A company director who spent his clients’ pension investments on his own lavish lifestyle has been sentenced to six years in prison today (17 August).
Darren Say, an independent financial advisor from Loughton, Essex, launched a pension scheme in 2010 called Noisnep - pension spelt backwards - which he claimed would yield huge returns for his clients.
He told investors, some of whom were his own employees, that their funds would be used to develop a luxury holiday resort in the Bahamas which would be worth in excess of £100 million when finished.
Instead, Say took the money for himself. This amounted to £1 million, made up of his clients’ pension funds and tax breaks from HMRC for which they qualified.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard at one point there was more than £1 million in Say’s company accounts but when he was arrested in January 2016, all of the money had been spent.
Christopher Tarrant, from the CPS, said: “Say treated the money entrusted to him as his own and spent it on funding his lavish lifestyle including buying a plot of land to build his family home.
“He provided his clients with impressive looking figures which they could look forward to on retirement, despite knowing this would never happen.
“Say denied his guilt but the evidence presented by the CPS meant the jury were sure he had committed the frauds alleged and convicted him.”
Ends
Notes to editors
- Say denied dishonestly making false representation to make gains to self or another and carrying on the business of a company with the intent to defraud creditors but was convicted by a jury in July.
- He received a six year prison sentence for fraud by abuse of position and two years for fraudulent trading to run concurrently. He was also disqualified from being a company director for eight years.
- Christopher Tarrant is a Specialist Prosecutor in the Specialist Fraud Division.
