A financial influencer who duped victims out of more than £1million through an investment scam has been jailed after a prosecution brought by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Daniel Pugh, a 35-year-old ex-soldier from Devon, has been sentenced to seven years and six months in prison after stealing money from 238 investors he targeted through ads on social media.
Running the scam out of his bedroom, Pugh built a £1.3million ponzi scheme, through which he earned £96,000 from his victims.
The FCA says he used the funds to support his lavish lifestyle, spending on designer clothes, restaurants and £18,000 worth of cash withdrawals.
Pugh had presences on Social media sites including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, where he promoted his fraudulent ‘Imperial Investment Fund’.
Pugh promised investors impossibly high returns of 1.4 per cent per day, seven per cent per week and 350 per cent over a year.
Daniel Pugh, a 35-year-old ex-soldier from Devon has been sentenced to seven years and six months in prison after stealing money from 238 investors he targeted through ads on social media
Pugh’s social media and website claimed the firm used ‘strict risk management’ in a model ‘so unique, innovative and better than any high street bank or investment platform or strategy that has ever been seen until now!’
The FCA says the returns Pugh promised investors did not materialise, while Pugh pretended that victims’ funds were being successfully traded and that their money was safe.
Pugh’s website claimed: ‘we make safely 6.0% Daily ROI as a FUND’.
Steve Smart, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: ‘Pugh made outlandish claims to hook in victims but in reality this was nothing more than a massive fraud. Fighting financial crime is a priority for the FCA.
‘We will take action to ensure criminals face repercussions for their actions, including being denied access to any ill-gotten gains.’
The scam was perpetrated alongside another individual, whom the FCA said is wanted in relation to the same offences as Pugh.
Pugh was charged back in 2023.
His sentence is largely made up of penalties for conspiracy to defraud, but also includes 24 months imprisonment for carrying out unregulated activity without FCA authorisation, and 12 months imprisonment for inducing investment without FCA authorisation.
Smart said: ‘People’s online personas are often at odds with reality, as was the case with Pugh. Claims that sound too good to be true, are usually just that. Check the FCA Firm Checker before you invest.’
Pugh used social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook to promote his Imperial Investment Fund
Sentencing Pugh last week at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Mark Weekes said Pugh committed ‘persistent and knowing breaches of the regulatory framework,’ and that any remorse was ‘woefully late’.
Judge Weekes added: ‘The consequences for [the victims] are marked and apart from financial loss they feel embarrassment.’
The FCA said it is pursuing confiscation proceedings against Pugh to compensate his victims, and Pugh has been disqualified form being the director of a company for eight years effective from when he is release from prison.
The FCA has secured convictions for six people involved in financial crime offences in the past six months alone.
Anyone who lost money to Pugh and his Imperial Investment Fund can contact the FCA at ophainesconsumercontact@fca.org.uk.
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