A financial adviser has been banned and fined £300,000 after clients lost out investing in companies he controlled.

Between 2004 and 2010, Peter Carron, formerly a senior partner at St James's Place Wealth Management, advised 11 clients to invest a total of £2.4m in three companies of which he was director and majority shareholder without adequately disclosing this fact to them, the FCA reported.
The clients later lost approximately £2.2m when the companies went into liquidation between May and August 2010. St James's Place subsequently paid these 11 investors £1.9m in compensation.

The Financial Conduct Authority has not criticised St James's Place in relation to this matter. In August 2014, Mr Carron was banned by the High Court for 13 years from acting as a director or managing or controlling a company.

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The three companies into which investments were made were:

• Primrose Associates Limited, a mortgage broker authorised by the FCA
• Evaluate Technologies Limited, an online system for sourcing mortgages
• Comment Technologies Limited, which set out to develop the technology to launch social networking sites aimed at businesses

The FCA concluded that Mr Carron "lacks honesty and integrity", fined him £300,000 and banned him from performing any function related to regulated activities in financial services.
Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime, said: "People go to advisers because they want expert help on how to make the most of their money. They are entitled to expect that their adviser will act in their best interests, not his own.
"Advisers should think very carefully and make clear and full disclosure if they are intending to advise clients to invest in ventures in which they have an interest."
The FCA statement read: "Carron misled clients about the likely performance of their investments, by guaranteeing a return or providing inappropriate financial projections of future returns.
"Carron continued to reassure investors and advise them to invest, even when he knew his companies were in financial difficulties. He also led clients to believe that the investments were approved or endorsed by St James's Place, which was not the case.
"What is more, Carron advised the clients to invest without assessing whether the investments were suitable for their needs, and failed to alert them to the possible risks."
Mr Carron was disqualified by the High Court from acting as a company director for 13 years in August for misleading investors and for "submitting false returns to his industry regulator and causing another company to trade to the detriment of HMRC".
Following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, the High Court ordered that Mr Carron should not act as a director, manage, or in any way control a company from 18 July 2014 until 17 July 2027. The Judge also refused Mr Carron leave to appeal. Any further application for permission to appeal must be made to the Court of Appeal.