Ex-Premier League player and Charlton legend Richard Rufus reportedly “scammed friends and family out of £15m”, court heard this week.
The 47 year old, allegedly claimed to be a successful foreign exchange trader to convince his alleged victims to invest. But the ex-defender, who offered returns of 60% a year from the “low-risk” scheme, lost money “hand over fist,” prosecutor Lucy Organ told Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday.
Rufus, from Crystal Palace, south-east London, denies three counts of fraud, using around £2m in criminal property and carried out a regulated activity without authorisation, between May 2007 and April 2012.
Richard Rufus heads home against Liverpool. #cafc pic.twitter.com/2D8bdFO7OQ
— Plenty of Shots (@Plenty_of_Shots) October 19, 2022
Ms Organ said that Rufus used some of the total £15m invested to pay back investors in a pyramid scheme, with some of the money used for his own purposes and led to him being “able to maintain a lifestyle of a footballer” long after he was forced into retirement in 2004 because of a knee injury, the court heard.
Rufus, who made 288 appearances for Charlton after joining the club in 1993, enjoyed the “trappings of wealth,”, living in a big five-bedroom house on a private estate in Purley, south London, driving a Bentley and wearing a Rolex watch, Ms Organ said.
He remained on good terms with the Addicks following his retirement, being…
