Holyoake takes to the stand with claims of abuse, threats and Russian debt collectors

Mark Holyoake has told the high court that he will “never forgive” his once closest friend Nick Candy, and that his involvement with Christian Candy was like “dealing with the devil”. Together, he claims sought to force him out of a deal they made. Holyoake, the businessman suing the Candy brothers, made the claims in several witness statements sworn into evidence as he entered the witness box on day three of a trial that is scheduled to last more than two months. Holyoake is suing the Candy brothers for more than £100m, claiming they “coerced” him out of millions of pounds after they lent him £12m to buy Belgravia Mansion Grosvenor Gardens House.  The Candy brothers strongly refute the allegations and say that Holyoake was an unreliable creditor who lied to them from the start. The Candys – who say that Holyoake’s allegations of coercion are fabricated – will have the opportunity to give their side of the story from the stand later in the trial. In his witness statements, Holyoake makes numerous allegations of threats, including ones relating to his then-pregnant wife and the miscarriage she had previously suffered, as well as the possibility of selling his debt to Russian debt collectors. In his evidence, Holyoake describes meeting Nick Candy at the age of 19, while they were at university together, and becoming “very  close  friends”,  sharing a house together. After university, he did not see Nick for a number of  years until the early 2000s. He says that, after reconnecting, their friendship grew and he believed it to be “very strong”, adding: “I certainly regarded him as a lifelong friend in every way and someone I could count on and trust.” But the relationship turned sour following the loan agreement at the centre of the case. He claims he thought he was entering into a personal loan with a friend and his brother – “an amicable arrangement” he hoped would be the start of a successful business relationship. However, he says that the loan ended up being provided by CPC Group, which led to an alleged campaign of threats carried out by Christian Candy. He says:  “It was only after the property was sold and CPC have been paid off [that] I felt this whole nightmare, including the threats to me and my family, were over. “During the last five years I have suffered enormous personal issues at the hands of the Candys and their desire to act against our joint venture agreement in order to enrich themselves to the detriment of all others. I have had no life during this time as I have had to work around the clock day and night to protect my assets and most importantly my family from these animals. “It has been a period in my life that I will never get back and which has caused incessant upset, pain and worry. The Candys have acted in the most abhorrent of ways in their quest for money operating beyond the law and using any mechanism available to them to extort returns that were not due or steal assets that were not theirs by right.” Holyoake’s witness statement claims  • On Nick: “Nick as a person is a very social character and could be described by some as being loud, brash, quite outspoken and indeed rude. He was fixated on money and was an incredibly materialistic person. Due to our longstanding relationship however, I always saw past this and always felt that he was, deep down, a kind-hearted person. When he was on form we would laugh a lot together.”  • On Christian: “From my limited contact with him he always appeared quiet, uncomfortable in a crowd, and a bit of an enigma. He seemed to be shy and perhaps introverted, certainly not comfortable in his own skin, with very few or indeed any real friends. Nick used to inform me that Chris was purely work-motivated, rising at 5am and working until 10pm. He did not socialise or have girlfriends or indeed close friends he was a loner and solely focused on him and his brother making money that was his raison d’etre. I admired his focus as I too worked long hours but I always felt with Chris that he was a person who was deeply unhappy in himself and, whilst work was his sole purpose, that personally he was not content. Nick raised with me that he felt Chris was a bit of a loner and an unhappy soul too, but I never got the full detail other than Nick’s concern that, as a brother and a business partner, he found him to be difficult and controlling at times.” • On entering the deal with the Candys: “I was gaining the absolutely ideal partner who had experience and expertise of the super-high-end luxury residential market. I felt it was a genius deal, albeit slightly expensive, but I wanted my friend as a partner and their branding and sales knowledge. Nick said we would make a ‘formidable team’ together.”  “The famous Candy brothers would, in my mind, help me get much higher prices for the property.”  “We [Holyoake and Nick Candy] talked about how he had the best buyer rolodex on the planet and we would achieve prices never before seen for this hotel branded project. He also stated it was a first deal of many he hoped that me and him would do together.” • On what happened next: He says that the Candys tried to ruin his relationship with a senior lender, Investec. “Their intention was solely to try and take the asset and make an excuse for approaching the senior debt lender as a first step in doing so. Their strategy was not even subtle, it was glaringly obvious.” “This threat happening a mere three weeks into the deal showed me their clear intentions. Intentions which are clearly supported in their disclosure in wishing to ‘steal the asset’ from me.”  “With hindsight, it became apparent to me shortly after the loan had been entered into that CPC and Chris Candy would like to be able to carry the development themselves for their own benefit… In other words they wanted to take the property off me and make the full returns.”  “I was effectively tricked and cheated by my very closest friend who not only had a litigation lawyer but also his team conspire to set me up to fail so that they could make huge financial gain unlawfully.”  “What they were doing here is the equivalent of absolutely nailing somebody. They are committing the cardinal sin of property development here. Going to the senior lender rocks the entire equity stack. Tipping up the senior lender is the biggest no-no in property development.” “I was shocked and dumbfounded that anyone could act like this and effectively threaten and extort their partner in this manner.” He claims to have received “abusive phone calls” from Chris Candy and other CPC directors, and that at one point Chris asked whether he could give him personally £2m in gold – “it seemed he thought he could make up whatever terms he wanted in relation to my loan with CPC”.  “I thought Nick was my friend and he was trying to help, although I now know, having seen the defendants’ disclosure, that Nick was as duplicitous as Chris.  “He [Chris] would call me regularly and his team would bombard me daily as was their strategy to wear me out. He would often ask how I was and whether I was ready to give in yet and could take anymore, telling me that I sounded like shit and tired.” Alleged threats “They thought that they could take this property quickly and that I was going to roll over quickly, however, I was resilient and although physically exhausted and mentally worn out I was not going to be easily bullied by them. “I feel my resilience is what caused them to take this to level that I had never encountered before and to a playing field of threats and violence that I did not want any part of. “When one thing didn’t work they tried another, and another, and another. They were moving up in levels of pressure in order to get what they wanted and when I wouldn’t give in from the beginning they said they wouldn’t stop at any lengths and they meant it.” “Chris had said previously, on numerous occasions, that he was going to ruin my life if needed that he would nuclear bomb me, f**k me up and f**k my world up and cause me complete financial ruin as well do everything in his power to make sure I never recovered.” Holyoake’s wife “They would create a situation that would be extremely stressful not only for me but also for my wife, when Chris Candy knew that my wife was pregnant and that she had previously lost a baby.” “Chris Candy said that ‘you need to think about your pregnant wife’ and said that he “would feel terrible if anything were to go wrong during the pregnancy for her or the baby”. The manner and tone in which this was said was clearly intended to be a threat and I took it as such.” “I don’t know how Chris could justify this being acceptable in any context, let alone a commercial one, to mention such a subject was repugnant deeply personal and sickening. To go that far was a disgrace and I felt physically sick that he would bring this up as not only was it disgusting but I knew that ONLY Nick knew about our loss as I had confided in him such was my upset and our relationship as close friends. “This was something I will never forgive Chris for and never forgive Nick for allowing this deeply personal matter to enter into commercial discussions by way of threat.” Russian debt collectors Other alleged threats described by Holyoake include: • “They would ‘take a wrecking ball to my assets and leave me with nothing’.” • “They would ‘not stop at any lengths to get what we want’. I needed to be aware that ‘any lengths meant any lengths’.” • “They would call every lender I had worked with and use all their powers to ruin me.” He says that at one point Nick called “as a friend” to let him know that Chris had decided to sell Holyoake’s personal debt to Russian debt collectors “who would not act like CPC but would physically hurt me and even my family”. “He said these people would not think twice to ‘seriously f**king hurting you’ and ‘you don’t want to have your legs broken, you need to think of your family and not get hurt’.” “Chris Candy later told me on more than one occasion that the most sensible thing I ever did was not give them the charge over my home as he would have personally taken great pleasure in f**king kicking my family out and taking it from me. I remember thinking that it was like I had gone into the business with the devil.” • To send feedback, e-mail jess.harrold@estatesgazette.com or tweet @jessharrold or @estatesgazette