Darren Gough 'has lost £1m in Ponzi scam'

By Rebecca Camber for the Daily Mail and Andy Dolan for the Daily Mail
Updated:

Darren Gough and ex-wife Anna

'Sting victims': Darren Gough and ex-wife Anna

Cricket star Darren Gough has apparently been caught up in an £80million scam, it has emerged.

The retired England bowler and his family are thought to have lost almost £1million after being conned by Britain's alleged 'Bernie Madoff-style' fraud gang.

The Strictly Come Dancing winner is among several top sportsmen and TV stars who were swindled after loaning money or investing in a Ponzi get-rich-quick scheme run by a gang of alleged fraudsters.

Friends of the former Yorkshire captain said he is devastated after learning his money had disappeared after the so-called bogus investment scheme collapsed.

Sources close to Gough, 38, said he invested a large sum of cash just weeks before the Financial Services Authority launched an investigation.

The family of his former wife Anna have also allegedly lost hundreds of thousands of pounds after they were persuaded to invest by one of the accused, Kenneth Peacock.

Mrs Gough, who is back with her ex-husband after they divorced in 2002, refused to comment at their home in Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire.

But a member of Gough's family confirmed the sports hero and his brother-in-law Paul Kratovil, 42, were said to be among those hit by the alleged fraud. She said: 'I rang Paul after seeing reports of the scam. He and Darren have been caught up in it all.

'I don't know how they found out, but there are supposedly lots more people who do not realise they have been stung.'

Mr Kratovil, who lives in Kingsmead near the Goughs, refused to comment.

Yesterday the Mail told how former England captain Kevin Pietersen was also targeted although he chose not to invest.

The Ponzi pyramid scheme is similar to that of jailed Wall Street broker Bernard Madoff.

Police believe high earners were brought in by friends and associates and promised returns of up to 13 per cent a month over four years.

They were allegedly told the money would be loaned to 'distressed' companies who needed short-term cash and were willing to pay for it.

Police suspect once people began paying into the fund, some of the cash was siphoned off to pay fake returns.

But it unravelled when payments were missed and clients alerted financial authorities.

City of London Police have not traced the £80million swindled from 600 victims in Britain over two years.

This week the suspected mastermind, BCI director Kautilya Nandan Pruthi, 38, from Knightsbridge, was arrested for a second time.

Financial consultants Kenneth Peacock, 40, and John Anderson, 43, both from Virginia Water, Surrey, have also been arrested.

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