Lee Lummis, a former director of the unregulated introducer Avacade, was the only member of the accused (the others being Craig Lummis and Raymond Fox) to attend proceedings on the final day of the case at the High Court.

Avacade’s defence was that they were not giving the advice, whether that be face-to-face, over the phone, in communications.

Whilst they were calling clients to sell unregulated and high-risk investments such as Ethical Forestry they explained it was BlackStar who initially sought out Avacade to promote the products and to generate leads.

Face To Face Meetings With Clients

No doubt, if you dealt with the firm, you remember their high pressure sales tactics and their home visits to collect signatures and ID’s.

Avacade is now trying to blame advisers including those at BlackStar , Cherish Wealth Management or the SIPP provider Liberty SIPP – as they were the ones who had to approve the investment.

High Risk Investments

However, it is clear that Avacade and Alexandra Associates received a monetary reward for leading clients to make those high risk investments.

We are looking forward to the judgment which is due to be handed down in the coming weeks.