FX Fraudster On The Run After £70m Ponzi Scheme Collapses

• Fraudster is on the run after his high-profile Ponzi-style scheme unravelled.
• Anthony Constantinou was found guilty of fraud, fraudulent trading, and money laundering.
• Swanky offices and Chelsea FC sponsorship was used to lure in unsuspecting investors.

Anthony Constantinou has been found guilty in his absence of fraud relating to a £70m forex trading scam. The City of London Police brought the charges against Constantinou.

The son of fashion magnate Aristos, Anthony grew up enjoying a life of privilege on London’s Bishops Avenue in North London, often referred to as ‘Billionaires Row’. The current address of the 41-year-old Constantinou is hard to pin down, and an international warrant for his arrest has been issued due to his failure to appear in court for the latter stages of proceedings.

Dazzling CWM Offices Used as Part of Ponzi Scheme

The scheme concocted by Constantinou involved his company Capital World Markets (CWM) taking offices at the prestigious Heron Building in the heart of London’s financial district. Constantinou created an impression of investment success to convince unsuspecting investors that they could achieve low-risk 60% annual returns.

Employing a team of staff gave the impression that the CWM operation was legitimate. Unfortunately, payments to early-stage investors were funded by new funds coming into the scheme rather than the financial wizardry Constantinou claimed to possess.

Claims that funds were held in a safe “segregated account” unravelled as the influx of new investors dried up. Records show that CWM increased the minimum investment amount from £50,000 to £100,000 and offered ‘introducers’ a five per cent cut. But efforts to keep the scam going failed and inquiries revealed that the operation was fraudulent.

New Warning Signs to Look Out For

The CWM smoke-and-mirrors marketing also included sponsoring the Premier League football team Chelsea FC. Making tie-ins with high-profile football clubs something of a red, or at least an amber flag for investors. Another example is the Milton group, which recently hit the headlines for alleged fraudulent activity while a shirt sponsor of Spanish La Liga club Sevilla FC.

Anthony Constantinou and money belonging to 250 investors might be missing, but some of the trappings of the scam have been located. Authorities have seized a high-end Range Rover owned by the scammer, but with £3m alleged to have been used to finance CWM parties and Constantinou’s wedding, there is little hope of further funds being retrieved. Emma Beazley of the Crown Prosecution Service said:

“This was a callous scam targeting members of the public. Many people lost their hard-earned money because of Constantinou’s greed and false promises in this fake investment scheme.”

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About the author: Justin Freeman

Justin is an active trader with more than 20-years’ industry experience of working for big banks and hedge funds. He has an inside knowledge of how the financial markets work, thanks to roles including trader on a $750m Event-Arbitrage desk and CRO and COO of hedge funds running a variety of strategies. From stat-arb and trend-following CTA to fixed-income relative value. Firm’s he has worked at include big banks like Citi, and prominent hedge funds including D. E. Shaw and Millennium Capital Management.

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