John Michael Clegg
John Michael Clegg of Wace Group
Newspaper article in 2000.[1]
THE Clegg family is alleged to have made up to stg £50m through insider trading in small cap shares for well over a decade. The DTI inspectors interviewed over 30 individuals in their probe, many of which were members of the Clegg extended family. Clegg family members used a variety of pseudonyms, which made the investigation much more laborious. It also facilitated the insider dealing.
John Clegg: The former Anglo-Irish Bank non-executive director was the managing director of listed engineering firm Wace until his resignation in July 1992. He qualified as a solicitor specializing in corporate law, including takeovers and mergers. Clegg is now thought to be living in the US.
It appears that Clegg had two birth certificates. His birth was first registered by his parents as William Clegg with the French authorities. Less than a month later his birth was registered with the British Consulate in Marseille. The name William Clegg also appears on a number of trades uncovered by the DTI.
John Henry Clegg and Albert Clegg: Identical twins born in Sheffield in 1919, the brothers are the father and uncle of John Michael Clegg. The brothers made much of the family money investing in shares either side of World War Two. At one stage, the brothers owned 500 small investment properties.
However one of their businesses, Yorkshire Motor Insurance company, collapsed in the 1980s and several stockbrokers refused to refined to act for them following adverse publicity.
Bankruptcy followed and it has been suggested that the identical twins regularly passed off as each other. John Henry Clegg has said that he used various different names, including Conroy, Read and Cooper, because he was embarrassed about his chequered financial past. He married into the Dunne family in Belfast. The Dunne name was later used to sell Wace shares. The name Michael Dunne was used to sell shares in 1986. When asked about this by the inspector, Clegg said: "Michael Dunne is the son of my brother-in-law and I have not seen his son or had any contact whatsoever since I saw him as a toddler of about two years old in 1982 playing in the Falls Road Park. If he bought shares in that company it had absolutely nothing to do with me."
His wife's family was close to the McHale family, which was also prominent in the investigation.
Albert Clegg is also known as Albert Conroy having changed his name by deed poll in October 1975.
Jayne Wright: John Michael Clegg's half sister. Also known as Jayne Riley or Jayne Triegaardt following two marriages. Most of the share transactions are said to have been out for her benefit, according to the report. John Michael Clegg has repeatedly claimed that Wright was his "wealthyy cousin" whose inheritance she had asked him to look after. (Nick Webb - Author)
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Sunday Tribune - Sunday 17 September 2000