beaufort3 Mar 2018 16:57
the article below is copied from the times online i`ve just read . as stated on here previously the FCA have no teeth and imo are paid to do sweet FA.
Thousands of investors have been left in limbo after the City watchdog shut down a stockbroker and American prosecutors accused the firm of operating a Wolf of Wall Street-style �pump and dump scheme�.
At least 14,000 clients are thought to have held shares, pensions and Isas with Beaufort Securities, but now face a nervous wait to recover their money after the Financial Conduct Authority froze �700 million of funds tied to investments with the broker.
Beaufort was placed into administration by the FCA after an investigation into its finances found a shortfall and the City watchdog secured a High Court order to shut the business.
Within hours of the FCA�s statement confirming that Beaufort had been declared insolvent, the US Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission said that they would be bringing criminal charges against Beaufort and several of its employees for running an alleged scam to manipulate the share prices of tiny companies.
Beaufort employs about 100 people in offices in London, Bristol and Colwyn Bay, north Wales. Its chief executive is Tanvier Malik, who helped to raise funds for the Cinnamon Club, the Westminster curry house frequented by MPs. As well as making investments on behalf of thousands of retail investors, Beaufort issued research and acted as the broker for more than 40 corporate clients. It claims to be one the largest corporate brokers to small and medium-sized businesses in Britain.
US prosecutors claim that an undercover FBI operation discovered a plot to operate so-called pump and dump schemes, whereby investors are encouraged to buy shares from fraudsters, pushing up the stock, only for its value to collapse as the scammers sell out, leaving victims with worthless paper.
The justice department also claimed that Beaufort, with alleged accomplices, including Matthew Green, the owner of an art gallery in London, had discussed laundering �6.7 million on behalf of the undercover agent via the sale of a Picasso painting Personnages, Painted 11 April, 1965. The plan was stopped before the sale could go through.
�In a series of unscrupulous and illegal trading practices, the defendants contrived a scheme to defraud investors of US publicly traded companies by manipulating stock prices and masking the true ownership of their clients� financial interests,� William Sweeney, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI�s New York field office, said.
�In order to discreetly receive their illegal proceeds, the defendants focused their efforts on laundering the money through a variety of means, including the art world, which they believed was a market free from direct regulation.�
Six individuals, including Mr Green and two Beaufort employees, have been charged with