Edward Davenport, who in 2011 was jailed for his part in a commercial loans advance fee fraud, is awaiting the outcome of an appeal in which he says he has paid too much in confiscation and compensation.
The Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in the case, in which his lawyers argued that confiscation and compensation orders against him amounting to almost £14m exceeded the extent to which he had benefited by almost £2m.
Lawyers representing the Serious Fraud Office made representations that the appeal should be dismissed.
In May 2011, Davenport and two others, Peter Riley and Borge Anderson, were convicted of conspiracy to defraud after they were found to have been a driving force in the fraud operated by Gresham Ltd, a company promoted falsely by them as a long-established, wealthy and prestigious financial organisation capable of lending hundreds of millions of pounds as venture capital.
Davenport was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison. He was subsequently made the subject of the confiscation and compensation orders at issue in the latest proceedings.
Three other defendants – David McHugh, Richard Stephens and David Horsfall – pleaded guilty at a second trial in 2011.
