Ex-EMI chief thought Baker Tilly scheme risk-free

Eric Nicoli, the former chief executive of music group EMI, told court yesterday, he invested in a film financing scheme, endorsed by Baker Tilly and barrister Adrian Shipwright of Pump Court Tax Chambers, believing it was ‘virtually risk free’.

Giving evidence on behalf of a group of 75 investors who lost money when the scheme failed and who are suing Baker Tilly and Shipwright for £23m, Nicoli said he regarded a minimum 40% return on the film scheme as a ‘definite outcome’, The Times reports.

Nicoli the first witness in a month-long trial in which the investor group, also including Guy Hands, head of the private equity firm which has recently acquired EMI, is suing Baker Tilly and Shipwright for giving negligent tax advice.

Baker Tilly and Shipwright deny negligence. In cross-examination, their lawyer asked Nicoli how he knew the scheme had received the experts’ endorsement, to which Nicoli replied he had had been told by his financial adviser, conceding he had not read the relevant advice given by either Baker Tilly or Shipwright.

Further reading:

Hands on witness stand in film tax case

Baker Tilly faces negligence claim

Read The Times story