Three individuals behind an investment fraud which conned £1.2m from UK investors have been convicted and sentenced to a total of 24.5 years.
A fourth defendant was convicted for trading without FCA authorisation.
The defendants lived lavish lifestyles, the court heard, using investors’ money.
There were large cash withdrawals, expensive foreign travel, cosmetic dentistry, online gambling, property purchases, a wedding reception and partying in nightclubs.
The individuals were convicted this week, following an 8-week trial at Southwark Crown Court, for their involvement in a bogus binary options scam. The prosecution was instigated by the FCA.
Cameron Vickers (27), Raheel Mirza (38) and Opeyemi Solaja (33) were convicted of conspiracy to defraud through a fake, London-based company called Bespoke Markets Group (BMG).
They cheated approximately £1.2 million from about 120 UK investors, the court heard.
Raheel Mirza was further convicted of perverting the course of justice and Reuben Akpojaro (40 years old) was convicted for trading investments without FCA authorisation. Mr Akpojaro was acquitted of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.
Between June 2016 and January 2020 Cameron Vickers, Raheel Mirza, Opeyemi Solaja and Reuben Akpojaro cold called the public, using pseudonyms, to convince them to invest with BMG.
A number of UK and offshore companies and bank accounts were set up to try to distance the defendants from the fraud (including Upscale Limited, registered in the Marshall Islands) and to launder money.
The scammers claimed to be trading their clients’ monies in “binary options” (a type of fixed odds financial betting), when in reality the money was shared among the fraudsters to fund their luxury lifestyles.
To encourage people to invest or invest more, BMG offered to match investments with their own funds and refund losses in the first 3-6 months.
The investors had access to a sophisticated online platform that appeared to show their funds being traded. However this was manipulated to show trading activity when there was none.
The first three defendants were sentenced today (6 April).
In sentencing, the trial Judge, His Honour Judge Hehir, remarked that “[BMG] was no more than a money-making machine, which operated to transfer as much of its unfortunate customers’ money into [the defendants’] pockets as possible”.
Cameron Vickers was sentenced to 7.5 years imprisonment. He claimed to be the “trading floor manager” and would meet investors in person to convince them to invest.
Raheel Mirza was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for the conspiracy to defraud offence and a consecutive 18 months for perverting the course of justice (a total of 9.5 years). He was responsible for setting up and running the BMG offices to legitimise the operation and the phone lines to drive investments.
Opeyemi Solaja was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison and received the most money from investors.
The defendants were also disqualified from being company directors for a period of 10 years. Reuben Akpojaro will be sentenced on 26 May.
Therese Chambers, executive director, enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “BMG was a sham, and despite their best efforts to conceal their true nature with their offshore accounts, this operation shows we will take fraudsters to task and protect UK investors.”
Binary Options became FCA regulated on 3 January 2018.
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