Fraud gang jailed after stealing charity donations in organised scam

Seven people have been jailed after an organised fraud which saw public donations worth hundreds of thousands of pounds stolen from life-saving charities.

Led by David Levi, 47 from Lytham St Annes, the criminal group collected money from the public under the guise that it would all be handed over to good causes including Children in Need, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, The Children’s Society, The Christie Charitable Fund and MIND.

David Levi (left) and Martin Ebanks (right)

In reality, a large portion of the funds was kept by Levi and other members of the group. The evidence showed that there had been no agreement with the charities that any of the money could be retained by the collectors.

Initially, some of the charities initially gave their support to Levi’s collection activities, when they thought that what was happening was legitimate. Levi lied to and manipulated the charities and as time went on many became suspicious and tried to prevent their names being used. 

The group travelled all over the country, often collecting donations in buckets outside supermarkets. Many of the stores were persuaded to allow the collections, after claims by the group that they had permission from head office.  If the collectors were challenged, threats were issued such as reporting employees or going to the media.

Together, the defendants built up a criminal operation which successfully removed hundreds of thousands of pounds of ‘donations’ from the public. A total of approximately £500,000 was identified as cash deposits into the accounts of the group, of which less than 10 per cent was paid to the various charities.

Levi, who was jailed for five years, was assisted in the office he had set up by Kaysha Beck.  Other defendants - Howard Collins and William Ormand - helped organise collections and assisted Levi with tasks.  They also went out collecting themselves, as did the final defendants Martin Ebanks, Robert Roy Ferguson and Stephen Chesterman.

Hayley Cooper from the CPS said:

“The actions of David Levi and the criminal group deprived life-saving charities of significant amounts of money.

“Members of the public gave their money generously and in good faith, perhaps reassured by seeing the logos of national charities.  Sadly, the majority of the donations were pocketed by the defendants.

“Whenever money is collected for charity there must be absolute transparency and in bucket collections, every penny donated must go those charities.

“At the CPS, we have specialist teams to prosecute cases of serious fraud such as this and we work closely with investigators to bring perpetrators to justice.”

The CPS will seek to confiscate assets that the group gained from their criminal activity and put in place appropriate measures to prevent them offending in the future.

Giving safely

The Fundraising Regulator, Charity Commission for England and Wales and Action Fraud recently launched their annual safer giving campaign  to remind people how to give safely to charities.

People who want to donate to charity this winter should follow some simple steps for giving safely: 

Check the charity’s name and registration number on the Charity Register at www.gov.uk/checkcharity – most charities with an annual income of £5,000 or more must be registered.

A face-to-face fundraiser should have a licence from the relevant Local Authority Licensing team or the Metropolitan Police (in Greater London). Never feel under pressure into donating immediately. Ask the collector for more information and if in doubt, wait and make a donation directly at a time that suits you.

Look out for the Fundraising Badge – the logo that says ‘registered with Fundraising Regulator’ – and check the Fundraising Regulator’s Directory of organisations which have committed to fundraise in line with the Code of Fundraising Practice.

Contact or find out more online about the charity that you’re seeking to donate to or work with to understand how they are spending their funds