The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has charged Kristofer McGuire, Keith Williamson and Karla Walker with fraud for their alleged involvement in a high-risk trading scheme, which targeted people’s pension savings.

The three individuals were charged with multiple offences, including fraud by false representation and fraudulent trading, after allegedly targeting victims by persuading them to invest in contracts for difference (CFDs), a high-risk investment product used to bet on the price of an asset.

In particular, Williamson and McGuire were accused of fraudulent trading, while McGuire faces five further counts of fraud by false representation.

The FCA said that many victims of the alleged fraud were encouraged to use their pensions to invest, which were then traded to generate large commissions for those running the scheme, with victims’ pension funds almost entirely lost and a total known loss to victims of over £8m.

It also alleged that McGuire, Williamson and Walker made false statements to a trading platform that their clients were professional investors.

The defendants will appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 7 June 2024.

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