Christopher Woolcott, 44, has received a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, after staging a fake £154 million takeover bid for oil and gas producer Touchstone Exploration in an attempt to drive up its share price. He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday 10 November 2026, and was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £4,627.73 in costs.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Woolcott met Touchstone's chief executive in a London hotel under a false name, invented different identities and forged takeover documents using ChatGPT. He held shares in Touchstone, which is listed on London's AIM market and in Toronto, and could have made up to £70,000 by selling at an inflated price if the bogus offer had been announced to the market. Touchstone saw through the approach and is not under investigation.

Deliberate, sophisticated and planned

Judge Usha Karu described the plot as deliberate, sophisticated and planned. Woolcott pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 10 September 2026 to one count of fraud by false representation and three counts of making a false instrument. The FCA opened its criminal investigation in March 2025, using transaction data, phone records, receipts, CCTV and evidence from searches to identify him.

Therese Chambers, the FCA's executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said the fake bid was "a calculated attempt to profit by manipulating the market". The regulator has warned that smaller London-listed companies are being targeted by fake takeover approaches and has urged directors and advisers to check who investors are before treating an offer as genuine.