A Midlands conman who swindled 50 victims out of a staggering £13 million has been jailed. Anthony Clark, 59, promised investors high returns with low risk, but his two schemes collapsed, leaving life savings lost and retirement plans in ruins.
The lavish lifestyle funded by fraud
Clark, of Lorne Grove, Radcliffe on Trent, used his ill-gotten gains to fund a lavish lifestyle, including a £1.9 million house in Ruddington, a Porsche, and an all-expenses-paid trip to Dubai. He also spent investors' money on marquee football and rugby events, all to maintain the illusion of success.
Nottinghamshire Police's Operation Feathergrass, which began in September 2021, investigated claims of investment fraud involving unregulated investments sold by Clark and his companies, Thrive Transformation Ltd and The Alternative Adviser, between 2017 and 2020.
Ponzi scheme uncovered
Officers established that Clark used funds from investors to pay out to other investors, similar to a Ponzi scheme. He misappropriated approximately £1.4 million for his personal benefit and lied about transferring cash out of a failing investment scheme to hide its collapse.
Clark admitted two counts of fraud by false representation, two counts of fraud by abuse of position, and two counts of making false or misleading statements. He was jailed for four years and eight months at Nottingham Crown Court on June 19.
Victims' devastating losses
Nottinghamshire Police said there were 56 identified investors, with 22 providing statements. The total losses across the entire fund exceeded £13 million, with losses of those who provided statements amounting to approximately £5.7 million.
Detective Constable Mark Holmes, of Nottinghamshire Police's economic crime unit, said Clark had appeared trustworthy, but the exact opposite was true. He said: "Throughout the fraud, Clark was living a very lavish lifestyle. I think he wanted to portray the image of wealth and success as it was pivotal to his image."
How the fraud was perpetrated
Clark told investors that each product was "100 per cent safe" and that insurance policies or trading procedures were in place to prevent total loss. However, that assertion was not backed up with due diligence.
Det Con Holmes said: "During the investigation, we found just over £490,000 of investors' money was transferred directly into Clark's personal bank account, which he then used to pay for a sizable extension on his original property. He also paid for deposits for ludicrously expensive holidays to places such as the Maldives – although the Covid pandemic meant he didn't get to go."
Investigation challenges
Det Con Holmes described cracking the case as "the challenge of his career so far." He noted that reporting of the crime was delayed because Clark had taken steps to recover losses, which made him appear diligent to victims.
He explained: "When the second and larger investment collapsed in December 2020, he actually took steps to try and recover the lost money by starting a civil case, instructing barristers, instructing digital forensics people to try and get the money back that had been lost. So to the victim, it seemed to him like he was doing everything he could to try and recover all of the lost money."
Digital forensics key to conviction
Digital forensics evidence from Clark's mobile phone and laptop proved pivotal, particularly a WhatsApp thread around the time the first product started to go wrong. Rather than telling people about problems, he hid them before starting another investment product.
Victims' stories
Det Con Holmes said: "Some were quite wealthy, others not so, but across the board the consequences were significant. The smallest loss was £10,000 and the highest was £1.7 million from one individual investor. It was devastating for him."
He added: "His money represented decades of hard work. He then invested that money into these investment products and almost the entirety of everything he'd worked for and built up was lost. By his own words, it's not left him destitute and he still lives a good life. But it's completely altered the course of what his life would have been."
Advice for investors
Det Con Holmes is now encouraging other investors to be "extremely careful when presented with new opportunities." He said: "The main thing really, from my perspective is don't be pressured into making a decision. Make sure you've done your homework."
He highlighted that many victims were induced to invest because they knew others who were already invested and believed their money was growing. He urged: "Take independent advice, ask plenty of questions and don't take one person's word. Most important of all is, don't put any money in that you can't afford to lose."
