If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
But that didn’t stop friends and family members connected to Richard Evans from investing a collective £600,000 into his supposed spread betting enterprise – which promised a ‘guaranteed’ return on investment of 15% per year.
Unfortunately, Evans was using the money to fund his own lifestyle… leaving a number of victims of his so-called Ponzi scheme significantly out of pocket.
Betting Against the Spread
The 41-year-old had sold the dream of spread betting, where winnings can be enhanced on successful bets, e.g. spread bets placed on Over 2.5 Goals would pay out more if five goals are netted in a game as opposed to three.
However, losses are magnified the further away from the line the end result is.
Evans had promised outstanding returns to his financial backers, with 15% well above the average yield of a savings or investment account. They were asked to sign a contract with his company, Sports Trust… which didn’t actually exist, with Evans forging the signature of his former business partner on official documents.
He even produced annual reports, detailing the bets placed and the overall financial position of the fund.
The scam began as long ago as 2014, with Evans able to keep up the façade for a scarcely-believable seven years – his faked accounting enough to convince investors of the authenticity of the scheme.
However, Evans was unable to meet such lofty expectations from the bets he did place – which amounted to around £106,000 of the money he received from friends and family. He lost an estimated £53,000 on his positions.
As for the rest of the £500,000 or so invested, that went on paying off his mortgage – as well as a series of extravagant meals out and holidays.
Members of the syndicate began to get suspicious in 2021, and having consulted with one another they reported Evans to the police. After a lengthy investigation, he finally had his day in court this May.
At least he reported a profit to members through his Paddy Power account… of just £300.
Family Fraud
Some of the investors had known Evans since he was a child; they simply refused to believe that the conman was able to pull off such an elaborate scam for so long.
They included friends of Evans’ parents, who piled their life savings into the scheme, as well as a teacher who invested their entire inheritance into the spread bet fraud.
He was even able to dupe a parent and both of their adult children into handing over more than £220,000. Alison Wem, one of the victims, spoke of ‘failing as a mother’ after recommending Evans’ scheme to her children.
All told, 14 people handed over £612,807 to Evans, with none of them paid a penny in return.
Some acted as witnesses during the case at Portsmouth Crown Court, but some have stuck by Evans – resulting in families being torn down the middle by their allegiances to the conman.
Tim Moores, the lead prosecutor, revealed that Evans had ‘frittered away’ the money invested, before commenting on the aftermath of him being found out.
“The fallout that has occurred, even between friends and family, between those who realised they were duped and those who still now refuse to believe Evans defrauded them, was relevant to the fact that most people knew him, most of the investors were close family friends of his parents and their adult children.”
In defence, James Williams claimed that Evans held a ‘genuine’ belief that he could secure a return on investment to his backers, but that the scheme had gone ‘catastrophically wrong’ from the outset.
After hearing the evidence of both sides, Jaron Crooknorth refused to believe that Evans – who had pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud and two of money laundering – had made serious attempts to make good on his promises… describing the central scam as ‘sophisticated’.
He also likened it to a Ponzi scheme; a fraudulent investment vehicle made famous in the case of Charles Ponzi back in the 1920s.
“Although money was used to place bets, it could not be called investing; there were no true profits, you made annual statements to induce more money,” he commented.
“This took place over a significant period, your actions were dishonest even if it did not start that way.”
Passing his judgement that the 41-year-old should be ‘ashamed’ of his duplicitousness, Crooknorth sentenced Evans to four-and-a-half years in prison.