UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has convicted eight people for their roles in an unauthorised collective investment scheme as part of ‘Operation Cotton’.
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The regulator has alleged that the defendants have been involved in the operation of an unauthorised investment scheme, which extracted over £4.3m from 110 investors, through three companies, namely Plott Investments, European Property Investments (UK) and Stirling Alexander, between July 2008 and November 2011.
Operation Cotton, the largest investigation undertaken by FCA has accused Scott Crawley, Dale Walker, Daniel Forsyth, Brendan Daley, Aaron Petrou, Ross Peters, Adam Hawkins and Ricky Mitchie of various offences including conspiracy to defraud, breaching the general prohibition by conducting investment business without FCA authorisation and possessing criminal property.
FCA acting director of enforcement and market oversight Georgina Philippou said: "The FCA will take strong action, through both the civil and criminal courts, against those who operate illegal investment schemes and those who assist them like solicitors.
"People put their homes and retirements at risk on the back of promises of high returns that were never going to be realised. The severity of the sentences shows how seriously the courts view this kind of offending."
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By GlobalData
