Mortgage Solutions reported in September that ex-broker David Bowerman, 35, created a Ponzi scheme which promised large profits to investors but failed to deliver.
Bowerman was sentenced to eight years in prison by Judge Charles Gratwicke after he admitted 32 counts of fraud and one of theft, the Belfast Telegraph reports.
Over 200 investors were duped by the scam, including the former England footballer Richard Wright and his own mother, Cynthia.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard that Bowerman spent £80,000 on cruises, drove luxury cars and made frequent trips to casinos with the proceeds before handing himself into police.
Prosecutor Antony Swift said: “This case involves a number of frauds over a number of years in which he systematically and cynically defrauded, for the most part, family, friends and acquaintances out of large sums of money.
“He went back to the same people time and again to get as much as he could. Up until the point at which he handed himself into the police, the total sum involved was £7 million.”
