FSA bans 'drug-money' mortgage adviser

An FSA investigation into Merrell began in 2008, after was he convicted of four counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception, and two counts of attempting to obtain dishonestly a money transfer by deception. Police notified the regulator and Merrell was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment for each offence, to run concurrently. Following its own enquiry, the FSA found Merrell committed these financial crime offences whilst an approved person. It found he had submitted false mortgage applications to lenders in order to launder money obtained by drug trafficking. The crimes da...