FCA bans wealth manager trio behind £35.5m investor visa scam
The financial watchdog has banned and fined a trio of former wealth managers after discovering they operated a scheme designed to help clients slip past UK investor visa rules. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that three Dolfin Financial executives had run a scheme designed to create the false impression that visa requirements to enter [...]
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned and fined three former wealth managers for operating a scheme that allegedly helped clients bypass UK investor visa rules. The scheme, run by executives at Dolfin Financial, allowed clients to pay a £400,000 fee instead of investing £2 million of their own money into UK companies as required by the Home Office investor visa rules.
This arrangement enabled 99 individuals to obtain investor visas, generating £35.5 million in fees for Dolfin-connected businesses and immigration agents. Former chief executive Denisz Nagy was fined £324,800, while former finance director Sanjay Maraj was fined £122,000. Both were banned from working in financial services. Dolfin co-founder Roman Joukovski was also banned from the financial services industry.
The FCA stated that the executives concealed the scheme's true nature from the regulator and the Home Office. The investor visa, known as the 'golden visa', was popular during the late 2010s due to its ability to provide wealthy individuals with fast-track residency in exchange for a large financial investment. The UK government closed the scheme in February 2022 due to security and money-laundering concerns.
Written by urgent.news from City AM's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
