£13.3million Ponzi crook ordered to repay just £814
...and judge gives him six months to do it!
A FRAUDSTER who made more than £13million from crime has been ordered to hand over only £814 to prosecutors.
Alistair Greig was behind a moneyspinning Ponzi scheme that he used to fund a lavish lifestyle.
The 69-year-old’s scam duped dozens of individuals to place their funds in ‘guaranteed’ high interest accounts.
Jurors found that Greig pocketed more than £13million in the scam. He used the sums to buy top-of-the-range cars, luxury holiday homes and no-expense-spared trips to English Premiership matches.
He was found guilty in April 2020 and is now serving a ten-year prison term. Prosecutors used proceeds of crime legislation to try to claw back some of the cash.
And yesterday, prosecutors and Greig’s legal team agreed that he made a total of £13,281,671.25 from criminal activities. But both lawyers told judge Lord Braid that Greig only has £814.33 available to seize at this point in time.
Prosecution lawyer Dan Byrne told the High Court in Edinburgh that the Crown will return to court if it discovers any more of Greig’s criminal money.
Lord Braid then ordered the sum of £814.33 to be handed over to the authorities.
He said: ‘I will make an order in that sum to be made available to the sheriff clerk at Airdrie within six months.’
Greig was unanimously found guilty of obtaining the multi-million pound sum by fraud through his scheme between August 2001 and October 2014.
He pretended to investors he would place money for in a short
‘Own personal slush fund’
term deposit scheme with the Royal Bank of Scotland for fixed periods of time. He was also convicted of breaching financial services and markets legislation and converting and transferring £5.7million in criminal property.
The Crown listed a total of 165 victims of fraud on the indictment brought against Greig, formerly of Cairnbulg, Aberdeenshire.
He used the money to fund investments in property, including a holiday home in Cornwall, and a classic car business.
He also treated himself to highend Bentley and Range Rover vehicles and spent lavishly on trips to Old Trafford to see Manchester United and to Cheltenham and Ascot for race meetings.
Prosecution lawyer Steven Borthwick told jurors that Greig used the money entrusted to him as ‘his own personal slush fund’. Greig, who has since been made bankrupt in England, told his own clients and advisers that he had access to a high-interest account at RBS because of his connections.
But Mr Borthwick said: ‘The truth of the matter is Alistair Greig had no special relationship with RBS.’
Passing sentence, Lord Tyre said: ‘The amount that you helped yourself to in order to fund a lavish lifestyle was also extremely large – almost £6million found its way into your own bank accounts.’
Yesterday, during a short hearing, Greig appeared in the dock wearing a pinstriped suit. He sat beside two security officers.
Defence advocate Ronnie Renucci, KC said: ‘It is not an admission of his guilt. The accused continues to denies his guilt for the offences in this matter.’