The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has charged three individuals with involvement in a high-risk trading fraud targeting pension savings.

Kristofer McGuire, Keith Williamson, and Karla Walker face multiple charges, including fraud by false representation and fraudulent trading, for persuading victims to invest in Contracts for Difference (CFDs).

Many victims were encouraged to use their pensions for investments, which were then traded to generate large commissions for those running the scheme, resulting in the near-total loss of the victims' pension funds.

The FCA charges that Mr. McGuire, Mr. Williamson, and Ms. Walker made false representations to a trading platform, claiming their clients were professional investors. Mr. Williamson and Mr. McGuire are charged with fraudulent trading, and Mr. McGuire faces an additional five counts of fraud by false representation.

The FCA's charges are as follows:

• Between January 1, 2015, and June 30, 2017, Kristofer McGuire, Keith Williamson, and Karla Walker made false and misleading statements to a CFD trading platform, asserting that clients met the criteria for professional investors when they did not.
• Between January 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016, Keith Williamson and Kristofer McGuire engaged in fraudulent trading by employing harmful trading strategies while trading CFDs, generating excessive commissions at the expense of investors' losses.
• Between April 1, 2016, and February 28, 2023, Kristofer McGuire further made false and misleading statements to five individual investors to persuade them to invest through him and/or his company, K&K Consult LTD.

The known total losses to victims exceed £8 million. The defendants are scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 7, 2024.