Seven Love Island and Towie stars to appear before magistrates charged with 'unauthorised communication'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Seven reality TV stars are set to appear before Westminster Magistrates after being charged with the unauthorised communication of financial information, in a trial over an alleged 'finfluencer' scheme.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has brought charges against nine individuals in total that it alleges were involved in an unauthorised investment scheme advertising a financial product called CFDs, which the finance watchdog describes as "a high-risk investment product used to bet on the price of an asset, in this case the price of foreign currencies." Emmanuel Nwanze, 30, who has been charged with running an unauthorised investment scheme and issuing unauthorised financial promotions, is alleged to have operated an Instagram account with Holly Thompson, 34, (@holly_fxtrends), that provided advice on buying and selling CFDs.

This was then promoted to an estimated 4.5 million people by social media influencers. READ MORE: DWP spells out exactly who will be looking at benefit claimants' bank accounts The FCA alleges that Nwanze paid reality stars Biggs Chris, 32, Jamie Clayton, 32, Lauren Goodger, 37, Rebecca Gormley, 26, Yazmin Oukhellou, 30, Scott Timlin, 36 and Eva Zapico, 37, to promote the @holly_fxtrends account to millions of their followers.

Alongside Thompson, they each face one charge of unauthorised communications of financial promotions under Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.