Anthony Locke, 32, ran a scam which targeted pension holders who wanted to release the money held in their funds

A businessman who cheated cash-strapped pension holders out of £1m and blew their cash on gambling, holidays and supercars is facing jail.

Anthony Locke, 32, set up a website called Successful Pensions to attract people looking to liberate their pension funds.

With the help of Ray King, 54, he offered applicants an upfront payment equivalent to half of their pot, with the remainder invested in another of their sham eco-friendly firms.

The Dorset pair created an ‘elaborate façade’ comprising hundreds of documents to convince genuine companies, including Friends Life and Virgin Money, that they were operating an occupational pension scheme.

Applicants were persuaded to lie to their original companies that they were employees of Locke’s bogus firm to give the impression the funds were not simply being cashed in, which would have carried heavy tax implications.

They were told they could receive part of their pension fund with the remainder transferred to what was described as an occupational pension scheme.

The fraudsters told them the money would be invested on their behalf via that scheme.

The promise of half being paid up front immediately to sooth money woes was often too good to resist, Southwark Crown Court heard.

But rather than the rest placed in an ‘ethical investment’ as advertised, it was pocketed by Locke and King, said Stephen Hopper, prosecuting.

The funds were filtered through offshore accounts and others held by Locke’s mother Jacqueline Humphreys and ex-partner Annabella Willcocks.

Some of the money was spent on supercars, including an Aston Martin Vantage, Porsche 911 and Mercedes B180, along with gambling binges and luxury holidays, jurors heard.

‘It was spent on a number of things,’ said Mr Hopper.

‘There’s what appears to be a fair amount of online gambling and a lot of everyday expenditure.

‘There are also significant sums spent on what the prosecution say is Mr Locke’s true interest and really his true motivation.

‘It’s not ecologically sound investments, it wasn’t to save the Amazon Rainforest.

‘It’s fast cars. Sports cars.’

He added: ‘When one looks at the Jacqueline Humphrey bank account, some of it was spent on an Audi R8, an Aston Martin Vantage, a Porsche 911, an Audi R5 and a Mercedes B180.

Locke and his co-accused Ray King, pictured, managed to take almost £1 million from their 16 victims, including people unable to work through injury, a failing business owner and an ex-wife who was made homeless following her divorce

‘Pensions are cashed in, 50 per cent gets put back to the person in the fund, and £231,000 gets spent on five sports cars - you may think this is the very opposite of the ecological investment advertised.’

When police began investigating Locke, they discovered he had his own YouTube channel, ‘Gas Kings’, devoted to his interest in high performance cars.

It currently boasts 645,000 subscribers, 180,000 Instagram followers and more than 53,000 Facebook likes.

Jurors heard 16 applicants were conned out of £999,266 - including people unable to work through injury, a failing businessowner, an ex-wife made homeless following her divorce and parents looking to renovate their home.

‘These people were often in some considerable financial difficulty,’ said Mr Hopper.

‘Cashing in their pension scheme was their only option and it was in that sense how Mr Locke and Mr King were able to persuade them in the first place, and many did sign up to things that were not true.

‘But ultimately, they were people who were in difficulty and perhaps more so they were people who were effectively reassured by the defendants that none of this really mattered.’

Mr Hopper said King’s role centred on answering calls and ‘selling’ the scheme over the phone once somebody had registered online.

While Locke, usually operating under a false name, also handled the phone, his main role was said to have been as the ‘architect’ of the scam, heading up the various sham businesses involved.

The investment offered to applicants was in Nature Eco Investments, which was described as helping towards ‘planting trees, creating new forests with carbon sinks that absorb CO2, purchasing existing wild forests to protect them and the wide range of biodiversity within them’.

Locke, of Highcliffe, Christchurch, denied but was convicted of 17 counts of fraud by false representation and three of money laundering.

King, of Pathstone, Poole, Dorset, denied but was convicted of 13 counts of fraud by false representation.

Judge Stephen Tomlinson adjourned sentencing the pair until 20 April.