Charlotte Brewer appears in first ever Consumer Credit prosecution brought by the FCA

Charlotte Brewer was instructed by the Financial Conduct Authority as junior counsel in the first ever criminal prosecution brought by the FCA in relation to its consumer credit powers.

The defendant operated a large-scale money lending business over a 4 year period, despite the fact that his consumer credit licence had been revoked by the Office of Fair Trading in 2012. The defendant lent money to vulnerable individuals and registered charges over their homes to enable him to take possession of a property if the borrower failed to pay the debt.

Over the indictment period, the defendant lent in excess of £1m to consumers and received in excess of £2m in loan repayments.

The jury returned guilty verdicts to the charges brought under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”). The defendant was sentenced to the maximum sentence available under FSMA.

For further information, please see FCA Newsletter; Mail Online.