Financial adviser who ‘swindled tens of millions from pensioners’ by claiming he’d shield their financial savings from inheritance tax was ‘sick of being poor’, courtroom instructed

A ‘greedy’ financial advisor allegedly swindled millions of pounds from the life savings of pensioners because he was ‘sick of being poor’ a court heard.

Raymond Simpson, 78, is accused of defrauding elderly homeowners so he could buy land in Spain for property developments between January 2014 and April 2018.

Jurors at Southwark Crown Court were told pensioners believed Simpson and his business partner Steve Long, 59, would protect their savings from care home fees and inheritance tax.

But prosecutors argue £11.5 million of their money was lost propping up Long’s and Simpson’s failing business interests, funding ‘too good to be true’ investments and purchasing land.

The investments known as ‘private placement programs’ were described as ‘gambling’ with other people’s money by ‘putting everything on black’ by prosecutors.

Charlene Sumnall, prosecuting, said: ‘This is fundamentally a case about greed. Mr Long and Mr Simpson sought to enrich themselves using money that was not theirs.

‘As Mr Simpson was to put in a text to Mr Long on 27 November 2016 “I am sick of being poor”. Sometimes in a fraud case you lose sight of the people who have suffered.

‘It is easy to get bogged down in technical detail and to feel at times overwhelmed by that detail. But the money that was taken in this case belongs to real people.

Steven Long, 59, (pictured) admitted two counts of fraud relating to the £11.5 million this year

‘It is their money that Mr Simpson and Mr Long were gambling with. It is their money that the pair put at risk to enrich themselves.

‘They are not insignificant sums of money,’ Miss Sumnall added.

‘In fact, £10,000s and in some cases £100,000s. These were people’s inheritances and life savings gone because of the greed of Mr Long and Mr Simpson.’

Victims of the alleged fraud were lured in by Long who advertised his company called Universal on letterbox leaflets which offered a seminar.

Anyone who went to the seminars was given a glossy brochure explaining how Long could protect their savings from ‘care homes fees, inheritance tax and ending up in the hands of someone they did not know’.

The brochure said: ‘The wealthy learned many years ago that if they wanted to protect their bloodline, they need to put the correct protection in place.

‘Over the centuries they have written the laws that guarantee their wealth can be passed down through the generations safe from divorce, remarriage, illness and tax.

‘These same laws can protect you and your family and give you the satisfaction of knowing that you have done the very best for them.’

According to Simpson’s own banking details with Barclays which were read out at trial, while he was working with Long, he had his own trust fund to protect his money and declared an annual salary of £270,000.

In 2018 Universal collapsed and that March accountants went through financial records held at the company offices in Ipswich and discovered operating losses of nearly £6 million over six years.

Jurors were told Long admitted using client money to pay the staff wage bill in an example of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ or a classic Ponzi scheme fraud.

Miss Sumnall added: ‘Mr Simpson who knew the money was coming from trust funds encouraged Steven Long to use the money for a series of investments in which Mr Simpson expected to make a personal financial gain.

‘He introduced Steven Long to the bank trades and the people running them. The Spanish land was purchased in his name.

‘You may wonder how land in Spain in Mr Simpson’s name could have been for the benefit of the beneficiaries of the trust?’

Long has admitted two counts of fraud, but Simpson, who was not present at the first day of his trial denies the same fraud allegations.

The trial is expected to last four weeks and is ongoing.