Adviser spent HK$18m savings, court hears
The son-in-law of a High Court judge lied about almost doubling his in-laws' HK$18 million retirement savings, a claim that had prompted the late justice and his wife to recommend him to their friends, a court heard yesterday.
Kevin Slattery, a city investment adviser, told the now deceased Mr Justice Thomas Gall and his wife that their portfolio had grown to more than HK$30 million, the court heard.
But in reality, Mr Slattery spent all of the couple's money, Mr Justice Gall's son, Nicholas, testified in the Court of First Instance yesterday.
The allegations were aired this week at the civil trial of the Henley Group, an investment advisory firm that was once half-owned by Mr Slattery, who now lives in London. Local schoolteacher Heather Anne Voce, a friend of the Gall family, sued the company to recoup US$570,000 she gave Mr Slattery to invest. Those funds have not been returned.
A key issue turned on whether Ms Voce and other clients knew Mr Slattery was unlicensed and investing their money in a personal capacity outside of the Henley Group.
Yesterday, barrister Kevin Egan, representing Ms Voce, pressed the judge's son to explain why a 'cautious' High Court justice would recommend Mr Slattery's services to his friends if he was unlicensed. 'I think you'd have to ask my father that question,' Nicholas Gall replied, later adding: 'My father did nothing wrong - he trusted his son-in-law. He was saddened by the whole situation. How tragic this all was - how so many people were affected by it.'
