In 2021 UK stockbroker Richard Faithfull was found guilty of money laundering as part of a trans-national organised crime group, laundering the proceeds of at least seven professionally run overseas investment frauds. He was sentenced to five years and 10 months imprisonment and disqualified from being a company director for 10 years.
The Court will also make a Confiscation Order against Faithfull, once it has determined how much he benefitted from offending and the value of his current assets. Southwark Crown Court has set a date of 13 October 2022 for the final hearing.
The FCA is urging any individual who believes they may have suffered a loss directly linked to Faithfull’s offending to contact the FCA urgently if they have not done so yet.
Richard Faithfull’s money laundering career
Faithfull laundered £2.5million as part of a trans-national organised crime group for longer than 12 months. The operation was sophisticated, utilising multiple accounts and front companies in numerous jurisdictions.
Faithfull was able to use knowledge gained when he worked in the regulated sector – as an investment advisor – to help the fraudsters continue to defraud victims by paying fictional ‘dividends’ from bank accounts controlled by him to make it look as though the underlying investments were generating returns. He also involved innocent parties to help assist with his criminal enterprise.
To avoid detection he relocated to Ukraine where he lived a life of luxury whilst he continued his criminal activities, enlisting the assistance of local criminal groups abroad. Following his arrest, he spun a web of lies to try and throw the FCA off the case but at the hearing held September he finally accepted that he was a ‘thoroughly dishonest person’.
Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, said: “Mr Faithfull showed little compassion for those affected by his crimes and I want to ensure that anyone who may have lost money as a result of his offending is able to submit a claim for compensation.”
Were you affected?
The FCA is asking anyone who made payments to the following bank accounts between 1 June 2017 and 1 August 2018 to contact the FCA:
- Faithfull Investments Limited (63019667, 73188825, 43871401, 80389994, 33260763, 20331791, 55420660, 56129860, 56130560, 56130968, 56932766)
- Global Edge Consulting Limited (20051247, 30656960)
- AG Capital Limited (20056281)
- Meadows Financial Limited (20064365)
- SFM Management Limited (20064349)
- Corbett and White Limited (30917160)
- AVE Star FZE (1015338763901, 1025338763902 and 1025338763903)
Should anyone believe that they may be entitled to compensation because they made a transfer or payment to any of the bank accounts listed above between the dates listed above, and have not previously contacted the FCA, they are urged to get in touch as soon as possible by:
email: op_delta_external@fca.org.uk
write to: The Operation Delta Team, Unauthorised Business Department, Financial Conduct Authority, 12 Endeavour Square, London E20 1JN
The FCA said that if you are making a claim for compensation on behalf of somebody else, please inform it of the full name and address of the person who you are claiming for as well as providing your full contact details. The regulator will also need to see evidence of your authority to act on their behalf (eg a signed letter of authority from the investor; a Power of Attorney; Letter of Administration of Grant of Probate).
The FCA said it would check that everyone who contacts it is eligible for compensation. Eligibility for compensation under the Sentencing Act 2020 is confined to those who made transfers to the company accounts specified above during the time period set out above.
Faithfull has yet to have a Confiscation Order made against him, and proceedings at Southwark Crown court are ongoing.
There may be people who are not eligible for compensation because their money did not pass through the accounts or the time period set out above. Unfortunately, the legal provisions for compensation only allow orders to be made for victims who have lost money as a result of the crimes which Faithfull has been convicted of.
The value of the Confiscation Order will either be the amount equal to the benefit Faithfull has obtained from his offending or, if his assets are less than that amount, the total value of his assets at the time the Confiscation Order is made.
It is possible that the amount that Faithfull may be ordered to pay will be less than the value of the benefit he obtained from his offending (if the value of his assets is less than this amount). It may be that the amount of compensation that victims will receive will be less than the loss they suffered. Compensation may be paid on a pro-rata basis to each victim, the FCA said.
