There is a chance that victims will get some of their money back after a confiscation order was made against the architect of an investment scam.
Mark Barry Starling was sentenced to five years in prison in November 2018 for running unauthorised investment schemes between 2008 and 2017.
On 27 November 2019, the Financial Conduct Authority confirmed it had secured a confiscation order of £291,070.36, which was the total realisable assets remaining after Starling spent the rest maintaining a comfortable lifestyle.
Investors put just under £3m ($3.86m, €3.5m) into the unauthorised schemes.
At sentencing in 2018, the judge said Starling had treated investors in an “appalling way”.
Victim compensation
The money will be used to compensate 14 victims, who lost around £1.8m.
Some 24 investors put money into the funds, with Starling paying investors on request to sustain the illusion of running a successful investment business.
In reality, the payments were funded by other investors’ monies.
If he fails to pay on time, Starling will face a further two-and-a-half years in prison.
Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said the regulator “will continue to take steps to ensure that proceeds of criminal activity are confiscated from the criminals we prosecute so that victims can be compensated as far as possible”.
