Kaupthing Bank today agreed to settle all claims that have been brought by the Tchenguiz Family Trust, which is advised by property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz, bringing to an end a £1.5bn civil legal proceeding

The trust announced today that a confidential agreement had been reached between TFT and the bank, after months of civil proceedings.

In a separate investigation being undertaken by the Serious Fraud Office, Vincent and his brother Robert were arrested in March at the same times as the Mipim property conference in Cannes, as part of an investigation into the collpase4 of Icelandic bank Kaupthing.

Robert’s civil proceedings with Kaupthing, on behalf of the Tchenguiz Discretionary Trust, are still ongoing.

Vincent Tchenguiz said: ““All the parties have had to take some very public steps in the wake of the collapse of Kaupthing, in 2008, in order to protect their respective legal rights. However, in the meantime, the strength of our asset base and the commercial opportunities available to us have enabled us to work together with Kaupthing to achieve an outcome which benefits everyone.”

The SFO continues to investigate Vincent Tchenguiz, despite Kaupthing having admitted prior knowledge of the various claims that Vincent is being investigated for, namely:

·         The suggestion that he overvalued a series of residential freeholds, a claim that Kaupthing has since said it was fully aware of

·         The claim that he offered only one security against loans granted to him, despite Kaupthing having said it was offered multiple securities

·         The claim that Kaupthing had been unaware there was senior debt attached to a loan that it had granted, which has since been rejected by Kaupthing

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