A former RBS banker has admitted losing nearly £500,000 of investors’ money in a series of illegal property and land deals, including the Borders.
Bob Quigley duped people into parting with their savings by promising returns of up to 50 per cent over five years.
He claimed his buy-to-let business would allow them to make big profits from booming land and property markets.
But when house prices collapsed, so did the hopes of the people who trusted him, Livingston Sheriff Court heard on Friday.
Quigley, 46, who was trading under the name of Lothian Property Portfolios, eventually admitted the game was up in June 2009.
He sent several investors a text from his mobile phone saying: “Truly sorry to tell you that I don’t think I can go on like this. Goodnight and God bless.”
Quigley, whose £200,000 detached house in the upmarket Deer Park area of Livingston in West Lothian is currently up for sale, pleaded guilty on indictment to illegally accepting cash deposits without being regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
He admitted accepting deposits totalling £470,000 between October 2006 and February 2009.
The investors’ addresses were given in court as c/o Police Scotland.
Quigley previously worked in the banking industry as a financial adviser with RBS from 2001 to 2003 before setting up his buy-to-let firm.
The prosecutor, Gerard Drugan, told the court that when his business began to show signs of success, the accused was approached by his brother-in-law, Mark Baxter, who gave him £50,000 to invest.
Next was successful businessman Peter Noon, a friend of Quigley’s sister, who handed over nearly £153,000 for investment over five to 10 years after Quigley promised to “sort him out”.
Mr Drugan said the affair started to unravel when Mr Noon demanded to know in 2009 if the mortgage rate charged on his investment had reduced to the 0.5 per cent market rate.
Mr Noon was sent the “Truly sorry” text message in June 2009, and advised that the current value of the properties – if sold – would not meet the mortgages secured against them.
John Lithgow, who had a property being managed by Quigley’s company and agreed to invest £30,000 in development land in the Galashiels area, received the same text message.
But the biggest losers were Timothy Rice and his mother Sarah, who between them ploughed £240,000 into Quigley’s unauthorized investment scheme.
Mr Rice, a member of Quigley’s gym, had learned about Lothian Property Portfolios through Mr Noon.
He remortgaged a property he owned on the promise that he would receive a 50% return if he invested GBP100,000 for five years.
His mother was promised that she would receive a ten per cent net return paid monthly over five years for her GBP140,000 stake and could have her capital back “on demand”.
Mr Drugan said: “It’s been accepted by Mr. Quigley that the investors have not received their money back.”
Lorenzo Alonzi, defending, said Quigley had worked as an investment manager at various RBS branches in West Lothian, advising clients with “significant balances” of money.
He claimed his client had done everything “above board” and properly by engaging lawyers to deal with the investments.
He said: “There was clearly no intention to leave these people high and dry. He suffered as a result of the crash in the market.
“He’s accepted responsibility for this. It’s something which had not occurred to him.”
He added: “Quite simply, Mr Quigley was already involved in this type of investment in property and was being approached by friends and friends of friends.
“He proceeded to get involved in this without it crossing his mind that he should do anything more.”
Quigley was said to have had between 20 and 30 properties, and it is understood many have been repossessed and the tenants evicted after the mortgages were defaulted on.
Peter Noon, who has known the accused since childhood, said earlier he was “on fire with rage” after losing his life savings.
Mr Noon, 36, from Livingston, who co-owns a construction firm based in Cumbernauld, said: “We’re all left with nothing.
“He still can’t give me a straight answer as to where our money went.
“He hasn’t invested a penny of our money and told me so.
“When the penny dropped that I wouldn’t be seeing any money, my whole body was on fire with rage. I was burning.”
Sheriff Susan Craig deferred sentence for social work reports on Quigley’s background.
She warned him: “I’m not going to remand you in custody just now. Please be aware that when you come back to court that that is a very likely disposal and you should come prepared for that.”