Disgraced investor Freddy David has been banned from the financial services sector for life, following his conviction for a Ponzi scheme fraud.

David, formerly of Hartfield Avenue, Elstree, was jailed for six years in July after admitting charges of obtaining a money transfer by deception and fraud by abuse of position.

Southwark Crown Court heard that, between 2005 and 2017, he defrauded 55 victims out of £14.5 million, using the money to fund his gambling habit, as well as to pay for family holidays and his children’s school fees.

The victims invested between between £20,000 and £750,000 in the scheme. The fraud ran "in parallel with legitimate HBFS business", police said at the time of his conviction.

On Wednesday the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates financial services, announced it had banned him from the sector, having deemed him “not a fit and proper person”.

David, the former managing director of wealth management firm HBFS Financial Services, targeted those who were “elderly, vulnerable or suffering from illness… and they were relying on the investment for care or security in their old age”.

The regulator said that David did not make representations after being served an initial warning notice.