United Kingdom: UK High Court Judges Invested in a Data Center Project Suspected of Tax Evasion

Two British High Court justices were investors in a contested data center project allegedly used as a tax scheme. The Financial Times discovered the investment, along with several other investments made by judges in similar ventures. The money invested by Justices Simon Bryan and Martin Griffiths was made after they begun their judicial careers but prior to their appointment.

Tax avoidance is not unlawful, but authorities can pursue offenders. The investment targeted two data centers in Tyneside that benefited from a program designed to revitalize depressed regions of the United Kingdom. The Cobalt Data Centres 2 and 3 initiative raised £79 million from 675 contributors in 2011, who received a total of £131 million in tax relief. However, the facilities remained vacant for years, leading to claims that they were constructed solely to receive tax breaks - a claim that investor Harcourt Capital disputes. Stellium Data Centres eventually took over the facilities and converted them into operational data centers.

Justices Bryan and Griffiths, as well as famous people like Wayne Rooney, Rick Parfitt, Jimmy Carr, Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish, Terry Venables, Marouane Fellaini, Mikel Arteta, Lady Elizabeth-Ann Redgrave, Arsene Wenger, and Harry Potter movie producer David Heyman, were among those who made investments in 2011. Lord David Wolfson QC, a justice minister, was disclosed to be an investor in 2021. There was no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the investors, nor was there evidence that they knew the data centers would remain vacant shells.