Fashion entrepreneur Shami Ahmed's company Legendary Investments today suspended its shares after being hit by the collapse of its broker in what appeared to be a "mini-Lehman Brothers" crisis.

The founder of the Joe Bloggs jeans empire is best remembered for using Legendary to launch his investments in Moss Bros during the 2001-02 bid saga. After building up a stake through contracts for difference, he eventually walked away from launching a takeover.

Legendary said it had suspended its shares due to the collapse into administration of Echelon Wealth Management, which acted as a broker for most of Legendary's trades and held about £600,000 of its cash reserves.

On the surface, that looked like a re-run in miniature of the crisis that has hit thousands of broking clients of Lehman Brothers, who used it to run their investments.

In its accounts filed in September, Legendary said disposals of a number of stakes it held in business resulted in gains of £633,000.

In 2005, Ahmed was cleared of fraud charges after allegedly faking his own arrest as part of an elaborate set-up to avoid paying his creditors. He vowed to take action against Customs and Excise for damages.