Former Premier League footballer, Richard Rufus, who scammed his friends out of £8m to maintain his luxury lifestyle after he retired, was jailed for more than seven years today.
The Ex-Charlton Athletic defender, 48, duped his victims into investing in the foreign exchange market by promising them incredible yields in what was reality a pyramid scheme.
Rufus, who won six caps for the England under-21s, claimed ‘football friends’ such as former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand had invested with him.
He drove a Bentley and lived on an exclusive private estate on the money he was swindling, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Posing as a successful foreign exchange trader, Rufus claimed he had been headhunted by some of Britain’s largest financial organisations, including Morgan Stanley and Coutts. But he was so incompetent he invested £5m for his church as a ‘blessing’ and lost them £3.5m.
Rufus insisted he was doing friends and family a…
Source: Linda Ikeji
