Former long-time Spalding United chairman Chris Toynton has begun a four-and-a-half year prison sentence for his part in running a £3.9million ‘get rich quick’ scheme.
He encouraged lots of people he knew well to invest in theLottery Syndicate Club, which ran in the Spalding area between 2017 and 2019.
In all, 184 people made a total loss of £2,397,002, Lincoln Crown Court heard during a seven-week trial.
Many others of the estimated 325 members did not respond to contact by Lincolnshire Police, thought to be either through embarrassment or because they had done well out of the scheme.
Toynton’s co-defendant Ross Gibson was sentenced to 53 months for fraud and carrying out regulated activities while not qualified.
A trial heard Toynton (73), of Horseshoe Road, Spalding,spent £134,000 of the money on luxury cars with private plates for himself and his wife, holidays and an executive box at Luton Town.
He met Gibson by chance in a Spalding restaurant in 2017 andwas convinced into giving him £50 to speculate with. Toynton encouraged six other people to also give the-then 22-year-old rookie trader £50.
Within a week Gibson falsely claimed he had turned the £350 into more than £1,300.
From there the scheme grew quickly, despite Gibson having no experience or qualifications and Toynton – who was roping in more and more people to invest – making no checks on his associate’s background and keeping poor records.
Gibson, of Eve Lane, Dudley, also spent investors’ money lavishly with £400,000 on holidays and Rolex watches.
He had pleaded guilty to fraudulent activity but Toynton took his own involvement to trial. He was convicted by a jury of four counts of fraud by false representation and five counts of fraud by abuse of position.
He told one prospective scheme member, Eileen Beaumont, that it had made him a millionaire, which she found “compelling”.
She went on to lose £2,000 and suffer harm to her physical and mental health.
“To be scammed by someone you consider to be a good friend was worse,” she said in a victim personal statement.
Eleven people lost more than £50,000 and 61 others lost more than £10,000.
Seventy-three of the people were over 60, with 37 of thosebeing over 70. Some lost their life savings.
Sentencing Toynton and Gibson on Friday, May 12, Her Honour Judge Sjolin Knight said she accepted there was no planning to the scheme, it had “evolved”.
But she added that Gibson had been deceitful and “lied and lied” and Toynton was a “major cause of the investors’ losses”. He had had been lapse in checks and keeping records, encouraging people into joining by saying it was low risk and their investments were safe when he knew otherwise, the judge said.
She added: “The Lottery Syndicate Club scheme grew with remarkable speed, from £350 in November 2017 to a claimed value of between £14m and £20m by December 2018.
“That sounds good to be true. It was.
“The LSC was in fact a loss-making scheme.
“That it survived as long as it did was only because existing members kept adding funds and new members were keen to join, all believing the claimed gains.”
Both men were told overcrowding in prisons had worked in their favour in the sentencing and in Toynton’s case his poor health too.
Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings against Toynton and Gibson to confiscate goods in order to compensate victims as far as possible will take place soon.
Judge Knight commended Lincolnshire Police for its efforts in the complex case.
