Ex-Premier League player sentenced to seven and a half years in jail

Ex-Premier League player Richard Rufus has been sentenced to seven and a half years in jail over a £15m fraud, the Mirror confirm.

The 48 year old, who made 288 appearances for Charlton, was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court on the 21st of December of running a £15million trading scam.

This was fraud, money laundering and carrying out a regulated activity without authorisation and has now been given the prison sentence having been previously told by judge Dafna Spiro that “the inevitable sentence is going to be one of custody.”

Ex-Premier League star Richard Rufus jailed for defrauding £15m out of friends and family https://t.co/Ps0easEiRA

— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 12, 2023

The trial were told that Rufus often boasted about current and ex-footballers, including Rio Ferdinand, investing in his scheme.

Prosecutors said he lost money “hand over fist”, using some of the funds to pay back investors in a “pyramid scheme”.

However, prosecutor Lucy Organ adds that he appeared “able to maintain a lifestyle of a footballer” after he was ended up retiring in 2004 due to a knee injury.

Ms Organ told jurors in a three-week trial that Rufus was loving the “trappings of wealth”, living in a house with five-bedrooms on a private estate in Purley, south London, driving a Bentley and wearing a Rolex watch.

The court also heard that received a total of £15m from investors, along with around £5m from the Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), a church where he was a member and trustee.

Rufus denies claiming the investment was low risk or that he used any of the money taken for personal gain, yet was still found guilty of three counts of fraud.

He used around £2 million in criminal property and carried out a regulated activity without authorisation, between May 2007 and April 2012.

After deliberating for nearly 19 hours, the jury found him not guilty of an allegation regarding investors he had never met. But the total fraud that he was convicted for amounted just to £8m, plus the £5.1m from KICC.

According to the court, Rufus was on good terms with the Addicks after his retirement. He was then invited to be an ambassador for a charity that is closely associated with the club.

He was described as “charismatic, energetic”, and claimed that he had a track record of being successful foreign exchange traders to convince people to part with their money.

Ms Organ claimed that Rufus suffered “huge losses” while approximately £2m was put in his personal accounts to invest. However, the funds were never transferred into Rufus’ trading account.

Paul Elliott, ex-Chelsea and Charlton defender, was one of the investors. Elliott said Rufus told Rufus that he traded for friends, family, and members his church.

“He was clear to say he had made colossal sums of money for his church, for friends and family,” he said. “And he also said there were other professional [footballer] colleagues he had made substantial funds for.”

Between October 2008 and February 2011, Mr Elliott paid Rufus £425,000 with Ms Organ claiming that the returns were not from successful trading, but rather from conning more people to invest in the scheme.

According to the court, Rufus had told Ronabir Deb that Rio Ferdinand had made investments with him.

Mr Deb lost his capital of £47,000 while 23 other people who had invested through him lost more that £1.7 million.

The court heard that Rufus earned a monthly rental income of £850, but made “personal” payments totalling £1.5m. These included a £9,000-per month mortgage, £200,0000 motoring costs, and transfers to his wife’s bank account.

Ms Organ stated that Richard Rufus was unable to fund his lifestyle if he used the money he received from investors as part fraud.

Richard Rufus heads home to make it 3-3 in the 1998 Play-Off Final against Sunderland. #cafc pic.twitter.com/irFYbxBiFL

— Plenty of Shots (@Plenty_of_Shots) January 12, 2023

This is what Twitter users said as the ex-Premier League player sentenced to seven and a half years in jail…

@_JoeMac86: Richard Rufus 👀 wtf, what a wrongun! Was a half decent player back in the day

@TheTomHendricks: Richard Ruthless 😂😂😂 #cafc

@applesucker: Always a solid buy in Championship Manager 97/98 for around £4 million. Those times are now tainted 😌

@fonz1971: Christ some family and friends bank balances

@tegsyjack: So sad, a Charlton legend for many of us that will now be remembered for all the wrong reasons! #cafc

@Boro_Brick_Road: Oh Richard…..you were always one of my ‘must sign’ players on Championship Manager 😔

@TheSirRobotto: Richard Rufus sentenced to 7 & 1/2 years for fraud, but famous YouTubers have been defrauding people for years with NFT & Crypto scams 🤷‍♂️

@michael_coy: Original LMA Manager Legend, always brought him for Blues 😂

@stu_will_i_am: Knowing our luck he was the mystery benefactor interested in buying us 😂😂

@MarcJoblingFPL: Rufus the doofus

@CalElcombe: Playing on a different kind of wing now.

@KingOfCoolCAFC: The Roof! The roof! The roof is on fire!!

@RhysCafc44: Probably worth taking him out of the #cafc hall of fame then 😂

@SPW1979: Ex-Charlton defender signs 7.5 year contract with Prison FC!!!

@WiseyCabby: Ohhhh Richard 🙈. Forever one of bests. And i’m still gonna call one of my dogs Rufus 🐶 #cafc #rufus

@PresenterBruceM: Wow – very sad to see, but inevitable and right given what he did!

@WiseMenSayPod: Perez finally has his payback #SAFC

@M_Keeling: Lionel Perez preparing to come off his line to try and help him

@SteffanBow: 7 and half year in clink

@BL10CBL: Have we ever had any ex-player jailed? Just wondering as it might be one of the only few things the Trainspotters can claim to have over us 😆

@AddickAppy: Can’t believe I named my cat after him!

@DaveSamways1: Silly boy.