Forger Taheer Sardar has been sentenced to 18 months’ in prison today at Southwark Crown Court for perverting the course of justice.

He was linked to a team of people involved in a “sophisticated” boiler room fraud that cheated 120 investors out of a total of £1.3m.

Mr Sardar, 45, of East London, pleaded guilty on 7 May.

He was interviewed by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) staff as part of an investigation into the investment con.

Three individuals, Mr Mirza, Mr Solaja and Mr Vickers were convicted and sentenced to 23 years for the fraud following prosecution by the FCA.

The FCA did not find that Mr Sardar was involved in the fraud itself but said he provided a forged document in order to mislead the FCA.  

In his interview, Mr Sardar, acting with Mr Mirza, provided a forged document, which he claimed had been signed by a “Mohammed Khan”.

Mr Sardar sought to use the document to bolster a defence raised by Raheel Mirza and Opeyemi Solaja, who had claimed – without evidence – that someone named “Mohammed Khan” was the architect of the fraud they had been involved in. 

Three people were convicted for investment fraud and sentenced to a total of 24 and a half years for their roles in 2023. A fourth defendant was convicted for trading without FCA authorisation.

On 3 April 2023, following an 8-week trial at Southwark Crown Court, Cameron Vickers, then 27, Raheel Mirza, then 38 and Opeyemi Solaja, then 33, were convicted of conspiracy to defraud investors through a fake, London-based company called Bespoke Markets Group (BMG).

Their scam fleeced around 120 UK investors. Raheel Mirza was further convicted of perverting the course of justice and Reuben Akpojaro, then 40, was convicted for offering binary option investments without FCA authorisation. Mr Akpojaro was acquitted of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.

In a report of the earlier boiler room fraud case last year, the FCA said that between June 2016 and January 2020 Cameron Vickers, Raheel Mirza, Opeyemi Solaja and Reuben Akpojaro made cold calls to members of the public, using pseudonyms, to convince them to invest with BMG. Various UK and offshore companies and bank accounts were set up to try to distance the defendants from the fraud (including Upscale Limited, registered in the Marshall Islands) and to launder money.

They claimed to trade their clients’ monies in 'Binary Options', when in reality the money was shared among the fraudsters to fund their lifestyles. To encourage people to invest or invest more, BMG offered to match investments with their own funds and refund losses in the first 3-6 months. The investors had access to a sophisticated online platform that appeared to show their funds being traded, however, this was manipulated to show trading activity when there was none. 

At Mr Sardar’s sentencing on 10 May 2024, the Judge, Mr Recorder Gavaghan, said: “This was a sophisticated attempt using a forged document to undermine the course of justice…[it was] a very serious offence that strikes at the very core of the legal system.” 

Steve Smart, joint executive director, enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: "Mr Sardar’s conviction and sentence, is a strong warning to anyone who may be tempted to try to help others escape justice - there is no stone we will leave unturned.  

"Perverting the course of justice is a serious offence, and the FCA will not hesitate to take action when it identifies this has taken place.”