Fraudster 'Lord' Eddie Davenport sells sex-party mansion to avoid further 10-year jail sentence
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Your support makes all the difference.It has starred in an Oscar-winning film and hosted a hatful of celebrities, not to mention “porn-disco” sex parties. Now the central London mansion of convicted fraudster “Lord” Edward Davenport is in the spotlight again – to demonstrate that fraud does not pay.
The self-styled “Lord” Edward was forced to sell the 24-bed property, used in the film The Kings Speech, as well hosting the fraudsters glamorous parties, to repay court asset-confiscation and compensation orders and avoid a further 10-year jail sentence, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced yesterday.
Davenport, convicted and sentenced for his role in a multi-million pound advanced fee fraud in 2011, yesterday satisfied £13m worth of his confiscation and compensation orders, the SFO said.
Fellow fraudster Virendra Rastogi, convicted and sentenced in 2008 for his role in a multi-million pound financial trading fraud, also paid £5.4m towards a £20m confiscation order through the sale of his central London home, the SFO said.
Unlike Davenport, who was freed from jail on health grounds, Rastoggi is serving a further seven years for failure to pay the full sum.
Mark Thompson, of the SFO’s Proceeds of Crime Division, said: “Criminals should not be able to benefit from the fruits of their crimes and the sale of the properties should serve as a timely warning to those considering committing fraud that their assets, including family homes, are not protected and remain liable to confiscation.”
He said the SFO had pursued confiscation proceedings against Davenport for nearly four years and Rastogi for nearly five years.
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