Suspected Fraudster Sent to Jail Just in Time for Christmas

Steven Long, both in his personal capacity and as a director of various companies including Universal Wealth Preservation, was given an immediate custodial sentence of 8 months by Mrs Justice Rose following a hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice on Friday 14 December 2018. Long is subject to High Court proceedings as a result of his involvement in a multi-million pound suspected fraud which is currently being investigated by one of the Police’s Special Operations Units.

Long was instructed by clients to manage their trust funds and provide advice on estate planning. He was named as a trustee and had access to millions of pounds belonging to hundreds of clients, mostly pensioners. Long, in breach of his duties as a trustee, transferred funds to an offshore investment company on terms which included keeping material information from the beneficiaries of the trust, failed to account for the trust funds and now claims to be unable to recover the same from the offshore investment fund, where we believe those parties are in prison following an investigation by the FBI in Miami.

London based law firm, Kleyman & Co Solicitors, who are acting on behalf of around 30 pensioners and their families, in their pursuit for justice against Long, obtained numerous worldwide freezing orders against him, freezing his assets and ordering him to provide information including the whereabouts of the missing trust monies.  After he failed and refused to comply with those orders, an application for Long’s committal to prison was pursued where an immediate custodial sentence was ordered as a result of Long’s non-compliance of the freezing orders.  

Following the hearing on 14 December 2018, Shivani Varma, the solicitor with conduct of the case commented “Mr Long’s committal to prison indicates just how serious the non-compliance of a freezing order is regarded by the Courts.  If you have been served with a freezing order but choose not to read it and comply, that is not a sufficient defence as we found out today.  The committal of Mr Long to prison does not allow the Claimants to recover their money, however we hope it will focus Mr Long’s mind to the fact that he cannot simply plead ignorance in a case where millions of pounds belonging to hundreds of elderly people have gone missing.”