The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has charged three people with fraud for their alleged involvement in a high-risk trading scheme that targeted people’s retirement savings.
Kristofer McGuire, Keith Williamson and Karla Walker have been charged with multiple offences, including fraud by false representation and fraudulent trading, after they targeted victims by persuading them to invest in contracts for difference (CFDs).
Many victims of the alleged fraud were encouraged to use their pensions to invest, which were then traded to generate large fees for those operating the scheme, with the victims’ pension funds almost entirely lost.
The FCA alleges that Mr McGuire, Mr Williamson and Ms Walker made false representations to a trading platform that their clients were professional investors.
Mr Williamson and Mr McGuire are charged with fraudulent trading and Mr McGuire faces five further charges of fraud by false representation.
The FCA claims:
- Between 1 January 2015 and 30 June 2017, Kristofer McGuire, Keith Williamson and Karla Walker made untrue and misleading statements on a CFD trading platform that clients met the criteria for professional investors when in fact they did not.
- Between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016, Keith Williamson and Kristofer McGuire engaged in fraudulent trading using harmful trading strategies when trading CFDs to generate excessive commissions at the expense of investors.
- Between April 1, 2016 and February 28, 2023, Kristofer McGuire further made false and misleading statements to 5 individual investors to induce them to invest their money through him and/or his company K&K Consult LTD.
The total known loss to victims is over £8 million.
The defendants will appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 7, 2024.