Solitary Scoundrel retweeté

MAN LOSES EVERYTHING FOR TELLING THE TRUTH. HSBC LOSES NOTHING FOR FRAUD.
Nicholas Wilson spotted something wrong in 2003. Simple enough: @HSBC's subsidiary HFC Bank was quietly adding a 16.4% "debt collection charge" to the accounts of people already struggling to pay off store cards at John Lewis, Currys, B&Q, Dixons and PC World.
Illegal. Straightforward.
He said so.
His boss started calling him "Mr Ethical." Not a compliment.
He reported it. Got sacked. Reported it again. Got ignored. Regulators sat on it for years. @TheFCA own Complaints Commissioner eventually said it was the worst case of regulatory failure he'd ever dealt with. The FCA responded by appointing someone from John Lewis and someone from HSBC to its board. You genuinely cannot make this up.
After 13 years, HSBC quietly agreed to compensate customers. The official figure: 6,700 people. Wilson says the real number is closer to 500,000. He estimates the fraud totalled over £1 billion. HSBC has paid out around £200 million so far, with some victims receiving over £10,000. No fines. No prosecutions. Nobody went to jail.
Wilson, meanwhile, has been unemployable ever since. Blacklisted. Living on benefits. Nearly lost his home. The bank that defrauded half a million people kept its licence. The man who exposed it lost everything.
Source: @guardian | nicholaswilson_com

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