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Accountant jailed for £10m Ponzi fraud - update

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31st Aug 2012
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Majorca-based British accountant Richard Pollett and a convicted fraudster and his wife who swindled investors out of millions of pounds have been sentenced. 

Update, 31 Aug - Accountant Richard Pollett, 70, of Poole, Dorset, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years; co-defendants John Hirst was jailed for nine and his wife Linda Hirst got two-and-a-half years, the BBC reported.

Pollett and Hirst were found guilty last week by a Bradford Crown Court jury of conspiracy to defraud, while Linda Hurst was found guilty on two money laundering charges and one of evading a liability by deception.

Last week a judge lifted a banning order which had prevented the reporting of the guilty pleas of John Hirst who was convicted of conspiracy to defraud and two counts of money laundering in a prosecution brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). 

All three were involved in a Ponzi fraud that targeted UK investors and expatriates in Majorca and will now be sentenced on 31 August. Confiscation and compensation proceedings are to follow.

Between 2001 and 2009 John Hirst and Richard Pollett were involved in the operation of a Ponzi scheme trading as Gilher Inc where, instead of being used to achieve promised growth on the US stock market, investors’ money was diverted to support their own luxury lifestyles.

After several business ventures failed Hirst moved to Majorca with his wife and persuaded a number of ex-pats to hand over large sums for him to invest on the Dow Jones Index futures market with guaranteed returns of 18% per annum plus a bonus of 2%.

Overall investors handed over £10m into the scheme, but only got back £4.6m.

Prosecutor Simon Bourne-Arton QC said the case was about greed and had involved the use of a Ponzi investment scheme by Hirst to dupe innocent people into parting with their money.

John Hirst had previously been jailed for a similar fraud committed in the early 1990s after he conned Yorkshire miners out of their redundancy payments.

Bradford Crown Court heard how Hirst used some of that stolen miners’ cash to pay for helicopter trips to York races.

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Replies (5)

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By mikewhit
24th Aug 2012 14:24

Why not Madoff ?

We only appear to have heard of Ponzi when Madoff's scam came to light.

So why are these called Ponzis and not Madoffs ?

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By The Black Knight
24th Aug 2012 16:57

because Ponzis

less obvious than Made off?

named after Charles Ponzi famous in the 1920's for it

I think we should name it a Chuzzlewitt scheme though......much better ring to it.

and does seem to be a scheme for the Witt less and greedy?

 

 

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By philfromleeds
04th Sep 2012 16:34

Its amazing how people will part with their cash

It keeps on happening but people will still part with their money. When I hear about these cons it makes me feel good, not that I am skint, but because I am honest. Yes I have a pride in being honest but it does not earn me any points. My credit rating might be soon going through the floor but I am happy that there are dishonest people out there conning others out of their money. It makes me feel clever because they cant con me out of my money because I ain't got any.

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By Domybooks
05th Sep 2012 14:07

A fool and his money

It's fascintating that people are still foolish enough to invest in "guaranteed returns of 18% per annum plus a bonus of 2%." schemes 

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By Steve-EBL
07th Sep 2012 19:15

People are susceptible to pressure and also sadly somewhat ignorant of investment matters.

The other extreme to getting conned this way is getting conned on something like premium bonds where the chance of winning the big prize is absolutely minuscule, and a modest investment will dwindle to nothing over a few decades.

Again down to ignorance on the part of the investor.

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