Man jailed for £3m Ponzi fraud
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A man has been jailed for six years for defrauding investors out of more than £3m in a Ponzi scheme.
Forty-five year old Steven Dagworthy, from Hyde Lane in Danbury appeared before His Honour Judge Gratwicke at Chelmsford Crown Court on December 23, 2009 for sentencing for eight charges of theft and deception, having previously pleaded guilty to a further four offences relating to the contravention of the Financial Services and Markets Act, including two offences of engaging in business while bankrupt.
He was sentenced to six years in jail and disqualified from acting as a company director for 15 years.
Dagworthy ran a pyramid scheme, conning his friends and contacts to invest and paying off those who invested early with money obtained from later investors.
HHJ Gratwicke said: “You are a devious, smooth talking, persuasive and totally dishonest con man.”
Detective Inspector Paul Dibell from the Essex Police’s Serious Organised Crime Directorate said: “Over many years, Steven Dagworthy, dishonestly engineered business relationships and friendships with his victims and gained their trust.
“This trust allowed him to systematically defraud them of their hard earned money, to a value in excess of £3m.”
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