TARPORLEY-BASED millionaire Rob Lloyd has spoken of his ‘huge relief’ after a lawyer admitted conning him out of more than £500,000.
The property developer's dream honeymoon in the Bahamas turned into a nightmares back in 2004 when local attorney Jan Ward convinced him to invest into building his dream holiday home – then later disappeared with his money.
Seven years later, Mr Lloyd, whose Spurstow company ‘Eatonfield Holdings Ltd’ recently went into administration, has not seen a penny of his money.
But his hopes to see justice done have been buoyed after disgraced Ward pleaded guilty to seven cases of fraud in the Bahamas, including Mr Lloyd's.
Ward has been released on $250,000 bail with surety of paying back all his victims before his next court appearance on October 17.
Mr Lloyd, who has been forced to put his £4m North Wales mansion on the market due to his business difficulties, said: “It's been a very long journey that has caused a lot of stress to me and my family but what matters is that I have not given up on getting all my money back.”
Mr Lloyd, who appeared on the Channel 4 show Secret Millionaire in 2008, said Ward had seemed ‘completely reputable’ when he persuaded him to build a holiday home on a piece of land in the Bahamas.
He explained: “I had nothing to suspect. It doesn't matter how rich you are, it's a lot of money to lose.”
