Victims' anger as conman is freed

A GROUP of British expats in the Dordogne who lost €2m to a conman say they are still fighting to get their money back and are angry that the fraudster has been released from jail early.

A year after Graham Templeton's fraud conviction, the banking loophole he exploited is still wide open and the bank involved, Société Générale, has yet to reach a compensation deal with his victims.

Templeton was sentenced by a Bordeaux court last June to two years in prison, but did not start his jail term until February this year. He has now been freed from Fresnes prison, just outside Paris, after four months.

The 12 victims, mostly British, say they will keep up the pressure on SocGen, which they accuse of negligence for allowing the fraud to go unnoticed.

A spokeswoman for the victims group, insisting on anonymity, said the fight for compensation would continue and no one had expected that Templeton would be released so soon.

She said: "As far as Templeton is concerned it's over, but for the victims the pain goes on. We wanted the bank to behave competently when we gave it our money and it didn't: now we want it to behave decently to repay the money it has lost us."

The Connexion revealed last October that the loophole Templeton used still exists. The French Banking Federation has repeatedly refused to comment on the practice.

How it worked

Templeton persuaded his victims to write large cheques made payable to SocGen. They thought they were investing in a bank-backed fund, but instead Templeton paid the cheques into his own personal account at the bank simply by signing the back of the cheques,even though his name did not appear in the payee line.

When Connexion journalists tried to repeat Templeton's con, a €5,000 cheque made out to SocGen was paid into another journalist's personal account without any questions being asked.

Templeton's victims are suing the bank, which they accuse of negligence for allowing this practice to go undetected.

The bank has offered to repay some of the victims 85% of their losses, up from an earlier offer of 75%. The victims, however, are holding out for the full sum plus interest.

A French Banking Federation spokeswoman did not return calls this morning.

The loophole has caught the attention of the European Parliament. British MEP Sharon Bowles, who chairs the parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee, is urging Michel Barnier, the new EU internal market commissioner, to resolve the problem.

She is also investigating whether any other EU countries allow the same practice, which was banned in the UK by the Financial Services Authority in 2006.

In total, Templeton served nine months of his two-year sentence, having already spent five months awaiting trial. The Connexion understands that he is now in Kent. He is not answering telephone calls.

Related stories:
Our exclusive interview with Templeton shortly before he began his sentence
Cheque fraud loophole is still wide open
MEP: Cheque loophole must close
€2m fraud Briton jailed for two years
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