Businessman David Ames has been sentenced to a 12-year jail term after he was found guilty of one of the biggest ever frauds. Ames had duped thousands of investors, primarily British, by running a “gigantic Ponzi scheme.”
He deceived investors through the Harlequin Property investment scheme. The scheme was endorsed by several celebrities, including golf legend Gary Player, tennis ace Pat Cash, property guru Phil Spencer, football expert Andy Townsend, and Liverpool FC. The scheme promised luxury Caribbean holiday homes, for which several investors put their life savings and pensions.
In a unanimous decision, the jury found Ames guilty of two counts of fraud: one for the abuse of position and another for the scale of the scam. Judge Christopher Hehir sentenced the fraudster to nine years of jail time for one count of fraud and three years for another, with all the 12 years to run consecutively.
However, none of the celebrities who promoted Ames’ scheme were found guilty of any wrongdoing. It is because the Serious Fraud Office believed that Ames did not intend the project to be a fraud at the time of its launch in 2005.
While pronouncing the judgement, Judge Hehir stated Harlequin’s sales material was full of misleading, ambiguous, and false claims in Ames’ name. The judge added that the whole Harlequin operation was a “gigantic Ponzi scheme” where Ames relied solely on new investments to meet commitments made to previous investors.
