Nicholas Levene
Nicholas Levene must pay £1 following £32m fraud (Reuters)

The Ponzi fraudster who scammed £32m out of investors has been ordered to pay back £1 within the next seven days.

Nicholas Levene was jailed in November after admitting to 12 counts of fraud, one of false accounting and another of obtaining a money transfer through deception.

The 48-year-old, widely known as Beano, had used the money to fund his extravagant lifestyle, which included the use of a private jet, a Bentley and a £2m Tudor mansion in Hertfordshire with cinema and swimming pool.

Southwark Crown Court ordered him to pay the nominal fee as he filed for bankruptcy in 2009. An investigation into the former stockbroker's assets is taking place at the moment.

Judge Martin Beddoe said: "I certify the benefit to be £32,352,027 and given what I have been told about the issue of Mr Levene's bankruptcy and that the trustee in bankruptcy is confident and has got hold of such assets as were in the possession of Mr Levene in consequence of this offending, it seems to me entirely pragmatic that his assets are seized by the trustee in bankruptcy.

"As there is nothing available, I direct that he should pay the nominal sum of £1 within seven days."

Levene's Ponzi scheme helped him amass £316m between April 2005 and September 2009.

During this time, Levene used the money to entertain his famous friends, including the Tchenguiz brothers, Topshop owner Sir Philip Green and music mogul Simon Cowell. He would take them on holiday to the South of France and host pheasant shooting days costing £10,000 at a time.

Levene was jailed for 13 years for defrauding a number of firms, including HSBC, Rio Tinto, Tadco Limited and Stagecoach group.

At the sentencing hearing, Beddoe said: "You were truly addicted to greed, and a lifestyle that you did not really have the skills or imagination to achieve.

"It was well planned and professionally executed, it involved huge sums and huge profits, there were multiple victims whose trust in you was grossly abused, it lasted a very long period of time, it was well concealed and you took further steps to conceal it when it began to be found out."

The judge had warned Levene to expect a substantial jail sentence despite getting credit for his guilty plea.

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