The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has successfully prosecuted a fraudster who enveigled investors into an unauthorised collective investment scheme.

In 2011 and 2012 Alex Hope took more than £5 million from investors, telling them that he would trade their money on the foreign exchange (forex) markets.

Hope held himself up as a talented and successful trader who could make investors a return of up to 100% in just a few months. In reality, his trading made heavy losses. He lost more than £500,000 of the £650,000 held in his trading accounts and frittered away more than £2 million of investors' money on wine, women and song.

At a hearing on 22 July 2014, Hope’s co-defendant, Raj Von Badlo (also known as Raj Shastri), pled guilty to an offence of recklessly making false representations to investors and a further offence of promoting a collective investment scheme without authorisation.