You have my sympathy MorningGlory but it's not theft by any legal definition. Only 3 weeks ago I was informed that a dotcom company that I had bought shares in 2 years ago was going into voluntary liquidation -"unable to meet its obligations" I was told. A return to any of the shareholders is also looking very unlikely. I lost £6500 that I invested and the potential for a lot more had the dotcom bubble not burst when it did. My only regret is not selling last year when my shareholding was valued at nearly £20,000. That would have really helped with my flight training. I guess I got sidetracked onto other issues and perhaps a little greedy too - now it's too late.
C'est la vie.