Woman who pocketed £40k in £21 million get-rich-quick scam ordered to pay back just £1

A woman who pocketed more than £40,000 in a £21 million get-rich-quick scheme which fleeced at least 10,000 has been ordered to pay back just £1.

Rita Lomas, 50, encouraged people to join Give and Take (G&T), which operated across the country between May 2008 and April 2009.

The defendant, of Whitchurch in Bristol, previously received a four-and-a-half month suspended sentence after admitting her part in the scam.

Thousands of people invested £3,000 on the promise they would get at least £23,000 back.

Victims were encouraged to "beg, borrow or steal" to join the scheme, in which they were told they "could not lose".
Committee members behind the scheme pocketed up to £92,000 each, while as many as 88 per cent of their victims lost between £3,000 and £15,000.

Eleven women, now aged between 35 and 70, became the first in the UK to be prosecuted for such a scheme, under legislation from the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Act 2008.

Six of the group were convicted of operating and promoting the scheme, while Lomas and two others were convicted of promoting it.

Bristol Crown Court today heard Lomas' benefit from G&T was agreed at £40,455.93 but her "realisable assets" were just £1.

Judge Mark Horton told Lomas: "By agreement, I assess the benefit that you had from your criminal conduct at £40,455.93.

"It is agreed between the parties that your realisable assets amount for the purposes of this amount to £1.

"I therefore order confiscation in the order of £1 and £1 only. "I allow you 28 days by which to pay that. If you do fail to pay it, there is a period of seven days in default.