Locked up, fraudster in £226m Caribbean resort con
VICTIMS who lost their life savings to a £226million Caribbean resort scam punched the air in triumph as the fraudster behind it was jailed for 12 years.
Former double-glazing salesman David Ames, 70, used celebrity endorsements and aggressive sales tactics to con 8,000 investors.
His company, Harlequin Group, was backed by Liverpool Football Club, tennis star Pat Cash, ex-Chelsea player Andy Townsend, property guru Phil Spencer and South African golfer Gary Player.
The fraudster and his team sold more than 8,200 units including beach cabanas, villas and hotel rooms at seven resorts – but only 176 were ever built at one in Buccament Bay, St Vincent.
Ames, of Basildon, Essex, creamed off £6.2million, paying his wife, Carol, 71, and one of his sons £10,000 a month while thousands of victims lost pensions and life savings.
The ‘Walter Mitty character’ was convicted of two counts of fraud by abuse of position between 2010 and 2015 at Southwark Crown Court in central London and was jailed for 12 years yesterday.
Sentencing him, Judge Christopher Hehir said that from 2010 Ames was operating Harlequin as ‘a gigantic Ponzi scheme’ in which the lossmaking scam was propped up by doomed new investments.
He told Ames, who had been made bankrupt twice before: ‘You caused losses of over £200million by your fraudulent conduct. In short, you are a menace to anyone who was to do business with you.’
Investors paid £1,000 deposits and 30 per cent of the total purchase price with promises of earning £20,000 in rental income when they were not using the properties.
In 2012, Harlequin had a shortfall of £1.2billion – with investors facing almost 100 per cent losses. A yoga instructor named only as Jo, 65, lost £250,000 and is unlikely to be compensated because her investment was made in 2008, before the 2010 cut-off when Ames’ actions were deemed illegal. ‘He’s ruined my life,’ she said. ‘I would like to see celebrities paid vast sums to give credibility to this scheme help victims.’
Father of two Martin Dansey, 52, lost all his and his wife’s £241,500 life savings.
Ames hired external sales people to push investors to part with their money, offering generous 10 per cent commissions.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has paid £125million to investors tricked into the scheme by registered financial advisers. But other buyers are likely to receive less than 2 per cent of the sums they invested.