commission @ccrcupdate referred his case, the Post Office declined to defend its own prosecution, and on 18 November 2021 Southwark Crown Court quashed his conviction, 14 years after his plea. He was one of around 700 people the Post Office itself prosecuted.
The Post Office said it was extremely sorry for historical failures and had undertaken wholesale reforms so this could never happen again. Historical is a lovely word for a man's home, pub and good name.
@SkyNews reported that the Post Office, owned by the government through the Department for Business and Trade and run by chief executive Neil Brocklehurst, agreed to pay Fujitsu @fujitsu_uk another £41m to keep Horizon running until 31 March 2027. Wholesale reforms, wholesale invoices.
Anthony Gant has been officially cleared for nearly 5 years. Horizon got another year, because loyalty matters..
Jane Farmer retweeted
🗞️ Serious Fraud Office plans US-style cash rewards for whistleblowers 👇
thetimes.com/business/compan…
@jameshurley
The lawyers are dealing with it? What's their motive?
@Ashfords_Law
Jane Farmer retweeted
When you’re facing court without a lawyer, pressure can start to feel like proof that you’re wrong.
It isn’t.
Alone in Court shows you how to recognise what is happening, stay strategic, and make better decisions before the pressure makes them for you.
Out 3 November.
"....real concerns as to the trustworthiness of the SRA's complaints procedure."
Will other regulators follow suit?
The SRA admits it got it wrong.
Three failings admitted in writing.
Both decisions not to investigate withdrawn.
All it took was one small charity threatening High Court action.
Full statement, including the SRA’s admissions in its own words: blindjustice.org.uk/judicial…
Jane Farmer retweeted
Trying to expose these things & trying to support/ help people being turned over by banks is not a mission its just what you're faced with if you understand the Rules & how properly employing them can protect people.
The very Rules @TheFCA & their predecessors wrote to protect consumers.
Surely they should respect the fact I do understand them & apply them for the protection of vulnerable people.
But no, instead I am seen by @TheFCA as an enemy, their vindictive actions ended my career, I can live with that I built a new one, I'm not a great businessman but I am an entrepreneur I'll always find a way to make a living. If I have to sweep a street to pay the bills I will.
The point was simple, I have a business, I have a career but when I'm at 7 days a week trying to support vulnerable people, I was exhausted, just asking for help.
I'm still at that level, but dealing every day with people in such distress takes its toll. People say take it easier don't take too much on.
I say give me 10 requests where vulnerable/ suicidal people are in danger of losing their businesses, homes, marriages, family's & sanity tell me which 5 I should ignore and which 5 I should help because I have the time.
I simply asked @TheFCA for help' I asked them to do their job, so I don't have to write off all the spare time in my life doing it for them.
I'm still asking that because I want/ need a life back but in the interim some of us will keep trying to get SMEs/ consumers justice regardless.
But I di not expect this response...
@BankConfidenti1 @TransparencyTF
Jane Farmer retweeted
IMPORTANT!
The link below takes you to a Press Statement by the APPG on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services entitled:
“WHISTLEBLOWERS AROUND THE WORLD UNITE IN THEIR CONDEMNATION OF THE UK’S FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY”
As you’ll see, it has an accompanying anthology.
As far as we know this is the first time whistleblowers around the world have spoken out together on behalf of a fellow whistleblower who has fallen.
They are speaking out against @TheFCA's decision to not move forward with a proper independent 3rd party investigation into their handling of the whistleblowing of Simon Andriesz R.I.P., and a wider systemic review of how they have dealt with other whistleblowers.
Instead, @TheFCA just wants to do a narrow, ‘mark their own homework’ exercise, which has caused outrage in some quarters.
You can access the press statement and accompanying anthology through this link:
appgifffs.org/wp-content/upl…
Please do all you can share this important message.
