Two individuals have been convicted for their roles in a £1.5m investment fraud, following a prosecution brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Raymondip Bedi and Patrick Mavanga defrauded at least 65 investors between February 2017 and June 2019.

The pair, who were charged in April 2023, cold-called consumers and directed them to a website where they were offered high returns on fake cryptocurrency investments.

Bedi, 35, of Bromley, and Mavanga, 39, of Peckham, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to breach the general prohibition under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

At earlier hearings, Bedi also pleaded guilty to money laundering offences, while Mavanga pleaded guilty to possession of false identification documents with an improper intention and perverting the course of justice for the deletion of phone call recordings following Bedi’s arrest in March 2019.

The jury were unable to reach a verdict on a third defendant, who will face a retrial in September 2025.

A fourth individual, Rowena Bedi, was acquitted of money laundering, while a further individual, Minas Filippidas, is wanted in relation to the same offences.

Joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, Steve Smart, said: "Bedi and Mavanga lured investors with promises of high returns on crypto investments, but their schemes were nothing but a callous scam. If you’re contacted out of the blue about an investment opportunity that sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. If you’re in any doubt – don’t invest."

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