Posted on: September 26, 2024, 05:30h.
Last updated on: September 26, 2024, 05:30h.
A former police sergeant from Britain has been sentenced to six years in prison for operating a “Ponzi scheme” horse-betting syndicate that defrauded thousands of individuals out of millions of pounds.
Between 2012 and 2019, Michael Stanley ran the Layezy Racing Group, offering investors a “winning betting system” that he promoted as “virtually risk-free.” Victims stated that Stanley’s background as a police officer helped build their confidence.
The syndicate attracted around £44 million in investments, approximately £34 million of which was repaid to initial investors, resulting in a deficit of about £10 million.
The former Kent Police officer kept £4 million for himself, spending it on a £400K property in Spain, Land Rover vehicles valued at over £600K, and 23 race horses. He also purchased £1.6m in cryptocurrency and £622K worth of silver bullion.
‘Not Reckless Conduct’
“Your actions were not careless, but intentional, continuous, and repetitive. When people gambled with you, they were unaware of the actual odds,” the judge informed Stanley during his sentencing hearing. “They were deceived.”
Stanley was apprehended by his former colleagues at Kent Police in August 2019. In March of this year, he pleaded guilty to dishonestly making false representations and four counts of deliberately operating a business for deceptive purposes.
He informed his investors that his system involved betting against horses to lose through betting exchanges. In an email to one person, he claimed to have “discovered a missing link, my holy grail, which is a winning system.”
Stanley claimed that this system provided him with an 8.17% advantage in the betting markets, stating that sportsbooks have an 8% margin for horse racing.
Only a small percentage of bettors may potentially earn a long-term profit in this manner, and some do. However, Stanley was not one of them.
He lost $1 million at a single sportsbook in one year alone. In the last few years of the operation, he stopped laying bets entirely.
‘Fear of Discovery’
The court heard that Stanley began by persuading family and friends to join the syndicate – including his wife, children, mother-in-law, and brother-in-law. Layezy Racing grew to over 6,000 members from there. By the time it collapsed, he had a waiting list of 3,000.
Stanley informed the court that he became overwhelmed by the workload of running the syndicate following his wife’s cancer diagnosis in 2014.
“I am very sorry for the pain I have caused to members and my own family. Apart from my own fear of discovery, I cannot comprehend how I allowed it to happen,” he stated.