'Sophisticated' con saw him jailed for 2 years at Canterbury Crown Court

Con: Daniel Burgoyne (pictured) compared himself to a character from The Wolf of Wall Street

Posing with a fat cigar and a flute of champagne, he compared himself to the Wolf of Wall Street.

Daniel Burgoyne, 24, who boasted of being a ‘real diamond geezer’, persuaded dozens of people to entrust their savings to him for investments in carbon credits, gem stones and wine.

But in fact, he was merely a former butcher with an NVQ in business studies who lived with his mother.

And despite claiming to run his business from a prestigious address in the City, he was based on a business park in the Kent seaside town of Folkestone.

Yesterday, the conman was branded the ‘Fox of Folkestone’ as he was jailed for two years for cheating investors out of £75,000.

Like his idol, whose life was made into a Martin Scorsese film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Burgoyne lived a lavish lifestyle.

Police discovered the Rolex-wearing criminal was not the financial high-roller he pretended to be among his friends and family.

He posted pictures on Facebook of a BMW, piles of cash and of him holding a magnum of champagne.

Yet far from having any financial acumen, he had tricked 18 people into giving him their money.

Prosecutor Jim Harvey said he tricked people into thinking they were investing in wine or diamonds and offered unrealistic returns.

One investor spent almost £33,000 on a diamond and was told it would increase in value by 1.9 per cent every month but would be kept in Switzerland for tax reasons.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how Burgoyne operated through his two companies Elite Broker Company and Elite Commodity Markets.

Burgoyne's lawyer said he was 'dazzled by all the glamour he saw around him' in the financial world

Boast: Photos online showed a black BMW. It is thought he blew more than £56,000 before being caught

Flash: The 24-year-old conman posted a photo on Facebook showing off about a Rolex watch

Detectives found evidence that he blew more than £56,000 on the ‘high life’ until he was caught, including £2,130 on wine, £1,500 on gambling and £1,115 dining out.

Police seized £27,427 from his account before it could be spent.

His barrister Anthony Abell said Burgoyne gained two A-levels with poor grades and did not go to university but worked as a butcher in his teens.

He said Burgoyne claimed he had been ‘headhunted’ by a company trading in carbon credits and when it went bust he started his own company.

Mr Abell added: ‘He was a rather ambitious young man who was dazzled by all the glamour. But he is genuinely sorry for his lies which he made to close deals.’

Judge Simon James said that Burgoyne’s photographs laid bare how he spent ‘considerable amounts’ on a ‘lavish lifestyle’.

He said: ‘This was a sophisticated deception in which just £10,000 of the £80,000 you received was actually invested – and even then not in anything which would produce proper returns for the investors.’

Comparison: Under this photo (right) a friend said Burgoyne's selfie could have been a still from The Wolf of Wall Street (left), the film about conman Jordan Belfort - to which Burgoyne replied: 'It was'

Wad: Burgoyne's online life showed off about his riches while investing just £10,000 of the money he took

After he was jailed, friends poked fun at Burgoyne, who had previously posted pictures of DiCaprio online and referred to himself as imitating the Wolf of Wall Street.

One wrote on Facebook: ‘A tragic tale of the Fox of Folkestone.’

Another added: ‘The Fraudster of Folkestone.'

Burgoyne admitted 18 fraud charges and was banned from being a director of a limited company for seven years.

Showoff: Burgoyne posted pictures of himself on Facebook holding huge bottles of Champagne

Unmasked: Despite his claims Burgoyne was a former trainee butcher who was lodging with his mother

Wealth: Burgoyne showed off about gambling in a Malta casino and eating oysters in a restaurant