Reading FC bidder banned by FCA over £170m portfolio lie

Paul Taylor, a former bidder for Reading FC, has been banned from working in financial services and fined almost half a million pounds. According to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Taylor forged documents to show he owned a bond portfolio worth around £171m.

The FCA found that Taylor used these forged documents during two separate sets of negotiations. One was for a £37m takeover of a UK bank in 2023, and the other was for his bid to buy Reading FC from Dai Yongge in 2024.

Taylor's company, Blue Horizon Asset Management, managing director Esmeralda Toni, was also banned and fined over £120,000 by the FCA. The regulator's joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, Therese Chambers, stated that Taylor and Toni "lied and lied again" and have "no place in our industry".

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