A man now on the run who operated a ponzi-style investment scam worth in excess of £70m in the City of London has been jailed for 14 years.
Anthony Constantinou, 41, went on the run during his seven-week Southwark Crown Court trial and is thought to be in Turkey or Dubai after being stopped in Bulgaria with a fake Spanish passport.
He ran Capital World Markets (CWM) which offered remarkable returns of 60% per year on allegedly risk-free foreign exchange (FX) markets, impacting a total of 312 investors.
He was jailed for 14 years at Southwark Crown Court on Friday 9 June 2023 after previously being found guilty of seven charges including fraud by false representation, fraudulent trading and money laundering, City of London Police said in a statement on 9 June.
He was also disqualified from being a director of a company for 25 years.
Detective inspector Nichola Meghji, from the City of London Police, said: "Anthony Constantinou is a career criminal who has no regard for anyone but himself. We are glad that he has now been jailed for such a significant period of time and we hope that his victims can take some comfort in knowing how seriously the judge has taken his crimes. The fact that the jury unanimously found him guilty after his trial also speaks volumes.
"The investigation by specialist fraud investigators into Constantinou has spanned a number of years and Constantinou has continued to lie and deny any wrongdoing throughout this investigation and following court proceedings.
"While he initially attended court to hear the opening of his trial, Constantinou did not attend the later stages. Enquiries on his whereabouts revealed that he had fled his last known address in London and he was last located in Bulgaria trying to enter Turkey using false documents.
"That is why today, we at the City of London Police, are launching an appeal for information on Constantinou's whereabouts so that he can be brought back to the UK to face the justice that has been served.
"Constantinou was arrested in Bulgaria last month while trying to enter Turkey while in possession of false documents.
He was later released and officers believe he is now either in Turkey or Dubai, but he also has family connections to Greece and Cyprus.
"As a career criminal, he has access to documents and money under other names. It is not known what name he is currently travelling on or being known as, but we do know he also uses the aliases of Antonis Hadjicostis and Georgios Arnaoutakis.
