Thomas Daniels
Two individuals have been sentenced to over 12 years in total for orchestrating a cryptocurrency investment scam that defrauded 65 investors through cold-calling tactics, according to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Raymondip Bedi received a five-year and four-month sentence, while Patrick Mavanga was handed a six-year and six-month term. The sentencing followed guilty pleas to multiple counts, including conspiracy to defraud and breaches of UK financial services law.
Between February 2017 and June 2019, Bedi and Mavanga operated through companies including Astaria Group LLP, CCX Capital, and unauthorized clones of Ian Buckley Financial Services and Capital Partners Group. Victims were directed to polished, fraudulent websites offering high-yield cryptocurrency investments, resulting in losses totaling over £1.54 million ($2.1 million).
“These individuals ruthlessly defrauded dozens of innocent victims,” said Steve Smart, the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight. “It is right that they have received these prison sentences.”
At sentencing, Judge Griffiths of Southwark Crown Court described Bedi and Mavanga as “leading players” in the scheme. He criticized their actions as a calculated attempt to undermine the UK’s regulatory system.
The FCA stated that Mavanga also faced charges related to possession of fraudulent identification documents and was convicted of perverting the course of justice by deleting phone records after Bedi’s arrest in March 2019.
The case, which began with charges in April 2023, is ongoing. A third defendant faces a retrial in September after a jury failed to reach a verdict, while a fourth individual, Rowena Bedi, was acquitted of money laundering charges.
