Samrat Bhandari was the fourth and final defendant to be put behind bars for his involvement in manipulating vulnerable people into buying shares in Symbiosis Healthcare, which turned out to be worthless.
Bhandari was described by the judge as the “prime mover” behind the sale of the shares and had been “entirely self-centred and devious”.
He had said he would repay the investors but later withdrew the offer in a move described by the judge as “another example of your manipulative nature”.
The judge said Bhandari used the enterprise as his “cash cow”, adding that “regulation, it seems, means nothing to you”.
Four in jail
The trial of Bhandari lasted 49 days, with his sentence following the earlier trials of Aleem Mirza, Michael Moore and Paul Moore who were also given prison sentences.
Mark Steward, director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA said Symbiosis Healthcare attracted more than 300 investors.
“Bhandari was the controlling mind in this scheme and he deliberately abused his position as a corporate adviser to exploit hundreds of vulnerable investors for his personal gain.
“This prosecution by the FCA reflects our commitment to protect investors by bringing the operators of unauthorised investment schemes such as this to justice and the sentence shows how seriously the courts view this kind of offending,” Steward said.
The FCA has now begun confiscating proceedings against each defendant as it attempts to regain from each the benefit they received from their criminal conduct.
Symbiosis
Between 2009 and 2014, mainly elderly and vulnerable investors were targeted and mis-sold shares in Symbiosis through a combination of cold-calling, pressure sales and the publication of exaggerated promotional material.
Symbiosis was set up by Aleem Mirza and purported to be a successful company offering “healthcare solutions” in Dubai and elsewhere in the world.
In reality, the shares in the company were effectively worthless and investors lost a total of just over £1.4m in the scheme.
Bhandari, a director of William Albert Securities, acted as corporate adviser to Symbiosis and organised the selling of Symbiosis shares, while brothers Michael and Paul Moore were part of a team of brokers.
