The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined the director of a West Midlands-based IFA firm MFP Group £75,000 and banned from the industry for repeatedly lying.

The fine was increased from £50,000 after a 2008 FSA investigation into director Simon Kuun – where he was judged to lack the honesty and integrity expected of an approved person – was referred to the Financial Services and Markets Tribunal.

The case was upheld by the trubunal and the fine increased after Mr Kuun was found to have lied to the tribunal when giving evidence.

Margaret Cole, director of enforcement and financial crime division at the FSA, said: “We could not allow this dishonesty by Mr Kuun to go unpunished.

“It was a premeditated and sustained attempt to deceive the FSA and prevent effective regulation.”

Mr Kuun was first noticed by the FSA during a supervisory visit to MFP in 2005, when he told the FSA that his business had stopped using unapproved and unqualified staff to visit customers.

However, Mr Kuun had transferred client contracts to a company called Membership Services Limited (MSL), registered in the West Indies.

The director denied involvement with the firm, claiming that MSL was owned and run in Switzerland by an acquaintance called John Graham. Yet, Mr Kuun was found to be the subscriber who paid for MSL’s mailbox address in Switzerland, with any post forwarded on to MFP’s office in Bromsgrove.

The tribunal found that John Graham had been invented by Mr Kuun – using his middle names – to mislead both the regulator and tribunal in their investigations.

The tribunal ruled that Kuun had demonstrated a lack of honesty and integrity and had also failed to be open, candid and truthful with the FSA contrary to principle 1 and 4 of the Statement of Principles for Approved Persons.

It was also found that he was not a fit and proper person to perform any function in relation to any regulated activity.

As Mr Kuun was the sole shareholder of MFP and, therefore, sole controller for the purposes of the FSA’s rules, the business will cease to operate.

Ms Cole added: “This and other recently published cases, such as Pak Property Centre and Aston Sterling Insurance Services, show our determination to exclude dishonest people from the industry, including those who believe it is acceptable to lie to regulatory authorities in order to conceal their criminality and other wrong doing.”

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