The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has secured two orders to return a total of around £130,000 ($162,000, €150,000) to victims of unauthorised investment arrangements and advice.
Investors in an unauthorised collective investment scheme set up and run by Synergy Land Group between 2009-11 will now receive money back, after the High Court granted a distribution order to the regulator.
The FCA has recovered around £27,000 after Synergy’s director, Samuel Exall, was ordered to sell assets.
These monies will now be distributed to the scheme’s investors, who had invested a total of around £2.8m in the scheme.
Exall was prosecuted by the City of London Police for conspiracy to commit fraud relating to his involvement in a number of land-banking schemes. In 2016, he was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison. He was also disqualified from acting as a company director for seven years.
Bankruptcy order
In the other order, the watchdog has gained permission from the court to return funds obtained from Mohammed Maricar, sole director of 24HR Trading Academy Ltd. The company had provided unlawful contracts for difference (CFDs) forex trading promotions.
Trading signals containing recommendations for trading in CFDs were provided to clients via WhatsApp for a fee. Clients were also encouraged to sign up with CFD trading platforms, which resulted in commissions paid to Maricar.
The court said this activity represented unlawful investment advice and arrangement of investments.
Maricar was ordered by the court to repay £530,000, which he failed to do. The FCA petitioned for bankruptcy and an order was made.
In September last year, the FCA received payment of just over £106,650 from the official receiver, who was appointed to manage Maricar’s bankruptcy estate. The sum received will now be distributed among investors.
Check the register
The FCA said it did not expect further funds to be recovered with regard to these cases.
Therese Chambers, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “Consumers should always check our register and be very wary of unauthorised firms, as they present a very high risk with no guarantee of compensation if things go wrong.
“Often funds invested are completely lost.”
