Former executives of the collapsed London Capital & Finance (LCF) are liable in the sum of £180m in damages to investors following a court ruling last month that called it a ‘ponzi scheme’.

Businessmen Spencer Golding, Michael Thomson, John Russell-Murphy and Robert Sedgwick were informed by the High Court on Friday that they are liable for £180m in relation to the civil lawsuit.

Former police officer Paul Careless was ruled to be liable for 75 per cent of that figure in the high-profile scandal.

In addition, Careless and Russell-Murphy were found to liable of dishonest assistance claim in the sum of £211m.

The investment company collapsed in January 2019 once the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) intervened following a discovery it was marketing unregulated mini-bonds and misleading promises of returns.

It resulted in a scandal with several high-profile investigations into the firm including by the HM Treasury, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

A 20-week trial kicked off in the High Court in February after the administrators took civil action, five years after the firm collapsed.