UK regulator bans adviser over handling stolen goods

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned former adviser Paul Ulliott after he handled stolen goods, in a final notice decision on 15 January.

Until 21 April 2023, Ulliott was an authorised sole trader and was approved by the FCA to work within money laundering reporting from May 2016 to December 2019 and be a money laundering reporting officer between December 2019 and April 2023. He was also a director and executive director at Newland Pledge, a jewellers which he owned.

On 17 December 2021, he was tried and convicted at Kingston-Upon-Hull Crown Court for handling stolen goods. On that day, Ulliott was sentenced to two years and six months' imprisonment, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £170, and a collection order was made against him.

The stolen goods comprised four silver tankards, a pair of swan candlesticks, a sterling silver salt and pepper pot set, a pair of Victorian silver chamber sticks and a silver salver belonging to another.

At the sentencing hearing, the judge made the following observations regarding Ulliott’s behaviour:

• “Your account that these were by coincidence delivered to you by a man who you only know as “Smith” and had no contact details for at all is, in my view, total lies.
• “Sometimes the auctioneers are pleasantly surprised and the sums achieved are significantly in excess of their estimate. Other times, not. And so it’s, in my view, impossible to say with clarity the sum of money that we are talking about. I am prepared to take the view that it’s less than £100,000. How much less? It’s difficult to tell. But trying to be as fair as I can not only to[the victim’s] Estate but also to you, I would take the view that we’re talking about a £50,000 sum here…”
• “in terms of culpability though, your culpability is high. You were, in my view, on the evidence in possession of very recently stolen goods from a serious domestic burglary.” and “you, in my view, went into this particular activity with your eyes open.”
• “had you immediately recognised the error of your ways and apologised for a misjudgement on your part, then the court would have been in a much better position to show you some leniency. But you lied, first of all by sayingnothing and then coming up with, quite frankly, a ridiculous story that no one and the Jury included believed.”
• “It’s obviously relevant that you’re now sixty-two and you’ve no record. But make no mistake about it, this was a serious offence of handling. You stood to gain…significant sums of money from, I’m quite satisfied, a venture where you were aware that this was a high-end house burglary.”

Ulliott's "lack of fitness and propriety due to his dishonesty and lack of integrity" led the FCA to prohibit him from carrying any regulated activity.

The FCA further said it gave Ulliott the decision notice and notified him, but he has not referred the matter to the Tribunal within 28 days of the date on which the notice was given to him.