The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has concluded its internal investigation on Ramou Colley, a now former review expert.
The Daily Telegraph revealed on Saturday that Colley solicited £10,000 from a 75-year old pensioner who had turned to the lifeboat following the collapse of London Capital and Finance (LCF).
The FSCS said that it is no longer employing Colley and that her actions “fell short of the high standards it expects from its people”.
The lifeboat said it reviewing its procedures sand training to ensure they remain “appropriate” and “robust”.
Colley got acquainted with the pensioner after he received £20,000 in compensation for his losses related to the failure of LCF.
She then asked him three times for loans, totalling up an amount of £10,000.
Although Colley has repaid £3,000, £7,000 remains outstanding.
The pensioner lent this money to Colley to help her repay an overdraft and cover legal fees linked to a property purchase.
Yet, the pensioner had never met Colley in person.
He said he believes that he has been trapped in a romance scam, although Colley has denied this allegation.
He added that Colley made promises of repayment she never kept and lured him into a false sense of security.
The former FSCS employee borrowed and repaid twice loans worth £1,500 each, before obtaining a £7,000 loan from the pensioner.
Colley claimed she had not been able to repay the money she borrowed.
This is allegedly because she had not received the money she was expecting.
She added that she did not force the pensioner to lend her money.
The former FSCS employee said she felt bullied and threatened by the pensioner as he was requesting repayment.
Colley resigned from the FSCS before the end of the internal investigation.
The FSCS said it will not offer any compensation to the man.
This is because the FSCS considers it is not responsible for the personal relations of its employees.
It has recently said that is has received its highest-ever customer satisfaction score of 86% despite the pandemic.
Credit: Jean-Baptiste Andrieux