Man who called himself a ‘lord’ and drove a Lamborghini jailed in £4m investment scam

A man who played a key role in a £4million investment scam has been jailed.

Jonathan Allard, 39, from Wandsworth, was jailed for seven years and two months at Southwark Crown Court yesterday. The Met have not released his full address due to “potential risks”.

More than 40 victims were scammed after they were offered attractive financial investment returns between 2013 and 2017.

Allard pleaded guilty to one count of fraud on April 14 at the same court.

Detectives from one of the Met’s specialist crime teams began investigating the scam in 2016. 

In November of the same year, Allard was arrested at a London airport and his house was searched. Items including a Lamborghini Aventador, 13 luxury watches and jewellery worth about £340,000 were seized. 

Detectives discovered many of the 43 victims had been promised investment returns in the region of nine to 12 per cent, in what was an extremely complicated scam involving an official business being set up in Canary Wharf. 

The company was called Zurich Private Capital (ZPC), which claimed to offer attractive returns in commodities which included oil and soya beans.

Some of the victims had been persuaded to invest through cold-calling and others by sophisticated marketing material.

Other victims said they felt pushed into investing, while others felt reassured by the apparent legitimacy of the company. 

Many had been told they had to keep their money invested for a minimum of three years to ensure the best possible return.

After a while some of the victims became suspicious. Those who threatened ZPC with legal action were on occasion successful in getting their money returned.

However, many had their emails and phone calls ignored and have lost a substantial amount of money, ranging from £10,000 to hundreds of thousands of pounds. 

Allard benefited financially from the fraud and lived an extravagant lifestyle, calling himself ‘Lord’ Allard.

He was living in a rented house in Knightsbridge, paying £6,500 rent per month. He spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on cars and watches.

The impact on the victims has been severe. Several victims have since died, one attempted suicide, some have health conditions caused by the stress and others have had to remain in work until they are nearly 80 years old.

Met constable Will Evans said: “The impact of this crime on the victims is absolutely shocking. 

“Allard masterminded a sophisticated and convincing investment fraud to take advantage of vulnerable victims on a large scale. 

“The Met will now recover any and all assets held worldwide.”

Pictured top: Jonathan Allard (Picture: The Met)