Financial adviser Gerald Chiatoh Etangayong, from south-east London, has been disqualified for 11 years after he misused thousands of pounds-worth of client’s funds.
Etangayong was the sole director and shareholder of GEC Consultancy, a company that was not authorised by the UK watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority.
The firm offered investment services for clients wanting to trade in the global financial markets, as well as training for people who wanted to conduct their own trades.
Investigation
In November 2015, just over a year after launch, GEC was placed into creditors voluntary liquidation.
The Insolvency Service investigated the company’s affairs and found that GEC had been operating an investment scheme when it managed foreign currency investments on behalf of a company based in the British Virgin Islands.
GEC received more than £194,000 ($252,000) (€221,500) worth of funds from investors but only invested around £96,000 in a foreign currency investment platform and, while the funds increased in value by approximately £22,000, only around £57,000 was paid back to investors.
When asked what happened to the remaining funds (approximately £61,000), Etangayong said he used the money to settle GEC’s outstanding liabilities and repay loans, and the Insolvency Service said, “£17,000 was also paid from the company’s account to his personal bank account”.
Robert Clarke, head of company investigation at the Insolvency Service, said: “Gerald Etangayong abused his position by knowingly taking people’s money for investments he knew were never viable.”
Misleading promotions
Etangayong also allowed GEC to accept deposits from investors despite knowing that the company’s promotional material was “misleading”.
Claims on the firm’s marketing literature included that funds would be “safe and secure at all times”, would be “held in a segregated account” and investors would “receive a full reimbursement of all the capital invested at the end of the investment period”.
However, the service said Etangayong “should have advised his investors of the key risks”, including potential large losses and the highly volatile and unpredictable nature of the foreign exchange market.
Directorship ban
As a result of the director’s misconduct, according to the Insolvency Service “at least £200,185 remains outstanding to investors and, on 8 October 2018, the secretary of state accepted a disqualification undertaking from Etangayong”.
Effective from 29 October 2018, Etangayong was banned for 11 years from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.
Clarke added: “An 11-year disqualification is a substantial ban and should serve as a warning that we will always look to remove from the business community those directors who act below the standards that should be expected of them.”
