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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Black and rich in Britain? Keep it quiet!</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Diane Abbott
Sunday, December 10, 2006
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>One of the striking things about British society is the way wealthy and successful black people keep their heads firmly below the parapet. Wealthy Asian businessmen and financiers feature in the media every day. But their black equivalent prefer to remain anonymous.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=110 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Diane Abbott</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>This is not just caused by personal modesty. They have observed the ruthless way the British media go after black people in the public eye. In particular they may have the awful warning of Jamaican-born financier Carl Cushnie.<P class=StoryText align=justify>In 1998, the previously unknown Cushnie burst into the public consciousness by featuring in the Sunday Times 'Rich List' as one of the richest men in Britain. His company was valued at £630 million. And his personal fortune was estimated at over £71 million. But within days of Cushnie appearing in the papers, journalists looking for dirt were approaching me. And by 2004, he had been convicted of fraud and is currently serving a six-year sentence in prison.<P class=StoryText align=justify>For Cushnie, the prison sentence was bad enough, but the humiliation and destruction of his reputation was worse. A friend said at the time, "He feels terribly downtrodden, and it's not the loss of money that bothers him, but the immeasurable damage done to his reputation. He's upset because every time you look in the media you read that he's guilty of fraud, but there is no elaboration on the actual facts of the verdict".<P class=StoryText align=justify>The story of Carl Cushnie's decline and fall begins with him coming to Britain from Jamaica in 1963. He was 13 when his father died. He initially lived in the established West Indian community in Willesden northwest London. He was offered a place at London University to read Mathematics. But he dropped out of the course and went into business.<P class=StoryText align=justify>He was a talented computer programmer and initially set up a software company. But by the 1990s he had moved into business finance. His new company, called Versailles, took off like a rocket. It was no 'fly by night' operation. It was quoted on the Stock Exchange, lavishly praised by business journalists and attracted over £23 million from private investors.<P class=StoryText align=justify>A financial journalist, Alistair Blair, describes what happened, "Weighty institutions soon queued up to lend to the company whose watchwords were solidity and respectability. The first was a Scandinavian bank, which provided a £1-m facility. In 1992, Cushnie persuaded his old bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, to come on board by providing a modest facility.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=120 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Cushnie. fraud was never proved against him in relation to his main company </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Next came a £2-m loan from NatWest's merchant bank subsidiary, County NatWest, a gesture rewarded by way of an option for County to buy 15 per cent of Versailles for £400,000, against a target flotation date of 1995.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"In 1993, NatWest itself arrived at the party with a £2.5-m loan, rapidly topped
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Diane Abbott
Sunday, December 10, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>One of the striking things about British society is the way wealthy and successful black people keep their heads firmly below the parapet. Wealthy Asian businessmen and financiers feature in the media every day. But their black equivalent prefer to remain anonymous.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=110 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Diane Abbott</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>This is not just caused by personal modesty. They have observed the ruthless way the British media go after black people in the public eye. In particular they may have the awful warning of Jamaican-born financier Carl Cushnie.<P class=StoryText align=justify>In 1998, the previously unknown Cushnie burst into the public consciousness by featuring in the Sunday Times 'Rich List' as one of the richest men in Britain. His company was valued at £630 million. And his personal fortune was estimated at over £71 million. But within days of Cushnie appearing in the papers, journalists looking for dirt were approaching me. And by 2004, he had been convicted of fraud and is currently serving a six-year sentence in prison.<P class=StoryText align=justify>For Cushnie, the prison sentence was bad enough, but the humiliation and destruction of his reputation was worse. A friend said at the time, "He feels terribly downtrodden, and it's not the loss of money that bothers him, but the immeasurable damage done to his reputation. He's upset because every time you look in the media you read that he's guilty of fraud, but there is no elaboration on the actual facts of the verdict".<P class=StoryText align=justify>The story of Carl Cushnie's decline and fall begins with him coming to Britain from Jamaica in 1963. He was 13 when his father died. He initially lived in the established West Indian community in Willesden northwest London. He was offered a place at London University to read Mathematics. But he dropped out of the course and went into business.<P class=StoryText align=justify>He was a talented computer programmer and initially set up a software company. But by the 1990s he had moved into business finance. His new company, called Versailles, took off like a rocket. It was no 'fly by night' operation. It was quoted on the Stock Exchange, lavishly praised by business journalists and attracted over £23 million from private investors.<P class=StoryText align=justify>A financial journalist, Alistair Blair, describes what happened, "Weighty institutions soon queued up to lend to the company whose watchwords were solidity and respectability. The first was a Scandinavian bank, which provided a £1-m facility. In 1992, Cushnie persuaded his old bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, to come on board by providing a modest facility.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=120 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Cushnie. fraud was never proved against him in relation to his main company </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Next came a £2-m loan from NatWest's merchant bank subsidiary, County NatWest, a gesture rewarded by way of an option for County to buy 15 per cent of Versailles for £400,000, against a target flotation date of 1995.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"In 1993, NatWest itself arrived at the party with a £2.5-m loan, rapidly topped
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