FCA bans director with violent criminal conviction
Summary
The FCA has banned Ashkan Zahedian from working in financial services after he was convicted of committing serious violent offences while he was an approved individual.
Zahedian was the sole director of authorised consumer credit firm Vast Cars Limited and was approved as a senior manager by the FCA.
In May 2020, Zahedian pleaded guilty and was convicted of grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon after he attacked a security guard at a bar with a machete. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment, at Lewes Crown Court.
The FCA decided to remove Zahedian’s approval to perform the senior management function at Vast Cars Limited and to impose a prohibition order, preventing him from working in financial services in the future.
FCA executive director of enforcement and market oversight Mark Steward said ‘Those authorised to provide financial services are required to meet and maintain high standards of character, fitness and properness. These were serious, violent criminal offences reflecting on Mr Zahedian’s character and justifying the finding that he is not a fit person to be working in financial services.'