Isidore Jack Lyons (born 1916) is a retired financier and philanthropist.
He was charged in 1997 in the Guinness share-trading fraud of the 1980s, along with Ernest Saunders, Gerald Ronson, and Anthony Parnes, and the four men became known as "the Guinness Four". He was convicted but not sent to prison because he was suffering from ill-health. However, he lost his knighthood and was fined £3,000,000 plus £1,000,000 prosecution costs.
Despite ill health, he is continuing to appeal his conviction in the European Court of Human Rights. [citation needed] He lives in Geneva, Switzerland. [citation needed]
Background
Lyons was born in Leeds, where his late father had established a men's clothing business, with a factory and a few dozen retail shops. Lyons started at the bottom of the business, in the factory and the shops until he was appointed a director in 1937, in charge of sales and marketing, later becoming chief executive and chairman. He contributed considerably to the growth of the original business with the expansion of branches and the development of a lucrative export division during the early post-war period, which enabled the business to grow rapidly into a large conglomerate of companies called UDS Group. This included Richard Shops, Allders of Croydon, John Collier, Timpsons, Alexandre Stores, John Blundell Credit Company, John Myers catalogue mail order business, Brooks Bros, Peter Pell, Whiteleys, and other department and duty-free stores. The number of men's suits alone sold in all UDS shops in the year ending January 1967 was 1,119,000.
Guinness Affair
Lyons was accused of having used his personal friendship with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to ensure the brewing group's offer for Distillers got through the Office of Fair Trading. Thatcher replied to a letter from Lyons saying the matter would be passed to the then minister responsible Paul Channon. The bid was subsequently unblocked.
He was charged in 1987 in the Guinness share-trading fraud, along with Ernest Saunders, Gerald Ronson, and Anthony Parnes, and the four men became known as "the Guinness Four". He was convicted but not sent to prison because he was suffering from ill-health. However, he lost his knighthood and was fined pounds £3,000,000 plus pounds £1,000,000 prosecution costs. In 1995, on appeal, one count of conspiracy was quashed and his fine was cut to pounds £2,500,000. Lawyers for the Guinness Four said their clients had lost their right to silence because they were compelled to give evidence to Department of Trade and Industry inspectors. Appeals by the four in 1991 and 1995 saw their convictions upheld.
The case laid bare the culture among financiers for aggressive dealing and spectacular money-making, and the trial was seen as emblematic of the 1980s culture of Thatcherism.
References
- "Life and high-flying times of four partners in crime", The Scotsman, 22 December 2001]
- Guinness Four fail in fight for acquittal, BBC News, December, 21 2001.
- Daily Mail , December 21, 2001
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