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David Ames of Harlequin jailed for 12 years

Essex based David Ames has been found guilty of fraud as the Chair of Harlequin in a £226 million fraud, which affected thousands of British victims. He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court for 12 years following an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

The SFO said that David Ames, aged 70, fraudulently abused his position as Chairman of the Harlequin business, exposing over 8,000 investors to huge losses between 2010 and 2015. It is understood that scale of the victim’s losses amounted to almost £400m.

Victims of the fraud parted with pension monies and life savings, believing that their money would be invested in holiday properties in St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Barbados and other Caribbean nations. In reality, the scheme had no external funding and never very rarely delivered what was promised. Almost no properties were ever constructed and 99 percent of those who invested made no return.

Ames sold the schemes to a large number of people with Self-Invested Personal Pensions (“SIPPs”) before regulations were tightened in 2012, many of them elderly with little investing experience. The SFO presented the court with victim statements, detailing the personal impact suffered by these investors.

Countless investors were forced to delay their retirement, having lost their pensions and life savings. Many victims continue to struggle with financial hardship, some having re-mortgaged their homes and continuing to repay outstanding debts.

The court heard how this led to breakdowns in some investors’ relationships, rifts within families and various health conditions suspected to have been induced by stress, anxiety and depression.

The SFO advocated that a lengthy prison sentence be given to Mr Ames. As not only did Ames cause financial and long-term harm to thousands of victims, but his offending was aggravated by a failure to respond to at least eight warnings about the Harlequin businesses from business associates, financial professionals and authorities. Ames was also found to have wrongly attempted to place the blame on his associates and that he had lied to investors on numerous occasions.

SFO investigators also said that Ames had enriched his family by £6.2 million through the Harlequin Group. He and his family took frequent holidays to exotic destinations, travelled in business class and stayed in expensive hotels. Ames even employed a personal chauffeur.

Delivering the sentence, HH Judge Hehir said, “You were clearly far more interested in pocketing investors’ money than in ensuring those investors were getting what they were paying for”.

Hehir added: “You were a slick and plausible salesman and thoroughly dishonest with it… You are a menace to anybody unfortunate enough to do business with you”.

The Judge went on to praise a “thorough and diligent investigation” by the SFO. Ex-double glazing salesman Ames was then led from the dock and remanded in custody to begin his 12-year long sentence.

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