Financial

Ex-police sergeant Michael Stanley admitted five charges including operating a ‘fraudulent Ponzi scheme’ and misusing his clients’ money.

A former Kent police officer defrauded members of a horse racing betting syndicate using a fraudulent Ponzi scheme. Michael Stanley, who headed the Layezy Racing group, operated the illegal operation and misused his clients’ money between 2013 and 2019, a court heard.

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/ex-police-officer-defrauded-betting-9148901

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has alleged that well-known racehorse owner John Dance oversaw “one of the largest frauds perpetrated by an FCA regulated individual at an authorised firm” after successfully arguing in court for civil proceedings to be paused to prioritise a criminal investigation.

In April last year, Dance’s firm WealthTek LLP, which also traded as Vertem Asset Management and Malloch Melville, was shut down by the City regulator after the discovery of “serious regulatory and operational issues”.

The UK anti-fraud agency has raided three residences and made four arrests in North West England in relation to an investigation into Signature Group.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has announced it is investigating Signature Group, a business that attracted over a thousand investors in the redevelopment of landmarks including Belfast’s Scottish Mutual Building and the Coal Exchange in Cardiff.

An individual who ran a £2.7mn investment fraud and was jailed for nine years has now been banned by the Financial Conduct Authority.

On February 3, Clint Canning, 45, of Barnston, Dunmow, was sentenced to nine years in prison and handed a 15-year director disqualification at Southwark Crown Court for conspiracy to commit fraud after being found guilty at the same court on December 15, 2022.

https://www.ftadviser.com/regulation/2024/02/19/fca-bans-individual-serving-prison-sentence-over-2-7mn-investment-fraud/

Lancashire-based Guy Flintham has plead guilty to defrauding investors at Southwark Crown Court today (February 19), after the Financial Conduct Authority launched proceedings against him.

Between January 2016 and November 2021, the regulator alleged Flintham defrauded around 240 investors by persuading them to invest approximately £19mn in an investment scheme operated by the 46-year-old.

https://www.ftadviser.com/fca/2024/02/19/individual-pleads-guilty-to-19mn-investment-fraud/

A man who defrauded 310 victims of more than £12mn has been jailed for five years at Southwark Crown Court.

onathan Arafiena, 35 from Nine Elms pled guilty to one count of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud on Friday (February 9).

Two other individuals linked to the investment fraud scheme also pled guilty but received suspended sentences.

The FCA has provided a progress update on their work in their recent publication, "Reducing and preventing financial crime", and they look ahead to identify four areas of focus in the coming year. In this article, we summarise the key takeaways regulated firms need to consider.

https://www.shlegal.com/insights/fca-update-on-their-work-towards-reducing-and-preventing-financial-crime?16022024122853

The Financial Conduct Authority said while it has a strong focus on enforcement investigations and prosecutions to combat financial crime, it is not a problem it can enforce its way out of.

https://www.ftadviser.com/regulation/2024/02/12/fca-financial-crime-not-a-problem-we-can-enforce-our-way-out-of/

Three men who laundered funds fraudulently obtained from 350 people who were tricked into investing more than £12 million in non-existent or worthless shares have been sentenced today.

Some victims invested tens of thousands of pounds they had saved for their retirement and will have to continue working for longer than they had planned. The largest amount lost by a single victim was £300,000.

A long-awaited report into the behaviour of the banks at the centre of the HBOS Reading scandal has been pushed back – meaning victims remain without closure more than a decade on from one of Britain’s worst corporate frauds.

In January 2017, six people – two of them former HBOS staff – were convicted for criminal misconduct between 2003 and 2007.