Harlequin Property boss David Ames ordered to pay back just £283,000 of £336m huge Caribbean investment fraud

A FORMER double glazing salesman who is serving a 12-year prison term for committing one of the country's biggest ever frauds which netted more than £336 million has been ordered to pay just over £283,000 in criminal proceeds.

David Ames, 74, was jailed in October 2022 following a three-month trial at Southwark Crown Court in connection with the failed investment Harlequin Property which saw several thousand mainly British investors lose pensions and life savings in a Caribbean luxury resort development scheme which went on to become a massive scam.

A jury at the court found him unanimously guilty of two counts of fraud by abuse of position over his running of the failed scheme which was endorsed by former tennis ace Pat Cash, Liverpool FC, golf legend Gary Player, football pundit Andy Townsend and property guru Phil Spencer.

Today, Ames appeared at the same court from prison by remote link to hear what assets had been identified to pay to the crown as part of a Proceeds of Crime Act order.

Judge Christopher Hehir said the amount of criminal benefit Ames netted was £336,763,796.50, but that only £283,321.72 had been found to be recoverable.

He will have three months to pay the smaller amount, which could be extended to six months, or face a further three consecutive years to be added to his sentence, Judge Hehir said.

Neil Hawes KC, representing Ames, sakid currently only around £89,000 was available to pay and he argued for a lower default jail term.

However, Judge Hehir maintained the three year additional sentence if it is not paid back.

In a written judgement, he said the prosecution had argued that more than £4,175,256 was available.

But, Judge Hehir declined to include nearly £3 million of investors money used to buy land in Thailand in 2006 to 2007 and a missing £195,000 from the £400,000 sale of properties in Dubai in 2013.

Judge Hehir wrote: "I am in no doubt that (Ames) wilfully squandered the money of Harlequin investors to buy land in Thailand, and I think he probably let that land slip from his grasp thereafter. That is sadly typical of the way he operated, leading to the enormous losses suffered.

"My conclusion is that the £195,000 probably went the same way as so much other Harlequin money, and I therefore decline to include the missing proceeds of sale of the Dubai property in the available amount."

A sum of £89,402.11 had been recovered from the companies after they went into administration and the remainder of the recoverable money was in the form of "tainted gifts" to Ames' son's Matthew Ames (£54,083.83) and Daniel Ames (£40,000) and his daughter Nicola Kelliher (£99,835.78).

He wrote: "While I accept that (Ames wife) Caroles Ames, Matthew Ames and Daniel Ames each did some work for Harlequin, it cannot conceivably have justified the large sums

received. My conclusion is that the entire Harlequin operation was viewed as a “money pot” into which individual family members dipped as they [or at least DA] pleased."

None of the celebrities who endorsed Harlequin were implicated in any wrongdoing and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) which investigated, does not believe Ames intended the business to be a fraud when he launched in 2005.

Sentencing Ames in October 2022, Judge Hehir said from 2010 it was clear the business model was completely unviable and Ames continued to dishonestly sell as a gigantic Ponzi scheme knowing it needed new investors' cash to be able to deliver anything for earlier investors.

He sentenced Ames to serve nine years for one count of fraud by abuse of position and three years to run consecutively for another due to the scale of the fraud.

Judge Hehir said sophisticated Harlequin sales material was full of ambiguous, evidently false and misleading claims in his name.

He said: "You relied solely on money from new investors to meet commitments made to earlier ones

"The prosecution was careful not to use the word before the jury but the plain truth is that from January 2010 the operation was a gigantic Ponzi scheme and could only be keep going by attracting new investors and you knew they would almost inevitably lose everything.

"The jury heard evidence you told a lie in person to an investor that the money they paid you was ringfenced and this was entirely untrue as you acknowledged when you were interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office when you said the business model would not work if it was ringfenced."

He said there was a total absence of external funding, although evidence of a number of unsuccessful attempts for good reason due to the unviability of the project.

He added: "You had no relevant experience entering the property business. You had sold garden furniture and double glazing and been in the loan business, but were twice declared bankrupt, a fact you did not readily declare to those whose money you were after. You said you were a visionary and an entrepreneur, but you were not, you were a slick and plausible salesman and thoroughly dishonest with it... You are a menace to anybody unfortunate enough to do business with you”.

"There were real issues with land ownership at resorts and you marketed and sold more units at Buccament Bay than the land could support and made sales of properties where there was no land at all.

"It is greatly aggravated by the fact that you ignored repeated warnings from others that the business model was deeply flawed.

"You ignored and dispensed with the services of those that gave it and you are someone very keen to blame others for your own actions and misfortunes and sought throughout the trial to blame others, but the only person responsible for the massive fraud and massive losses caused and the fact you are sitting in the dock awaiting a significant sentence is you.

"You involved celebrity endorsements and very lavish entertainment indeed and the generous levels of commission to agents played a part, but the failure of others to stop you cannot mitigate your culpability in the slightest.

"Most of the money went into the Harlequin black hole, but £6.1 million found its way to you and members of your family."

The court heard twice bankrupt Ames sold about 9,000 investments in "off plan" properties, said to be worth a total of £1.4 billion, at planned resorts across St Vincent, St Lucia, Barbados, the Dominican Republic and Brazil, between 2010 and 2015 from an industrial estate in Basildon, Essex, bringing in around £398 million.

Glossy brochures promised a Pat Cash tennis hotel, Gary Player Golf resort and Liverpool Football Club academy at the resorts.

Football pundit Andy Townsend was the face of Harlequin on its website and property guru Phil Spencer starred in a three-minute promotional video in which he said he was investing in the scheme.

But, by 2012 there was a funding shortfall of over £1.2 billion and Ames remained dishonest and continued to sell once he realised it was unviable and he needed to sell at least three units to build just one.

Only around 200 of the 9,000 units sold were ever built at the partially-completed Buccament Bay resort in St Vincent, while a hotel was also refurbished.

Only 28 investors ever completed on purchases, but Ames sacked advisors who raised the alarm.

Paul Napper, Head of the Proceeds of Crime division at the SFO, said:  "Ames took multiple steps to hide the profits of his audacious fraud – a crime funded by thousands of people’s life savings and pensions.

“Our specialist team uncovered his multiple assets, hidden across the globe, and today’s result is a first step in ensuring Ames does not profit from his crimes.”