Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Court orders stockbroker who defrauded £32m to pay nominal £1 fee

The Independent U.K.:
A bankrupt stockbroker who defrauded millions of pounds from some of Britain's shrewdest business people was today ordered to pay a nominal £1 fee. Nicholas Levene, 48, was jailed for 13 years last November after he admitted orchestrating a lucrative Ponzi scheme which raked £316 million into his bank accounts between April 2005 and September 2009. At Southwark Crown Court today, he was ordered to pay a nominal fee of £1 while an investigation into his assets continues after he filed for bankruptcy in October 2009. Levene was not in court today. The amount attributed to his false accounting was £32,352,027. But with his customers' lost profits, the amount shot up to a total of £101,685,406. Judge Martin Beddoe said: "I certify the benefit to be £32,352,027 and given what I have been told about the issue of Mr Levene's bankruptcy and that the trustee in bankruptcy is confident and has got hold of such assets as were in the possession of Mr Levene in consequence of this offending, it seems to me entirely pragmatic that his assets are seized by the trustee in bankruptcy."As there is nothing available, I direct that he should pay the nominal sum of £1 within seven days."(more)

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