Fake FX Trader Who Spent Client Cash at Casinos Guilty of Fraud

A London man who cheated investors out of more than 5 million pounds ($7.6 million) in a fraudulent currency-trading scheme, spending the money at casinos and nightclubs, was found guilty of fraud by a London jury today.
Alex Hope took more than 5 million pounds from investors between March 2011 and April 2012, and spent 2 million pounds himself, including 950,000 pounds at casinos, prosecutors said. Hope had already pleaded guilty to operating a collective investment scheme without authorization, the Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement.
The 25-year-old “promised fantastic returns but, as is so often the case with unauthorized investment schemes, those who invested ended up with significant losses and the main beneficiary of the scheme was Hope himself,” Georgina Philippou, the FCA’s acting director of enforcement and market oversight, said in the statement.
The conviction is another black eye for the foreign-exchange trading industry, which has already been roiled by global investigations into the manipulations of key benchmarks.
Before the trial, Raj Von Badlo pleaded guilty to recklessly making false representations to investors and promoting a collective investment scheme without authorization.
Both men will be sentenced Jan. 16 at London’s Southwark Crown Court.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-09/fake-fx-trader-who-spent-client-cash-at-casinos-guilty-of-fraud.html