Richard Lester, 56, from Luton, was convicted of fraudulent trading and concealing criminal property after tricking victims into investing in non-existent cruises.
A fraudster fleeced more than £400,000 out of at least 180 victims by offering heavily-discounted cruises that had not been booked. Richard Lester tricked unsuspecting people into committing thousands of pounds to his Ponzi-style scheme while frittering the cash away on online poker and a lavish lifestyle, Essex Police said. The 56-year-old, from Luton, had a website where people could supposedly exchange “cruise miles” bought through agents for discounted getaways.
However, the cruises were not booked - with some victims only discovering the scam when they turned up at ports for holidays and were turned away by operators. Lester had denied fraudulent trading and concealing criminal property but was found guilty after a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, according to Essex Police. The force said the defendant set up Cruisevoucher, a scheme where customers could buy vouchers for cruises up to three years in advance, in 2009. The money they spent was used to pay for earlier customers’ cruises who had bought vouchers the same way. The business offered customers the opportunity to take cruises at heavily discounted rates, police said. He met future victims and recruited some as agents for his business on these cruises. Lester changed his business model in 2011 and renamed the company Cruisemiles. He stopped booking the cruises and pocketed victims’ money, police said. In theory customers could buy miles to be exchanged for cruises, similar to Air Miles, but many found the number of miles required to book cruises regularly and rapidly increased. His agents, who had themselves bought thousands of pounds of miles, earned a commission by selling more miles to customers, but were also trapped in Lester’s web with no way to reclaim the money they had lost. Victims began to report the scam and in 2013 the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau contacted Essex Police. Detectives found that over three years Lester stole £406,856.39 from 184 peopl
FRAUD CRUISES PONZI SCHEME CRIMINAL SENTENCE
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