Two banned financial advisers have been jailed for giving clients unauthorised investment advice.
Gary Hexley was sent to prison for two years and John Cooper for nine months after being convicted of the offence at Birmingham Crown Court.
The pair was involved in Greenfield International, a property investment company.
Both were found guilty of the offence at an earlier hearing, when the court heard Hexley was paid £74,000 in commission and Cooper more than £6,000 from giving investment advice to clients without clearance from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), now the Financial Conduct Authority.
Exclusive Asset Management, based in Birmingham, was fined £60,000 by the FSA for giving poor investment advice. Hexley worked there as an adviser.
Dubious Mauritius investment
The FSA inspected the company in April 2010 after complaints from customers about Hexley and found several compliance failings.
The FCA said Hexley lied to his clients that their investments were sent to the Metatron Global Fund, which was a start-up based in Mauritius with no track record and was a high-risk investment.
Cooper was convicted of advising a client to invest £160,000 in the fund without authorisation and dishonestly concealing Hexley was banned from offering investment advice.
Hexley was found guilty of giving investment advice without authorisation and five charges of dishonestly concealing facts from clients. Hexley was acquitted on one count of each charge.
Cooper was convicted of giving investment advice without authorisation and a charge of dishonestly concealing facts from clients. Cooper was acquitted of three counts of concealing facts from clients.
Warnings about bogus advisers
The FCA has also issued these warnings about bogus firms posing as regulated financial advisers:
Board of International Finance
Dealing with an unregulated firm
If you buy shares, save money or invest with an unregulated firm, you lose any protection offered by the Financial Ombudsman and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Broadly, you have no independent place to complain if the deal goes wrong and are unlikely to win any compensation.
Checking if a firm is regulated
Go to the Financial Services Register to check if a firm is regulated in the UK.
Reporting a suspected bogus adviser
Find out how to report unauthorised advisers on the FCA web site
