It’s a story that connects Dubai’s ultramodern skyscrapers, the North of England and a manor house in East Sussex.
The two main characters in a plot that could come straight out of a Hollywood movie are high profile tech entrepreneur and investor Scott Fletcher and social media personality and podcast host Matt Haycox.
The two – who have swapped the North for the luxury lifestyle, futuristic skyline and all-year-round sun that Dubai offers – are embroiled in an increasingly acrimonious court case about a multi-million pound investment deal that went bad.
Now a court has ruled in favour of Fletcher, founder of Manchester-based ANS Group and chairman of Godel Technologies, after he accused Haycox of ‘commercial fraud’.
The serial tech investor declared on social media ‘finally, justice has been served’ but a cost hearing in December is unlikely to be the end of this remarkable story.
It all began in 2022 when Haycox approached Fletcher with an investment opportunity relating to the Grade II listed Homestall Manor in East Sussex.
Haycox hails from Leeds and describes himself on Instagram as an ‘investor, brand builder and capital raiser’.
He claims to have provided nearly £1bn in funding to UK businesses and invested in over 100 companies.
‘No Bollocks with Matt Haycox’ podcast
As well as being the founder and CEO of The Matt Haycox Group he also hosts the podcast ‘No Bollocks with Matt Haycox’ and has around 50,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Set in 28 acres, Homestall Manor is a different world from Dubai’s modern skyline. The part medieval, part Tudor detached property is currently on the market with an asking price of £3.25m.
Under the terms of the deal the money was to have been ‘lent onwards’ to the owners of Homestall Manor to fund a luxury hotel renovation.
Fletcher, who is no stranger himself to Instagram with nearly 10k followers of his own, readily agreed to invest £4.5m.
For his part Haycox acted as a broker for special purpose vehicles (SPVs) connected to a company called Huddle Capital, which is now in administration.
Haycox told BusinessCloud it was ‘a genuine loan transaction’ but said the loan did not complete.
He said in January 2023 he discovered a portion of Fletcher’s £4.5m investment had been ‘misallocated into another deal’.
Matt Haydox, taken from @thematthaycox Instagram account
Haycox, who disclosed to BusinessCloud that he’d twice been declared bankrupt, added: “I then made a decision – wrong in hindsight – not to tell Scott immediately, and to work quietly to ensure he was repaid. I accept that was a mistake.”
Instead, he carried on providing Fletcher with positive updates about the loan, which had never completed.
Haycox added: “Scott received circa £2.2m (around 50 per cent of his original investment) plus interest at 15 per cent per annum. Those repayments and interest are not in dispute and are evidenced.
“In early 2024, when Scott learned the original deal had not completed, I explained what had happened. He responded reasonably, and we agreed a plan to continue repayments.
“None of this changes the fact that I lied to Scott about timing; I accept that and I own it. But the wider context – that I was actively working to return his money and had already arranged repayment of around half of it – has been conveniently ignored.
“This is not a fraud. It is a commercial deal that failed, followed by a spectacular falling-out between two strong personalities who both refused to back down.
“For nearly 20 years, I have worked with investors who continue to do business with me and who have earned handsomely through their relationship with me.
“No other investor has alleged fraud because there hasn’t been any. I’m not pretending to be an angel; I made a serious error in how I handled disclosure and I’ve learned from it.”
Appeal
Haycox said he plans to appeal Judge Richard Pearce’s summary judgement.
“The narrative of a helpless victim and a fraudster is false,” he said. “This is a complex commercial dispute. The appeal will address the issues the court did not fully consider.”
Fletcher is currently owed more than £2m of his original investment through a family trust that he created called Lowry Trading.
He told BusinessCloud: “Haycox continues to spout the same narrative that he did in court.
“He cannot get away from the fact that he is a proven liar and now has a judgement against him for deceit and fraudulent misrepresentation.”
‘Deceived’
Writing earlier on LinkedIn, Fletcher said: “Haycox deceived me to invest millions of pounds in an investment which he knew had not completed, and then maintained the lie through various purported lending updates thereafter.
“I like to think of myself as an astute businessman, yet Haycox managed to trick me, and he did so with extraordinary levels of deception across a long period of time.”
However, the odds of Fletcher getting any more of his investment back appear remote judging by Haycox’s defiant tone.
“I will fight this to the end of the earth,” he told BusinessCloud. “I categorically and morally believe I don’t owe him any money. I personally didn’t receive a penny of his money.”
- Email Chris Maguire at Chris.Maguire@Businesscloud.co.uk