U.K. prosecutors charged four people associated with Patisserie Valerie with fraud following an accounting scandal that brought down the 90-year-old high-street bakery chain.
The Serious Fraud Office charged former chief financial officer Christopher Marsh as well as three others with inflating the cash in Patisserie Holdings Plc's balance sheets between 2015 and 2018, according to a statement Wednesday. The suspects provided false documentation to auditors, with the company concealing millions of pounds in debts from investors.
The group collapsed into insolvency in 2019 after a forensic investigation revealed thousands of false entries in its accounts and resulted in 920 employees losing their jobs. Once-listed Patisserie Holdings, previously owned in part by British restaurant entrepreneur Luke Johnson, had a market value of £446 million ($556 million) before it was suspended.
"Patisserie Valerie's abrupt collapse rocked our high streets – leaving boarded-up shops, devastating job losses and significant investor losses in its wake. Today is a step forward in getting to the bottom of this scandal," said Lisa Osofsky, the outgoing director of the SFO.
In addition to Marsh, the SFO also charged his wife Louise as well as Patisserie Holdings' financial controller Pritesh Mistry and a consultant Nileshkumar Lad. The four are due to appear before a court in October.
The SFO opened the investigation, codenamed Operation Venom, almost five years ago, just after Patisserie Holdings was suspended from trading. In that time, another regulator, the Financial Reporting Council,
Patisserie Valerie first opened in London in 1926, in a bid by its Belgian owner to introduce continental pastries to the English. It was rescued by Irish private equity firm Causeway Capital Partners.
The quartet will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Oct. 10.
