Edward Davenport ordered to pay £13.9M

17 July, 2014 | News Releases

Edward Davenport, convicted of conspiracy to defraud in May 2011, was today ordered to pay a total of £13.9 million in confiscation and compensation at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court.

In addition the Judge made orders for costs totalling £1.9 million.

Mr Davenport was convicted, along with eight others, for his role in Gresham Ltd, a company promoted falsely as a long-established, wealthy and prestigious financial organisation capable of lending hundreds of millions of pounds as venture capital.

Judge Testar, who oversaw today’s hearing, ordered Mr Davenport to pay the following:

– Confiscation order: £12,000,000

– Compensation order (to be paid in addition to confiscation): £1,943,620.56

– Prosecution costs: £753,949.50

– Recovery of Defence Costs Order: £1,157,704.67

Mr Davenport was given six months to pay the confiscation and compensation orders and a 10 year sentence of imprisonment in default of payment (the maximum allowed under the legislation).

A Serious Crime Prevention Order was also handed down against Mr Davenport at an earlier hearing. Commenting on the case, Judge Testar said:

“The important thing is that in this case nothing has been cut and dried. Edward Davenport has only agreed matters in these criminal proceedings at a late stage. For some four years I have had a deep sense that moving matters along in the case has been a truly Sisyphean task, both before during and after the trial…

“Through his dishonesty Mr Davenport has caused harm to many people and it would be an insensitive judge who was not conscious of those whom he has defrauded…

“In the end I have decided that the risk of Mr Davenport retaining some of the fruits of his crime is one that my public duty dictates I should not take.”

Mr Davenport was sentenced to seven years, eight months in prison in October 2011, following a prosecution brought by the Serious Fraud Office, though his sentence was reduced by the court to take into consideration time in which he was subject to a curfew order and time that he was held in custody before being sentenced. He was also disqualified from acting as a company director for ten years.

Notes to editors:

1.The SFO obtained nine convictions as part of its investigation into a £4 million commercial loans advance fee fraud between 2006 and 2009 operating as Gresham Ltd. For further information on the conviction of Edward Davenport (D.O.B. 11/7/1966, of Portland Place, London) and others convicted as part of the SFO’s investigation, please see here and here.

2.A Serious Crime Prevention Order is intended for use against those involved in serious crime and the purpose of their terms is to protect the public by preventing, restricting or disrupting involvement in serious crime. They are made on application to either the High Court or, as in this case, the Crown Court upon conviction and breach of the order is a criminal offence. Further information on SCPOs can be found here.

3.The £1.9 million costs orders can only be enforced with the leave of the Court.