The FCA has secured a confiscation order of £291,070.36 against a convicted fraudster.

The order was made against Mark Barry Starling at Southwark Crown Court and follows the regulator’s prosecution.

Mr Starling was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for defrauding investors of just under £3m in relation to unauthorised investment schemes he operated between 2008 and 2017.

Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “The FCA will continue to take steps to ensure that proceeds of criminal activity are confiscated from the criminals we prosecute so that victims can be compensated as far as possible.”

The Court found that Mr Starling had derived a benefit of £3,010,982.18 from his fraudulent activity, but that the total realisable assets for confiscation was £291,070.36.

Mr Starling had spent the rest of the victims’ cash maintaining his “comfortable lifestyle”.

The money will be used to compensate the 14 victims of his crimes who lost around £1.8m in total.

If Mr Starling does not pay the confiscation order on time, he is liable to spend a further two-and-a-half years in jail.