The judgement found that the defendants arranged high-interest, unaffordable bridging loans for consumers facing eviction, while taking “huge fees".

In some cases, the defendants bought homes for less than their value from owners who were facing repossession and then rented the properties back to these consumers.

According to the regulator, neither defendant was authorised to arrange mortgage contracts or sale-and-rent-back agreements.

The judgement comes more than two years after the industry watchdog secured an interim injunction and a freezing order to halt activities and freeze residential properties and other assets owned by Tony and Daniel and their two companies, LPI and NPI Holdings.

A trial will be held later to consider remedies, including compensation for the affected individuals.

It will also hear evidence in respect of up to 88 further potentially affected individuals who were not part of the FCA’s first claim.

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LPI has now been ordered to remove around 22 restrictions registered against individuals’ properties, which were used by the defendants to force the individuals to pay exorbitant fees to LPI.

If these were not paid, the individual could not sell or re-mortgage their property and, in some cases, this trapped individuals into high-interest bridging loans.

The judge described the actions as “exploitative of vulnerable individual consumers” and found they were undertaken “to obtain significant personal gain”.

Mark Steward, the FCA’s executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: “These companies and individuals were not just providing financial services without proper authorisation, they were doing it to take advantage of people who were struggling and in vulnerable circumstances.

“Their actions cost consumers large amounts of money in fees, inflated loan interest and lost equity in their homes.

“This judgment will help bring financial relief to these consumers."