Maxwell brothers on new fraud charges

ROBERT MAXWELL'S sons Kevin and Ian faced several new charges yesterday as they appeared in court with four others accused of frauds totalling roughly pounds 300m.

The sons of the late media tycoon appeared at the City of London Magistrates' Court for the last time before their case is transferred to the Crown Court next week.

Conditional bail was granted to all six, set at pounds 500,000 for Kevin and pounds 250,000 for Ian. One defendant, Michael Stoney, the former finance director of Mirror Group Newspapers, did not appear yesterday as the magistrates had agreed he could go on holiday. He was granted bail in a surety of pounds 50,000.

Kevin Maxwell had five charges added to his existing three while Ian had two charges added to his one. The late Robert Maxwell's name appeared in connection with eight of the 10 charges on the indictment.

One new charge alleges that Kevin Maxwell conspired with his father to defraud pension schemes managed by Bishopsgate Investment Management of millions of shares worth about pounds 102m.

Another new charge is that Kevin, Ian, the former Maxwell finance director Robert Bunn and group treasurer Albert Fuller conspired with Robert Maxwell to defraud Bayerische Vereinsbank of a pounds 25m loan by falsely claiming the Mirror Group owned shares offered as security.

A third is that both brothers conspired with the Maxwell adviser Larry Trachtenberg and Mr Bunn to defraud BIM of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries shares worth about dollars 35m, which were pledged to National Westminster Bank as collateral for a loan to Maxwell's Mirror Group after his death in November 1991.