A former Premier League player has been sentenced to prison for defrauding his friends and family members out of £15 million.
Richard Rufus, a former Charlton Athletic player, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison after claiming to be a successful foreign exchange trader and convincing victims to invest in his “low-risk” scheme.
On Thursday, the 47-year-old was found guilty of fraud, money laundering, and engaging in a regulated activity at Southwark Crown Court.
Authorities discovered that he convinced his victims that their investment would yield 60% annual returns.
Rufus used some of the £15 million invested to repay investors in a pyramid-style scheme, using funds from newer investors to repay older ones, but the rest was used to maintain the lifestyle of an elite professional footballer.
He falsely claimed to have made multi-million-pound returns for a church, as well as good returns for other footballers or ex-players in whom he had invested funds but could not identify due to confidentiality concerns.
The defender retired in 2004 due to a knee injury, but he continued to live in a five-bedroom house on a private estate in Purley, south London, drive a Bentley, and wear a Rolex watch.
‘Investments fraught with risk’
“Rufus acted selfishly, with no regard for his victims,” said Crown Prosecution Service’s Roger Makanjuola.
“He took advantage of his status as a professional athlete, and a respected church member and he used the goodwill of his family and friends to scam them and associate out of millions of pounds by falsely claiming he was able to offer a low-risk investment in the Foreign Exchange Market.
“He claimed that he had been successful with his investment strategies previously, but the investments were fraught with risk and he lost his victims’ much-needed money to the amount of £15m.
“While making these huge losses he put approximately £2m into his personal accounts, allegedly for the purposes of investment but this was never transferred over to his trading account.
“We have now initiated confiscation proceedings in order to recover his ill-gotten gains.”
