A fraudster whose scam investment scheme cost investors over £21m has been jailed for seven years – the longest sentence ever from an FCA prosecution.
Benjamin Wilson of Bournemouth, Dorset, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court today for defrauding investors, following previous guilty pleas for fraud, forgery and operating a collective investment scheme without authorisation.
The FCA revealed Mr Wilson spent £6.3m funding an extravagant lifestyle, including a £4m house in the exclusive Sandbanks area of Poole, Dorset.
He splashed out £200,000 on racing and horses; £200,000 on cars, including a Ferrari California; £100,000 on shopping and hundreds of thousands more on leisure and holidays. On one trip to Las Vegas, the bar bill alone was over £22,000.
Mr Wilson also spent substantial amounts creating the impression that his firm was above board and successful, officials said.
Some £4.8m was spent on an exclusive office in Poole, complete with massage room, bar, games area and life coach, the FCA probe found.
It was also filled with 'traders' who were merely doing simulated computer trading – and some persuaded their family and friends to invest.
This is the longest sentence for anyone prosecuted by the Financial Conduct Authority and the second longest under either the FCA or its predecessor, the Financial Services Authority.
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Sentencing Wilson, His Honour Judge Michael Grieve QC, said: "It was an utterly shameless confidence fraud. The purpose was to give himself a lifestyle of untold lavishness and luxury.
"It was abuse of trust on a massive scale."
Mr Wilson was successfully prosecuted by the FCA in December 2013 after it was found that the unauthorised investment firm he ran, SureInvestment, was a sham.
He used investors' cash to fund an extravagant lifestyle.
In total, over 300 investors trusted Mr Wilson with £21.8m after he set up the firm, aged 24 in 2003.
In April 2010 Mr Wilson falsely claimed that the SureInvestment scheme was valued at £100 million.
When the scam was closed down by the FCA, £17.54m was owed to investors and it is estimated that only £5.39m in total will be recovered.
Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime, said: "Wilson used his charm and the trappings of apparent success to lure investors.
"However, his firm was almost as fictitious as his claims to genius. It was little more than a charade acted out at the expense of those who trusted and believed in him.
"There was only one beneficiary of the scheme and that was Wilson himself.
"The FCA has an objective to protect consumers and enhance the integrity of the financial system. The FCA has objectives to protect consumers and enhance the integrity of the financial system. Wilson being put behind bars contributes to us achieving both."