"What I've always known": Ex-WANdisco boss David Richards welcomes end of FCA probe into Sheffield tech firm
The former boss of Yorkshire tech firm WANdisco has welcomed the “clear and definitive” closure of an FCA investigation into its stock market announcements while a multi-million pound fraud scandal was unfolding inside the company without his knowledge.
Ex-CEO David Richards said he had cooperated as a witness with a two-year FCA inquiry into the matter and that the regulator’s conclusion that no action would be taken against the Sheffield firm, now called Cirata, confirms that he acted “properly, in good faith and with integrity” and had immediately highlighted financial inaccuracies as soon as they came to light.
It follows Cirata announcing the FCA has now closed an investigation into whether some announcements made by the company between May 2021 and March 2023 “may have materially mis-stated the company's financial position”, with the regulator taking no further action against it.
Shares in WANdisco were temporarily suspended in March 2023 after the company revealed that “significant, sophisticated and potentially fraudulent irregularities” had been uncovered by Mr Richards and his chief financial officer Erik Miller.
Mr Richards and Mr Miller left the company the following month while an initial independent investigation found the issues to have been caused by an unnamed single senior sales employee with $115m (£87m) of “false” sales bookings and almost $15m recorded revenue uncovered. When trading in the firm’s shares began again in July 2023, 96 per cent of their value was wiped out.
A further statement about the end of the FCA investigation was issued on Monday by Lift Global Ventures, where Mr Richards is now the executive chairman.
Mr Richards, who is also managing partner of Yorkshire AI Labs and an unpaid Yorkshire Post columnist, said: "I fully cooperated with the FCA as a witness throughout its inquiry, and I welcome its decision to close the investigation with no action. The regulator's conclusion affirms what I have always known: that I acted properly, in good faith, and with integrity. I am pleased this matter has been resolved and am looking forward to focusing fully on the work we are doing at Lift."
In a further statement sent to The Yorkshire Post, he added: “These past two years have been among the most challenging of my life, not because of anything I did, but because of the cloud that formed around events I neither caused nor knew about. When irregularities surfaced in March 2023, I was the one who uncovered them and escalated them immediately. I did exactly what any responsible leader should do.
"Despite that, a wave of assumptions and commentary took on a life of its own. It has been hard, at times brutal, watching my name pulled into narratives that bore no resemblance to the truth.
"That is why the FCA’s independent review matters so much. It looked at every part of what happened. Every disclosure. Every process. Every decision. It has brought complete clarity. The concerns about my conduct were unfounded. Today, I draw a line under this chapter.”
Stephen Kelly, CEO of Cirata, said: “The new management team tasked with rescuing the company from the brink after the dark days of March 2023 have worked tirelessly to build a company that the UK tech sector can be proud of. As we close out the year, we continue to make progress - with a new cost structure, the release of Cirata Symphony – a new Data Orchestration Platform – and a laser focus on growth. The announcement today heralds one sad chapter closed and a new chapter beginning.”
The FCA did not want to comment.