Two accountants found guilty of perpetrating a $200m (£100m) fraud that used celebrities’ names to lure investors are to appeal.

Shinder Gangar, 46, and Alan White, 49, stood trial following investigations by the Serious Fraud Office, which found that they had misled investors into believing that celebrities had put cash into their scheme which promised high yields, although this was not the case.

Gangar has instructed criminal defence specialists Janes Solicitors to represent him in relation to his appeal, as well as for his sentencing procedure and confiscation proceedings. Solicitor Richard Cannon said that Gangar will be ‘vigorously pursuing an appeal against his conviction.’

‘Initial papers have already been lodged in this respect and his legal team are continuing to prepare full grounds of appeal. We can confirm that one of the strands of his appeal will be the fact that he had to represent himself in such a complex and weighty case,’ said Cannon. White is understood to have instructed Stafford-based fraud specialists Frisby & Co.

Gangar was described as the ‘frontman’ of the operation while White was the ‘administrator’ who would give investing clients the ‘co-ordinates’ of where they should direct their cash.

The court also found them guilty of trying to bribe the US Attorney General to release funds which had been frozen following an investigation into their US accomplice, Terry Dowdell.

The pair are due in court on 11 April for sentencing.