Big Technologies has ended settlement talks with its founder Sara Murray, confirming that one of the bitterest corporate legal battles in recent London market history will grind on through the courts.
The company, which trades as Buddi and provides electronic monitoring services to the police, probation and social care sectors, is suing Murray for hundreds of millions of pounds after accusing her of forgery and deliberate falsification of documents to push through its £577 million stock market flotation in 2021. Murray was dismissed as chief executive in March 2025 over the accusations, and her assets have been frozen amid the £320 million High Court battle.
The company's preferred outcome for the proceedings remains a settlement, whether mediated or otherwise, it said in a statement. However, in the absence of meaningful settlement discussions, the company will continue to litigate.
The allegations against Murray are stark. Big claims she forged documents before the 2021 listing and concealed links to disputed offshore companies that made more than £100 million, including £110 million in cash, at the time of the flotation. The Times has reported that the company also accuses her of improperly extracting more than £19 million via other fraudulent schemes and of providing false testimony to the stock market and the High Court. She faces a probe by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The dispute has already cost investors dearly. In January, Big paid £38.5 million to settle a separate lawsuit from former shareholders who claimed they were forced out of Buddi when it was bought by Big in 2018 and denied the chance to reinvest before the flotation. Some investors have lost around half their money.
Murray, 57, who made her name as the entrepreneur behind the price comparison site Confused.com, has strongly denied all the allegations and criticised the company's pursuit of her and its mounting legal bills, arguing that sacking her destroyed shareholder value. She continues to hold 25 per cent of the voting rights in the firm and recently used that stake to oust non-executive director Camilla Macun at the annual meeting, though she failed to remove three other directors.
The boardroom turmoil has claimed casualties: chief executive Ian Johnson retired at the end of July after just 16 months in the job, with Charles Lewinton named acting chief executive. Murray herself has left Britain for a £7 million bolthole in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. With settlement talks dead, the High Court showdown now looks unavoidable.