The "Southwark Crown" court in the English capital, London, has sentenced English Premier League player Richard Rufus to 7 and a half years in prison, on charges of defrauding his friends and family members and robbing them of significant sums estimated at 15 million pounds sterling, in addition to other charges related to money laundering.

According to the British newspaper “The Sun”, the former English team star, Charlton, 47, claimed that he had become a currency dealer, so that he could defraud his friends and family members, while his goal was to preserve his extravagant lifestyle, which he used when he was young. A football star in the country.

Ex Premier League defender Richard Rufus jailed for seven-and-a-half years at for defrauding friends, family and associates out of £15m in a pyramid scheme. https://t.co/uJ3M8fJk53 pic.twitter.com/8uB60Pg9Af

— Dan Roan (@danroan) January 12, 2023

He lived a lavish life with other people's money

And the newspaper reported that he paid about 7 million pounds sterling for the benefit of investors, while he spent 2 million pounds sterling for private purposes.

The player recently appeared driving a luxurious Rolls-Royce car and wearing the most luxurious suits and expensive Rolex watches, before he ended up in prison for 7 and a half years.

The former player, who retired in 2004, will be forced to spend half of his time in prison before being released on licence.

Judge Dafna Spiro addressed a harsh letter to the player for defrauding a number of people who put their trust in him, while he used their investment money "in order to live the life of the ostentatious and ostentatious."

In case you missed it:


Former Charlton and Premier League defender Richard Rufus has been jailed after defrauding his friends and family members out of £15m.

pic.twitter.com/gMH90jwEwi

— The Skuup (@TSkuup) January 12, 2023

"The people who invested did it in good faith, they took your word for it because they thought you were the real deal," Judge Spiro said in his speech before sentencing.

Investigations revealed that the former player spent 700,000 pounds sterling on loans, mortgages and renting luxury real estate over a period of 5 years.

He also spent about 200,000 pounds sterling, all of it, on renting luxury cars and showing them off on the most famous streets of London.

Rufus also transferred about 500,000 pounds sterling to an account in his wife's name and another joint account between them.

He took advantage of his image as a former player

Prosecutor Rogers Makangula said Rufus acted selfishly without worrying about his victims.

"He took advantage of his status as a professional athlete, respected member of the church, and used the goodwill of his family and friends to defraud them and his partners out of millions of pounds by falsely claiming that he was able to make a low-risk investment in the foreign exchange market," the same spokesperson added.

And he added, "He claimed that he had been successful in his investment strategies previously, but the investments were very risky and he lost his victims' badly needed money in the amount of 15 million pounds sterling."

A "respectable" path in the Premier League

Rufus won 6 caps for England U-21s during his professional career.

The player did not carry the shirt of many English clubs, as he played in the heart of defense only with Charlton and played 288 games after his first appearance in 1994 at the age of 19.

His first ever goal came in his side's historic victory over Sunderland in the 1998 final at Wembley.

Rufus' goal took the game into extra time, enabling his side, Charlton, to win on penalties and thus secure promotion to the Premier League.

The injury put an end to his football career, and he officially retired from football in 2004.