Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? quiz contestant to pay back £4m after being jailed for financial crimes

Jeff Arundell was jailed in 2023 after being convicted of a number of offences, including fraud and money laundering, in relation to financial dealings he carried out. The 75-year-old, of Sion Hill, Lansdown, Bath, took money from friends and their families in 2016 and 2017 after promising returns on an investment scheme. 

However, gains from the investment scheme never materialised - and Arundell could not repay the investors around £100,000 they handed over, despite promising he could do so, and was arrested in 2017.

It emerged he had later gambled the investors' money - and won on several occasions - building a pot of more than £4 million in the process, which he failed to disclose to those he owed money to.

He was jailed for six and a half years after being convicted of three counts of fraud by false representation and one of money laundering at Bristol Crown Court in 2023, in relation to £86,000 he received from his friend and their family. He was found not guilty of a fourth count of fraud by false representation relating to the rest of the money he received.

However, he was also separately charged with fraud by abuse of position in respect of the handling of his late mother’s finances in early 2020 and convicted in April 2021. 

In October, Arundell was back at Bristol Crown Court for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing, and on December 19, a judge found the total amount by which Arundell had illegally benefitted was £4.8 million.

The judge issued a confiscation order for the available amount of £4,140,428.59, of which more than £220,000 will be returned to Arundell’s victims. If he cannot, or refuses to pay the funds, he will receive a further eight years behind bars.

The convictions came after Arundell promised a friend – and his friend’s family members who also invested – that he would personally guarantee their stake money if he was wrong, receiving around £108,000 to invest on their behalf.

In early December 2016, Arundell placed the money on numerous trades of spread betting, but told the victims he had lost their money and did not have the funds to repay them as per the guarantee he made.

It was later discovered he had profited on some of the trades he had placed in December 2016 using their money, which he had not told them about. From the winnings, he continued to trade and place further bets, which in turn contributed to the £4.6m windfall he had accumulated by August 2017.

The friend and his family reported the matter in January 2017 and a police investigation was carried out.

Arundell claimed when he placed the trades in December 2016 that he could indeed have repaid the guarantee, as he had received approximately £100,000 in inheritance from his late mother’s estate earlier that year.

However, this was investigated as a separate fraud, as it was discovered he had taken his mother’s money, while holding a power of attorney for her some years before. By taking the money while she was alive, he had prevented other family members from inheriting from her estate upon her death.

After the hearing, DCI Carlos Filippsen said: “This is a significant result against an offender who was convicted of fraud and money laundering offences in November 2023. The convictions and subsequent confiscation orders in this case show how we will pursue offenders who directly target victims, including stripping them of any assets they have gained through crime.

“Ensuring that we have been able to return those funds to the victims and for the perpetrator to not be able to benefit from his criminal activity demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that crime does not and will not pay. I hope this will deter other criminals who may be involved in these despicable offences, by showing that they will be convicted and have their ill-gotten gains removed.”

The convictions came after a 2000 appearance on ITV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, from which Arundell walked away with a meagre £1,000 in prize money having answered a £4,000 question incorrectly.