Finance adviser stole £15m to fund gambling

A FINANCIAL adviser stole nearly £15 million from wealthy clients to fund his gambling addiction and pay his children’s school fees, a court has heard.

Freddy David, 49, used his good standing within the north London Jewish community as managing director of HBFS Wealth Management to sell victims a fake investment opportunity linked to “an imaginary Bank of Scotland account”.

He transferred the large sums invested into his own bank account, using the cash to set up a restaurant called Let’s Meat, make mortgage and school fees payments, visit Greece and Israel and feed his gambling addiction.

David, whose wife Hannah is director of the Conservative Party Policy Forum, was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to fraud by abuse of position and obtaining a money transfer by deception at Southwark Crown Court.

The court heard how David’s actions over the course of 10 years, which had “the flavour of a Ponzi scheme”, left some of his victims feeling suicidal. Around £4million of stolen money was used to pay back some of his 55 mostly elderly victims, many of whom were friends. Jonathan Polnay, prosecuting, described it as “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

One victim described in an impact statement how the thought of facing David in court stopped him from taking his own life after he lost £300,000 worth of life savings. Leon Winsky, a pensioner, said: “Just as I was about to jump in front of a train, I thought I would deny myself the chance to tell Freddy David in court what he had done to my family.

“The money was going toward buying a flat for our special-needs son. This will no longer be the case.”

Judge Deborah Taylor said: “This was a fraud of the utmost gravity with a devastating effect on others.” David, from Borehamwood, Herts, was also banned from acting as a company director for 10 years.