A crooked developer is facing jail after investors lost £400million buying properties at celebrity-endorsed holiday resorts that were never built.
David Ames, 70, persuaded savers and pensioners to purchase Caribbean homes ‘off plan’, using some of their cash on promotional videos.
Wimbledon tennis champion Pat Cash, TV property guru Phil Spencer and ex-Chelsea footballer Andy Townsend all featured in the ads, believing they were genuine.
But they had no idea that Ames’s Harlequin Group did not have planning permission – or even own the land.
A Serious Fraud Office investigation found he had deceived more than 8,000 UK investors.
Michael Bowes, prosecuting, said Ames ‘induced’ them to enter into contracts to buy off-plan properties.
‘The true state of affairs was to expose them to a loss, or risk of loss, to make a gain to him or his family,’ Mr Bowes said.
‘He gave them nothing and in return they lost all their money.’
The value of the planned resorts in St Vincent, St Lucia, Barbados, the Dominican Republic and another in Brazil was £1.4billion.
Investors lost £398million of savings and pensions from 2006 to 2015, while…
