High Court clears Candy brothers in £132m case

The billionaire property developers Nick and Christian Candy were cleared today of allegations they extorted money out of a former business associate, bringing the curtain down on a colourful but highly acrimonious High Court battle.

Mark Holyoake had sued the Candy brothers for £132m, alleging they had threatened him and his family to extort £37m in repayments on a £12m loan.

The judge found that none of Mr Holyoake’s claims had been found to be true.

It was a High Court drama that provided a glimpse into the luxurious, super-rich world of the Candy brothers, their lavish lifestyles, celebrity contacts – including Nick Candy’s wife, Holly Valance – and the way they do business.

But it was also a trial dominated by character assassination and lurid accusations of threats and extortion, as well as scrutiny of the brothers’ tax affairs. Neither the Candys nor Mr Holyoake emerged with enhanced reputations.

As Nick Candy told the trial judge: “For the rest of my life.. whatever happens, people are going to think — even if you find us completely innocent, …there is going to be a slight smell, yes?”.

The Candy brothers, best known for their luxury property development at One Hyde Park, had been accused of “permanent and consistent dishonesty” by Mr Holyoake’s barrister, Roger Stewart QC.

In turn, the brothers said Mr Holyoake had made “the most wide-ranging and scandalous allegations” that were “all fabrications”, with the intention of damaging their business affairs and personal lives.

The dispute turned on a 2011 loan agreement, by which Nick Candy persuaded his brother Christian to lend Mr Holyoake £12m to help him to buy and redevelop Grovesnor Gardens House in Belgravia for £42.5m.

Mr Holyoake – who had once been good friends with Nick Candy – claimed that the brothers soon began to extort money from him by making him sign new loan agreements. He alleged that Christian Candy made a series of threats to ruin his life, including hiring Russian debt collectors who would “not think twice” about hurting Mr Holyoake and his family.

Mr Holyoake’s wife Emma told the court that she was so scared by the alleged threats that she and her husband hired security guards to protect them.

The Candys denied they had made such threats. “Has there been commercial pressure? 100 per cent yes,” Nick Candy told the court. “Has there been any physical violence? Absolutely no, under any circumstances.”

They returned fire on Mr Holyoake, calling him a “pathological liar” and accusing him of “serial dishonesty and fraud” and pointing to the controversial collapse of Mr Holyoake’s British Seafood company which collapsed with with debts of £250m.