A legal battle is in full swing as a city finance chief stands accused of faking medical symptoms in order to rake in millions of pounds through insurance.
Charles Miley, 51, a former executive at Piper Jaffray, an investment bank, is in High Court amid claims that he faked suffering from chronic fatigue that supposedly left him unable to get out of bed, in order to rake in cash from an income protection insurance scheme.
The High Court heard that Mr Miley was secretly filmed at a bar for five hours during a beer festival after insurer Friends Life hired private investigators.
According to a report in The Standard, Miley had been receiving insurance payouts from 2009 for supposed chronic fatigue syndrome claiming in a 2013 letter to be in a “mental fog” and to have issues driving.
Caroline Harrison, QC, for Friends Life, said: “This account is in marked contrast to surveillance evidence taken only the previous day when Mr Miley was seen driving himself and his dog to and from the pub and enjoying what appeared to be a ‘normal’ social drink over a period of several hours,” said Caroline Harrison QC for Friends Life.
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According to Friends Life, Miley also complained of chronic pain around three months later and that he could not read emails or even walk – but yet on August 24, 2013, attended the beer festival.
Under the terms of the policy taken out by his employer, Miley could pick up 75% of his £130,000 a year salary. He now claims £300,000 since payments were stopped in 2013 and wants Friends Life to continue to pay until he is 65 – potentially netting him £2.4 million.
Miley claims that in 2010 the condition was so bad he couldn’t even go outside.
“My wife Rachel would be in the garden on a sunny day and call me out and I wouldn’t be able,” he said. “There were times I could barely speak.”
Friends Life meanwhile has a counter claim to recoup some or all of the cash it has already paid.
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