Two men jailed over £3.9m Ponzi fraud

Christopher Toynton and Ross Gibson were jailed at Lincoln Crown Court

Two men who pocketed hundreds of thousands of pounds from a £3.9m Ponzi scam have been jailed.

Ex-Spalding United chairman Christopher Toynton and Ross Gibson tricked hundreds of people into investing in the Lottery Syndicate Club.

Between them they spent more than £500,000 on holidays, cars and watches, while much of the remaining money was lost when the scheme collapsed.

Both men were jailed at Lincoln Crown Court on Friday.

The scheme operated between 2017 and 2019 when an investigation was launched by police following complaints of suspected fraud.

Toynton acted as the sole director while Gibson, despite his lack of professional experience or qualifications in financial investment or market trading, was appointed as the scheme's trader.

The court heard the men convinced several hundred people from across the country, including Lincolnshire and Cornwall, to invest in the scheme, telling them it was legitimate and their investments were safe and low risk.

Ponzi scams - named after fraudster Charles Ponzi - offer investors high returns on their money but those returns are in fact paid for with other, later investors' own deposits into the scheme.

Lincolnshire Police said when the scheme collapsed in 2019 it was discovered Toynton had spent £134,000 of investor's money on luxury cars and holidays while Gibson spent £400,000 on holidays and designer watches.

Toynton, 73, of Horseshoe Road, Spalding, was found guilty of four charges of fraud by false representation, and five charges of fraud by abuse of position and jailed for four years and six months.

The jury was directed to clear Toynton of a regulatory offence after the trial judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to conclude that he was acting as an agent or offering financial advice.

He also was cleared of one charge of fraud by false representation.

Gibson, 27, of Eve Lane, Upper Gornal, Dudley, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position, carrying out regulated activities and fraud by false representation and was jailed for four years and five months.