Investment fraudster's sentence extended for 20 months

The sentence is in addition to the term of 7 years’ imprisonment that Alex Hope received on 30 January 2015.

The £166,696 Confiscation Order was made in February 2016 and the period afforded to satisfy the Order expired on 12 May. As of today’s date, Mr Hope has paid just £1,000 in satisfaction of the Order.

On 9 January 2015, Hope was convicted of defrauding investors of significant sums, having previously pleaded guilty to operating a collective investment scheme without authorisation.

In total, over 100 investors entrusted Mr Hope with over £5.5 million on the promise that their funds would be used to generate substantial returns by his trading on the foreign exchange markets. In reality, only 12% of the total sum investors gave was ever traded and when Mr Hope did trade, he lost almost all of the money in his trading accounts.

As a result of an FCA investigation, almost £2.65 million was identified and frozen in accounts controlled by Mr Hope, which was returned to investors earlier this year.

The FCA said that Mr Hope "spent a significant proportion of the remainder of the funds on a lavish lifestyle, including gifts to family and friends".

All money recovered from Mr Hope will be used to compensate the victims of his crimes.

Mark Steward, Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, said: “The FCA will continue to make sure wrongdoers do not profit from their crimes at the expense of victims. Confiscation orders cannot be ignored and will be enforced.”