Former Premier League star Richard Rufus has been jailed for seven and a half years after masterminding a £15 million investment fraud on associates, friends and his own family.
The 47-year-old ex-footballer, who made 288 appearances for Charlton, used the names of current and former Premier League stars including Rio Ferdinand to lure victims into a bogus trading scheme.
Rufus claimed to be a successful foreign exchange trader, boasting of making “colossal sums” and promising returns of up to 60 per cent a year.
He suggested he had been headhunted by some of the UK’s largest financial organisations, including Morgan Stanley, Coutts Bank and Barclays.
But Southwark crown court heard Rufus was actually losing vast sums of money at the helm of a “pyramid scheme”.
He was convicted after a trial of fraud, money laundering, and carrying out a regulated activity without authorisation, and on Thursday he was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.
“Rufus acted in a selfish manner without any concern for his victims”, said Roger Makanjuola, from the CPS.
“He took advantage of his status as a professional athlete, a respected church member and he used the goodwill of his family and friends to scam them and associates out of millions of pounds by falsely claiming he was able to offer a low-risk investment in the Foreign Exchange Market.
“He claimed that he had been successful with his investment strategies previously, but the investments were fraught with risk and he lost his victims’ much needed money to the amount of £15million.
“While making these huge losses he put approximately £2million into his personal accounts, allegedly for the purposes of investment but this was never transferred over to his trading account.
“We now commence confiscation proceedings to seek to recover his ill-gotten gains”
The court heard how Rufus, whose footballing career was cut short by injury, used the profits of his fraud to maintain a luxury lifestyle, while using new investments to pay off old debts.
He had continued to live in a five-bedroom house on a private estate in Purley, South London after his Premier League career ended, and was driving a Bentley and wearing a Rolex watch.
Prosecutor Lucy Organ said Rufus drew in £5 million in investment from the Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), a church where he was a member and trustee.
One investor was ex-Charlton and Chelsea defender Paul Elliott, 58, who said Rufus told him he had been trading for friends, family and members of his church.
“He was clear to say he had made colossal sums of money for his church, for friends and family,” he said.
“And he also said there were other professional (footballer) colleagues he had made substantial funds for.”
Another investor, Ronabir Deb, was told that England defender turned TV pundit Rio Ferdinand had already invested with Rufus.
The court heard Rufus received a rental income of just £850 a month but was able to splash out on a £9,000-per-month mortgage, £200,0000 on motoring costs and transfers to his wife’s bank account.
“The only way Richard Rufus could fund his lifestyle was to use the funds he was receiving from the investors as part of the fraud,” Ms Organ said.
The ex-footballer, from Crystal Palace, south-east London, denied the charges at trial but was convicted of offences between May 2007 and April 2012.
