Ex-Premier League star Richard Rufus, 47, 'invested £5m for church then lost ... trends now
Ex-Charlton Athletic defender Richard Rufus, 47, allegedly scammed friends and family out of £15m to maintain his lavish lifestyle
A former Premier League footballer invested £5m for a church as a ‘blessing’ - and lost them £3.5m, a court heard.
Ex-Charlton Athletic defender Richard Rufus, 47, offered to personally guarantee the investment of the Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) and said he had worked with JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, it was said.
Rufus allegedly scammed friends and family out of £15m to maintain his lavish lifestyle.
He drove a Bentley and lived on an exclusive private estate in leafy Purley on the money he was swindling, Southwark Crown Court has heard.
James McGlashan, Chief Operations Officer at KICC, said he was a member of the church board when Rufus submitted a CV applying to become a trustee of the organisation.
On his CV Rufus explained that he was a former professional footballer who was successful in setting up an investment and trading company.
Mr McGlashan said: ‘KICC were aware of Richard’s CV and asked how he could manage some of the church’s finances. He wrote a money management document.’
Rufus proposed an agreement of £1m from the church that he would invest in the Foreign Exchange market.
Lucy Organ, prosecuting, asked: ‘He said that no fee would be charged, so he wouldn’t be paid?’
Mr McGlashan replied: ‘Correct.’
‘Why wasn’t he going to charge you?’ Ms Organ said.
Mr McGlashan replied: ‘It was a blessing, a blessing to the church.’
Rufus drove a Bentley and lived on an exclusive private estate in leafy Purley on the money he was swindling, Southwark Crown Court has heard. Pictured: Playing for Charlton Athletic in 2001
To demonstrate that other investments would be either higher risk or provide much lower rates of return, Rufus compared savings to bonds, ISAs, savings accounts and the stock market as all being inferior to investing in him.
‘He said that
