Fraudster posed as former Australian professional tennis star to dupe investors out of £4million
Sascha Morris was jailed after conning victims out of their life savings and her scam led to the end of relationships
A FRAUDSTER who posed as a former tennis star has been jailed after duping investors out of more than £4 million by running a Cypriot property scam.
Financial adviser Sascha Morris, 46, claimed to be an ex-pro tennis player who had qualified as a solicitor to con victims out of their life savings.
She also told unsuspecting victims to "mortgage to the hilt" as she also took redundancy payments for investment in schemes that promised impossible returns.
The money, which was to be invested in property in Cyprus provided "catastrophic" consequences to investors.
A judge labelled her "narcissistic and reprehensible" as he jailed her for eight-and-a-half years.
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Morris had never been a professional tennis player but used her newfound wealth to become an Australian international seniors tennis player.
There was no evidence that Morris had graduated from university, let alone qualified as a solicitor, reports.
Leeds Crown Court, West Yorks., heard some of the victims of the scam had suffered mental and physical breakdowns due to the stress of losing money.
For others the scam had even led to the end of relationships and divorces.
Ray Harris lost £350,000, leading to the breakdown of his relationship, the loss of his family home and the end of his plans for an early retirement.
He told The Times: “Sascha is incredibly clever and she looked the part.
“Veuve Clicquot was her favourite drink, and she was travelling abroad all the time.
“I have been through a nightmare. I have been able to rebuild my life but many others are still trapped.”
Judge Rodney Jameson, QC, said: "You regarded the complainants with indifference at best and, at least on one occasion, with contempt."
The court heard one of Morris' victims lost more than £250,000 through the scam.
In her first scam, Morris conned 40 individual investors who went to her for financial advice between 2004 to 2007 through her business Morris and Hale Ltd.
She encouraged potential investors to file money into off-plan properties in Cyprus by either buying to let or "flipping" the properties by selling them on before completion when they had to be fully paid for.
She gave the impression the homes would be bought or rented by well-known holiday companies, but victims ended up losing out.
In a separate fraud, Morris sourced more than £2.2m from two groups of investors to a company she claimed would finance property developments.
She combined the cons meaning the other group of investors would be entitled to half of what she had promised and no one would receive the full amount.
Morris, from Eastbourne, was found guilty of one charge of fraudulent trading and two of fraud involving the information she gave to her investors, following a trial.
Adam Morgan, for Morris, said his client would no longer be able to represent Australia at her senior age group because she would no longer be deemed a "fit and proper person".
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