Sixty-three UK investors are to receive compensation of £360,000 ($624,000) from a solicitor and his London-based law firm, the UK’s Court o...

Sixty-three UK investors are to receive compensation of £360,000 ($624,000) from a solicitor and his London-based law firm, the UK’s Court of Appeal said yesterday. The investors were caught in a so-called boiler-room scam operated by Steven Wilkinson, trading as Apex Equities, and then as Great British Investors. The solicitor, John Martin and his firm Adrian Sam & Co, at which Martin was a partner, were involved in the illegal overseas investment firm’s activities in the UK. The boiler room operated by making unsolicited telephone calls to UK residents, recommending that they purchase certain shares. The Court heard that the Wilkinson operated in Spain illegally between August 2000 and October 2001 by carrying on investment business in the UK without authorisation, making misleading statements about the nature and risks of the investments it recommended to investors and issuing unapproved investment advertisements to UK investors. The UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, brought the case to court after it emerged that the law firm had assisted the operation of the illegal boiler room. UK investors were caught by being offered shares at inflated prices. They were also advised that the shares were going to substantially increase in price and that the boiler room would only receive payment if the shares increased in value. Investors paid for the shares, £825,000, directly into ASC’s client account to give them the impression that their money was safe in the hands of UK solicitors. The Court found that Adrian Sam & Co were no more than the respectable front of the boiler room’s illegal activities.