Man who went bankrupt cannot control another company for 14 years

Robert Hiom was made bankrupt in February 2014 and has been hit with a 14-year bankruptcy restriction.

On June 23 this year, the Secretary of State accepted a Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking from Hiom.

An Insolvency Service investigation found between November 2011 to June 2012, Hiom, currently of no fixed address, made more than £1m from a third party.

A total of £504,463 of the money was used to buy a house in the joint names of Hiom and a family member.

Only one repayment of £18,000 was made to the third parties- two friends and their family he had conned.

Justin Dionne, Official Receiver, said: "The duration of the Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking against Mr Hiom reflects the severity of his misconduct, in that he used substantial third parties money to fund a luxury lifestyle."

He was jailed in March when he convinced a married couple and members of their family to invest in his digital trading system, PanopticFX.

He told them his company had a 70 per cent success rate using algorithms to spot market trends and advise people what to buy and sell.

But Wood Green Crown Court jailed Hiom, who was living in Great Saling at the time, for four-and-a-half years after he admitted the scheme was a sham.

Victims Nick Wright and Racha Al Khawaja, her father Abdul Raheem and brother Bassel, had paid Hiom £1,065,000.