A former UK police officer has been sentenced to six years in jail for his role in a horse racing betting syndicate scam that defrauded thousands of people out of £44m (€53m/$59m).
Michael Stanley, 67, of Chatham in Kent pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to a series of fraud offences on 24 September. He admitted to operating the ‘Layzey Racing Syndicate’, a Ponzi-style scheme disguised as a horse racing betting syndicate.
The scam ran from 2013 to February 2019, claiming to be a lay betting horse racing gambling scheme. Members were invited to invest funds supposedly for collective gambling controlled by Stanley.
However, Stanley instead used new investments to pay earlier members, creating a Ponzi-type scheme. He also lied about the amount of successful gambling that took place, falsely inflated the value of investments and paid money from the scheme into his own accounts.
At its peak, the scheme had over 6,000 members, including friends and family of Stanley.
Estimated £10.5m loss for scam betting scheme
During its investigations, Kent Police found members invested a minimum of £44.2m in the syndicate during its operation. The scheme, however, collapsed in February 2019 with many members making a substantial net loss.
It is estimated that the syndicate made an overall net loss of at least £10.5m.
Stanley, who served as a police officer in the 1980s, was declared bankrupt in 2019. He took at least £4m from the syndicate and misused funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle. This included 23 racehorses, a villa and apartment in Spain, new cars, private number plates and jewellery.
Stanley now faces six years behind bars and has been disqualified from acting as a company director for 15 years. In addition, a Serious Crime Prevention Order has been imposed by the court to cover a five-year period. This starts with the date he is released from prison.
Syndicate “doomed to collapse”
Commenting on the case, Rachael Barber from the Crown Prosecution Service said Stanley “betrayed the trust” of investors in a scheme that was “doomed” to collapse.
“Stanley operated a massive fraud which he marketed to unsuspecting members as ‘virtually risk free’, while boasting of the huge profits from the syndicate,” Barber said. “In reality, Stanley’s gambling losses far exceeded any winnings and the scheme was doomed to collapse at some point.
“When this inevitably happened in 2019, devastated members were left out of pocket and money they believed they had legitimately invested for weddings, retirement funds, medical treatment and other purposes was all gone.
“Stanley totally betrayed the trust placed in him by investors to manage their money wisely and we are pleased to have secured justice for these victims.”
Bankruptcy proceedings are ongoing against Stanley. The CPS will pursue a Proceeds of Crime confiscation to ensure any assets that may become available in the future can be recovered.
