A fraudster who scammed 184 holidaymakers out of more than £400,000 has been convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Richard Lester, aged 56, from Luton, was found guilty of fraudulent trading and concealing criminal property after he was caught running a Ponzi-style cruise scam.
In 2009, Lester set up Cruisevoucher, a scheme to sell vouchers to customers who used them to book heavily discounted cruises via his website up to three years in advance.
The money they paid was used by Lester to book cruises for earlier customers who had bought vouchers the same way.
Lester recruited agents – some of whom were customers – to sell the vouchers in exchange for commission.
In 2011, Lester renamed the company Cruisemiles and stopped booking cruises customers had bought, keeping their money for himself.
Some customers only discovered their cruises had not been booked when they turned up at ports for holidays and were turned away by the cruise lines.
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau asked Essex Police to investigate in July 2013 following a number of complaints from Lester’s victims.
Its investigation uncovered victims around the world, including the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany and Japan.
Lester used several aliases to avoid justice, going by Henry Lester, Les Richards, Lord Lester, Richie Lescovitch and Barry Williams.
The police found that over a three year period he stole £406,856.39 from 184 people.
He will be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on 11 February 2025.
In a statement, PC Leanne Smith, who has been investigating Lester since 2014 said: “Securing justice for these victims meant scouring several bank accounts to trace exactly where their money has gone.
“All their money leads back to Lester. His greed left hundreds of people thousands of pounds out of pocket.
“They were tricked into committing more and more money to his scheme, unaware that money was going directly into Lester’s pocket.
“Many of the cruise companies they were expecting to holiday with had no record they were ever due on board their ships.
“Lester poured funds into a lavish lifestyle he bragged about to the same victims’ he defrauded. Money was frittered on online poker websites and his other business interests.
“He’s now been found guilty thanks to the testimonies of those who wouldn’t believe his excuses and we wait to hear the judges’ sentence in 2025.”
