fbpx

Have You Checked Your Investment Adviser's Credentials?

23rd June 2017 By Arman Khosravi

Investment advice is best obtained from authorised professionals and it is unwise to rely on friends’ recommendations, no matter how trustworthy they may appear. In one case that proved the point, a currency trader who turned to fraud and lost £500,000 of private investors’ money received a six-year prison sentence.

The man had set up a legitimate business through which he traded on international currency exchanges on his own account. However, a series of reckless deals led to financial problems and he began to invest money on behalf of 28 individuals, some of whom were his close friends.

He only invested about £220,000 of £600,000 that he received, using most of the money to fund a luxury lifestyle, including first class flights and the purchase of a beach villa in Thailand. All but about £100,000 of the sums invested was lost and his victims, some of whom suffered great hardship, were left harbouring intense feelings of betrayal as well as their financial losses.

The currency trader had never been authorised by the then Financial Services Authority to trade on behalf of others and was ultimately jailed after he pleaded guilty to fraud and communicating an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity. The facts of the case emerged as the Court of Appeal rejected his appeal against the length of his sentence, finding that it was neither wrong in principle nor manifestly excessive.

Because the trader was not an authorised financial intermediary, there is no protection whatsoever for his investors, who must seek redress (if there are assets against which to claim) through the court process.

Source: Concious

Latest News

Tenants Can Purchase Freehold When Landlord Cannot Be Found

11th June, 2024 By

The Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 gives qualifying leaseholders the right to join together to buy the freehold of their properties – a process known as collective enfranchisement. A recent case demonstrated that this right can be exercised even when the landlord cannot be found. The leaseholders of two flats in a terraced house wished to purchase it from the landlord, but were unable to ascertain his whereabouts and therefore could not serve notice on him under Section 13 of the Act. They therefore applied for an...

Court Refuses to Set Aside Divorce Order Applied for by Mistake

6th June, 2024 By

While the courts have a range of powers to set aside orders, they will only exercise them in limited circumstances. In a somewhat surprising case that has attracted much comment, the High Court declined to set aside a final order of divorce that had been applied for by mistake. A couple separated in January 2023, after more than 21 years of marriage. In October that year, while financial remedy proceedings were still ongoing, the wife's legal representatives inadvertently applied for a final order of divorce in respect of her instead...

Waiting Time for Grants of Probate Falls

3rd June, 2024 By

Following concerns last year about delays in processing probate applications, recent figures from HM Courts and Tribunals Service show that waiting times for grants of probate are continuing to improve. The average time from submission of a probate application to probate being granted fell to 11.3 weeks in March 2024, a decrease from 13.7 weeks in February and 13.8 weeks in January. This is the lowest figure since March 2023, when the average was 10.8 weeks. The longest waiting time since then was in November, at 15.8 weeks: that month,...

Late Appeal Against Tax Penalties Rejected

31st May, 2024 By

It is incumbent on taxpayers to make sure they fully comply with their obligations to file returns and pay any tax due. The point was illustrated by a recent case in which a taxpayer whose return had not been received by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) failed to persuade the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) that he should be permitted to appeal against the resulting penalties. On the evening of 31 January 2014, the man had completed his 2012/13 Income Tax return on HMRC's website. Shortly afterwards he went to Cyprus, and...