Fraudster Jody Smart - now legally known as Jody Pearson – has begun her three-and-a-half year sentence for defrauding two British expats through her collapsed pension firm.
Pearson, who ran collapsed firm Continental Wealth Management (CWM), handed herself in voluntarily, according to a court order seen by the Olive Press.
The Alicante provincial court that convicted her in April 2025 for her part in the €35m CWM pension scandal confirmed she is now in Alicante Cumplimiento prison, despite Pearson’s appeals to the High Court of Valencia – which was rebuffed in October 2025 – and Spain’s Supreme Court, which ruled the appeal inadmissible.
Pearson defrauded hundreds of expats in Spain out of their pension savings, with two of her victims swindled out of a combined €370,000. When CWM collapsed in 2017 around €35m of clients’’ money was lost.
Sally Anne Hodgson, who lent €70,000 to CWM and never saw the money again, told the Olive Press: “I hope that this time away will give her time to think about her actions, and how she has mistreated those around her.”
Pearson has applied to Spain’s Justice Ministry for a pardon, although court papers revealed she dropped a request to delay her sentence while it is considered.
