Property tycoon Nick Candy takes goal at fallen dotcom star

Property tycoon: Nick Candy with spouse Holly Valance 

It is the newest growth within the bitter High Court conflict between Nick Candy, considered one of Britain’s finest identified property builders, and Robert Bonnier, a controversial dealmaker and fallen star of the dotcom increase.

For greater than a 12 months the 2 former enterprise companions have traded livid authorized blows amid the failure of a tech start-up that promised to revolutionise social media.

Candy, who’s married to Australian singer and actress Holly Valance, accused Bonnier of fraud after he was enticed into making a multi-million pound funding in fledgling social media agency Aaqua.

Dutch-born Bonnier returned hearth with a £150 million lawsuit alleging that efforts by Candy to freeze his worldwide belongings brought on his enterprise ‘irreparable hurt’.

Now, in a significant escalation of hostilities, it may be revealed that Candy has accused Bonnier’s spouse Nashida of creating a collection of ‘synthetic trades’ in shares of the podcast agency Audioboom, which Candy claims ‘bear the hallmarks’ of ‘wash buying and selling’ – a type of market abuse.

Bonnier has strenuously denied the ‘egregious allegations’, whereas his spokesman has stated the trades had been regular transactions.

The Mail on Sunday may reveal that Bonnier, a former funding banker, is now combating on two fronts after an funding group behind Aaqua lodged chapter petitions in opposition to him and his spouse.

Candy, 51, is finest identified for growing One Hyde Park, a lavish condominium block in Knightsbridge, Central London. When it opened in 2011 it was dubbed ‘the world’s most costly constructing’. The properties inside had been valued at a complete of £2 billion.

Bonnier, 54, was one of many City’s hottest younger entrepreneurs. He based on-line enterprise listing Scoot, which was price greater than £2 billion on the top of the dotcom increase earlier than its shares slumped and it ran out of money.

Last night time, Candy stated Bonnier ‘should be held accountable’. He stated quite a few outstanding buyers have suffered ‘substantial losses’ in Bonnier’s schemes over many years.

In 2004, Bonnier was hit with a £290,000 penalty by the City regulator for deceptive the inventory market and in 2008 his £11 million London house was seized by banks. It was Britain’s greatest repossession.

Despite such setbacks sources say he has lately continued to benefit from the lavish life-style of a super-rich tycoon, with an condominium in Paris, personal jet flights and stays at luxurious motels.

Indeed, Bonnier and his spouse are such valued clients on the five-star Mandarin Oriental Jumeira in Dubai – having spent tens of 1000’s of kilos on an prolonged keep in a penthouse – {that a} palm tree by the lodge’s swimming pool carries a plaque honoring ‘Mr and Mrs Bonnier’.

E stablished by Bonnier in 2020, Aaqua promised to ‘basically reset’ social media and join ‘creators’ with main manufacturers. Candy’s funding in February 2021 – through his agency Candy Ventures (CVS) – concerned a deal wherein he bought £6.8 million of Audioboom shares in trade for a stake in Aaqua.

Candy, nevertheless, claims that Bonnier satisfied him to take a position by repeatedly falsely claiming that Apple and French luxurious items empire LVMH had been about to plough cash into the corporate.Apple and LVMH had been described as ‘founding companions’ in a single doc, whereas one other urged they may collectively purchase Aaqua shares price round £675 million, it’s claimed. Candy accused Bonnier of ‘false’ and ‘fraudulent’ representations.

In current authorized disclosures, Bonnier’s legal professionals stated he met Apple bosses Steve Jobs and Tim Cook in 1999. Discussions with LVMH boss Bernard Arnault – the world’s richest individual – or members of his household had been stated to have taken place at ‘a number of social occasions’.

Big spenders: Robert Bonnier together with his spouse Nashida

Bonnier vehemently denies ‘all allegations of fraud’ and claims he ‘actually’ believed that Apple, LVMH and others might be companions as soon as Aaqua had been in a position to display ‘proof of idea’.

Candy added: ‘Bonnier claimed all through that Apple was investing in Aaqua. He made these claims to CVS, to quite a few different buyers, to executives he was attempting to rent, and to his personal shareholders. Bonnier has now been compelled to concede that his solely interplay with Apple amounted to 2 conferences, together with a ten-minute dialog with Tim Cook, which happened 25 years in the past in 1999.’

Meanwhile, court docket paperwork reveal that Candy has accused Aaqua and Nashida Bonnier of a collection of ‘synthetic trades’ of shares in Audioboom in an try to spice up their worth.

The authorized paperwork allege that in a bid to ‘enhance the market worth’ of Aaqua’s shares in Audioboom and generate funds for its holding firm, ‘a collection of synthetic trades in these shares was organized between Aaqua and third events together with Mr Bonnier’s spouse which bear the hallmarks of an illegal course of often known as ‘wash buying and selling’.’

Wash buying and selling is when a dealer sells and buys the identical shares to themselves to falsely give an impression of market demand.

Last night time, Candy stated he complained to the Financial Conduct Authority, however the regulator has declined to analyze.

Speaking to the MoS, Candy stated: ‘The proof of market abuse is obvious. My authorized workforce instantly notified the FCA and supplied all of the buying and selling data which confirmed how Bonnier and his spouse had been artificially manipulating the market. The FCA has finished nothing.’

Bonnier’s adviser, Joel Hogarth of Eliot & Luther, stated Aaqua had ‘convincing proof’ that the trades had been ‘regular’ transactions.

The FCA stated it couldn’t touch upon ‘ongoing litigation’, however added: ‘We take market abuse issues severely.’ The MoS has additionally learnt that funding group All Active Asset Capital (AAAC), which owns a 35 per cent stake in Aaqua, has launched chapter proceedings in opposition to the Bonniers.

In December, the High Court ordered Robert Bonnier to repay a £1.3 million short-term mortgage that he acquired from AAAC and for the couple to pay greater than £100,000 in prices.