IFA told to repay client more than £140k over Harlequin investments

The advice firm helped the client - only referred to as 'Mr B' - to transfer some £126,000 into the SIPP to enable him to buy three Harlequin properties. The client told the ombudsman he was referred to Sussex IFA by a Harlequin agent he met at a football reunion, and was then contacted by the adviser firm to carry out the pension transfer. Sussex IFA contested the client's version of events, however - claiming, among other things that Mr B had already agreed to invest in Harlequin before being introduced to the firm - and did not accept the ombudsman's provisional decision. The Finan...