Former footballer Richard Rufus involved friends, family, and associates in a pyramid scheme in which a total of £15M was invested with him. Using his status as a former athlete to appear wealthy and successful, he claimed he was a foreign exchange trader and convinced his victims to invest in what he said were low-risk schemes. Ultimately he failed to make a profit from his trading activities. The Pentecostal church, which had invested with him, lost its £5m. Of the £15m paid to accounts controlled by Rufus, investors received back a total of around £7.6m. He was tried and convicted and received a jail sentence of 7 and a half years. Rufus was found guilty of fraud, money laundering and carrying out a regulated activity without authorisation.
The case raised a number of red flags–including the big one that Rufus was not regulated–that should have been picked up on but weren’t. Investors were blinded by Rufus’ charm and flashy lifestyle.
Read VinciWorks’ case study
VinciWorks new case study about the scam explains what happened, how Rufus was caught, what the penalties were, and what the red flags in the case were. The case study also includes important information on how to protect yourself from financial investment fraud and and what to do if you’ve been a victim of financial investment fraud.
How VinciWorks can help with AML compliance
AML client onboarding solution
Omnitrack, VinciWorks’ AML client onboarding solution enhances both the risk assessment and document collection aspects of client onboarding.
Click here to learn more.
AML training suite – relevant training for all staff
VinciWorks strives to make its AML training more than simply a tick-box exercise.
Click here to learn more.
At a glance: AML ongoing monitoring
Automating the ongoing monitoring process can be the key to an effective and successful AML programme. Our one-page guide to ongoing AML monitoring provides a succinct and informative overview of ongoing monitoring including a definition, tips on how to comply with AML ongoing monitoring regulations, and answers the questions of who needs to be checked during ongoing monitoring, when to do CDD reviews, and what has to be recorded during ongoing monitoring.
