The convicted man is the son of the British Cypriot fashion tycoon, Aristos Constantinos, who was found murdered in his home on Bishop’s Avenue
By Thanasis Gavou
The stockbroker of Cypriot origin was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Friday in London Anthony Konstantinouwho was found guilty of fraud and money laundering by a jury late last month.
The founder of the investment company Capital World Markets (CWM) promised investors impressive profits of almost 60% a year through trading in the forex market that he convinced them was safe.
The sums entrusted to him by investors, from 50 to 100,000 pounds each, however, were not placed in the foreign exchange market, but in advertising campaigns for CWM, in high-profile sponsorships on behalf of the company (among others the Chelsea football team and in matches boxing) and buying luxury cars and motorcycles for him.
The court also heard that he spent £2.5m on his lavish wedding in Santorini in September 2014, and that his son’s first birthday party cost more than £70,000.
Konstantinou, 41, is estimated to have received a total of £70m from 312 defrauded customers between 2013-2015.
The trial and sentencing took place in his absence, as his fate is unknown
He was arrested in 2015 at his company’s offices in the City of London, but disappeared before the final stage of his trial, prompting an international arrest warrant to be issued.
According to British reports, he is believed to be in either Turkey or Dubai. The last time his traces had been discovered was months ago in Bulgaria, with a fake Spanish passport in his possession.
Judge Perrins described the convict during the sentence reading as a “morally corrupt person” who has shown absolutely no remorse.
When Constantinou first came to the fore in Britain, associates likened him to Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in The Wolf of Wall Street. He did not hesitate to throw wads of paper money at his employees, pour champagne over their heads and force employees to drink bottles of vodka.
It is noted that he was sentenced to a year in prison in 2016 for sexually assaulting two women on an outing after work.
The convicted man is the son of the British Cypriot fashion tycoon, Aristos Constantinos, who was found murdered in his home on Bishop’s Avenue, known as the “street of the billionaires” in north-west London, on New Year’s Day 1985.
The case remains one of Britain’s greatest unsolved police mysteries.
Source :Skai
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