Two “advisers” who convinced hundreds of pension holders to transfer their pots into self-invested personal pensions, and then unknowingly put them into risky investments as part of a £20mn fraud, have been jailed.

Mark Kelly and Rikki Nicholls were each sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to defraud and money laundering at Southwark Crown Court on July 15.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service, both men devised a plan to persuade pension holders, predominantly Equitable Life customers, to transfer their pensions into accounts controlled by Kelly.

The court heard how Nicholls and Kelly set up a scheme named PCD Wealth & Pension Management in 2007, with the aim of transferring clients’ pensions to investment funds for growth.

Using others, known as introducers, Kelly and Nicholls convinced pension holders to move their plans from underperforming companies into a Sipp scheme.

Certain sections of the application forms were left blank to allow Kelly and Nicholls to complete them later.

The pair then went on to invest this money into risky investments without the pension holders’ consent, charging high rates of commission.

Kelly and Nicholls extracted around 10 per cent of the gross sum in unauthorised commission payments — in excess of £1mn each — for their own benefit.

According to the CPS, a number of those pension funds have subsequently collapsed, resulting in some pension holders losing substantial amounts of their pension provision, while some victims lost their whole pension.

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