UK regulator secures confiscation order against investment fraudster

Maria Nikolova

The Financial Conduct Authority has secured a confiscation order totalling over £170,000 against Manraj Singh Virdee, convicted of investment fraud.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has secured a confiscation order of £171,913.60 against Manraj Singh Virdee, a convicted investment fraudster. The order was issued in Southwark Crown Court on December 16, 2019.

The confiscation order was entered following an FCA prosecution in which Virdee was sentenced to a 2-year prison sentence suspended for 2 years for defrauding investors of over £600,000. The conviction related to misleading consumers, fraud and the illegal operation of an unauthorised investment scheme worth over half a million pounds. The effect of the confiscation order is to confiscate all Mr Virdee’s criminal proceeds.

The Court found that Virdee had gained £666,730.58 from his criminal conduct, but that the total realisable assets for confiscation were £171.913.60. Mr Virdee lost the rest of the victims’ monies through unsuccessful FX trading and maintaining his lifestyle.

The money will be used to compensate the 24 victims of his crimes who lost in the region of £650,000 in total.

If Mr Virdee fails to pay the confiscation order on time, he is liable to be sentenced to a further two years in prison.

In February 2019, Virdee was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to a 2 year prison sentence suspended for 2 years and he was further ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work in the community. The sentence followed earlier guilty pleas to four charges relating to misleading consumers, fraud and the illegal operation of an unauthorised investment scheme worth over half a million pounds.

Virdee was the sole director of Dynamic UK Trades Ltd and between October 2015 and November 2017 he promoted a deposit taking scheme without authorisation from the FCA mainly targeting wider family and associates. He also entered into an agreement with one investor to manage £192,500 in spread betting trading in which only £10,000 was used as promised.

Virdee received a total of approximately £600,000 in funds from investors some of whom were ‘guaranteed’ returns of up to 100% based on his claimed success as a currency trader. In reality, only £457,119 of those deposits were actually traded by Mr Virdee and almost all of these funds were lost or used to fund Mr Virdee’s lifestyle.

When sentencing Virdee, HHJ Pegden QC agreed with the prosecution’s description that his trading over the two-year period was ‘spectacularly unsuccessful’.

Read this next

Digital Assets

Centralized exchanges are 10 times more popular than DEXs in Western Europe

Western European traders are found to prefer centralized exchanges over decentralized ones as CEX traffic outpaces DEXs by a factor of ten.

Market News

Stock Market Analysis: Is NVDA Losing Its Leadership?

Since the beginning of the week, the S&P 500 Index (US500) has seen a modest increase of about 0.58%, whereas NVDA’s share price has experienced a decline of approximately 3.8%. This recent divergence raises concerns among Nvidia stock investors — could it signify a loss of NVDA’s market leadership?

Industry News

ESG: Australian regulator wins first greenwashing court case against Vanguard

Vanguard admitted that a notable portion of the securities within both the Index and the Fund did not undergo the promised ESG scrutiny.

Fintech, Uncategorized

BitMEX integrates HALO from Solidus Labs for cross-market surveillance

““The recent approval of the Spot Bitcoin ETF has piqued the market’s interest. As a result of price volatility, the trading volumes for crypto derivatives have gone up substantially. HALO, with its advanced technology and crypto-native detection architecture, will enable BitMEX to smoothly and safely scale trade surveillance across its increased trading volumes and provide the necessary safeguards for new product launches.”

Reviews

IUX Broker Review

IUX, recently rebranded from IUX Markets, stands as a multi-asset Forex broker recognized for its regulatory compliance across various jurisdictions.

Industry News

Horizon Software rebrands to Horizon Trading Solutions

“Horizon Trading Solutions has seen accelerated global growth over the past year to meet the rising demand for our trading solutions and built-for-purpose technology offering. The choice to rebrand represents a key part of this development, while maintaining our heritage and history in the industry.”

Market News

USDJPY has surged to levels last witnessed in 2022. Should we consider opening a short position?

The recent resurgence of the US dollar has propelled USD/JPY to new heights, touching levels not seen since 2022. This surge comes against the backdrop of stable short-term yields and ongoing economic data that fails to signal a significant slowdown, prompting questions about the extent of current monetary easing measures.

Digital Assets

DED Trends on Twitter After Memecoin Snapshot Announcement

Polkadot-backed community coin #DED, made it to the trending charts on X, demonstrating community’s engagement and interest behind the memecoin. 

Digital Assets

BlockDAG Presale Nears $10 Million Amid Toncoin’s Momentum, Green Bitcoin’s Presale, and the Rise of Other Top Cryptos

This article will examine three top trending topics: Toncoin’s potential, Green Bitcoin’s innovative presale, and BlockDAG’s sustainable mining approach. These cryptocurrencies take centre stage for their uniqueness and innovation.

<