Spursex
Alert Team
Police let trader at centre of £130m 'con' slip through their fingers
Currency trader Joe Lewis, whose business collapsed losing investors millions, turned up at a police station in Hull claiming he was a victim of crime - and police let him go
Joe Lewis
Alleged fraudster Joe Lewis walked into a police station and complained he had been threatened
David Barrett
By David Barrett, and Robert Mendick
12:39PM GMT 22 Dec 2014
Police allowed a currency trader accused of vanishing with £130?million of his clients’ money to slip through their fingers, it has emerged.
Joe Lewis, 59, turned up unexpectedly at a police station in Humberside two weeks ago, claiming he had received death threats over his collapsed business empire.
It is understood he was interviewed by detectives about his concerns, but at no point were checks made about whether Mr Lewis’ activities also merited further investigation.
Investors – some of whom lost their life savings when his company JL Trading collapsed – said officers who dealt with Mr Lewis may failed to realise that fraud unit colleagues were keen to speak with the businessman.
Humberside Police refused to comment, saying they could not discuss any matters connected with a “victim of crime”.
One investor, who did not want to be named, said: “He arrived at Hull police station unexpectedly after receiving death threats. He was interviewed, and that was it.
“I’m not quite sure why they let him go.
“Surely they should have looked into the wider issues of where all these millions of pounds had gone?”
It is rumoured that professional footballers and golfers have lost money in Mr Lewis’ investment scheme.
A civil action to freeze his accounts and seize any assets has also been started.
The businessman, who traded from a smart residential address in Istanbul with views over the Bosporus, is understood to have left Turkey some weeks ago.
His adult son said he had no idea where his father was. One report suggested he had briefly visited relations near Hull and may now be in the Far East.
His passport has now been “flagged” meaning that any further attempts at international travel should lead to Interpol warnings being triggered.
Investors were notified in an email from Mr Lewis dated December 3 that his business had gone under.
“JL Trading is ceasing to carry on business,” the father-of-two wrote.
“Contrary to the impression that I have hitherto given, the business has lost almost all of its assets, and there appears no prospect of those assets being recouped.”
Since about 2011, only investors with a minimum of $25,000 (£16,000) could join his investment “club”.
They were promised very healthy returns of 36 per cent a year.
One client had invested about £500,000 in the past 12 months and is unlikely to get his money back. Another is said to have put in £1.2?million.
Some investors were lured into investing in the mistaken belief that Mr Lewis was the multi-billionaire owner of Tottenham Hotspur FC.
The owner of Tottenham has no association whatsoever with the currency trader at the centre of this alleged fraud.
One client, who invested £570,000 in the now-collapsed scheme, said the name Joe Lewis Trading led him to believe that the business had links with the multi-billionaire Joe Lewis – the British businessman who is based in the Bahamas and runs the Tavistock Group, which owns Spurs.
“That’s what in a way sort of sucked me into this investment, because when I first heard about Joe Lewis and these consultants, I did some research and all I could find on the internet was Joe Lewis based in the Bahamas, who was a multi-billionaire and a trader,” he told The Telegraph.
“I put two and two together and made five unfortunately. But that was part of the decision that made me invest
Currency trader Joe Lewis, whose business collapsed losing investors millions, turned up at a police station in Hull claiming he was a victim of crime - and police let him go
Joe Lewis
Alleged fraudster Joe Lewis walked into a police station and complained he had been threatened
David Barrett
By David Barrett, and Robert Mendick
12:39PM GMT 22 Dec 2014
Police allowed a currency trader accused of vanishing with £130?million of his clients’ money to slip through their fingers, it has emerged.
Joe Lewis, 59, turned up unexpectedly at a police station in Humberside two weeks ago, claiming he had received death threats over his collapsed business empire.
It is understood he was interviewed by detectives about his concerns, but at no point were checks made about whether Mr Lewis’ activities also merited further investigation.
Investors – some of whom lost their life savings when his company JL Trading collapsed – said officers who dealt with Mr Lewis may failed to realise that fraud unit colleagues were keen to speak with the businessman.
Humberside Police refused to comment, saying they could not discuss any matters connected with a “victim of crime”.
One investor, who did not want to be named, said: “He arrived at Hull police station unexpectedly after receiving death threats. He was interviewed, and that was it.
“I’m not quite sure why they let him go.
“Surely they should have looked into the wider issues of where all these millions of pounds had gone?”
It is rumoured that professional footballers and golfers have lost money in Mr Lewis’ investment scheme.
A civil action to freeze his accounts and seize any assets has also been started.
The businessman, who traded from a smart residential address in Istanbul with views over the Bosporus, is understood to have left Turkey some weeks ago.
His adult son said he had no idea where his father was. One report suggested he had briefly visited relations near Hull and may now be in the Far East.
His passport has now been “flagged” meaning that any further attempts at international travel should lead to Interpol warnings being triggered.
Investors were notified in an email from Mr Lewis dated December 3 that his business had gone under.
“JL Trading is ceasing to carry on business,” the father-of-two wrote.
“Contrary to the impression that I have hitherto given, the business has lost almost all of its assets, and there appears no prospect of those assets being recouped.”
Since about 2011, only investors with a minimum of $25,000 (£16,000) could join his investment “club”.
They were promised very healthy returns of 36 per cent a year.
One client had invested about £500,000 in the past 12 months and is unlikely to get his money back. Another is said to have put in £1.2?million.
Some investors were lured into investing in the mistaken belief that Mr Lewis was the multi-billionaire owner of Tottenham Hotspur FC.
The owner of Tottenham has no association whatsoever with the currency trader at the centre of this alleged fraud.
One client, who invested £570,000 in the now-collapsed scheme, said the name Joe Lewis Trading led him to believe that the business had links with the multi-billionaire Joe Lewis – the British businessman who is based in the Bahamas and runs the Tavistock Group, which owns Spurs.
“That’s what in a way sort of sucked me into this investment, because when I first heard about Joe Lewis and these consultants, I did some research and all I could find on the internet was Joe Lewis based in the Bahamas, who was a multi-billionaire and a trader,” he told The Telegraph.
“I put two and two together and made five unfortunately. But that was part of the decision that made me invest
