Steven Gerrard among celebrities to sue HSBC for £100m over tax schemes

A total of 248 wealthy complainants allege that the banking giant conspired to defraud them via Ingenious Media schemes which promised them tax relief by putting their money into British film and video game productions, with losses written off against their tax bills.

The investors are now suing the bank in an attempt to recoup losses after HM Revenue & Customs challenged the investment’s legality.

The schemes Ingenious helped fund hits including Life of Pi (2012), but has long been pursued by HMRC.

Under the schemes, investors made a cash contribution and were lent money by an Ingenious company to make further investments.

The investors say HSBC “dishonestly assisted” Ingenious because the bank did not let them know a “large proportion of the money” was in fact borrowed from the lender itself, and the terms of the loans meant that all cash drawn down had “to be paid [back ] immediately” into an Ingenious account at HSBC.

As a result, they claim, the private bank was aware that cash ostensibly available to invest in the schemes was not there for long.

The founder of Ingenious, Patrick McKenna, insists the company has always acted properly and maintains the schemes were lawful.

While HSBC did not comment on the report published by The Times, the newspaper cites a “source close to the bank” who said the bank would defend the “historic” claim.