He also pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying/making an article for use in fraud under Section 7 of the Fraud Act 2006 for providing false employment details for two of his clients in order to inflate their incomes.
Lewis, 65, was originally arrested on the 24 October 2012 in a joint operation between the FCA and Kent Police and charged by the FCA on 7 February 2013.
Mr Lewis operated as ‘The Lewis Partnership’ or ‘The Medway Partnership’ from premises in Gillingham, Kent and at the time of his arrest was working at Lovetts Property Services, estate agents in Broadstairs, Kent.
Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FCA, said:
"We banned Lewis because of the risk he posed to consumers and the markets. Where someone flouts such a ban we will have no hesitation about taking the strongest possible action against them. People should be in no doubt that we mean business."
Lewis will be sentenced on 12 July and his Honour Judge Byers said today that all sentencing options remained open
Notes for editors
- On the 1 April 2013 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) became responsible for the conduct supervision of all regulated financial firms and the prudential supervision of those not supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
- The FCA has an overarching strategic objective of ensuring the relevant markets function well. To support this it has three operational objectives: to secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers; to protect and enhance the integrity of the UK financial system; and to promote effective competition in the interests of consumers
- Find out more information about the FCA, as well as how it is different to the PRA.