Sir Denys Colquhoun Flowerdew Lowson, 1st Baronet, (22 January 1906 – 10 September 1975) was a British barrister and financier who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1950–51.
According to The Times, Lowson "showed consistently that he was more concerned to turn situations to the advantage of himself and the interests he controlled than with his fiduciary duty to the companies of which he was a director.
[1] In July 1974, the Investors Chronicle published an exposé on Lowson, in which it revealed his financial empire was a "tangle of cross shareholdings, based on some 100 trading and industrial companies throughout the world, owned and controlled, at the end, through 14 often interrelated investment trusts."
It was revealed that in 1972, Sir Denys bought shares of the National Group, which he controlled, for just 62 pence each and resold them within months for £8.67 each, for an estimated personal profit of £5 million.
After an investigation requested by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, inspectors accused Sir Denys of "grave mismanagement" of his companies "to obtain very substantial gain for himself and his family.
"[5] Sir Denys apologised and promised to make substantial repayments, while his legal counsel blamed his mistakes on "age, ill-health, obstinacy and secretiveness rather than to any intent to deceive" — an explanation rejected by inspectors.