A middle-class life-coaching group accused of abusing, exploiting and fleecing vulnerable victims made £2.4million from its mentoring schemes – without declaring a penny.
Over half of Lighthouse International Group’s takings were paid out to its boss Paul Waugh, who lives in a £2million country estate, drives a Range Rover with plates bearing the initials of his group and claims to be ‘very connected’ in government.
A High Court judge wound up his organisation this week after hearing that despite the ‘substantial sums’ it received for its mentoring, between 2013 and 2022 it filed accounts claiming it was either dormant or had no assets and had failed to register for VAT despite being eligible since 2017.
Lighthouse also had ‘no transparency’ and ‘blatantly failed to cooperate’ with a nine-month Insolvency Service investigation into its finances which followed a Mail expose of the group, the court heard.
Mr Waugh claimed Lighthouse’s life coaching programmes could ‘optimise results in your life, in direct proportion to your investment of time, money and effort’.
Paul Waugh is accused of abusing and fleecing vulnerable victims who joined his life coaching group
But former members of the group have alleged these mentoring sessions turn into ‘abusive relationships’ with members later ‘pressured’ into ‘investing’ tens of thousands of pounds, often by taking a loan which plunges them deep into debt, without any formal written financial agreement or receipt.
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They say they ended up in thrall to Mr Waugh. They added that when some members asked for their money to be returned they were reminded their innermost secrets had been recorded in coaching sessions – which made them feel as if they were being threatened.
Matthew Parfitt, for the Business Secretary, told the High Court winding up hearing that after Lighthouse ignored countless letters and emails from the authorities requesting its accountancy records, they were eventually handed over by Metro Bank.
It showed £1.27million of the group’s £2.4million takings had gone to Mr Waugh, most of it between 2018 and 2022.
‘It is unclear what Lighthouse International Group does, other than pass money to Mr Waugh,’ Mr Parfitt said.
Smaller amounts also went to other leading members of the group, including its joint chief executive Chris Nash, who received £127,000 in the same four-year period.
Mr Parfitt added: ‘It now appears that every week the money in Lighthouse’s bank account is allocated between Mr Waugh and the other associates of Lighthouse and paid out.’
Mr Waugh, who was representing himself, told the court that £2.4million is ‘not very much money at the end of the day.
The £2million property of Paul Waugh, which is on the edge of the Cotswolds
Paul Waugh in content on Lighthouse International Group’s YouTube channel
‘Not for the amount of people who were involved and who it supported.
‘It sounds big but it just isn’t a lot. We hardly survived off it.’
But in her ruling that Lighthouse should be wound up with immediate effect, Judge Jones said: ‘For the record, this court does not consider over £2million to be a small sum.’
Lighthouse charges up to £100 an hour for coaching and mentoring sessions, which use a mix of self-help and spirituality.
The group told the hearing that many of its 26 associates had willingly sold assets and borrowed money to ‘fund their development’ at Lighthouse.
Ex-Lighthouse members have said they were told to isolate themselves from friends and family who criticised Mr Waugh or the group.
Emotions ran high in the court as former Lighthouse members clashed with current members, telling them to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’.
One mother whose two sons are still members of Lighthouse told them: ‘I am your mother and I will never stop loving you’ as she demanded Mr Waugh return a substantial sum she says he owes her.
Lighthouse has described the allegations by former members as ‘false and baseless’, said it was a ‘healthy community’ that does not tolerate abuse or bullying and was a victim of ‘persecution’ and ‘trolling’ from ex-members with whom it had financial disputes.
At the end of the High Court hearing Mr Waugh surprisingly asked the judge to rule against Lighthouse, later writing on Twitter that this was a ‘masterstroke’ and done ‘on the basis that I would appeal (on the grounds of unfair process) especially on the reputation issues to closing it down in the public interest’.
Mr Waugh has previously told Lighthouse members he is very connected in government — both in the Commons and the Lords — and has helped to get laws passed.
And he told them he was so personally wealthy that other nations have ‘courted’ him to try to get him to emigrate and take his money into their country.
