UK Regulator Launches Criminal Prosecution Against Former Forex Trader

Stephen Little

23 July 2014

The UK’s has launched a criminal prosecution against a former foreign exchange trader for operating an unauthorised investment scheme.

The financial regulator said that Phillip Harold Boakes, of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, faced 13 alleged offences relating to an unauthorised investment scheme he operated between 1 October 2004 and 4 June 2013.

According to the FCA, Boakes used his company Currencytrader Limited to operate a scheme that purported to carry out forex trading for the benefit of its investors.

Boakes faces six counts of fraud and three counts of using a false instrument. The alleged offences include accepting deposits without authorisation, being party to the carrying on of a business for a fraudulent purpose and theft.

Boakes appeared before the City of London Magistrates’ Court on 22 July 2014, where the case was passed for a preliminary hearing at Southwark Crown Court on 5 August.