David Vaughan Jones has been found guilty 24 counts of tax fraud after conning 12 investors – many of whom attended his Evangelical Church in Wales – out of more than a million pounds.
A former solicitor, Jones was struck off in 1991 for using client’s money for his own purposes, and was once branded “a dishonest man who was a stranger to the truth”.
Offshore bank accounts
Despite having no qualifications, he claimed to be a financial adviser, tax consultant and accountant, persuading investors to part with their money by telling them it would be invested in offshore accounts which would generate a higher rate of interest than could be achieved by investing in the UK.
Payments of the interest were either late or did not materialise at all.
Instead, Jones used the money he received from investors to spend on his day to day living expenses, as well as to buy his daughter a car and to build an extension for her home.
‘Remarkable chance’
During a hearing last week, a UK judge said Jones was given “a remarkable chance” and a deferred sentence last October to repay investors after claiming the money was held in the Channel Islands and that he could compensate everyone.
However, despite asking for details of the bank accounts of his victims, Jones failed to repay a single penny to investors.
Judge Parry, who presided over the case, said that the only conclusion he could come to that the funds did not exist.
“The reality is that over a period in excess of 20 years you were responsible for thefts and frauds from 12 victims – amounting to nearly £1.5m,” the judge said.
Jones, a founder member of his local Evangelical church and regarded as a pillar of the community, targeted vulnerable friends, and churchgoers, who were recently bereaved.
His barrister said he was still looking to repay client’s from accounts held on the Channel Islands, having visited the area on five occasions. But he blamed other “unscrupulous people” for failing to obtain the money.
