Ponzi fraudster jailed for 13 years after 'countless lies'

Former City stockbroker Nicholas David Andrew Levene was sentenced today at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty on 24 September to 12 counts of fraud, one count of false accounting and one count of obtaining a money transfer by deception. In total, between 1 January 2005 and 31 October 2009 Levene obtained over £250m from investors. He told them he had bought shares on their behalf when instead funds were diverted to his own personal, business or gambling accounts. To maintain the fraud investors were often provided with false "profits" - in fact, other people's money. This...