A former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire candidate was sentenced to prison after defrauding friends and relatives out of millions of dollars through false investments.
Jeff Arundell was convicted of various charges and sentenced to six and a half years in prison two decades after his brief stint on the popular ITV gameshow.
In an infamously terrible run on the programme in 2000, the now 75-year-old used up two of his lifelines in only six questions, failing at the £4,000 level.
Arundell had used his 50/50 lifeline to determine if an anaconda was a snake, before stumbling when questioned about John Major and walking away with a grand.
He persuaded his friends and family to participate in a “guaranteed money-making scheme,” personally guaranteeing their investment if he was wrong.
They gave the fraudster roughly £100,000, which he subsequently spent on multiple spread betting deals before saying the victims the money was gone and he couldn’t refund them.
However, it was eventually determined that Arundell did, in fact, gain £4.6 million from these transactions and other bets by August 2017.
This was reported to the police, but the conman, who lives in Sion Hill in Lansdown, Bath, said he could have reimbursed them with his late mother’s fortune.
A further police inquiry discovered that he had taken another £260,000 from his mother while acting as her power of attorney while she was still alive.
Following a year-long inquiry and trial, he was separately convicted of fraud by abuse of power over her funds in April 2021.
Arundell’s most recent conviction was for stealing £86,000 from friends and relatives, which resulted in three counts of fraud by false representation and one act of money laundering at Bristol Crown Court on Monday, October 30.
He was found not guilty on a fourth count of fraud by false representation relating to the remaining funds, and an action under the Proceeds of Crime Act was filed to recoup the funds.
According to a duped buddy, the conman ‘got what he deserved’ when he received a nearly seven-year jail sentence.
They added: ‘He caused myself and my family a lot of grief and heartache.’
‘We are happy to get five guilty verdicts against Arundell following what has been a lengthy drawn out investigation into his fraudulent activity,’ said Dr Kirstie Cogram, manager of the severe and organised crime investigation unit.
She continued: ‘He seemingly thought little of defrauding his own family by taking cash from his elderly mother, nor using money from a friend and their family to bankroll his spread betting efforts.
‘His actions were deplorable and made all the worse for his victims by misleading officers and refusing to admit to what he had done, meaning two trials were required.’
Arundell’s assets have been frozen, and officials are working to recover the victims’ funds.