And huge thanks to everybody involved in the press statement and anthology:
✅ John McDonnell MP: @johnmcdonnellMP
United Kingdom
✅ John Robertson: @J_Robertson_UK
United Kingdom
✅ Pav Gill Singapore
✅ Hester Bais: @Wftproof
Netherlands
✅ Brendan Lyon: @lyon_brendan
Australia
✅ George Patellis
United States
✅ Everett Stern: @EverettStern1
United States
✅ Tom Hayes: @robilypj
United Kingdom
✅ Wayne Johncock: @johncock_wayne
United Kingdom
✅ James E. Miller
United States
✅ Reggie de Jong
The Netherlands
✅ John Christmas
Country not specified
✅ Ahmed Latif
United Kingdom
✅ Paul Carlier: @Carlier_J87
United Kingdom
✅ Mark Wright: @BankConfidenti1
United Kingdom
✅ Steve Middleton: @stevemiddi1
United Kingdom
✅ Ian Tyler
United Kingdom
✅ Lorraine Morris: @MLorrM
Ireland
✅ Jeremy Roseberry: @jeremyroseberry
United States
✅ Jacques Richard
Country not specified
✅ Jesse Griffiths: @JesseLGriffiths
United Kingdom
✅ Professor Richard Moorhead OBE
United Kingdom and Australia
✅ Jimmy Kande Senegal
✅ Ken Kivenko Canada
✅ Jean-Jacques Lumumba: @LUMUMBAJj
Democratic Republic of the Congo
✅ Ian Foxley: @ianfoxley
United Kingdom
✅ Dr. Agris Auce
Latvia
✅Wayne Johncock: @johncock_wayne
United Kingdom
✅James E. Miller
United States
✅Reggie de Jong
The Netherlands
✅John Christmas Country not specified
We are all very grateful to everybody who has been working together to help @SAndriesz speak up, now that he can no longer do so himself.
Thank you!
Jane Farmer retweeted
🗞️ SFO’s ex-boss told to hand back knighthood as Libor cases quashed 👇
thetimes.com/business/compan…
@jameshurley
Jane Farmer retweeted
#PostOfficeScandal #Redress #Compensation #Accountability #HCAB
Yesterday 20th October 2026 Sec of State Rt. Hon. @jreynoldsMP appeared in front of the Business Select Committee @CommonsBTC . He was asked by the Chair @liambyrnemp why 1800 Redress Scheme Claims still remained unsettled despite stated ambitions in January from @biztradegovuk that all claims would be settled by the Summer.
Two full years ago upon his original appointment as Sec of State in 2024, Rt. Hon. Jonathan Reynolds MP announced the Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeals Process following recommendations from the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board in 2023. He told the House of Commons the new appeals process would be “easy” to engage with and its outcomes would be “delivered at pace”.
The Scheme was finally launched 7 months later on 8th April 2025.
Since the launch of the HSSA 18 months ago 155 Victims have claimed under the Scheme with just 26 Claims settled to date.
So three years on from a recommendation of the HCAB and just 17% of claims settled is an interesting definition of "Delivered at pace" ⁉️
Latest Redress figures to 30th September 2026: 👇
gov.uk/government/publicatio…
As of 30 September 2026, approximately £1,731 million has been paid to over 14,000 claimants yet Fujitsu have still yet to contribute one penny piece. 😡 😤
@CastletonLee @Janetsk20073533 @Malcolm22206844 @ElCShaikh @nickwallis @VarchasPatel @sharrond62 @ArturNadol7566 @rbrooks45 @andyburnham @BBCEmmaSimpson @DavidDavisMP @kevinhollinrake @premnsikka @UKHouseofLords @HouseofCommons
Jane Farmer retweeted
FCA Statement on LIBOR/EURIBOR-related bans 👇
content.govdelivery.com/acco…
@TheFCA are not taking any further action against all the innocents.
Nor should they, obviously, because THEY ARE AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN INNOCENT!
But will @TheFCA now apologise for failing to do what they should have done; and doing what they shouldn’t have.
Including lying in court to help prosecute @MConnollyittm, another INNOCENT man:
📽️ youtube.com/watch?v=c2oYkKyR…
The whole sorry saga of the Libor innocents is explained very well in the must-read book by @andyverity, RIGGED
📕 amazon.co.uk/Rigged-Incredib…
@robilypj
@DavidDavisMP
@Carlier_J87
@stevemiddi1
@markbishopuk
@NedBeale
@CarshaltonArt
The trouble is, that anyone faced with this situation loses all faith in the UK justice system. Rightly so. youtu.be/aXp8oaGSxis?is=nxBx…
@AshfordLlp