Victims of 24HR Trading Academy will be compensated

British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that he had secured money to pay victims injured by the company 24HR Trading Academy Ltd. The platform that was supposed to send forex signals went bankrupt and its assets were seized by the trustee in 2020. He ran the company Mohammed Maricar.

The troubles of the 24HR Trading Academy Ltd. began in earnest in April 2020, when the FCA filed a case against Mohammed Maricar. However, the company has already attracted the attention of investigators. From the beginning, it offered clients "reliable" trading signals that were supposed to make them achieve significant profits in a short time.

Specific indications reached customers through WhatsApp and other communicators. They mainly concerned Forex market, but also stock prices, stock futures and oil, gas and wheat futures.

24HR Trading Academy Ltd.  was operating without a license

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) became interested in 24HR Trading Academy Ltd. already in September 2019. The platform operated without a license. In April 2020, the regulator opened a case against Maricar, at the same time deciding to freeze the assets in their entirety.

Then the court stepped in. In the judgment, he ordered the reimbursement of losses to injured customers who began to report to law enforcement authorities. "Certain signals" turned out to be not so sure. There was a growing number of people who were losing large amounts of money trading as recommended by a trading company that promised them mountains of gold if they only acted through it.

Friendly broker, unpaid fine and trustee

The investigation showed that Maricar made money primarily from trading. The more transactions his clients made with a friendly broker, the more commission he received from him. Regardless of whether the transactions were successful or not.

24HR Trading Academy Ltd.'s financial liability was capped at £530, but no penalty was paid by the company. So the FCA issued a bankruptcy order.

– In March 2021, the High Court ordered Mr Maricar and his company to pay £530 in restitution/compensation to consumers – we read in the FCA statement. - Mr. Maricar failed to pay the penalty imposed, so the FCA filed for his insolvency. In August last year, the Supreme Court issued an order declaring Mr. Maricar bankrupt, and an official trustee was appointed on Mr. Maricar's estate.

The trustee recovered the money for the victims

The receiver managed to recover £106 from the private estate of the head of the company. However, this does not mean that the money will immediately go to the victims. The Supreme Court will decide in detail on the distribution of funds. It is not known whether all the victims are known. There may be more of them than you think.

– Consumers who may have been defrauded and of whom the FCA is aware contact the FCA directly, but all affected consumers may also contact the FCA regarding the proposed distribution order – we read in the FCA communiqué.

FCA against financial fraud

The FCA continues to track down criminals dealing in dubious financial services. In 2022, as many as 1,8 thousand were published. 8582 alleged financial promotions were blocked. The focus was also on brokerage platforms operating without authorization.

The most famous action took place when the so-called boiler room, an organized group with telephone operators who swindled people out of over USD 3,8 million. Its ringleader was sentenced in 2018 to 11 years in prison, but thanks to the actions of the FCA, which led to the resumption of the trial, the sentence was increased by another 4 years. Kar was also not avoided by his five associates.