Boy band accountant loses jail term appeal

A crooked accountant who funded a boy band led by an X Factor star has failed
to persuade top judges to reduce his seven-year jail term on appeal.

Qualified chartered accountant, Andrew Papadopoulos, 41, of Addison Road,
Wanstead, invested money in a multitude of interests including sports and pop
memorabilia, spread and online betting.

He also helped fund the fledgling boy-band “Upfrunt”, which counted former X
Factor contestant Danyl Johnson, from Arborfield, near Reading, among its five
members.

However the money he garnered for his schemes was acquired through “lies” he
told investors about the success of his investments.

On Friday, he asked Lord Justice Richards and Mr Justice Tugendhat, sitting
at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, to reduce his sentence, arguing that it was
unfair.

Papadopoulos’ lawyers argued that he should have been treated less harshly,
highlighting the fact that he didn’t deliberately target vulnerable investors,
and that the scheme had not initially been dishonest.

But, dismissing his appeal, Mr Justice Tugendhat said that Papadopoulos had
“lied to the Financial Services Authority and the investors” and called what he
did “a dishonest scheme”.

“He had a good manner and appeared to be trustworthy,” the appeal judge
added, refusing to reduce his jail term.

Papadopoulos promised his investors a 17.5% return on their money every 12
weeks, but disguised heavy losses by using cash from later investors to pay off
those who became involved initially.

He traded £4.8 million before his lack of success caught up with him, with
disastrous results for those who trusted him.

One investor lost their home and others their life savings. Papadopoulos fled
to Greece in 2005 and was not brought back to the UK to face justice until 2009.

At Southwark Crown Court on December 14 last year, Papadopoulos was jailed
for seven years after being convicted of 17 counts of obtaining a money transfer
by deception and one count of carrying out a regulated activity, by operating an
unauthorised collective investment scheme.