London - It has starred in an Oscar-winning film and hosted celebrities and “porn-disco” sex parties. Now the central London mansion of convicted fraudster “Lord” Edward Davenport is in the spotlight again - to demonstrate that fraud does not pay.
The self-styled “Lord” Edward was forced to sell the 24-bedroom property, used in the film The King's Speech, to repay court asset-confiscation and compensation orders and avoid a further 10-year jail sentence, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced on Wednesday.
Davenport, convicted and sentenced for his role in a multimillion-pound advanced-fee fraud in 2011, on Wednesday satisfied £13m worth of his confiscation and compensation orders, the SFO said.
Fellow fraudster Virendra Rastogi, convicted and sentenced in 2008 for a financial trading fraud, also paid £5.4m towards a £20m confiscation order through the sale of his central London home. Unlike Davenport, who was freed on health grounds, Rastogi is serving a further seven years for failure to pay the full sum.
Mark Thompson, at the SFO, said: “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 Independent