High Court refuses Lex Greensill’s application to stay part of the Government’s claim against him.
On 13 May 2025 Mr Justice Trower refused an application by Mr Greensill, former CEO of Greensill Capital UK Limited (GCUK), to stay of one of the issues raised by the Secretary of State for Business & Trade in proceedings seeking to disqualify him under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. Isabel Petrie acted for the Secretary of State (led by Carly Sandbach and David Mohyuddin KC).
The Secretary of State’s case focuses on three broad areas of alleged misconduct: (1) concerning transactions that Mr Greensill caused various Greensill companies to enter into relating to US construction firm, Katerra; (2) concerning various misrepresentations and non-disclosures Mr Greensill made, or caused GCUK to make, to trade credit insurers; and (3) concerns a series of misrepresentations and non-disclosures Mr Greensill made to the boards of GCUK and Greensill Capital Pty about the status of insurance.
By his application, Mr Greensill sought to delay the determination of Issue Two, concerning misrepresentations to the trade credit insurers, pending final judgment in ongoing proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia between those insurers and the relevant loss payees. Trower J rejected each of the grounds relied upon by Mr Greensill in seeking this partial stay, holding that the proposal would “cut across one of the basic principles which underpins the disqualification regime” namely that the Court’s role in CDDA claims is to consider any alleged misconduct cumulatively. The Judge held that delaying part of the proceedings in the way suggested by Mr Greensill “is difficult to reconcile with the fact that the claim is a single claim based on the totality of a person’s conduct in relation to the relevant insolvent company based on a statutory cause of action, pursuit of which is entrusted in the public interest to the Secretary of State“.
Trower J also agreed with the Secretary of State’s submission that the application could be characterised as “an invitation to this court to orchestrate a delay in the determination of Issue Two in these proceedings in order to facilitate a better commercial deal for the applicants in the Australian proceedings.“
The matter now proceeds to trial as a whole, fixed for a six week hearing commencing in a five day window from 8th June 2026.
Read the full judgement here
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