london (Bloomberg) — City of London Police arrested two men in connection with an alleged investment fraud worth £50 million ($78 million).

The two men, aged 40 and 43, were detained on charges of suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and fraud by misrepresentation, the City police said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Police didn't name the men. Officers searched three addresses in London and the county of Surrey, southwest of the UK capital, in connection with the case and a third suspect may turn himself in, police said.

The investigation is linked to three UK-based financial consultancies whose operations were frozen by the Financial Services Authority in 2008 on suspicion of mishandling millions of pounds of investors' funds, police said. The firms are Business Consulting International; John Anderson Consulting; and Ken Peacock Consultancy.

The case is a "complex investment fraud that involves hundreds of victims", said Detective Inspector David Manley, in the statement. A spokesman for the force declined to provide further details.