Former Capital Worlds Markets Director Gets 14-Year Imprisonment

A court in the United Kingdom has sentenced Anthony Constantinou, the former Director of Capital World Markets, to 14 years imprisonment. Constantinou was found guilty of defrauding investors £70 million using a fake forex investment company.

Former Capital Worlds Markets director faces 14-year imprisonment

The Crown Prosecution Services said that Constantinou was imprisoned on Friday following the sentencing. The former director at Capital World Markets had abandoned his trial that start in March. Last month, he was found guilty despite failing to attend the court hearings.

Constantinou operated 24 different companies during a ten-year period. In 2015, he was jailed for one year because of sexual assault. CWM, which was a trading platform started in October 2013, operated using several brand names. The firm operated an investment scheme known as ‘Managed Accounts’ that gave investors access to risk-free transactions on FX markets.

The FX scheme offered investors a 5% return on their investment, equal to a 60% ROU per year. The scheme also urged investors to make a minimum investment of £50,000 to make £100,000. The scheme has also assured investors that it has a special way of trading foreign exchange, which gave the company access to “preferential prices.”

However, the claims that have been made by the company on the matter are not accurate according to a statement that was shared by the prosecutor. The statement also said that CWM operated like a Ponzi scheme by paying investors using other investments, while also making away with the rest of the funds.

Emma Beazley, a Specialist Prosecutor within the CPS Serious Economic Organized Crime and International Directorate, has said that the scam targeted members of the public. Beazley has also said that most people lost their money because of the greed and the false promises of Constantinou.

In 2015, the clients at CWM started a class action lawsuit against a bank in the Cayman Islands known as DMS Bank & Trust Limited. The lawsuit alleged that investors were defrauded nearly £50 million in a managed fund that was operated by the fake forex investment company.

CWM make costly efforts to target investors

CWM operated a luxurious office at the Heron Tower in London. The company spent millions of pounds in sponsorship deals including deals in the sports sector. In 2015, it signed a sponsorship deal with the English Premier League club Chelsea.

The troubles facing CWM started in March 2-15. At the time, the City of London Police raided the company as 13 people working at the firm were arrested over multiple charges of fraud. There was also a conspiracy to defraud investors and perform acts of money laundering.

CWM denied these allegations, but the police later said that the company had defrauded hundreds of members from the Gurkha and Nepalese communities in the UK of around £50 million at the time. CWM’s parent company known as CWM Group was also associated with a $16 billion Ponzi scheme as it was also accused of defrauding investors.