In a statement on 24 April the Insolvency Service said its investigations began after his John Barnes Media Limited company went into liquidation in 2023.

Investigations by the Insolvency Service revealed that between 2018 and 2020, the 60-year-old’s company, John Barnes Media Limited, failed to pay more than £190,000 in corporation tax and VAT, with HM Revenue and Customs its only known creditor when it ceased trading.

Barnes, whose business address is Park Court, Pyrford Road, West Byfleet, Surrey, has signed a disqualification undertaking banning him from being a company director for the next three-and-a-half years.

Mike Smith, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Individuals and businesses not paying the tax they should deprives the government of the funding it needs to provide vital public services and investment in areas such as schools, hospitals and roads.

“John Barnes had a legal duty to ensure his company paid the correct amount of corporation tax and VAT. Instead, it paid no tax whatsoever between November 2018 and October 2020, despite receiving earnings of well over £400,000.

“This disqualification should serve as a deterrent to other directors that if you do not pay your taxes while directing money elsewhere, you are at risk of being banned.”

Barnes, who earned 79 England caps during a professional playing career spanning almost two decades, formed John Barnes Media Limited in September 2012.

The company, of which Barnes was the sole director, described itself as offering media representation services.

Between November 2018 and October 2020, John Barnes Media’s turnover was £441,798.

Nothing was paid to HM Revenue and Customs in tax during that period, despite the company filing returns showing what the VAT payments should have been.

The Insolvency Service’s investigation showed that John Barnes Media failed to pay £78,839 in corporation tax between August 2018 and January 2020, when the company ceased trading. The company also failed to pay £115,272 in VAT between February 2019 and 2020.

Insolvency Service investigations into Barnes’ conduct as a director began in September 2023.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Barnes, and his ban started on Wednesday 24 April.

It prevents him from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

The FCA will ask the court to determine the sums that the defendants should be required to pay back to investors.

Between 2016 and 2020, Qualia Care Properties Ltd and Qualia Care Developments Ltd offered investments in care homes run by a third company, Qualia Care Limited.

Investors purchased a long-term lease in a room in a care home and then sub-let the room back to the Qualia companies. Investors were promised returns of between 8 – 10% of the purchase price over the period of the sublease. The leases cost between £50,000 and £75,000.

Following a High Court trial in May, the Court has agreed with the FCA the scheme was “unlawful and amounted to an unauthorised collective investment scheme”. The court also agreed the returns promised to investors were never likely to be achievable and that Forster had “made false and misleading statements to investors about the sustainability of the scheme”.

Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “Mr Forster didn’t just put investors’ funds at risk by selling investments in an unauthorised scheme that was not sustainable, he also put at risk the wellbeing of residents of the care homes, many of whom were vulnerable.

“I would like to thank the Care Quality Commission for their assistance during our investigation and their work ensuring the residents of these care homes continued to receive the care they need. The Qualia scheme offered unrealistic returns based on its unsustainable business model and operated like a Ponzi scheme. Mr Forster’s reckless behaviour put investors at serious risk, and we will now seek compensation for them.”

Other actions

The FCA’s action is also against the main sales agent for the scheme, Fortem Global Limited, which was owned by Forster and Richard Tasker.

The Qualia companies are now in administration and Fortem Global is in liquidation.

Prior to the Qualia scheme, Mr Forster was involved with MBI companies which operated a very similar investment scheme to Qualia. The FCA has issued a claim in the High Court arguing that the MBI scheme was also a Collective Investment Scheme which was being operated unlawfully without FCA authorisation. The FCA will seek a similar Restitution Order in relation to the MBI scheme.

Also, the FCA has issued another claim against Forster and other MBI companies for schemes which preceded the Qualia investment scheme, relating to investments in Downshaw Lodge, Oakesway, Ferndale, Birchley Hall, Sandycroft and Gilwood Lodge.

Like the Qualia claim, the claim argues the schemes were collective investment schemes and the FCA will seek a similar restitution order from the court.

The joint venture company will provide its services under the trading name of Lime Wealth Management Ltd. It will be the firm’s 10th joint venture with a law firm.

Frenkel Topping said that the goal of the joint venture is to provide a “seamless legal and financial advice journey” to clients involved in litigation after serious injury.

Part of Shakespeare Martineau LLP, Lime operates nationwide and specialises in personal injury; medical negligence inheritance disputes; power of attorney and deputy disputes; and professional negligence issues.

Lime senior partners Tony Hannington and Mark Beesley will act as directors of the joint-venture company, alongside Frenkel Topping chief operating officer and chief financial officer Mark Holt and Elaine Cullen-Grant, respectively.

Holt said: “Our ‘Working in Partnership’ programme is designed to create alliances between Frenkel Topping and standout firms in the personal injury and clinical negligence space who share the same ethos and a mutual drive to achieve the right outcomes in litigation and beyond settlement. Our partnership with Lime is an example of how complementary joint ventures work to the client’s benefit.”

This comes several months after Frenkel Topping created a joint venture with Serious Injury Law.

The legal proceedings began in early June – and defence will be due in court during the summer.

A source told IA that the class action is based upon the alleged mis-selling of fraudulent high-risk funds – which there was reported “questionable industry practices”.

The investors in question are reportedly mainly retirees or nearing pension age, many of whom reportedly transferred their low-paying pensions to offshore funds that allegedly promised far better returns.

In some cases, these funds were allegedly purchased without the investors knowledge and understanding.

IA reached out to Utmost and FPI for a comment – and both firms declined to comment.

Previous claims

This comes several years after a group of UK and international investors launched a multi-million-pound claim against life insurers Quilter International and FPI.

That case was brought by UK-based law firm Signature Litigations, which said that the insurers “sidestepped British investment regulations” by selling over £100m worth of these products via the Isle of Man.

Freedom of information (FOI) data obtained by wealth manager and financial adviser Quilter showed that there were 777,741 total registered LPA applications during that period with over 20,000 being rejected per year.

The number of applications submitted is still 8% lower than they were during a five-year period pre-pandemic in 2019 when there were 842,778 registered.

Data also revealed that on average it took 91.5 working days to register and dispatch an LPA application.

Rachel Griffin, tax and financial planning expert at Quilter, said: “It is a worry that the number of applications being accepted  is still yet to reach the pre-pandemic levels and it’s important that any backlog is tackled as quickly as possible so as many people as possible can put in place an LPA.

“This is one of those tasks that is easy to put off or put to the bottom of the to-do list. However, an LPA can only be registered while you have mental capacity – once you’ve lost capacity it is too late and while we can only hope for the best we should prepare for the worst.”