(Bloomberg) -- A foreign exchange trader who posted investment advice via WhatsApp messages was ordered to return more than 530,000 pounds ($727,000) to clients by a London judge.

24HR Trading Academy Ltd.’s director, Mohammed Fuaadh Haja Maideen Maricar, sent “trading signals” and other investment recommendations to clients without regulatory approval, the Financial Conduct Authority, which pursued the case said Thursday. The recovered funds will be distributed to customers, the FCA said.

“Neither 24HR Trading nor Mr. Maricar were permitted to give investment advice which, in this case, included sending trading signals via social media and their conduct risked substantial losses for customers,” said Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA.

Read more: FX Trader Who Posted Promises of Profits Faces FCA Asset Freeze

On the 24Hour Trading website, it promises to help “normal people master the fundamentals of psychology to be able to find that UNIQUE trading style instilled inside them.”

Aziz Rahman, a lawyer for Maricar, declined to comment except to say that his client was considering an appeal. In court, Maricar argued the messages were simply a tool to educate customers on how the markets worked.

But Judge Jonathan Richards said it was unrealistic. “Read objectively, they clearly carried with them the suggestion that they described transactions which, if copied, could be expected to produce a profit,” he said.

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