An accountant who was jailed for helping himself to more than £295,000 from a pension scheme will today face a hearing to try to reclaim his ill gotten gains.
Roger Bessent, 66, of South Promenade, St Annes, was jailed for 40 months after transferring investors' hard-earned cash in order to help buy a house for his daughter and support family-related businesses.
READ MORE: Preston pensions firm wound up by court over mismanagement of £14m funds
Preston Crown Court previously heard monies from the Focusplay Retirement Benefit Scheme - of which he was the trustee - went to enterprises in which he or relatives held an interest.
By February 2017, the scheme had 305 members with a fund value of £17.4m.
A probe was launched into his activities by The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the Insolvency Service.
Among the fraudulent transfers was £121,000 to help himself and wife Margaret purchase a home in Broughton, Preston, for his daughter and son-in-law.
He also moved more than £104,000 to his daughter’s nursery, Little Rascals (Preston) Ltd, and transferred £35,600 to Salvador Health and Recovery Ltd, a sports injury clinic ran by his son-in-law.
Another £27,500 was moved to Achieve Financial Freedom, a business he was planning to set up to establish himself as an independent financial adviser.
A further £7,000 was used to pay off a tax bill at the defendant’s accountancy practice Glesson Bessent (Accountants and Business Advisers) Ltd.
Bessent pleaded guilty to multiple counts of fraud and acting as a director while disqualified.
A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing will be held at Preston Crown Court.
(proceeding)
