{"id":2291006,"date":"2026-02-20T14:04:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2291006"},"modified":"2026-02-20T14:04:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:04:03","slug":"reality-tv-stars-plead-guilty-over-illegal-instagram-posts-plugging-fx-trading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/reality-tv-stars-plead-guilty-over-illegal-instagram-posts-plugging-fx-trading\/","title":{"rendered":"Reality TV stars plead guilty over illegal Instagram posts plugging FX trading"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Breaking<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails<\/h3>\n

Sign up to our free breaking news emails<\/h3>\n

Sign up to our free breaking news emails<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\"Breaking<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Seven reality stars and influencers from shows including Love Island and Towie have pleaded guilty to the illegal promotion on Instagram<\/a> of foreign exchange trading.<\/p>\n

Lauren Goodger<\/a>, 39, Yazmin Oukhellou, 31, Rebecca Gormley, 27, Biggs Chris, 33, Jamie Clayton, 34, Scott Timlin, and Eva Zapico, 27, have all admitted breaking the law when acting as so-called \u201cfinfluencers\u201d.<\/p>\n

They urged their \u201csignificant\u201d number of Instagram followers to sign up to an account offering FX trading tips, Southwark Crown Court<\/a> heard, despite having no qualifications or authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority<\/a> (FCA).<\/p>\n

The FCA launched the landmark criminal prosecution against the reality stars in summer 2024, accusing them of making social media posts plugging FX trading signals while unregulated.<\/p>\n

Love Island star Zapico pleaded guilty in October 2024, and another two Love Islanders, Gormley and Chris, admitted the charges against them last year.<\/p>\n

In January this year, Towie (The Only Way Is Essex) star Goodger appeared in court to also plead guilty and face sentencing.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Sally-Ann Hales KC lifted reporting restrictions on the guilty pleas and sentences passed, as Geordie Shore star Timlin \u2013 known as Scotty T \u2013 Love Island\u2019s Clayton, and another Towie alumni Oukhellou entered their own guilty pleas to the charge of communicating an invitation or inducement to engage in investment opportunities.<\/p>\n

She took the step after an application by the Press Association<\/a>, noting that social media is \u201cawash\u201d with posts promoting FX signals and trades with little indication of how they are controlled or regulated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a public interest in reporting of this matter,\u201d she ruled.<\/p>\n

When Goodger was sentenced in January, she broke down in tears as the court heard how she had made a series of posts in 2020 and 2021 to promote an FX trading tips account she knew little about.<\/p>\n

Southwark Crown Court heard she was paid \u00a32,275 for four posts. She had more than 750,000 followers on Instagram at the time, and one of the videos she created and posted had around 35,000 views.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis defendant had achieved media and public interest due to her presence on a reality TV show,\u201d said prosecutor Catherine Rabaiotti.<\/p>\n

Her posts advertised \u201camazing deals\u201d, \u201cfree signals\u201d, and \u201cconsistent profits\u201d, and suggested there was \u201cno experience needed\u201d, the court heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant was not authorised by the FCA to conduct any regulated activity,\u201d said Ms Rabaiotti.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne member of the public saw a story video from this defendant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appeared on her Instagram account. She had not heard of Forex trading.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said Goodger\u2019s posts on social media \u201cpersuaded her\u201d to join the scheme, believing it was legitimate.<\/p>\n

But the prosecutor said the victim knew \u201cknowing anything about Forex trading\u201d, and lost \u00a3150 of her \u00a3250 investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer attempts at trading did not go well\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was completely naive.\u201d<\/p>\n

In interview, Goodger admitted making the social media posts but insisted \u201cshe wouldn\u2019t promote something she didn\u2019t believe was legitimate\u201d.<\/p>\n

Passing sentence on Goodger, the judge accepted that in 2020 and 2021 the reality star \u201cdidn\u2019t appreciate you were doing anything wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n

But she highlighted that Goodger had chosen not to consult with her agent and manager before agreeing to the posts, and noted she is \u201cnot new to fame\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judge ordered Goodger to pay a \u00a33,750 fine, as well as costs of \u00a35,778.18, telling her the sentence was intended to deter others from breaking strict regulations on financial trading.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have been in the public eye for some time when you committed this offence,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must have appreciated the influence lending your name and endorsement would have on members of the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour motive in doing what you did was wholly financial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zapico received an absolute discharge was ordered to pay \u00a31770 in costs, Gormley received a conditional discharge with costs of \u00a32866, and Chris was fined \u00a3600.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.independent.co.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Seven reality stars and influencers from shows including Love Island and Towie have pleaded guilty to the illegal promotion on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1957370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2291006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/How-to-watch-Taylor-Swifts-first-appearance-on-the-Kelces.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2291006"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2291007,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291006\/revisions\/2291007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1957370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2291006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2291006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2291006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}