Today, Phillip Boakes was sentenced to 730 days’ imprisonment for failing to satisfy the full value of a confiscation order made against him.
The Confiscation Order in the sum of £165,731 was made on 2 November 2015 at a hearing before HHJ Loraine-Smith at Southwark Crown Court. The period afforded to Mr Boakes to satisfy the Order expired on 2 February 2016. As of today’s date, the full value of the Order remains unpaid and interest is accruing at the daily rate of £36.32.
Commenting on the case, Mark Steward, Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, said:
'The FCA welcomes the Court’s decision today. Wrongdoers should not be able to retain the benefits of their wrongdoing. The FCA will continue to ensure orders to strip wrongdoers of their ill-gotten gains are enforced and not ignored or evaded.'
The sentence imposed today is in addition to the term of 10 years’ imprisonment that Mr Boakes received on 6 March 2015, which was upheld by the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division on 23 November 2015.
Mr Boakes pleaded guilty to two counts of fraudulent trading, three counts of using a forged instrument and one count of accepting deposits without authorisation. He ran his scam through his company Currency Trader Ltd, which claimed to carry out foreign exchange spread betting for its customers. The scam encouraged people to invest on the promise of guaranteed annual returns of 20% or more. In reality, Mr Boakes was not authorised by the FCA to accept deposits and the pledge of guaranteed returns was a fiction. The ‘returns’ were funded from the deposit itself or from funds received from new investors. Through his actions, he defrauded investors of at least £3.5 million.
Unfortunately, as is often the case with fraudulent unauthorised investment schemes, Mr Boakes spent much of the monies on a lavish lifestyle and unsuccessful financial trading. He was made bankrupt on 30 January 2013 and at the time the Confiscation Order was made, it was accepted that he had no assets available to him to satisfy it. However, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the value of tainted gifts can be recovered from defendants even when such monies may no longer be available to them. As such, Mr Boakes was ordered to pay a sum equal to the value of the gifts he made to others. All monies recovered from Mr Boakes will be used to compensate the victims of his crimes.
Notes to editors
- The default sentence was passed on Tuesday 15 March 2016 at a hearing at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
- Even after having serving the sentence in default of payment, Mr Boakes will continue to be liable for the outstanding debt.
- Details surrounding Mr Boakes’ original sentence. Details of the FCA disciplinary action against Mr Boakes.
- On 1 April 2013 the FCA became responsible for the conduct supervision of all regulated financial firms and the prudential supervision of those not supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
- The FCA has an overarching strategic objective of ensuring the relevant markets function well. To support this it has three operational objectives: to secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers; to protect and enhance the integrity of the UK financial system; and to promote effective competition in the interests of consumers.
- Find out more information about the FCA.