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The head of London’s Pride parade, who is fighting claims that he used its funds for his personal benefit, has been ordered by the high court to relinquish control of the organising body’s bank account.
Christoper Joell-Deshields, who was suspended as chief executive last month, consented to an order on Friday to hand over Pride for London’s banking passwords, social media and email accounts.
London LGBT Community Pride CIC, the organisation behind the parade, had been seeking an injunction. It claimed that Joell-Deshields’s conduct since being put on a leave of absence risked “irreparable damage” to the prospects of future parades.
The suspended chief executive “is known to have breached a number of contractual obligations owed by him in his capacity as an employee in relation to company property/confidential information and threatens to continue to do so unless restrained”, it was claimed in legal documents.
During a hearing, Marc Brittain, representing Joell-Deshields, said that his client would consent to an order forcing him to hand over company property but that this did not prejudice his defence against Pride’s legal claim for breach of contract or any other wrongdoing, which he denies.
A separate legal claim is being pursued by Pride against its suspended chief executive.
London’s annual Pride parade is the largest LGBTQ+ event in the UK and attracts about 30,000 participants. Joell-Deshields has been chief executive since 2022.
The Guardian revealed earlier this month that Joell-Deshields had been suspended at the end of August over a series of allegations of impropriety, including that he had bought luxury perfumes with food and drink vouchers donated by a sponsor for use by Pride volunteers.
His is currently under internal investigation. Pride had claimed that Joell-Deshields had refused demands to hand over company property. It claimed that this included “the passwords, usernames and access information required to operate the applicant’s bank accounts, social media accounts and other digital or electronic facilities”.
The court ordered that Joell-Deshields hand over his mobile phone and laptop to an independent investigator examining allegations against him as well as the passwords cited in the application.
According to Pride, Joell-Deshields is accused of “misuse of company funds for his own personal benefit; financial mismanagement of the company’s funds (including misreporting of its financial activities and lack of oversight of expenditure)” as well as “bullying and safeguarding failures in relation to volunteers who provide services to the applicant and a fundamental attempt to conceal, and evade accountability”.
Joell-Deshields’s lawyer did not submit a skeleton argument to the court as he had been hired just 24 hours before the hearing.
Pride in London is financed by a £625,000 five-year grant from the London mayor as well as its own fundraising.
Concerns about governance and the conduct of the chief executive were raised in June. This was followed by a formal whistleblowing disclosure by a group of volunteer directors at the end of last month. A new board was set up at the end of August.
Among the allegations was the potential misuse of some of the £30,000 worth of food and drink vouchers provided by an unnamed sponsor for volunteers.
According to the volunteer directors, the sponsor’s head of ethics and compliance had written on 18 February to the legal director at Pride in London to say that the company’s fraud systems had detected that two accounts had used £7,125 of the vouchers on luxury items.
The items included an Apple HomePod, Apple AirPods and cologne, including Creed Aventus, which has a retail price of at least £165, and Burberry Hero, which starts at £118 a bottle.
According to the whistleblowers, the sponsor advised the legal director that “the pattern and nature of the transactions strongly suggested personal – rather than organisational – benefit”.
One of the two accounts flagged was that of Joell-Deshields.
Pride in London commissioned external lawyers to investigate, according to the directors’ letter, and an interim report was written.
According to the letter, the report states that Joell-Deshields claimed the vouchers were used for gifts and prizes for raffles and that the HomePod was used in the office and at “pop up” events.
Joell-Deshields’s barrister said he denied any wrongdoing.
A spokesperson for Pride for London said: “Today’s outcome will ensure that our staff and volunteers can continue to carry out their invaluable work without undue obstruction. We remain focused on our service of the LGBTQ+ community of London, and working towards a successful Pride in London 2026.”
