Man fleeced 184 victims out of £400,000 before splashing money on lavish lifestyle in major cruise fraud
Man fleeced 184 victims out of £400,000 before splashing money on lavish lifestyle in major cruise fraud
PA
A scammer has been found guilty of fraudulent trading after deceiving 184 victims worldwide through fake cruise discount schemes.
Richard Lester, from Luton, stole more than £400,000 from victims through his businesses Cruisevoucher and Cruisemiles, spending the money on online poker and a lavish lifestyle.
Some victims only discovered they had been defrauded when they arrived at ports for their holidays, only to be turned away by cruise operators.
The 56-year-old was found guilty on Tuesday at Chelmsford Crown Court after denying charges of fraudulent trading and concealing criminal property.
The scam affected victims across multiple countries, including the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany and Japan.
Lester established Cruisevoucher in 2009, offering customers the chance to purchase vouchers for heavily discounted cruises up to three years in advance.
Man fleeced 184 victims out of £400,000 before splashing money on lavish lifestyle in major cruise fraudPAThe scheme operated as a Ponzi-style fraud, with money from new customers being used to pay for earlier customers' cruises.
In 2011, Lester rebranded the business as Cruisemiles, changing the model to a points-based system similar to air miles.
Under the new scheme, customers could supposedly buy miles to exchange for cruises, but victims found the number of miles required for bookings would regularly and rapidly increase.
Lester met future victims during cruises and recruited some as agents for his business, who earned commission by selling miles to other customers.
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The sign outside Chelmsford Crown Court PAThese agents themselves invested thousands of pounds in miles and became trapped in the scheme with no way to recover their losses.
After stopping cruise bookings entirely, Lester began pocketing victims' money directly, according to Essex Police.
The scammer used multiple aliases to evade justice, including Henry Lester, Les Richards, Lord Lester, Richie Lescovitch and Barry Williams.
Police investigations revealed he spent the fraudulently obtained funds on online poker websites and other business interests.
"Lester poured funds into a lavish lifestyle he bragged about to the same victims he defrauded," said PC Leanne Smith.
"His greed left hundreds of people thousands of pounds out of pocket," she added.
Many victims were tricked into committing more money to his scheme, unaware their payments were going directly into Lester's pocket.
The fraud was uncovered in 2013 when the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau contacted Essex Police.
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