A group of 152 claimants took HSBC to court on the basis that they invested in the Eclipse scheme after relying on information that ‘the structure of the Eclipse scheme had been approved by a tax QC’ [Jonathan Peacock]. They argued that these representations turned out to be ‘false’, with the ultimate scheme being ‘materially different from the structure that was the basis of the QC’s advice’.

The claimants said these representations were ‘deceitful’ and that ‘HSBC knew, intended and was actively involved in all this, in the person of its employee, Mr Neil Bowman’.

The Eclipse scheme with Future Films was originally devised in 2005 and a deal was signed with Disney to fund a number of films.