Ex-Chelsea sponsor convicted of pyramid scheme. 250 defrauded, £70m loss

Anthony Constantinou, the son of a murdered fashion tycoon, set up a Ponzi scheme and was arrested for defrauding 250 people out of £70m. In April, he got out on bail and disappeared. A British court has just found him guilty, so he is wanted on an international arrest warrant.

Pyramid was so trusted that it even became a sponsor of one of the most famous football clubs in the world - Chelsea London.  However, it was only a facade. On May 22, 2023, a British court issued a verdict in the case of the former CEO of an investment firm Capital World Markets (CWM), Anthony  Constantinou. A default judgment, because the president disappeared immediately after he was released from custody after paying bail.

In April this year, a 41-year-old man was due to start responding to allegations on a free foot and has not been heard from since. He is wanted on an international arrest warrant after being found guilty of fraud in the amount of £70m and money laundering. The verdict will be announced on June 9. If the fugitive has not been apprehended by then, the sentence will be pronounced in absentia.

60% profit per year on Forex, no risk

Financial pyramid schemes are almost always portrayed as viable enterprises, only slightly better than the competition. They offer higher than market profit, but usually within reason. This was the case with the native Amber Gold, which promised a 10% profit on investment in gold. That's more than the market average, but it wasn't jaw-dropping, was it?

Meanwhile, Constantinou was riding the bandwagon. He claimed to make 60% profit a year by playing on Forex market. Risk? None. However, he was only interested in serious investors. At the beginning, you could enter with a minimum amount of 50. pounds, but the threshold was quickly doubled to 100. pounds. This is the same scheme used by the greatest fraudster in history - Bernard Madoff. He also played the unavailable and chose his clients to fight for him to take their money and multiply it.

The 41-year-old assured, however, that the risk is practically non-existent. This was to ensure the distribution of funds. Only 10% of the money invested was (allegedly) invested, and 90% of the amount went to a high-interest account in a German bank. This fairy tale was believed by at least 250 people, because that's how many people have the official status of victims.

£3 million for the party

Of course, the money wasn't going to any high-interest account in a mystery bank. They were also not invested in Forex. Exclusive offices were opened for them, and some were kept for payouts to clients who completed their investments. London police determined that a large part of the payments went to Constantinou's expenses. He spent a total of £3 million on the wedding, which he arranged on the Greek island of Santorini, and the party.

There was also investment in advertising to attract new people willing to donate. In January 2015, Capital World Markets became the official online forex trading partner of the football club Chelsea London. The company was also a partner of the London Boat Show and the Wigan Warriors rugby club.

The beautiful dream ended in March 2015, when the police raided the company's office in London's Heron Tower. 13 people were arrested then.

“Evidence suggests that despite others playing key roles in the scam, Constantinou was the only person who knew what was really going on with the company and its money. Others in the business believed that their operations were unregulated, but that the returns came from real investments and that Constantinou was a very wealthy man - we read in a statement from the London Police.

Who is Anthony Constantinou?

Of course, all this would not have been possible without the origin of the operation's brain. Anthony is the son of Aristos Costantinou, who was shot dead in London's Billionaires' Row in the 80s. To this day, it has not been established who and why murdered the fashion tycoon. The estate was taken over by his son, but years later he decided to open an investment company. With what effect, we see today. On June 9, 2023, the court in Southwark will deliver the verdict.