Robert Tchenguiz has been hit with a £2m claim from a spread-betting company after amassing millions in losses.
The property tycoon has been sued by Spreadex after he opened an account with the betting company to buy positions on bus operator FirstGroup’s shares, which ultimately made losses of £4.1m.
Spreadex started closing out Tchenguiz’s open spread bets on 16 March 2020 and the company is now pursuing him for a negative balance of £1.5m. Tchenguiz has also been charged interest at a rate of 1% per month and the bill now totals more than £580,000.
Tchenguiz has already settled a similar claim from IG Index and was ordered to pay £1.31m to CMC Markets by the High Court last year.
He said he was being “financially raped” by spread betting firms and that traders were “opportunistic and when we are at our most vulnerable, they take full advantage of us”.
