British Ponzi schemer Alex Hope, convicted in 2015 of defrauding investors of significant sums and operating a collective investment scheme without authorisation, is on trial again after serving two years of his seven-year sentence.

The FCA attests that, with intent to pervert the course of public justice, Hope embarked on a course of conduct which had a tendency to pervert the course of public justice. This was allegedly in relation to a restraint order and a confiscation order. Other details are not available; s52A Crime and Disorder Act 1998 restricts the information that can be published about such hearings.

More than 100 investors entrusted Hope with in excess of £5½ million. The FCA closed the scheme down in April 2012. Hope's co-defendant, Raj Von Badlo, pled guilty and was sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment for recklessly making false representations to investors and promoting a collective investment scheme without authorisation. The scheme was hailed as a classic Ponzi operation, with the protagonist not even bothering to trade most of the money the investors gave him, spending it instead on a lavish lifestyle. Prosecutors at the time said that Hope used the invested funds as his 'personal piggy bank.'