BULLETIN: British Ponzi Schemer Sentenced To 13 Years In Prison; Judge Cites Nicholas David Andrew Levene’s ‘Rank Dishonesty,’ Prosecutors Say

BULLETIN: Nicholas David Andrew Levene, the 48-year-old London stockbroker and Ponzi schemer, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison, the Serious Fraud Office announced.

His Honor Judge Beddoe ordered the sentence after Levene was convicted in September of 12 counts of fraud, one count of false accounting and one count of obtaining a money transfer by deception, the SFO announced.

“It was a fraud from the outset, where countless lies were told,” the judge remarked at sentencing, according to the SFO. “It was rank dishonesty. There were separate acts of individual moments of betrayal.”

Levene “used investors’ monies to finance a lavish personal lifestyle,” case manager Jonathan Midgley said. The scheme operated between January 2005 and October 2009, gathering more than £250 million from investors.

Losses, according to the SFO, were estimated at more than £32 million — about $51 million (U.S.).

Read the SFO statement.

Read a story in The Independent, which reports Levene ripped off some “high-fliers.”