Rachel Clun – Business reporter, BBC News and Matt Taylor – BBC News, Leicester
A former Nasa scientist has been sentenced to two years in prison over a £1m investment fraud case.
John Burford, who now lives in Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, admitted in court in June to defrauding more than 100 investors out of £1m.
The 85-year-old had offered investment opportunities and trade alerts through his firm Financial Trading Strategies between 2016 and 2021.
However, Burford was not authorised to carry out such activities and he was jailed at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.
The defendant has a PhD in physics from the University of Toronto and worked for Nasa in its manned Mars exploration team based in Washington DC, before moving into finance, his author biography on a publisher’s website says.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said he attracted investors through blogs, self-published articles and a book.
Investors had said they trusted Mr Burford because of his purported financial expertise.
But the prosecution case brought by the FCA found he had repeatedly misled investors about the performance of the funds, hid losses, and used their money to fund his lifestyle.
The FCA said Westminster Magistrates Court heard Burford had generated more than £1m through his illegal investment scheme but only traded £760,000, most of which was lost.
Burford was sentenced to two years in prison for fraud by false representation, and one year in prison for each of the three financial services and markets act offences, which will all be served concurrently with each other and the fraud sentence.
The FCA said it was pursuing confiscation proceedings to claw back the proceeds of Burford’s crimes and compensate his victims.
Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the authority, said: “John Burford deliberately misled investors, stealing their money to fund his own lifestyle. We will pursue those who abuse investors’ trust and ensure they do not profit from their criminality.
“We are asking anyone who believes they have been affected by this investment scam to contact us.”
