Surrey adviser deemed unsafe by the City regulator over sexual grooming offence
The City regulator has moved to ban Surrey-based financial adviser Jon Frensham from carrying out any regulated activity, after he was convicted of sexually grooming a child.
In March 2017 Frensham, formally known as Jonathan James Hunt, was convicted of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.
Frensham, 41, was sentenced to 22 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months.
The ex-adviser was caught by a group of internet vigilantes known as the ‘Internet Interceptors’, who describe themselves as “a dedicated team of parents hunting paedophile’s and sexual predators across the UK and keeping our children safe.”
In an update today, the financial regulator said it does not consider Frensham to be a fit or proper person, and as such has decided to withdraw his regulatory functions and make an order prohibiting him from performing any regulated activity.
As a result of his conviction, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) said Frensham poses a risk to consumers and to confidence in the financial system.
Frensham has referred the decision to the Upper Tribunal, where he and the FCA will have the chance to present their cases.
According to The Sun, Frensham, then Hunt, set up a profile on dating site Badoo, where he began chatting to 15-year-old ‘Holly’, who was in fact Sarah Doherty, a 36-year-old member of the Internet Inceptors.
Over time, his messages to Holly became more sexually explicit, at one stage asking her for a picture in her school uniform.
Frensham eventually arranged to meet Holly at Plumstead Station on 14 September 2014, where he was confronted by the vigilantes.
Frensham denied arranging to meet a girl under the age of 16 following grooming, but was convicted after trail at the Old Bailey.
The 41-year-old is executive director of Frensham Wealth in Surrey, a position he has held since December 2019.