The mastermind of a UK Ponzi scheme has pleaded guilty to the fraud which robbed 800 victims of £115m.

Kautilya Pruthi, 41, from Wandsworth, admitted running the scheme between 2005 and 2008 trading as Business Consulting International.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining transfers by deception and single counts of participating in fraudulent business, unauthorised regulatory activity and converting, transferring and removing criminal property.

Victims were lured with promises of massive monthly returns made from lending to companies in crisis and were told to keep the information quiet to ‘avoid alerting competition’.

To keep up the façade, he would travel to meet clients in a helicopter and had Knightsbridge offices.

Mr Pruthi was assisted in his scheme by Kenneth Peacock, 43, from Surrey and John Anderson, 46, from West Hampstead.

The two men were found guilty of unlawfully accepting deposits from investors and not guilty of recklessly making misleading statements and fraud at Southwark Crown Court on 7 March 2012.

By 2008, the scheme was failing and unable to make interest payments with the three men blaming banking and liquidity problems. The Financial Services Authority was informed and instructed to freeze assets but by this point the accounts were almost empty.

A criminal investigation was launched by City of London Police in March 2009, arresting the three men a few months later.

Some victims were unable to believe the scheme was a scam and, with the support of Mr Pruthi and their local MPs, urged detectives to unfreeze the assets and restart the scheme.

To counter this misinformation, police held special forums which were attended by 300 investors who provided vital witness statements.

DS Ben Flannaghan, City of London Police, said: “This case highlights the dangers of investing in unregulated schemes; there will no compensation available for the 800 victims who have lost millions.

“The public need to be aware these ‘magic bean’ returns do not exist and that when presented with such an opportunity should always seek advice from the FSA.”

The trio are due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court today (8 March).

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