Former taxi driver who conned millions in Ponzi scheme convicted

By Philip Aldrick and Aislinn Laing 730AM GMT 10 March 2010

Kevin Foster, 51, was convicted on fourteen counts of burglary and dishonesty following a seven-week hearing at Harrow Crown Court, and right away faces a limit of 7 years in jail.

The probity listened how he lured investors in to his "pyramid scheme" at decorated roadshows hold in hotels and discussion centres opposite the country.

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Foster would crop up on theatre to entertaining and shrill song mostly Abba"s Money, money, income and endowment prizes of income or cars.

He presented himself as a successful layer of odds who could broach clients cache simply by betting on the football and the horses.

He claimed that for each �1 invested in his organisation by the 50,000 participants he claimed to have attracted, he done �28.50. He additionally pronounced that his intrigue had �203 million in the bank.

Sceptics were won over when they saw large earnings paid to alternative investors nonetheless in being those "returns" were paid for with their money. Those who perceived payouts were additionally speedy to reinvest their income to have more.

However, Foster"s offer was never as worldly as the �30 billion ($50 billion) intrigue dreamed up by the US fraudster Bernard Madoff.

When the Financial Services Authority close Foster down in Feb 2004, he was found to have �34 million superb from 8,500 investors. He was after spoken broke with clients losing everything.

Little of the supports people had invested were used for gambling millions were instead poured in to an offshore fund.

Meanwhile, Foster had paid himself and his close associates estimable incomes and used KF Concept income to account an impracticable lifestyle.

He paid for a �600,000 plantation nearby Sittingbourne in Kent and stocked it with outlandish animals together with wallabies, level dogs, llamas, rheas and peacocks.

He propitious it with a swimming pool and built Koi carp tact pools. Another �700,000 was outlayed on cars together with a fibre of Mercedes and a �135,000 Ferrari, according to the Serious Fraud Office, that brought the case.

Speaking after the Foster was remanded in custody, the SFO"s executive Richard Alderman pronounced he was "very pleased" with the verdict.

"This was a really formidable review and the SFO was dynamic to move probity for the most victims who lost their tough warranted assets to this Ponzi scheme," he said.

"I would similar to to appreciate colleagues from Kent Police and the Financial Services Authority who helped us with the investigation".