Taunton-based Nicholas Harper, 26, has been convicted of breaching the Data Protection Act but acquitted of fraud and unauthorised business offences connected to an investment fraud following a prosecution brought by the FCA.

He was fined £100 and ordered to pay a £30 victim surcharge for the data protection breach.

On Monday 1 September, Mr Harper pleaded guilty to encouraging or assisting an offence to be committed in breach of the Data Protection Act.

Following a retrial at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, a jury found Mr Harper not guilty of conspiracy to defraud and not guilty of an offence related to carrying out regulated activity in the UK without FCA authorisation.

In July two men, Raymondip Bedi and Patrick Mavanga, were sentenced to a combined 12 years of imprisonment for their role in the scam which defrauded at least 65 investors out of £1,541,799.

They ran a fake investment scam which used clone websites and other methods to target investors. Between February 2017 and June 2019, the pair cold-called victims and sold fake investments in crypto. 

A further individual, Minas Filippidis, is wanted in relation to the same offences that Mssrs Bedi and Mavanga were convicted for, the FCA said.

In April 2023 the FCA began criminal proceedings against four individuals allegedly involved in a £1.4m investment fraud involving a number of firms, including two ‘cloned’ firms.

Mr Harper was found not guilty of conspiracy to breach the general prohibition under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2000. Under Section 19 of the FSMA, a person cannot carry on a regulated activity in the UK unless they are FCA authorised or exempt (this is the General Prohibition).

Mr Harper was found not guilty of conspiracy to defraud, which is an offence under the Criminal Law Act 1977 and the Fraud Act 2006.

The FCA said it was unable to share further details about the breach of the Data Protection Act "at this time."