A crooked financial adviser who swindled millions from pensioners' life savings because he was ‘bored of being poor’ is facing jail.

Raymond Simpson, 78, ploughed retirement money into dodgy overseas investment schemes which cost hundreds of elderly homeowners £11 million.

He spent their money on golfing holidays in Florida, purchasing land in Spain for property developments, all while living in a five bedroomed mansion in Durham.

Simpson used his 40-year long career as a personal wealth adviser and anti-money laundering officer to disguise his roles in the schemes.

But his deception was uncovered after his co-conspirator Steven Long’s company Universal Wealth Management went bust in 2018 and police launched an investigation.

Following a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court in London, Simpson was convicted of two counts of fraud.

It can now be revealed that the conman is in Portugal, living in a villa called ‘Casa Simpson’ 90 minutes from Porto.

Jurors were told that Simpson had chosen not to attend his trial but were not informed that he refused to attend because of alleged medical complaints.

Before the trial opened, Judge Gregory Perrins, ruled that Simpson was not ill and was a ‘malingerer…hiding behind a minor hip operation’ to avoid facing justice.

He issued an arrest warrant against Simpson and also told his counsel that their client always had the option of attending the trial voluntarily.

But he never showed up and when the Daily Mail tracked Simpson down to his white-washed abode with three-bedrooms, a swimming pool and patio, his gardeners claimed he was too sick to come to the door.

After just five hours of deliberations the jury returned guilty verdicts against Simpson. 

But after the jury returned their guilty verdicts in just five hours of deliberations, Judge Perrins told them: 'There are ways that we could make Simpson come back, so it seems to me that he could come back voluntarily, or we could make him return.’

He added: ‘The people in the public gallery were, in fact, some of the people who lost their money in this case.'

The evidence against Simpson and Long included text messages revealing the pair were motivated purely out of greed.

In one exchange Simpson told Long ‘I am sick of being poor’ as the pair plotted bogus investments which cost their victims their life savings.

Simpson purchased land in Javea, Spain for £600,000 to be turned into two villas to be sold for £3 million, but ultimately the deal fell through and the money vanished.

Other documents reveal bogus business expenses including a car parking fee at Disney Land, Florida.

The fraud ran from 2008-2018 and ‘destroyed and crushed’ pensioners who had set up trusts with them to protect their savings from inheritance tax.

Prosecutors told the jury that Simpson placed millions of pounds in dodgy investments in Hong Kong, Singapore and Miami which were clearly scams.

Some of the schemes included property deals and bank trades which would allegedly turn £2 million into £12 million in just a matter of weeks.

The money Simpson used came from trust funds which pensioners had set up with Long to protect their savings from inheritance tax and care home fees.

Long and Simpson were supposed to have obtained the permission of their clients to invest their money but never did.

Charlene Sumnall prosecuting said: ‘Their victims were individuals of retirement age who could not afford to gamble with these funds.

‘These were their life savings, their retirement funds and estates which they wanted to pass down to their descendants.

‘They could not suffer any loses and they were risk adverse people. Simpson was not naïve, he was disingenuous.

‘We cannot say for sure what Simpson spent the money on whether he spent it golfing in Florida, or on loch ness investments to have Mickey Mouse as the first biped in space.

‘But there is an abundance of evidence that Mr Simpson was at all times aware that client money was the source of the funds they were gambling with for personal gain.’