The fugitive boss of a fake London FX firm was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in masterminding a Ponzi-style scheme that fronted as a legitimate investment company.
(Bloomberg) — The fugitive boss of a fake London FX firm was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in masterminding a Ponzi-style scheme that fronted as a legitimate investment company.
Anthony Constantinou, 41-years-old, was convicted last month of fraudulent trading and money laundering between 2013 and 2015 through his Capital World Markets brand, defrauding investors of as much as £70 million ($87.6 million). He lured in victims with false promises of generous returns on risk-free foreign exchange market transactions and lavish perks, prosecutors argued.
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Judge Gregory Perrins said Constantinou had caused “devastation, desperation and heartbreak,” to his victims passing his sentence at Southwark Crown Court Friday. “Each of those representations was a deliberate lie to attract the maximum number of investors to a blatantly fraudulent scheme.”
Constantinou was sentenced in his absence after he disappeared weeks into the trial. He was last seen after his disappearance when he was arrested in Bulgaria near the Turkish border, he was released for unknown reasons. A warrant for his arrest has been issued.
“The majority of victims were individuals losing their savings and retirement funds,” David Durose, the prosecution lawyer, said at the hearing. He described how one victim had invested an insurance payment she’d received for suffering from cancer. Her mother has now lost her home as a result of the scheme.
Constantinou’s lawyer said during the hearing that his sentence should be lowered because the theory he acted as a lone wolf was implausible. He also argued Constantinou had a difficult childhood due to the murder of his father in which his mother was a prime suspect.
Constantinou was previously sentenced to a year in prison for two sexual assault convictions in 2016 that took place at the offices of CWM.
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