Kevin Maxwell, the brother of Ghislaine Maxwell, is fighting a last-ditch legal battle to avoid bankruptcy after being pursued for almost £600,000 by administrators of collapsed investment fund Fortress Capital Partners, which has been accused of operating as a Ponzi scheme.
Court filings show Maxwell, 65, applied to the High Court last week to dismiss a statutory demand from insolvency experts who took control of Fortress after its collapse in 2023. The demand, issued on August 12, could trigger bankruptcy proceedings if he fails to settle the outstanding debt.
It marks another financial crisis for Maxwell, who was once Britain’s most notorious bankrupt after the 1991 collapse of his father Robert Maxwell’s media empire and a £460m black hole in the Mirror Group pension fund. Declared insolvent with debts of £400m at just 32, Maxwell later stood trial alongside his brother Ian for their role in the scandal but was acquitted.
Fortress Capital Partners, set up in 2015, promised investors returns of up to 18% and attracted funds from celebrities, footballers and church congregations. Administrators later said it bore “all the hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme.”
Maxwell had borrowed from Fortress, with records showing debts of £2.4m at the time of its collapse. He subsequently agreed to repay £1.25m over two years but has been accused of breaching that agreement by making only “sporadic” payments.
According to administrators, he still owes £597,000. A source close to Maxwell insisted he has been making incremental repayments and has already cleared half of his obligations.
Fortress collapsed owing nearly £18m to creditors, including Manchester United footballer Scott McTominay, Boyzone singer Shane Lynch, and members of The Tab church in Lewisham, south-east London. Prior to its downfall, it was run by businessman Ashley Reading, whose daughter is McTominay’s partner.
Kevin Maxwell has endured repeated financial troubles since his father’s empire collapsed. His ventures have included media company Telemonde, which failed, and construction firm Syncro, where his conduct as a director saw him banned from running a company for eight years in 2011.
He narrowly avoided bankruptcy again in 2005 after amassing £30m in personal debts.
More recently, Maxwell co-founded the counter-extremist think tank “Combating Jihadist Terrorism and Extremism” with his brother Ian. He has also defended his sister Ghislaine Maxwell in the wake of her conviction for aiding sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, insisting she has been unfairly portrayed as Epstein’s “demon queen.”
The collapse of Fortress has prompted inquiries from the Financial Ombudsman Service, though the fund was not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Its model involved borrowing from investors and lending to high-net-worth individuals and corporate clients, attempting to profit from the margin between interest paid and interest charged.
Administrators are continuing efforts to recover funds, with Maxwell now among their most high-profile debtors. His latest bid to fend off bankruptcy underscores a career dogged by financial turmoil stretching back almost four decades.