A ‘sophisticated’ conman duped family friends into shelling out £600,000 on a sports betting ‘Ponzi scheme’ – before lavishing their money on himself.
Richard Evans, 41, was jailed for a seven-year scam which saw him convince 14 people they would make huge returns on an elaborate ‘spread betting’ operation.
The victims left out of pocket when the venture went ‘catastrophically wrong’ included a teacher who lost an inheritance she had been left by her father at the age of 11.
Most of the investors were ‘lifelong friends’ of Evans’s parents and struggled to believe someone they had known for years could defraud them, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.
Evans, a father-of-two, has now been jailed for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to nine counts of fraud and two counts of money laundering.
Passing sentencing, Recorder Jaron Crooknorth said Evans should be ‘ashamed’ of his actions and the impact on the families he defrauded.
He said: ‘Although money was used to place bets it could not be called investing, there were no true profits, you made annual statements to induce more money.
‘I do not accept there was little or no planning, this was sophisticated.
‘This took place over a significant period, your actions were dishonest even if it did not start that way.’
Richard Evans, 41, was jailed for a seven-year scam which saw him convince 14 people they would make huge returns on an elaborate ‘spread betting’ operation
Most of the investors were ‘lifelong friends’ of Evans’s parents and struggled to believe someone they had known for years could defraud them
Evans told his victims they could make money through a ‘sophisticated’ scheme focused on spread betting, where gamblers bet on if the outcome of a match will be higher or a lower than a potential range of likely scores.
The court heard that the investors signed a contract which promised a 15 per cent return on their investment guaranteed by Evans’ wealthy business partner.
They were told their money would be invested through a company called Sports Trust, which did not exist.
But the plan – which began in 2014 – was ‘inevitably’ going to fail and he was left without the money to repay investors, prosecutors said.
He ‘frittered away’ the money, which went straight into his bank account, on bars and restaurants as well as using it to pay his mortgage.
In one family he targeted, both parents and their two adult children invested in the scheme and lost £225,050 between them.
One victim, Alison Wem, said she felt she had ‘failed as a mother’ by recommending the investment option to the rest of her family.
In total, 14 people invested £612,807 which has yet to be repaid, the court heard.
Evans was said to have made £106,000 in bets with an index company, a gambling firm specialising in spread betting, but was paid out just £52,987 – a loss of almost £53,000.
He did make a meagre profit of £300 through Paddy Power, far lower than the amount invested.
Richard Evans, pictured outside court with his wife Alexandra, was told he should be ashamed of his actions by a judge
Evans was eventually reported to police in 2021 – seven years after his fraudulent scheme began – when his victims finally became suspicious
Evans managed to keep the scheme afloat by making false annual statements to encourage people to keep their money invested and, when that failed, stalling or making excuses about repayments.
Eventually, his victims grew suspicious and reported Evans to the police in late 2021.
The court was told that the fraud has ‘fractured’ families, with some standing by Evans. One victim of the scheme even provided a character reference for the father of two.
Prosecutor Tim Moores said: ‘The fallout that has occurred, even between friends and family, between those who realised they were duped and those who still now refuse to believe Evans defrauded them was relevant to the fact that most people knew him, most of the investors were close family friends of his parents and their adult children.’
He added: ‘It is not a case where there are expenditures on large capital items, it is just a regular pattern of the defendant using the sums as his own, a lot of it has been frittered away on restaurants and bars.’
James Williams, defending, claimed in mitigation that Evans’ scheme had been a ‘genuine’ attempt to enrich himself and his investors.
He said: ‘They went into this with their eyes wide open…this was an attempt by Evans to make money, largely for himself and for the investors, that went catastrophically wrong.’
