Remember Alex Hope, the City trader who blew £125k on a bottle of champagne? He’s just been found guilty of running a £5m scam.

Hope, 25, rose to fame in 2012 for being a 22-year-old City trader who claimed he’d been making millions.

In an interview with LondonlovesBusiness.com in 2012, he said: “My goal is by my 24th birthday in January to start my own hedge fund.”

But by his 24^th birthday, Hope and his business partner Raj Von Badlo were accused of 10 offences in relation to a scheme which made foreign exchange transactions on behalf of others.

Hope promised to make 100% profit to his investors. However, he ended up losing most of the money.

He’s been found guilty on one count of fraud by Southwark Crown Court’s Judge Taylor.

Georgina Philippou, acting director of enforcement and market oversight at the Financial Conduct Authority, said: “Using fraud and false promises, Hope took in those who trusted him to invest their money. He promised fantastic returns but, as is so often the case with unauthorised investment schemes, those who invested ended up with significant losses and the main beneficiary of the scheme was Hope himself.

“There is a reminder for consumers here that unauthorised investment schemes are often incredibly risky and if the promised investment returns seem too good to be true they most probably are.”