A fraudster who took over £1m from 60 victims in a Ponzi-style investment scam has been jailed for five and a half years.
The largest amount taken from a single victim was £133,900 after victims were told they would get a guaranteed monthly return of between 0.5% to 5% depending on how much they invested as well as an overall profit after 12 months.
James Gillingham (38), had pled guilty to fraud, money laundering, and perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing and was sentenced on Wednesday at Southwark Crown Court.
Analysis carried out by City of London Police showed that Gillingham was running a ‘Ponzi’ scheme where none of the £1m was actually invested.
While some victims received investment income no client received their full investment back or made any profit. Any income passed to victims came from the capital invested by other victims.
Brokers acting for Mr Gillingham would cold-call victims and pressurise them into investing by using bullying tactics including pleading for investment and threats that victims were wasting traders’ time
When cold calling victims, some of Gillingham’s brokers used the names of TV characters as aliases including Harvey Specter from “Suits”, and Jonathan Hart from “Hart To Hart”.
Of the £1m, Mr Gillingham used £650,000 to pay staff, including more than £200,000 to himself and more than £70,000 to Sujanthan Sotheeswaran who worked as one of his top brokers.
Mr Sotheeswaran was jailed for three years in 2024 after being convicted of fraud alongside two other brokers. Dennis Deegan was sentenced to 32 months, and Darren Peck was given 21 months suspended for two years.
Investors were paid £167,681 in “dividends”. The remaining £170,000 went towards office costs and other running expenses.
The sentence comes after several attempts to escape justice by Mr Gillingham.
Lawyers from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) authorised charges in 2020 but Mr Gillingham fled abroad and failed to attend his first court hearing. He was deported by the Singaporean authorities and arrested at Heathrow Airport in August last year by officers from City of London Police.
Mr Gillingham also admitted trying to pervert the course of justice by submitting a fake tenancy agreement for a rental property in an attempt to get bail.
For fraud he was sentenced to five years, three years for concealing criminal property to run currenlty with the fraud sentence, and six months for intending to pervert the course of justice to be served consecutively. The total sentence was five years and six months.
Hayley Wade, financial investigator from the City of London Police, said: "James Gillingham was the driving force behind a sophisticated investment fraud that caused significant financial losses to victims.
"While his co-defendants were brought to justice in 2024, Gillingham remained outside the UK and attempted to avoid facing the consequences of his actions.
"This sentencing demonstrates that no matter how long it takes, we will continue to pursue fraudsters and work with partners around the world to bring them to justice.”
The CPS said it will take Mr Gillingham back to court under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover any assets.
Fraud and investment scams are on the rise, according to recent data from the FCA.
The FCA said during the past year it significantly strengthened consumer protection through the launch of its Firm Checker, a tool to that helps consumers quickly check whether a firm is authorised to avoid dealing with fraudulent firms. It estimates the tool has been used over 1.9m times since its introduction in January 2025.