Posted on: September 26, 2024, 05:30h.
Last updated on: September 26, 2024, 05:30h.
A British former police sergeant has been sentenced to six years in prison for running a “Ponzi scheme” horse-betting syndicate that duped thousands of people out of millions of pounds.
From 2012 to 2019, Michael Stanley operated the Layezy Racing Group, promising investors a “winning betting system,” which he marketed as “virtually risk-free.” Victims said Stanley’s background as a police officer helped to gain their trust.
The syndicate generated around £44 million in investment, an estimated £34 million of which was paid back to earlier investors, leaving a shortfall of about £10 million.
The former Kent Police crimefighter pocketed £4 million of this for himself, splurging on a £400K property in Spain, Land Rover vehicles worth more than £600K and 23 race horses. He also acquired £1.6m in cryptocurrency and £622K worth of silver bullion.
‘Not Reckless Conduct’
“Your conduct was not reckless, but deliberate, sustained and repeated. When people gambled with you, they did not know the true odds,” the judge told Stanley during his sentencing hearing. “They were told lies.”
Stanley was arrested by his former colleagues at Kent Police in August 2019. He pleaded guilty in March this year to dishonestly making false representations and four counts of knowingly running a business for a fraudulent purpose.
He claimed to his investors that his system involved laying horses to lose via betting exchanges. In an email to one he said he had “found a missing link, my holy grail, that is a winning system.”
Stenley boasted that this system gave him an 8.17% advantage in the betting markets, adding that sportsbooks work on an 8% margin for horse racing.
A very small percentage of gamblers could potentially turn a long-term profit in this way, and some do. But Stanley wasn’t one of them.
He lost $1 million at one sportsbook in one year alone. In the last few years of the operation, he gave up laying bets completely.
‘Fear of Discovery’
The court heard that Stanley began by convincing family and friends to join the syndicate – including his wife, children, mother-in-law, and brother-in-law. From there, Layezy Racing grew to more than 6,000 members. By the time it collapsed, he had a waiting list of 3,000.
Stanley told the court that he became overwhelmed by the workload involved in running the syndicate following his wife’s cancer diagnosis in 2014.
“I am very sorry for the hurt I’ve caused members and my own family. I cannot understand how I let it happen apart from my own fear of discovery,” he said.
