Best London Law Firm Bark & Co Solicitors Appointed to Represent Defendants in Trading Pension Scheme Fraud Prosecution brought by the FCA
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Best London Law Firm Bark & Co Solicitors Appointed to Defend in Trading Pension Scheme Fraud Prosecution brought by the FCA
The FCA has charged 3 individuals with fraud for their alleged involvement in a high-risk trading scheme, which targeted people’s pension savings.
Update: 11 July 2024
Following a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday 5 July 2024, a trial date for this case was fixed for 1 February 2027.
Kristofer McGuire and Keith Williamson have been charged for multiple offences including fraud by false presentation and fraudulent trading after they persuaded victims to invest in Contracts for Difference (CFDs).
CFDs is a high risk investment product that allows you to bet on an asset’s price.
The alleged fraud encouraged many victims to invest their pension funds, which were then traded for large commissions by those who ran the scheme. In the end, the victims’ pensions were almost completely lost.
The FCA claims that Ms Walker, Mr Williamson, and Mr McGuire made false statements on a trading platform about their clients being professional investors.
Mr Williamson is accused of fraudulent trading and Mr McGuire of five additional counts of fraud through false representation.
The total loss known to the victims is more than PS8 million.
The defendants are due to appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Westminster on 7th June 2024.
Contact the FCA Consumer Contact Centre on 0800 11 6768 for free if you believe that you have been harmed in this case.
Notes:
- The FCA claims:
- Kristofer Mcguire, Keith Williamson, and Karla Walker made false and misleading statements to a CFD Trading Platform between 1 January 2015 and the 30th June 2017. They claimed that their clients met the criteria of professional investors, when they didn’t.
- Keith Williamson, Kristofer McGuire and their trading CFDs between 1 January 2015 and the 30th June 2016 were involved in fraudulent trading. They used detrimental trading strategies to earn excessive commissions on investors’ behalf.
- Kristofer McGuire, between 1 April 2016 to 28 February 2023 made false and misleading statements to five individual investors in order to convince them to invest through him or his company K&K Consult LTD.
- Fraud by false presentation is an offense under section 2 (Fraud Act 2006) and can be punished by indictment with a fine or up to 10 year’s imprisonment.
- Section 993(1), Companies Act 2006, defines fraudulent trading as an offense punishable by indictment with a fine or up to ten years of imprisonment.
- Contracts for difference (CFDs) are high-risk derivatives. According to the FCA, 80% of investors lose money on CFDs due to their risks. Investors can lose more money than they invest when they are highly leveraged. The FCA in the UK has implemented restrictions to the way CFDs, and CFD-like products can be sold and advertised to retail customers.
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