Reality TV stars including TOWIE’s Lauren Goodger and Biggs Chris from Island will appear in court after being accused of being paid to promote risk investments to their millions of Instagram followers.
The social media influencers – dubbed ‘finfluencers’ – have been charged by the Financial Conduct Authority and could face up to two years behind bars if convicted.
Those under scrutiny also include Love Island’s Jamie Clayton, Rebecca Gormley and Eva Zapico, TOWIE’s Yazmin Oukhellou, and Geordie Shore’s Scott Timlin.
The FCA says Emmanuel Nwanze, 30, and 33-year-old Holly Thompson offered advice on buying and selling high-risk contracts for difference (CFDs) on Instagram between May 2018 and April 2021 despite not being authorised to do so.
And the watchdog alleges Nwanze then paid Chris, Clayton, Goodger, Rebecca Gormley, Oukhellou, Timlin and Zapico to promote the Instagram account to their millions of followers.
TOWIE star Lauren Goodger has been accused of being paid to promote risk investments to their millions of Instagram followers
Also facing charges from the Financial Conduct Authority are Biggs Chris and Rebecca Gormley, seen together here at the BEDSA Awards at the Hilton on Park Lane in March 2020
Their combined Instagram followers totalled 4.5 million, while Thompson is another Instagram personality also known as Holly Zucchero.
CFDs are described by the FCA as a ‘high-risk investment product used to bet on the price of an asset’. In this case it was a bet on foreign currencies.
Nwanze, 30, has been charged with running an unauthorised investment scheme and issuing unlawful financial promotions.
Thompson, 32-year-old Chris, Clayton, 32, 37-year-old Goodger, Gormley, 26, 30-year-old Oukhellou, Timlin, 36, and 25-year-old Zapico each face one count of issuing unauthorised communications of financial promotions.
Nwanze has been charged with running an unauthorised investment scheme and issuing unauthorised financial promotions. which is also punishable by a fine and a jail sentence of up to two years.
The accused are all due to appear before Westminster magistrates on June 13.
The FCA said the charges are each punishable by a fine and up to two years’ imprisonment.
CFDs are described by the watchdog as ‘high-risk derivatives’.
Holly Thompson, 33, posts on Instagram using the account name Holly Zucchero
TOWIE reality star Lauren Goodger has 953,000 followers on Instagram
Lauren Goodger is among those due to appear before Westminster magistrates on June 13
Also facing FCA charges are Jamie Clayton and Rebecca Gormley, who both appeared on reality show Love Island in 2020
Love Island contestant Biggs Chris, puctured here at the British Ethnic Diversity Sports Awards in London in March 2020, is also facing legal action from the City watchdog
Eva Zapico, pictured attending a performance of the musical Dreamgirls at the New Wimbledon Theatre in May 2022, has also come under the City watchdog’s scrutiny
The FCA has also announced a charge against TOWIE cast member Yazmin Oukhellou
The FCA has previously said that 80 per cent of customers lose money when investing in CFDs.
They are often ‘highly leveraged’ which means they use debt to try and boost returns, the FCA said – but that can result in investors losing more money than they invested.
In the UK, the regulator has imposed restrictions on how CFDs and similar products can be sold and marketed to retail customers.
The FCA asked anyone who believed they had suffered a loss due to the scheme to contact its consumer contact centre.
Goodger recently rejoined the long-running series TOWIE for filming more than a decade after she was last a full-time cast member.
Earlier this week she was seen hitting the gym for a gruelling workout after revealing in an interview how she regrets ever having cosmetic surgery.
In an interview with Closer she admitted: ‘I wish I’d never had anything, I want it all out. My bum and boobs make me look bigger and cause me pain. I want to reverse it all and go back to natural.’
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