A former Premier League footballer who used the names of stars including Rio Ferdinand to entice investors is facing jail after he was found guilty of an £8 million trading scam.
Ex-Charlton Athletic defender Richard Rufus, 47, duped friends and family members into handing over their money, boasting of making “colossal sums” and promising returns of up to 60% a year.
He claimed to be a successful foreign exchange trader headhunted by some of the UK’s largest financial organisations, including Morgan Stanley, Coutts Bank and Barclays.
Rufus, who made 288 appearances for Charlton after joining the club in 1993, told investors current and ex-footballers, including former England and Manchester United defender Ferdinand, 44, were already on board.
Prosecutors said he lost money “hand over fist”, using some of the funds to pay back investors in a “pyramid scheme”.
But he appeared “able to maintain a lifestyle of a footballer” long after he was forced into retirement in 2004 because of a knee injury, prosecutor Lucy Organ said.
She told jurors during a three-week trial that Rufus enjoyed the “trappings of wealth”, living in a large five-bedroom house on a private estate in Purley, south London, driving a Bentley and wearing a Rolex watch.
Southwark Crown Court heard how he received a total of £15 million, including around £5 million from the Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), a church where he was a member…
