JOIN USA bankrupt stockbroker has been ordered to pay a nominal one pound fine even though he defrauded millions of pounds from Britain's shrewdest business people.
Nicholas Levene, 48, was jailed for 13 years last November after he admitted orchestrating a lucrative Ponzi scheme which raked 316 million pounds into his bank accounts between April 2005 and September 2009, The Independent reported.
On Monday, at Southwark Crown Court, Levene was ordered to pay a nominal fine of one pound, while an investigation into his assets continues as he filed for bankruptcy in October 2009.
Judge Martin Beddoe said: "I certify the benefit to be 32,352,027 pounds and given what I have been told about the issue of Mr Levene's bankruptcy and that the trustee in bankruptcy is confident ...
"... and has got hold of such assets as were in the possession of Mr Levene in consequence of this offending, it seems to me entirely pragmatic that his assets are seized by the trustee in bankruptcy."
"As there is nothing available, I direct that he should pay the nominal sum of 1 pound within seven days," the judge said.
Levene was a successful City worker, having an estimated wealth of 15 to 20 million pounds in 2005. But he was addicted to gambling, spending fortunes on spread betting, and had an insatiable taste for luxury.