Three finfluencers appeared before Westminster Magistrate’s Court yesterday, each charged with an offence relating to their social media posts.

Charles Hunter, Kayan Kalipha and Luke Desmaris are alleged to have encouraged social media followers to invest in foreign exchange (forex or FX) trading through high-risk products known as contracts for difference, without having the authorisation to promote these investments.

All three defendants pleaded not guilty and will appear at Southwark Crown Court for a hearing on 8 October 2025.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) began criminal proceedings against the trio in June.

The individuals are each charged with one count of communicating an invitation to engage in investment activity, contrary to section 21 (1) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. If found guilty, each of the trio could face a fine and/or up to 2 years in prison.

A global crackdown on rogue 'finfluencers' (social media influencers) has was launched in June by nine regulators, spearheaded by the UK's FCA.

The FCA joined with regulators from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy and the United Arab Emirates.

The operation resulted in arrests, interviews, cease and desist letters and over 650 takedown requests across social media platforms and websites.

The aim campaign is to protect social media users from rogue promotions by financial influencers.

The regulators warned that some social media personalities claim to have lavish lifestyles on online videos and posts to push products or services illegally.

In a separate action, the Treasury Committee wrote to Meta to ask it to explain its approach to finfluencers after the owner of Facebook and Instagram took up to six weeks to respond to FCA requests to take down suspect posts.

A minority of people have acted on financial advice they’ve seen on social media but the majority lost money as a result, according to a study from TSB.

The research found that more than four fifths, 83%, have seen financial advice content on social media that they weren’t searching for.

Almost a third, 31%, acted on the financial advice they saw but more than half, 55%, said they lost money as a consequence.

The research found that nine in 10 had seen an investment opportunity on social media, and more than two-fifths, 43%, said would consider investing as a result. 25-34-year olds were the most likely to invest at 69%, compared to just 18% of over 55s.