FCA bans former financial advisor Phillip Boakes

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's markets watchdog banned former financial advisor Phillip Boakes on Tuesday after he lost his appeal against a 10-year jail sentence for running a "giant Ponzi scheme" that paid for luxury cars and a butler. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said in a statement on Tuesday that a Court of Appeal judge on Monday ruled that the sentence was "not a day too long". Boakes, whose address was given as Wandsworth prison in London, had appealed the sentence in March for defrauding customers through his company, Currency Trader, which claimed to carry out foreign exchange spread betting for its customers. Boakes, who had pleaded guilty to six charges, lost almost half of the 2.1 million pounds he traded, the FCA said at the time. The watchdog said on Tuesday it was confiscating 165,731 pounds from Boakes which, if unpaid, would result in an extra two years added to his jail sentence. Boakes has also been banned from any regulated activity in financial services. Boakes spent 175,218 pounds on cars, including a Mercedes Benz, a Maserati Quattroporte, and a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, it said. He also spent 213,659 pounds on foreign holidays, including a 22 night stay at a luxury resort in the Bahamas with butler service costing 17,105 pounds. (Reporting by Huw Jones; editing by Jason Neely)