Richard Lester, a 56-year-old from Luton, England, has been sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded over 180 would-be cruisers out of more than £400,000.
The verdict from Judge Alexander Mills of Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex, England, on February 11, 2025, comes after a nine-week trial in which Lester was found guilty of fraudulent trading and money laundering.
The sentencing followed a 10-year investigation by the Essex Police after a tip off from the UK’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) in 2013.
The NFIB had received numerous reports from passengers across the UK, US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Germany, and New Zealand who were never able to cruise despite spending thousands of dollars.
“This has been a large and complex investigation, with officers gathering dozens of statements from victims,” said PC Leanne Smith. “Securing justice for these victims meant scouring several bank accounts to trace exactly where their money has gone.”
“All their money leads back to Lester,” she continued. “His greed left hundreds of people thousands of pounds out of pocket.”
Smith noted that Lester, who also deceptively referred to himself as a Lord, used the victim’s money for other business interests and online poker websites.
At the sentencing, Judge Mills called Lester a professional gambler “living the high life in Las Vegas.”
Officially awarded two five-year sentences for one count of fraudulent trading and one count of money laundering, Lester will serve the time concurrently.
The judge also set a timeline for the courts to review Lester’s personal finances for the sake of repaying his victims, setting an additional court date for October 20, 2025.
“The Prosecution will make applications for compensation orders on behalf of the victims of your offending, and for costs. I will be obliged to order that you pay a victim surcharge,” said Judge Mills at the sentencing.
Decade of Deceit
Investigators discovered that Lester stole a total of £406,856.39 from 184 people over a five-year period through his company, Cruise Direct UK Ltd.
Beginning in 2009, the company operated Cruisevoucher, which allowed customers to book cruises online up to three years in advance.
This led buyers to believe they were booking through legitimate business activities. Instead, Lester would use the money from a new booking to pay for earlier bookings in a Ponzi-style scam.
By 2011, he renamed the website to Cruisemiles and had victims buying cruise miles that could be exchanged for cruises. At this time, he also recruited customers to act as agents, purchasing miles and selling them to customers to earn a commission.
However, terms and conditions would abruptly change, leaving victims and agents unable to secure cruises with the miles they purchased, often purchasing additional miles to have the same thing happen again.
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Some passengers who did procure cruise bookings during Lester’s operations discovered they were fraudulent, as well, arriving at ports for a cruise vacation and being turned away for not having legitimate bookings.
“In one case a customer not only spent money on the flights but boarded that flight to the USA and travelled to the quayside where they then had to stand and watch their ship depart without them because it was never their ship,” said Judge Mills.
“At the moment that happened, one can only begin to imagine the confusion and frustration that must have been felt,” he added.
Meanwhile, investigators discovered Lester had been using customer payments to support a professional gambling career.
