Update: Court of Appeal Judgement in R v Edward Davenport
04 November 2015
Mr. Davenport’s confiscation order was reduced from £12 million to £10,056,379.44 on 3 November following a Court of Appeal judgement in Mr Davenport’s favour.
The Court of Appeal upheld the making of a Prosecution Costs Order and Serious Crime Prevention Order, however.
This now brings confiscation proceedings to an end.
This week the SFO has recovered nearly £18.4 million from two high-profile fraudsters in order to satisfy outstanding high value confiscation and compensation orders. The recoveries result from the sale of two properties in London.
Edward Davenport, convicted and sentenced for his role in a multi-million pound venture capital fraud, has today satisfied £13 million worth of his confiscation and compensation orders. In order to make the payment, Davenport sold 33 Portland Place, a 24-bedroom mansion in Marylebone, London. The sale completed on 11 May 2015, enabling Davenport to pay the relevant sums to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service.
Davenport was convicted, along with eight others, for his role in Gresham Ltd, a company that purported to offer the sourcing and provision of commercial funding by way of loans or joint venture capital, for which “advance fee” payments were sought from individuals.
He was sentenced to seven years, eight months in prison in October 2011, following a prosecution brought by the SFO.
The SFO’s Proceeds of Crime Division applied for confiscation and compensation orders to be imposed on Davenport and these were handed down in July last year.
In a separate case, Virendra Rastogi, convicted and sentenced in 2008 for his role in a multi-million pound financial trading fraud, has today paid £5.4 million towards his £20 million confiscation order.
The fraud was committed to support trading on the London Metal Exchange through a company structure based around RBG Holdings Limited. In August 2010 a £20 million confiscation order was imposed with the total sum recovered to be used to compensate the victims of the fraud.
In February 2013, following an application by the SFO’s Proceeds of Crime Division, Rastogi was ordered to serve a further 2555 days (seven years) in prison as a result of his failure to pay the confiscation order.
At the confiscation hearing the court found that Rastogi’s family home, which was held in the name of a trust fund, was beneficially his and considered it available to satisfy the order. Litigation, which was contested by the trust fund, to secure possession of the property, located in Orchard Court, London, was commenced in July 2013. Control of the property was subsequently removed from the trust fund by the High Court and the sale completed on the 15 May allowing the equity to be used to satisfy, at least in part, Rastogi’s outstanding order. The total amount recovered from Rastogi is being used to compensate the victims of the fraud through the liquidator appointed over RBG Resources Plc.
Mark Thompson, Head of the SFO’s Proceeds of Crime Division, said:
“The sales and subsequent payments to satisfy the court orders demonstrates the SFO’s commitment to pursuing the recovery of fraudsters’ ill-gotten gains. Criminals should not be able to benefit from the fruits of their crimes and the sale of the properties should serve as a timely warning to those considering committing fraud that their assets, including family homes, are not protected and remain liable to confiscation.
“The SFO has been pursuing confiscation proceedings against Davenport for nearly four years and Rastogi for nearly five years. I would like to pay tribute to the dedication and professionalism of the SFO team who have worked on these complex cases.”
Notes to Editors:
- Further details on Davenport’s conviction and the handing down of the confiscation order in his case can be found here and here. Details on Rastogi’s conviction and original sentence can be found here and here.
- Before today’s payments, Davenport had already paid around £400,000 in total towards the orders imposed on him. Rastogi has previously paid around £200,000 towards his orders.
- Davenport was released from prison last year, after requesting clemency on the grounds of ill health.
- Davenport is appealing his confiscation order, which may impact the timing of the distribution of compensation to victims.
- Default prison sentences for failure to pay confiscation orders are, when activated, always issued in a number of days.
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