A City boss once likened to the “Wolf of Wall Street” has been convicted of a £70 million fraud that promised investors a “remarkable” 60 per cent annual return.
A jury found Anthony Constantinou guilty in his absence yesterday after he absconded during the trial.
Constantinou, 41, had promoted a “Ponzi-style” investment scheme known as a managed account, which was provided mainly by a company referred to as Capital World Markets (CWM).
Constantinou was likened to the drug-addicted stockbroker conman Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, in the 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Prosecutors said that between 2013 and 2015 the company offered investors “remarkable” returns of about 5 per cent each calendar month, translating to a 60 per cent annual return, on purportedly risk-free transactions on the foreign exchange markets.
Nine years ago, one woman who worked with Constantinou described him to The Times as a playboy, who was “exactly” like the Leonardo DiCaprio character in Martin Scorsese’s 2013 film. Constantinou was said routinely to have thrown wads of cash at staff, poured champagne over their heads and bullied young staff into glugging down bottles of vodka.
He built up a reputation for respectability with sponsorship deals for Chelsea FC and boxing tournaments, and in 2015 was photographed meeting Princess Anne at the London boat show which CWM was sponsoring.
The jury at Southwark crown court in London was told that the fraudster lured victims to invest usually a minimum of £50,000 – but as much as £100,000 – into his bogus scheme. Prosecutors said that hundreds of the investments were made, totalling about £70 million.
A Porsche acquired by Constantinou
Investors were coaxed to the scheme by promises of high rewards, which the company said it could offer because of idiosyncrasies in foreign exchange trading. However, prosecutors told the jury that those claims were false.
Instead of investing the cash in the foreign exchange markets, Constantinou spent some of it on elaborate marketing campaigns to keep the investments flowing, while also buying several high-performance cars and a motorbike.
After he was convicted, the prosecutors said that “millions of pounds were paid for the benefit of Constantinou who controlled the funds”.
Officers at the City of London police began investigating Constantinou and his company in 2014 and in 2015 officers searched the company’s offices at Heron Tower, a skyscraper in the City, and arrested Constantinou.
Detectives said that the fraudster had spent £3 million on “lifestyle events, including his wedding and a CWM launch party”. During his police interview, Constantinou used a prepared statement denying knowledge of fraud and replied “no comment” to all further questions by officers.
Constantinou did not attend the later stages of his trial and an international arrest warrant has been issued to locate him.
After the verdict, Detective Inspector Nichola Meghji, from the City of London police, said: “This has been a long-running and complex investigation. Anthony Constantinou is a career criminal who is out to make as much money for himself as possible, with no regard for anyone else.
“Throughout this lengthy investigation, Constantinou has continued to try to deceive officers and deny any wrongdoing. In a further move to deny any involvement in this case, he decided to stop attending his trial. We are glad that the jury has seen through his lies and unanimously found him guilty.”
Constantinou is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9.
Source: The TImes
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