Laura WilesThe FCA has secured a guilty plea from John Burford in a £1m investment fraud case.
As sole director of Financial Trading Strategies Limited, Mr Burford had promoted a paid-for subscription service offering daily trade alerts with investment advice, and the opportunity to invest in self-named ‘tramline’ funds, without FCA authorisation to advise on or manage investments. He had also continuously mislead investors as to how much the funds were worth, and concealed the full extent of losses incurred while trading.
Mr Burford will be sentenced at a later date, and the FCA plans to apply for confiscation orders in order to recover monies for the investors.