‘Career criminal’ guilty of £70m forex trading investment scam
A scammer who carried out a £70million Ponzi-style investment scam has been found guilty after a seven-week trial.
Anthony Constantinou, 41, was found guilty on Monday in Southwark Crown Court of one count of fraud, two counts of fraudulent trading and four counts of money laundering, City of London Police said.
He fled during the trial and an international arrest warrant was issued to locate him.
Constantinou, who had no fixed address, ran Capital World Markets (CWM), which offered investors returns of 60% a year in supposedly risk-free forex markets, and made hundreds of investments totaling around £70m.
Detective Inspector Nichola Meghji of the City of London Police said: “This has been a lengthy and complex investigation.
“Anthony Constantinou is a career criminal who wants to make as much money as possible for himself without regard for others.
“During this lengthy investigation, Constantinou has continued to try to deceive officials and deny any wrongdoing. To deny any involvement in the case, he decided to withdraw from his trial.
“We’re glad the jury saw through his lies and unanimously found him guilty.”
CWM operated from late 2013 to early 2015 and Constantinou told investors they would receive a 5% return per month and those who introduced investors to CWM also received a cut.
In the early stages of the scam, investors were told that there was an initial minimum investment of £50,000, but this increased to £100,000 in the later stages.
Despite substantial funds from more than 250 known victims, the money was not invested in foreign currency and the alleged proceeds would be returned to investors from their own funds and those of others, police said.
Investors were told similar stories about what would happen to their money and how the system worked: only 10% of the capital was risked and the remaining 90% was held securely in a “segregated account” in Germany.
Investors were assured that risk was further reduced as the 10% was protected by appropriate funds from CWM and a guarantee from Constantinou himself.
The evidence suggested Constantinou was the only person who knew what was really going on with the company, although others played a key role in the scam, the City of London Police added.
Others in the industry were led to believe that the system was unregulated, the returns came from real investments, and that Constantinou was a very wealthy man.
The investigations against Constantinou and CWM began in 2014.
After an initial investigation, police officers decided to stop the plan before it failed in order to collect as much money as possible from investors and prevent more people from becoming victims of the scam.
Officers raided CWM’s offices in the city’s Heron Tower in March 2015 and arrested Constantinou.
Following the search, an investigation into CWM’s finances revealed extravagant spending was made from client funds, including £3million spent by Constantinou on lifestyle events including his wedding and a CWM launch party.
During his police questioning, Constantinou used a prepared statement denying knowledge of the fraud and answered all further questions from officers without comment.
Emma Beazley, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a callous scam aimed at members of the public. Many people have lost their hard-earned money due to Constantinou’s greed and false promises in this bogus investment scheme.”
He is scheduled to be sentenced in his absence on June 9.
https://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/career-criminal-guilty-of-ps70-million-foreign-exchange-trading-investment-scam-b1082945.html ‘Career criminal’ guilty of £70m forex trading investment scam
