A United Kingdom court has authorized the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to distribute £106,650 of recovered funds to 1,387 victims of illegal CFDs signals provider, 24HR Trading Academy. Investors that participated in the scheme lost a total of £1.3 million, with their losses ranging from £52,781 to 10 pence per investor, according to court documents.

Master McQuail of the England and Wales High Court reached the decision on Wednesday, approving the FCA’s plan to distribute the fund in proportion to each investor’s loss. However, only those whose losses stand above £500 are to be compensated.

The Court Confirms FCA’s Distribution Proposal

Mohammad Maricar, the Sole Director and shareholder of 24HR Trading Academy, ran the unregistered ‘signal service' platform by providing forex recommendations to investors. Through the platform's website, Maricar shared links to two partner forex brokers' pages for the firm's clients to sign up with. He earned a commission from this practice.

Finance Magnates reported in February that the FCA received £106,650 from the official receiver in the case and sought court permission to distribute the fund. Delivering his ruling, McQuail accepted the British watchdog’s proposal to pay only investors identified via bank statements and PayPal records made to the forex brokerages.

“The quality of the records available to the FCA in [the] Maricar [case] means that the FCA is confident that a pro rata distribution can fairly be implemented based on the losses it has identified from its enforcement action,” McQuail said in his court ruling.

FCA Fights for Fund Recovery

The FCA first acted against 24HR Trading Academy in September 2019 when it flagged down the platform for operating without a necessary regulatory license. Following this warning, the British watchdog in April 2020 initiated a court action against Maricar and froze £624,000 of his assets.

In March 2021, the high court ruled in favour of the FCA and Maricar was ordered to repay the losses with his liability capped at £530,000. However, following the director's default on the restitution payment, the markets supervisor in August obtained a bankruptcy order against Maricar.

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