Lancashire Man Guy Flintham Jailed for 6 Years for Fraud over Unauthorized Investment Scheme

Following a hearing at Southwark Crown Court, Guy Flintham, 46, was sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment for fraud on May 17, 2024. On February 19, Mr. Flintham pleaded guilty to fraud by misrepresentation following a prosecution brought by the FCA.

Between January 2016 and November 2021, Mr. Flinstam, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, defrauded more than 240 investors by persuading them to invest approximately £19 million in an investment scheme operated by him through misrepresentations such as claiming that he was a successful trader when in fact he was not.

Mr. Flinstam lied about how the scheme worked and the profits it earned for his investors. He sent the investors falsified trading statements that showed healthy returns. Any money paid to the investors as returns was money received from other investors - or their own investment paid back to them.

Steve Smart, Joint Executive Director of Enforcement & Market Oversight at the FCA, said: “Over a 5-year period, Mr Flintham deliberately lied and misled people to persuade them to invest in what amounted to little more than a Ponzi scheme.”

Mr. Flinstam deposited only £1.14 million into the trading accounts, and another £10 million was returned to investors as "profits" or capital withdrawals. Mr. Flinstam spent significant sums on a lavish lifestyle, including more than £1 million on vehicles, personalized number plates, jewelry, and designer goods.

In sentencing, His Honour Judge Milne remarked: “The fraud [in this case] relates to money being taken from friends, from family. It relates to people you know, who you met… you took money from them having looked them in the eye and no doubt shaken their hand.”

“People were devastated by what has happened; people’s lives have been irrevocably damaged.”

The FCA has commenced confiscation proceedings against Mr. Flintham and a hearing is scheduled for July 18th.