A fraudster has been jailed for his role in a £3.7m ($4.6m, €4.3m) investment scam which stole from more than 40 victims.
Jonathan Allard was convicted of one count of fraud and sentenced to seven years and two months on 22 May 2023 at Southwark Crown Court.
Between 2013 and 2017, victims were offered “attractive returns” on financial investments through a company called Zurich Private Capital in commodities including in oil and soya beans.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that many of the 43 victims were promised investment returns in regions of 9-12% in a “complex and complicated scam where an official looking website was set up with official business premises in Canary Wharf, the heart of London’s financial district through persistent cold calling”.
Working together, the CPS and Metropolitan Police said they identified financial evidence proving that Allard “was the ringleader of this scam”.
Allard spent the monies gained on luxury items including a Lamborghini, holidays, high-end rented home, and there were transactions worth over £479,000 which were processed in Harrods and registered to his reward card.
Sarah Place of the CPS said: “Allard showed a callous disregard for numerous vulnerable victims. He orchestrated the investment fraud which involved persistent and aggressive cold calling of victims, in order to entice them into making investments in a bogus scheme.
“Victims were told to keep invested in the scheme a minimum of three years to make the best possible return but all of this was fake and ended with some of them losing their life savings, pension pots and properties. We will now begin proceedings to claim back the assets Allard gained from this criminal enterprise.”
