Fraudster in £5.4m investment scheme scam jailed for six years

Peter Barry Maude was yesterday sentenced to six years' imprisonment by Chester Crown Court for his role in a $7.7m (£5.4m) investment scheme fraud.</p>Mr Maude, who pleaded guilty, was convicted in two fraudulent scams. In the first, he and "other persons" offered potential investors "high-yield investment opportunities" aboard luxury Caribbean cruise conferences and in luxury hotels in Mexico.</p>Around 200 people, including a large number of Americans, each invested a minimum of $25,000 in funds managed by Mr Maude named Sabre Asset Management and Jaguar Asset Management, supposedly after his penchant for big-game hunting. The payments were made via an Isle of Man account.</p>A spokesman for the Serious Fraud Office said: "When the money arrived in the accounts, it was extracted by Maude for personal expenditure. He paid for a house in Wilmslow, Cheshire, and bought expensive guns and rifles and also a Range Rover and other vehicles."</p>A UK-based solicitor who was also prosecuted in connection with the fraud, Marshall Ronald, was acquitted by a jury on 24 March.</p>In the other scam, Mr Maude and another man based in the US were involved in a conspiracy whereby a Singaporean businessman was persuaded to invest $1.2m in a similar "high-yield" investment opportunity. The second man is being prosecuted in the US.</p>Mr Maude's sentencing followed a four-year investigation involving the Serious Fraud Office and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, with support from the Cheshire constabulary. </p>