Ex-Charlton Athletic player Richard Rufus was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years after he claimed to be a successful foreign exchange trader and convinced victims to invest in his "low-risk" scheme.

The 47-year-old was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday of fraud, money laundering and carrying out a regulated activity.

Authorities found he convinced his victims their investment would see returns of 60% a year.

Rufus used some of the £15m invested to pay back investors in a pyramid-style scheme - using funds from newer investors to pay back older ones - but used the rest to maintain a lifestyle of an elite professional footballer.

He falsely claimed to have made multi-million pound returns for a church and good returns for other footballers or ex-players, for whom he had invested funds but who he could not identify for confidentiality reasons.

The defender was forced into retirement in 2004 following a knee injury but continued to live in a five-bedroom house on a private estate in Purley, south London, as well as drive a Bentley and wear a Rolex watch.

'Investments fraught with risk'

Roger Makanjuola, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Rufus acted in a selfish manner without any concern for his victims.

"He took advantage of his status as a professional athlete, a respected church member and he used the goodwill of his family and friends to scam them and associates out of millions of pounds by falsely claiming he was able to offer a low-risk investment in the Foreign Exchange Market.

"He claimed that he had been successful with his investment strategies previously, but the investments were fraught with risk and he lost his victims' much needed money to the amount of £15m.

"While making these huge losses he put approximately £2m into his personal accounts, allegedly for the purposes of investment but this was never transferred over to his trading account.

"We now commence confiscation proceedings to seek to recover his ill-gotten gains."

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