Two financial advice firm staff admit fraud after clients lose £2m
An FCA prosecution has ended in guilty pleas from a Nexus Independent Financial Advisers director and operations manager, with sentencing set for December 2026.
Guilty pleas over £2m client losses
Two people who worked at a financial advice firm have pleaded guilty to fraud after four clients lost a combined £2m. Kerry Nelson, director of Nexus Independent Financial Advisers Limited and Nexus Investment Managers Limited, and Jacqueline Stephens, the firms’ business operations manager, admitted all charges at Portsmouth Crown Court on 12 October 2026.
The Financial Conduct Authority said the pair defrauded clients between January 2019 and January 2023 and used false documents in the process. Nelson also admitted a separate money laundering offence, after money withdrawn from the firms was used to fund what the FCA described as her extravagant lifestyle.
What clients were affected
Nexus IFA was authorised by the FCA to provide investment, mortgage and pension advice, while Nexus IM had permission to offer discretionary fund management services. Neither firm was permitted to hold or control client money. Four clients lost £2m in total as a result of the fraud, according to the FCA.
The regulator stepped in on 25 January 2023, imposing restrictions that stopped both firms carrying out regulated activity and prevented them from reducing the value of assets they held. The following day, 26 January 2023, the High Court placed both firms into administration.
FCA response
Therese Chambers, the FCA’s executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said the case involved “a serious breach of trust” and that Nelson and Stephens “caused significant losses to clients who relied on them”. She said the regulator “will continue to act where people exploit clients for their own gain”.
The charges brought against the pair included fraud by abuse of position under the Fraud Act 2006, using a false instrument under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, and, in Nelson’s case, converting or transferring criminal property under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Criminal proceedings against the two were first launched by the FCA in February 2025.
What happens next
Nelson and Stephens are due to be sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on 10 December 2026. The FCA has said it will pursue confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to try to strip Nelson of any financial benefit gained from her criminal conduct.
The case will be of particular interest to anyone who held investments, pensions or mortgage advice contracts with Nexus IFA or Nexus IM before the firms were placed into administration in January 2023. No further detail has been given on how affected clients’ losses may be addressed following sentencing.